The Tones

By Ed Carlson

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This story is purely fictitious. The names of persons and places are for story

 illustration only. They should not be construed as representing any person, living or dead.

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Chapter 1

The tones of the fire-alerting radio caused Cindy to stir from her deep sleep. The dispatcher’s voice had an urgent sound as she called out a general alarm. Still groggy, Cindy could hear Joan rustling around in the bedroom next door and Cindy, out of force of habit, knew that she had to get up and respond as well. She heard Joan clomp down the hall and the outside door slam. Cindy kicked the covers off and swung her feet around and onto the cold floor. She began feeling around for her boots and bunker pants—at least she thought she was feeling for them. Unable to locate them with her hands in the dark, she reached for the switch on the lamp beside her bed. Her hands couldn’t find the lamp either.

Frustrated and finally fully awake, she lay back on the top of the bed with her feet still on the floor. She listened to the sound of the town siren, and tears began flowing down her face. She was now awake enough to know that she would never again be responding to another alarm. Firefighting had gotten into her blood, and she loved it. She had become an adrenaline junkie but now was completely useless at a fire scene. In fact, some would call an armless woman firefighter a hazard, just someone else to watch out for.

As she lay there, second alarm tones went off, calling for all personnel and mutual aid from two neighboring towns. The address was one that Cindy knew all too well, the address of the chemical plant. Her thoughts drifted back to the last alarm she had answered there—her last alarm. She had been relieved from cooling one of the chemical tanks and was out of the immediate fire area. She had taken off her breathing apparatus and bunker coat and was leaning against a large column with her back to the fire. Her hands were clasped behind her head as she rested with just her T-shirt covering her sweaty upper body. The blast had been horrendous and knocked Cindy to the ground, at least what was left of her. Because her arms were not protected by the column, they were blown away by the heat and flying debris from the explosion, and when she tried to push herself up, only the short bones that remained on her upper arms tried to do the task. Joan found her dazed and wandering aimlessly around in the devastation shortly after that. Only the firefighters in rehab or not yet at the scene, like Joan, had survived the blast. Cindy would find out later that ten of her friends had been killed instantly.

The next thing she remembered was talking to the ER doctor and him telling her that they had removed the remnants of her upper arm bones and they were able to save some of her arms. Nevertheless, she was almost armless and he was sorry that they couldn’t have left her more usable stumps. She now had only knobs at the end of her shoulders. Because they were unable to reattach the muscles to the small stubs of bones that remained, she was unable to move them. She could only shrug and move her shoulders around, and those movements still involved some pain. What was left of her arms only made small bulges in her T-shirt. The prosthetist who had visited her in the hospital told her that her stumps were so short that most prosthetic arms would be practically useless and that she should practice using her toes to do most things.

Nature called, and Cindy got up. Thanks to the efforts of her friends, she was able to use the toes of her right foot to open the newly installed lever handle on the door and get into the hallway. The light in the hallway was always on now, so she had no problem finding her way to the bathroom. She used her toes to turn on the bathroom light and open the toilet lid. She used her teeth to pull up her long T-shirt nightgown before she sat on the toilet seat. Joan had helped her keep her pubic hair neatly shaved so that wiping was now a nonissue. When she finished, she stood up and the T-shirt fell around her again as she used her toes to flush the toilet.

Cindy paused a moment to look at herself in the mirror. She still had a good-looking body—even without arms. Her breasts were not overly large, about the size of a grapefruit, and the implants made them very firm. Her stomach was still flat, and her hips were well proportioned. Her butt was tight and seemed to accentuate her long sensual legs. She was not happy about her shortened hair but had agreed to have it cut short so she could take care of it more easily. It was now just above her shoulders rather than almost to her waist. Then there were the sleeves—the mostly empty sleeves of her T-shirt. She had loved her well-proportioned arms and beautiful hands, hands that always were well manicured. She shook her shoulders just to make the empty sleeves flap a little.

She walked into the living room to look out the window. The second alarm was justified. The flames were giving an orange-colored glow to the early morning sky. When she had watched for a while, she decided to try and dress herself. She had only been armless for three months and out of the hospital for six weeks, and this was one of the new skills she was working on. She started by laboriously removing her long T-shirt that acted as her nightgown. It took her a while, but by rubbing on the bed and using her teeth, she finally managed to get it off. While she was completely nude, she went back to the bathroom to examine her little arm stumps. There was no sign of any drainage or extra redness from infection. In fact, she thought that the scars were beginning to fade a little.

Back in the bedroom, Cindy opened the drawer with her toes and used her teeth to pull out a short denim skirt and a tank top and deposited them on the bed. She was able to get her head started into the bottom of the tank top, and after more contortions and using the bed, she managed to get her head through the proper neck space between the straps. When she stood up, the tank top fell into place as far as it would go. A major portion of her midriff would be exposed. She used her toes to get the short skirt laid out on the floor, then sat on the bed as she positioned her feet in the waistband. With both feet in the waistband, she lay back on the bed and managed to get her feet started down through the top. After a little more kicking and squirming, she managed to get the skirt up around her knees. A mouth-stick with a hook was lying on the dresser, and she used it to pull her skirt’s elastic waistband up the rest of the way. Her new slip-in clog-style tennis shoes rounded out her ensemble.

Cindy headed for the door and slipped out of her right shoe. She used her toes to pull open the door, then slipped on her shoe long enough to get outside and used her toes again to pull the door closed. As she stood on the porch, she could see that the fire had grown in intensity, and now could see, rather than just the glow, flames leaping high into the sky. She walked down the steps and started walking across town toward the fire.

She had walked through the residential area, still quiet in the early morning, and into the downtown area. When she came to the railroad tracks and the most seedy part of town, she had an even a better view of the raging fire. Barrels of solvents were now exploding and taking off like rockets, and the memories of the night of her accident came flooding back as she stood there. She did not see the man approaching her.

“They can’t keep an old war-horse down,” he said.

“Marty, what are you doing here?” Cindy replied as she spun around to look squarely in his eyes.

Marty Garbzeio was the last person she expected to meet and also the last person she wanted to meet up with. Marty and Cindy had been in a serious relationship and were planning on getting married when she had discovered that he was a drug dealer. When Cindy terminated the relationship, Marty was outraged and had even threatened her.

“Is this the time of day you make your sales?”

“A little touchy this morning, aren’t we?” Marty responded.

“No, not touchy, disappointed in you is more like it,” she countered.

“Hey, a guy had to make a living somehow,” he said.

“Ya, easy bucks on the backs of kids who don’t know any better and junkies who can’t help themselves.”

“Well, their parents ought to teach them better” was his reply.

“Hell, most of those kids only have a mom who’s working two or three jobs just to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. Then you come along with your drugs and get the kid’s heads all messed up,” she snapped.

“So how have you been?” Marty said, trying to change the subject.

“Oh just ducky,” Cindy replied. “Life’s just a bowl of cherries with no arms. How in the hell do you think I’ve been?”

“I read about it in the paper and saw it on TV,” he responded. “I’m sorry that it happened to you and that your friend who you left me for got killed.”

“My friends were killed. But none who I left you for,” she said.

“What was his name? Oh yes, Jason,” he replied, scratching his chin and looking away.

“Jason was a good friend and only a friend. We only went out on a couple of dates,” she snapped back. “I left you for being the scum that you are.”

Her remark was met by a slap across her face. She reeled backwards from the blow but managed to stay on her feet.

“You worthless son-of-a-bitch,” she screamed only to be struck again. She tried to kick him and missed when he sidestepped, losing one of her shoes in the process.

“Why don’t you slap me back like you used to?” he taunted.

Cindy tried to kick him again, but this time, he caught her foot in mid air. Marty held her foot up and made her hop to retain her balance.

“Well, come on and slap me,” he continued to taunt.

“You know damn well I can’t, you ass.”

“Oh, poor little armless girl can’t slap the way she used to,” he teased while he continued to hold her foot in the air. “So what are you going to do now?”

She let her anger cool for a moment, then relented. “There’s not a damn thing I can do.”

He let go of her foot and retrieved her shoe. He bent down to put it in front of her and she caught him under his chin with her knee. The force of her blow sent him over backward onto the sidewalk. She was about to stomp on his groin when he rolled over quickly and sprung to his feet. He came at her, grabbing both of her arm bulges. She winced in pain.

“Still a little tender there, are we?” he quizzed.

“Please don’t!” Cindy pleaded. “It hurts! Let go. Please!”

Marty pressed harder, gouging his thumbs into her healing scars. Pain shot throughout Cindy’s body, and she screamed, then sunk to her knees. He did it again, and she rolled on the ground sobbing and screaming in agony. He stepped back to watch her writhe in pain.

When her pain subsided, Cindy lay there crying. Marty bent down and scooped her up in his arms. She was too spent and exhausted to fight him any longer. He set her down on her feet beside his car and opened the door.

“Let’s go for a little ride,” he said. “Get in.”

“No! I don’t want to go anywhere with you!” Cindy snapped.

“You don’t want me to touch those little bulges you call arms again, now do you?” he answered.

Relenting, she slid into the passenger’s seat, and Marty quickly reached across her to fasten her seatbelt. He shut the door and went around to the driver’s side. Cindy had the sinking feeling of being trapped as she fought claustrophobia. He got in, fastened his seatbelt, and started the car, then began driving down the street.

“So where are you taking me?” she quizzed as he headed away from town.

“I have a new place. It’s out in the country quite a ways. I want you to see it,” he replied. “It’s really quiet out there, and no one will bother us.”

He started driving toward the edge of town and soon was on the road to the airport. He pulled up to a business jet, and he got out. The pilot came down out of the plane to meet him. They talked for a moment, and the pilot got back on board. The engines were starting as Marty opened the car door and unfastened her seatbelt. He motioned for her to get out, but Cindy didn’t move; she just stared straight ahead. Marty grabbed her right arm bulge and squeezed hard as he pulled her from the car. Cindy’s screams of pain could not be heard over the whine of the starting jet engines.

“Let’s get going,” he commanded as he continued to force Cindy in the direction of plane.

Marty let go of her arm when they got to the steps. She managed to begin to dart quickly away from the plane, but his foot reached out in a flash and caught one of her feet causing her to begin stumbling. She took two more steps before she lost her balance completely and fell to the runway pavement. She tried to roll before she hit the ground but only managed to land on her left shoulder. Again, she began to writhe and scream in agony on the ground.

Marty picked her up and unceremoniously carried her back to the plane. He deposited her near the top step and pushed her into the plane. She was on her knees on the floor of the plane when he got in. He pushed a button and the stairs folded up and the door closed.

Marty grabbed her hair and, with Cindy still on her knees, forcibly moved her toward a seat. He lifted her into the soft leather seat and securely fastened her seatbelt. Again she was trapped, and the feeling of claustrophobia swept over her. It was the same helpless feeling she had felt in the hospital when the sheets were tucked in tightly, and being weak from her surgeries and newly armless, she had found that she was powerless to free herself.

The plane started to taxi. Marty closed all of the curtains before going forward into the cockpit with the pilot. Soon Cindy was feeling the power of the takeoff as she was pressed back into the seat. She wiggled and tried to get free of the seatbelt. She leaned toward the window but was unable to reach it from her seat. She wondered where they were going as she sat there all alone—confined to her seat by the tightly fastened seatbelt.

The door to the cockpit opened, and all Cindy could see was blue sky. Marty joined her in the cabin and offered her a bottle of water. She refused and asked, “Where are we going?”

“I told you I picked up this little ranch. It’s out a long way so it’s quicker to fly,” he replied. “Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink?”

“No thank you.”

“We’ll be descending soon. He’ll do a touch and go landing, then fly right down on the deck until we get to the ranch. He’ll turn off the transponder while we’re down, and that way, the air traffic controllers will think we’re still there at Jerkwater.”

Marty rejoined the pilot and, once again, left Cindy alone. She felt the engines slow, and her ears popped as the plane started down. She felt and heard the wheels touch down and then felt the plane lift off. This time, the whine of the engines was not as strong.

Fifteen minutes had gone by when the power to the engines was reduced, and almost instantly, she felt the plane touch down. This time, the plane came to a stop and then began to taxi. They made one turn, and the plane came to a quick halt. Some light had been coming through the curtains, but now the cabin was dark and only illuminated by the cabin lights. Marty came through the door from the cockpit.

“We’ve arrived,” he announced as he unfastened her seatbelt.

Cindy stood up and stretched as Marty opened the door with the stairs. He went out first and helped Cindy down the stairs. Cindy looked around expecting to be at an airport somewhere; instead, she found herself standing in an airplane hangar just large enough to hold the jet. The large overhead door just finished closing.

“Where the hell are we?” Cindy asked.

“In my garage,” he replied.

“Garage? This place holds the whole damn airplane!”

“Well, maybe not a garage. How about a hangar?”

They walked outside into the bright sunshine. Cindy looked around at what under normal circumstances would have been a pleasant ranch headquarters complex, complete with large old cottonwood trees. As Marty escorted her toward the big house, she looked back at the hanger cleverly disguised as a very large white barn.

“So where are we?” Cindy asked.

“A million miles from nowhere,” Marty replied. “Seriously, the nearest civilization is at least a hundred and fifty miles from here, and that’s only a gas station and a feed store.”

“Where do the people who live around here shop?”

“They don’t,” he replied, “because nobody lives around here. There’re no houses within a hundred-mile radius of this place. There’s no water out there if you’re thinking about walking home.”

“How do you know that?” she quizzed.

“Because I own it now and that’s what my cowboys tell me,” he replied as they approached the big house.

“Why such a big place out in the middle of nowhere?” Cindy quizzed.

“The ranch is really secluded and keeps me out of trouble” Marty replied confidently. “This is a cattle operation. We fatten cattle up for slaughter.”

They walked to the main house in silence.

“After you,” he said, opening the door.

Cindy walked inside and let her eyes adjust to the light. Marty followed and shut the door behind them. Cindy looked around at the huge living room area of the fine log home tastefully furnished with heavy log and green leather furniture.

“Your room will be right down this way,” he said, leading her to the doorway at the end of a wide hallway.

He opened the door and held it open for Cindy to walk inside. She looked around the spacious bedroom. It was furnished with a king size bed and two large dressers. One of the dressers contained a large TV. The large window overlooked the vast desert beyond the contrasting green lawn.

“Everything you need is in here,” Marty told her. “The bathroom is behind that door. It has no latch so you shouldn’t have a problem with it. You should be able to operate everything. Let me know if you can’t. Don’t waste your time trying to break out. All the windows in the house have bulletproof glass, and they don’t open in this room.”

“It looks like you’ve thought of everything,” she replied.

“I hope I haven’t forgotten anything,” he said. “I’ve been planning this for quite a while.”

“You’ve what?” Cindy exclaimed in a raised voice.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Marty said calmly. “Right now, you settle in and look over your new room. I have some business to attend to.”

“Damn it! Tell me now,” she screamed.

Marty turned and walked out the door and pulled it shut behind her. Cindy, still fuming, tried to turn the round doorknob with her foot. Then she lay down on her back and tried using both feet to turn the smooth knob, but it wouldn’t budge. It was then that she noticed that the doorknob had a keyhole in the center, the kind that you would find on an exterior door but with the keyhole on her side and she was locked in.

She got up and began looking around the room, which suddenly began to feel like a prison cell to her. She opened a door—this time with lever handle hardware—to a large walk-in closet. The generous closet was about half-filled with clothes. She examined some of the blouses hanging there. Some of them had long sleeves, and some were sleeveless, but several had the sleeves cut off and sewn shut. She looked at the size label on one of the dresses; it was her size.

Cindy left the closet and walked into the generous bathroom. A skylight provided plenty of natural light as did the window above the large jetted bathtub. The huge walk-in shower had no door but had controls that were near the floor and designed to be foot operated. Sitting next to the toilet was a bidet. Cindy had seen one before but had never used one. Water squirted up from the middle of it when she put her foot on the floor pedal. The sinks on the vanity had spouts but no handles. Water also came out of a spout when she stepped on one of the two floor pedals. She looked in the mirror and saw what a mess she was.

Back in the bedroom, she sat on the bed and then lay back. It was a little firmer than she was used to, but it was comfortable.

‘I guess if I’m going to be kidnaped and held somewhere I could have been locked up in a lot worse places,’ she thought to herself . . .

Cindy must have dozed and woke with a start when something touched her leg. She blinked her eyes open, and it took her a moment to remember where she was and what had happened to her. She was surprised to see a woman standing beside her bed. Cindy didn’t say anything but only smiled. The woman smiled back.

“Hello, my name’s Cindy,” she said.

“Yes, I know. My name’s Arlene,” the woman replied. “Mr. Garbzeio said that you may need some assistance and has asked me to help you.”

Cindy struggled in her usual manner to get to a sitting position. It was then that she noticed that Arlene was supporting herself with aluminum forearm crutches. It only took a quick glance for Cindy to see the heavy braces that encased her very thin and atrophied legs. Arlene was well built and had long blond hair. Her makeup was done tastefully, and her dark tan seemed to make the white blouse even brighter. The blouse had three-quarter sleeves, and the top three buttons were not fastened. She wore khaki walking shorts that allowed her braces to be exposed. Her shoes were sturdy flats but comfortable looking.

“Do I pass inspection?” Arlene asked.

“I’m sorry. I . . . I . . . I didn’t mean to stare. I just wasn’t expecting anyone. I guess I’m just surprised,” Cindy stammered.

“That I’m a cripple too?” Arlene said.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Cindy countered. “I just thought I was going to have to get along on my own.”

“That’d be kinda tough without any arms. Those short stumps don’t look like they’d be very useful,” Arlene said. “How’d you lose them?”

“I was fighting a fire in a chemical plant when it exploded. I had just sat down behind a large column when the plant blew. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital like this,” Cindy said. “What happened to you?”

“I was standing in line at a theater when I was nine. A gang war erupted, and we were in the crossfire. A slug blew my spine apart right about bellybutton height. They were able to rebuild the bones but not my spinal chord. I’m completely paralyzed, and can’t feel anything from the waist on down.”

“That’s really a bummer,” Cindy said.

“It’s not as bad as losing both arms,” Arlene countered. “At least I can drag myself around with these braces and crutches. Are they going to get you prosthetic arms?”

“The prosthetist who examined me in the hospital said my arm stumps were too short to make arms that would be very functional. He suggested that I try to learn to do things with my feet and toes as much as possible.”

“So how are you doing?”

“I can eat by holding a fork with my toes and can write my name,” Cindy said. “But that’s about it. I still need help with a lot of the everyday things. How did you and Marty hook up?”

“I was turning tricks downtown when Mr. Garbzeio found me,” Arlene replied. “He took me off the street and fixed me up with a job doing bookkeeping. He had me come out here when he bought this place. I like it out here; it’s nice and quiet, and there’s no place for me to get into trouble.”

“That must have been pretty scary for you. I mean being with guys like that.”

“For the most part, it wasn’t that bad. Like I told you, I can’t feel a thing from the waist down. They could bang me all they wanted, and I couldn’t even feel them in me. I’d fake an orgasm every once in a while to make it look good,” she said. “I only got in trouble a couple of times.”

“Like how?” Cindy quizzed.

“Well, part of my routine was taking off my braces as seductively as possible. A lot of guys got off playing with these lifeless legs of mine. They’d put them in different positions before they climbed on me,” Arlene continued. “A few guys were abusive. One took my crutches away from me when I was standing in the middle of the room. I, of course, toppled right over as soon as he let go of me. At least I fell forward so I could catch myself. Over backwards is not fun. Then there was the guy who took my braces off by force and had me try to walk with only my crutches. When that didn’t work and I fell, he jumped me there on the floor. When he was done, he put both my braces and my crutches up on the shelf in the closet. There was no way in hell that I could get them.”

“So what did you do?”

“I dragged myself over to the nightstand and called my pimp. He came and rescued me. He also took care of my customer. The next time I saw the guy, he had a broken leg and was on crutches too.”

“That sounds like a tough way to make a living,” Cindy observed.

“It isn’t too bad if you can protect yourself. I’m relatively vulnerable, especially if I don’t have my crutches and my braces. I need them both to function,” Arlene said. “Say, are you getting hungry?”

“I’m famished,” Cindy said. “I didn’t get any breakfast before I was invited out here.”

“I guess invited sounds better than kidnaped,” Arlene offered. “Let’s get you cleaned up a bit and find some late lunch.”

They went into the bathroom. Arlene leaned her crutches against the vanity and helped Cindy wash up. Arlene held onto the vanity with one hand and worked with the other. She applied a little makeup to Cindy and brushed her hair. The next stop was the walk-in closet where Cindy picked out a nice blouse and short leather skirt. Arlene had Cindy sit on the bed, and she sat down beside her to get her dressed. When they finished, Cindy stood with no trouble while Arlene struggled to get her crutches and braced legs in just the right position to push herself up.

Cindy went into the bathroom to admire her new look in the mirror. She liked the look that the empty three-quarter sleeves made. When she left the bathroom, she found Arlene standing in the open doorway.

“Let’s go,” Arlene said.

Cindy walked out into the wide hallway, then Arlene crutched just far enough to be able to close the door. They walked down the hallway into the family style kitchen. Arlene had Cindy sit at the table.

“What would you like?” Arlene quizzed.

“Anything. Maybe some scrambled eggs,” Cindy replied.

“Hell, you’re easy,” Arlene replied.

She gathered the ingredients and began to scramble three eggs for Cindy. She was soon putting the eggs on a plate for Cindy. Arlene put the plate on the breakfast bar and crutched into position to transfer the plate to the table near Cindy. Next, Arlene crutched over to the silverware drawer and removed a fork. Holding the fork in one hand, she crutched over to the table and laboriously sat down next to Cindy.

“Can you eat by yourself, or do you need some help?” Arlene asked.

“I can eat by myself,” Cindy said, putting her foot on the table.

She picked up the fork with her toes and began to eat by holding the fork and leaning toward the plate. In no time at all, she was finished.

“That hit the spot,” Cindy said. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Arlene said. “Mr. Garbzeio asked that I show you around if you’re interested.”

“Sure. I might as well see how big my prison is,” Cindy replied.

“Try to think of it as being a guest. It will be a lot easier on you,” Arlene countered.

Cindy got up, and Arlene again struggled to get her braced legs positioned so that she could leverage her way to a standing position. Arlene led the way to the patio out the family room sliding-glass door. It was a spacious patio with an Olympic size pool beyond. A large stainless steel barbeque was standing in the corner under a cover. Arlene began crutching toward the barbeque.

“This is where Mr. Garbzeio likes to entertain his guests,” Arlene said.

“I can just imagine who his guests are,” Cindy said sarcastically.

They continued on around the side of the house onto the lawn under the big trees. A putting green was in the middle of the lawn. They walked around to the front of the house where they could see the barn.

“I know what’s in the barn, but what are all those pens for?” Cindy asked.

“Cows,” Arlene replied. “This is a cattle operation. Those pens are for the final loading of cattle being shipped to market. The feeding pens are beyond the hay bale pile. We had a shipment go out last week so we’re down about a quarter of our capacity. New cows are expected tomorrow, then we’ll be back up to our normal working level.”

“You’re kidding me. Marty is running a cattle ranch?” Cindy exclaimed. “Not a drug operation?”

“As far as I’ve been told, that’s what we do. Cattle. Legitimate,” Arlene replied.

“That’s hard for me to believe,” Cindy said. “How can he afford the jet?”

“Its lease is factored into the overhead of the ranch,” Arlene replied. “The ranch’s remoteness warrants it. It’s a four-hour drive just to get to the freeway. The cattle trucks all need team drivers.”

“Can’t they just stop and sleep?” Cindy asked.

“Once the cattle are loaded, they don’t come back out of the truck until they get to the slaughterhouse.”

They walked over to the stable. There were several horses in the stalls.

“Do you ride?” Arlene asked.

“I used to,” Cindy replied. “I’d have a hard time controlling a horse with no arms.”

“One mare is really gentle, and I think she’s pretty smart. Maybe we could train her to respond to your voice commands,” Arlene suggested.

“I don’t know,” Cindy said reluctantly. “If I were to fall off, I’d have no way of catching myself to break my fall.”

“You could always do like they do to me, be tied onto the saddle,” Arlene offered.

“Really?”

“Yes. They’ve added some straps to my saddle that hold my legs in place. One strap on each side goes around my upper thigh, and the other goes around my boot at the stirrup,” Arlene said.

“Do you ride often?” Cindy asked.

“Every day if I have time,” Arlene replied. “I don’t know how much time I’ll have now that you’re here.”

“I hate to cut into your riding time,” Cindy said. “Maybe I could train that mare.”

“I’ll have to get Mr. Garbzeio’s OK, but I don’t think he’ll object as long as it makes you happy.”

“Make me happy?”

“Yes. He’s very much in love with you,” Arlene answered. “He was devastated when you rejected him.”

“We were all set to get married when I found out the truth. I just couldn’t handle the drug thing,” Cindy told her.

“I know. I was with him right after it happened,” Arlene replied. “I’ve never seen anyone so devastated.”

“Really. He didn’t seem that broken up to me,” Cindy said. “He was very stoic and just kind of walked away. I had laid into him pretty heavy about the drug thing.”

“I’m pretty sure that it’s the reason that he bought this cattle ranch,” Arlene said. “As far as I can tell, this is a legitimate operation, unless he’s keeping a separate set of books. The only thing we do here other than cattle is the pumping plant.”

“Pumping plant?”

“Yes. A natural gas pumping plant is just over that ridge,” Arlene continued. “Gas coming from Mexico is pumped from the plant. We have a contract with the pipeline company to keep it running and do the routine maintenance. To be honest with you, it’s the way he can afford the jet.”

“How many people work there?” Cindy asked.

“Just one person watching the board. If he runs into problems, he calls the rest of the crew that are working the cattle for help. They all know how to run the plant and work as a team when it needs fixing,” Arlene said. “If they run into a major breakdown in one of the pumping units, the pipeline company comes out to fix it.”

While they had been standing at the corral talking, Cindy noticed a jeep with no top approaching them. As it got closer, she saw that Marty was driving. It pulled up beside them.

“Good afternoon,” he said.

“Good afternoon Mr. Garbzeio,” Arlene said.

Cindy remained silent. Marty shut off the jeep and got out.

“Still not talking?” he asked Cindy.

“I guess I don’t have much to say,” she replied.

“I hope your room was satisfactory,” he said.

“Fine,” Cindy replied. “I did have a little problem with the doorknob on the door to get out of my room. It didn’t have lever handle hardware, and I don’t do knobs very well without any hands or arms.”

“Maybe we can remedy that in a couple of days,” he answered. “We’ll have to see how well things work out.”

“What do you mean by that?” Cindy quizzed.

“Let’s call it a reward for good behavior,” Marty stated.

“That works for me,” Cindy answered after a thoughtful pause.

“Good. We can get on with things,” he said. “Arlene, George has the tally and weights on the last load of cattle. Could you run me some totals and give me some projections based on the bid price?”

“Certainly Mr. Garbzeio. I’ll get right on it,” Arlene said. “Cindy, let me know if you need help with anything.”

“OK,” Cindy replied. “Thanks for your help and lunch.”

“You’re welcome,” Arlene answered, then crutched toward the cattle pens. “See you later.”

“Quite a girl,” he said when she had crutched out of earshot.

“She seems very pleasant. Thank you for asking her to help me,” Cindy said. “Too bad about her legs.”

“She was shot when she was twelve. It destroyed her spine,” Marty said. “Did you know she was a math whiz?”

“No, we didn’t talk about that other than she said she kept your books. This is quite a place you have,” Cindy said. “Arlene told me that this is a cattle feeding operation and that you also run a natural gas pumping station.”

“That’s pretty much it in a nutshell,” he replied.

“And that you’re not selling drugs anymore,” she said.

“No. I’m not selling any drugs. My drug dealing days are over,” Marty told her.

“That’s good news,” Cindy said. “I’ll have to see it to believe it.”

“That’s a major part of my plan, to show you that I’ve cleaned up my act and lead a life as a solid citizen,” he said. “I’m sorry that I had to bring you out here by force, but I couldn’t think of any other way of getting you here. I wanted to show you first hand how my life has changed.”

“Being kidnaped is not high on my priorities of what I really wanted to do with my life,” she remarked. “It ranks right up there with spending my life without arms. It’s not my idea of fun.”

“My assumption is that it’s extremely frustrating for you,” he commented. “You’ve seemed to have hardened quite a bit.”

“You have no idea how frustrating it is. Every time I reach for something, nothing happens and I want to scream,” she said. “The frustration, coupled with you and those damn drugs, have probably hardened me.”

“Well, we don’t have any drugs to worry about out here, and maybe we can work on the reduction of those frustrations,” he said. “Would you like to continue the tour?”

“Sure. I’d like the full tour,” Cindy told him.

Marty helped Cindy get into the open jeep and fastened her seatbelt before he got into the driver’s seat. He started the jeep and made a wide circle driving down a wide road that had served as the runway. Past the barn, near the end of the runway, they came to a series of pens. He turned down one of the alleys and drove until they came to some cattle, then stopped the jeep.

“These are the cattle that were shipped in yesterday,” he told her. “We keep them here and feed them a special feed that will cause them to gain more weight.”

“Didn’t they feed them before?” she asked.

“Not like this,” he said. “These are all range cattle. They’ve been foraging around in open fields just eating the grass they can find. My buyer found them at an online auction and got me a deal. We’ll fatten them up and probably make a third on the investment.”

“They look so cute, like they want to be petted.”

“That’s the last thing they want. These cattle are wild and are afraid of people. If you were to get in one of the pens with them, there’s a good chance you’d be trampled,” he told her.

They continued on down the alley between the pens and turned toward what appeared to be a small office. He stopped the jeep in front of the building and got out, walked around the vehicle, and undid her seatbelt. After helping her down, they went into the building. The office was a large room that contained several desks and doors that looked like they could have opened onto private offices. A man who looked like he had just stepped out of a western movie sat behind a desk near the back.

“George, I’d like you to meet Cindy,” Marty said to him. “She’s the girl I’ve been telling you about. George is our foreman here for the ranch.”

“Nice to meet you ma’am,” he said in a drawl while standing up and extending his hand.

“Nice to meet you too,” Cindy replied, looking at his hand and then down at her empty right sleeve.

He dropped his hand and broke off eye contact, obviously embarrassed, then said, “Mr. Garbzeio tells me you’re going to be staying with us for a while.”

“That appears to be the case,” Cindy said, looking at Marty, then back at George. “This is quite an operation you have out here. Marty is just starting to give me the grand tour.”

“George and his men will help you with anything you need,” Marty said.

“Thank you. That is very kind of you,” she said. “I’m sure that I’ll be asking for help with something. I really haven’t gotten this armless business down yet.”

Marty took her into his office. It was done in beautiful dark raised panels. The spotlighting accentuated the paneling and illuminated some very nice paintings. His desk was oversized dark mahogany, and a computer sat on the credenza behind it.

“Do you have Internet access?” she asked.

“Yes, we have satellite access, both up link and down link,” he said. “There are no phone or power lines out here. We do some of our buying from the online sales.”

“I’m assuming that you run this place with a generator then,” Cindy said.

“You sound like the engineer that you are,” he replied. “The generator is backup. We power some of the ranch with solar.”

“That makes sense,” she admitted. “And let me guess; the generator is run on natural gas that you get from the pipeline.”

“Bingo,” he said. “The main generator is over at the pumping plant. A standby generator is out behind this building in a little shed. It hasn’t been used in the year I’ve been here. It only runs for the scheduled tests.”

They walked out of his office and back into the main office room. He showed her the conference room, and then they walked by Arlene’s office. She was sitting behind her desk in her wheelchair. When she saw them through the window, she backed up the wheelchair, turned, and wheeled out from behind the desk. Marty opened her door.

“The numbers look great on that last bunch of cattle that just went out,” she said. “As for the new load, Josh got them at a good price and George says they’ll finish off with a minimum of supplements in the grain. I’ll put the numbers in on your desk. You might want to have Josh looking for one more load.”

“That’s great,” he said. “I’m going to take Cindy over to the gas pump. I think she’d like to see it. I told you she had a degree in engineering, didn’t I?”

“Yes, I believe you mentioned it,” she said. “So what do you think of our little operation?”

“I’m impressed that you have all this stuff way out here,” Cindy replied. “We’re just getting started on the tour though.”

“Enjoy the rest of the tour,” Arlene said. “I’ll see you back at the house.”

They walked outside, and he helped her get back in the jeep. He gave her a quick kiss as he fastened her seatbelt. Cindy didn’t reciprocate passionately but didn’t turn away either. He walked around and got in, then pulled out of the parking place. They drove past some green fields with sprinklers spraying large amounts of water on them.

“These fields are alfalfa,” he told her. “The cattle love it, and it really helps with their finishing. If we can feed them this and cut down on the expensive grain supplements, it greatly improves the profit margin.”

“That makes sense to me,” she admitted. “Where do you get all the water? I notice you have a three-phase pump over there.”

“That’s pretty observant,” he said. “We’re sitting on a huge underground lake right here. Water’s only down a hundred feet. The cottonwood trees growing around here are what told the original settlers that there was water here. The test wells showed their instincts were correct. It’s really good water too.”

They continued on down the road past more green fields, then turned up and over a ridge. The fields on the other side of the ridge were golden. Marty told her that this was the hay they used in conjunction with the alfalfa. She saw some men out harvesting it and making large round bales. They continued following the road and made a sharp turn north. They stopped as the road started down into a small valley. The gas pumping plant was nestled in the valley and surrounded by a few large ash trees.

“Let me guess; this is the natural gas pumping plant,” Cindy offered.

“Right on,” he said. “It’s what makes this operation so profitable. We run it for the gas pipeline company with cowboys who work for a lot less than highly paid union guys. They’d have to have at least a dozen people out here just sitting around waiting for their shift to end. The cowboys rotate in and out of there once a week and work around the ranch on the days they’re not scheduled in there. It really only takes one person at a time to run the plant.”

They continued on down to the front of the large concrete block building. He helped her out of the jeep, this time without a kiss. They walked up the steps and went inside, and she noticed the increase in the background hum of the engines running. Once inside the vestibule, he opened the door to a control room. They went inside and he closed the door and the sound level dropped dramatically. The cowboy who was sitting behind a console stood up and nodded his notice of their presence.

“Bob, this is Cindy,” Marty said.

The cowboy walked eagerly toward them and offered a hand for her to shake. He suddenly realized that both of Cindy’s sleeves were empty and that she had no hands to shake. His face turned bright red.

“Nice to meet you Bob,” Cindy said. “Please don’t be embarrassed. It happens a lot.”

“I’m giving Cindy the grand tour of the ranch. She’ll be staying with us for a while,” Marty said. “What’s happening here today?”

“Not much. It’s pretty quiet,” he said.

“I thought that they were sending the exam pig today?” Marty asked, a little puzzled.

“They called about a half hour ago and said it broke down,” Bob told him. “It’ll take them about a week to get it fixed. They’ll call us when they’re ready to send it again.”

“Exam pig?” Cindy quizzed.

“The pipeline company uses what they call pigs to look at the lines from the inside. It’s a large cylinder that the natural gas pushes through the pipe. It has a video camera and tapes the inside of the pipeline to look for leaks, and if they find anything wrong, they can come back and take a closer look. As a last resort, they’d have to dig up the pipeline to fix it,” Marty said. “They also use different kinds of pigs for cleaning the scale off the inside of the pipe.”

“So what do you have to do when one of those pigs comes down the line?” Cindy said. “I assume that they don’t send them through the pumps.”

“Exactly. We have what they call a pig trap in a little building outside of the pump room over there,” Marty said, pointing at the room. “There’s another one on the other side of the plant. So the pigs never actually pass through the pump room.”

“That’s interesting. I’d like to see how it works,” she said.

“We can do that,” Marty replied. “This is the console over here.”

They walked over to the console. It had a lot of dials and long-handled switches. All the controls were mounted at about waist level. Cindy studied the board and the controls.

“I bet I could run this thing,” she said.

“You probably could. Those switches turn pretty easily. You should be able to run them with your feet,” Marty told her.

“Can I try something that’s off line?” she asked.

“See if you can open this valve on the number two standby pump,” he told her, pointing at a long-handled switch.

She slipped off a sandal and turned the switch to the open position. A green light began to glow on the big board. She turned the switch back the other way, and the light went out.

“I knew I could do it,” Cindy said proudly.

“Maybe we can make you a plant operator,” Marty told her.

“I’m up to it,” she said. “I think I’ll get really bored just hanging around the house.”

“We can talk about it,” he replied.

Marty put on some hearing protection earmuffs on and put a set on her. They walked out onto the floor where two of the big pumps were running. Two more sat idle in reserve. He allowed her to look at all the piping and examine how the valves interconnected the pumps. They went outside, and he took off her earmuffs. The hum of the plant was still loud. Cindy commented on it.

“You should have heard this thing when we took over. No mufflers at all,” he said.

He opened the door to a small shed, and they went inside.

“This is one of the pig trap rooms,” he told her. “Essentially, it’s a piece of the pipeline that’s designed to be opened. When we’re expecting a pig, we need to be sure that these two valves are open. When the pig hits the trap, you can hear it. Then we open the bypass valve and close the valves on either side of the trap. Once we bleed off the pressure, we can open up the cover and take the pig out. We then close up the trap and open the two valves, and we’re back in business.”

“I don’t think I could handle this,” she said. “Being armless does have a lot of drawbacks. Running wrenches and turning big valves is not on the small list of things I can do. What do you do with the pigs?”

“It depends,” he said. “The pipeline company tells us. Most of the time they want us to put it back in the pipeline on the other side of the plant. Then you just reverse the process. Sometimes if they’re the cleaning pigs, they just have us keep them until they can pick them up. They usually drop off a couple of them, and we keep them in the send side room.”

They walked back outside and toward the jeep. She turned and faced him before he helped her get in and gave him a kiss. When the short kiss was done, he helped her get in and fastened her seatbelt tighter than it had been before, then walked around to the driver’s side. He backed the jeep out of the parking place and started off in the opposite direction of the ranch complex. Soon the road turned into only a couple of ruts, and he shifted into four-wheel drive as they began climbing up a steep hill. Being armless and unable to hold onto anything, Cindy was glad to be tightly restrained by the seatbelt. When he stopped on the top of the ridge, the panoramic view of the surrounding country was breathtaking.

“Wow, this is quite a view,” Cindy exclaimed. “I love the long shadows.”

Marty got out, then unfastened Cindy. He helped her out of the jeep, and they walked over to an overlook. She could see the pumping plant and the ranch house complex. After a long silence, she spoke. “Marty, I need to apologize too,” she began. “I’ve been pretty tough on you and damn sarcastic. I didn’t appreciate being taken by force and being brought out here. I can understand why you did it. You know I’ve never stopped loving you; I just couldn’t handle the drugs and the lifestyle that it represented. If you hadn’t kidnaped me, I never would have come voluntarily.”

“I was pretty desperate,” he admitted. “I’ve really missed you.”

“I tried to put you out of my mind, but you kept popping back up again,” she said. “Well, I’m here in a different physical form than you remember. So where do we go from here?”

“Can we continue on as before that awful night when you found out about my major source of income?” he asked.

“I can never forget about that; and even though I am thankful that you’re in a different business now, that doesn’t change what you did to all those kids on the street. We need to work on that somehow,” she told him. “We also have another problem. There’s a very nice woman with a blown-away spine who is in love with you.”

“Arlene, in love with me?” he quizzed. “I find that hard to believe.”

“If she never told you, you sure missed all of the signs,” Cindy said. “How did she act when she found out that I was going to be coming out here?”

“I guess that she has become more quiet. Maybe less outgoing. Perhaps a little sullen,” he said. “I never have thought of her that way. She’s never come on to me.”

“She’s a class act who was caught up in some real tough circumstances and did her best to survive. How long has she been working for you?”

“I found her working the streets the weekend we broke up,” he said. “I used her services that night, and she told me her story. I spilled my guts out to her too about our big breakup. I needed a bookkeeper so I hired her for that. That was the only time we were in bed together.”

“So you met her on the rebound, and she listened to you. You hired her and haven’t touched her since,” she recapped.

“I didn’t think that sex was important to her,” he said.

“It isn’t,” Cindy replied. “She has no feeling below her bellybutton. When you screwed her, she didn’t even feel you penetrate her.”

“You’re telling me she faked the orgasm?”

“She told me that’s what she used to do all the time to make her clients think they were pleasing her. It was all an act on her part,” Cindy said. “So if we’re going to hook up again, what do you do about a loyal employee who’s very much in love with you?”

“Any ideas on what we should do? I don’t want to lose her as an employee.”

“Let’s try to keep up the adversarial role for a while and see what works out,” Cindy suggested. “Let’s see how she handles it.”

“I don’t like playing with her feelings like that,” he said. “She’s really a nice girl.”

“You could always send me back and pretend this little trip didn’t happen,” she offered.

“That’s not really an option now that I’ve seen you again and tasted those lips,” he said.

“Even if I no longer have any useful arms, only these little bulges?” she teased.

He fingered her empty sleeves for a moment, then let them drop uselessly by her side. He watched for a moment as the breeze moved them slightly. He put his arms around her, and the ensuing kiss was extremely passionate. Both of them were now uninhibited, and passion flowed freely.

“Those empty sleeves really do turn me on,” he said and kissed her again.

“I’m glad,” she whispered.

When they finished, he helped her back into the jeep and secured her tightly before he got in. The sun had set sometime during one of the passionate kisses, and it was beginning to get dark as he picked his way down off of the ridge.

Chapter 2 (One month later)

“So what are you going to do today? Are you going riding?” Arlene asked Cindy as she helped her with her bath.

“I went for a good long walk a couple of days ago,” Cindy replied. “I think I’ll do it again today. Maybe take along some sandwiches in a backpack and make a day of it. I really enjoy the solitude out here, and it felt good to get out and stretch it out.”

“I wish I could join you. It sounds wonderful,” Arlene remarked. “But there’s no way that I could keep up with you.”

“I’d like for you to be able to go too, but the terrain does get pretty rough out there.”

“You better go by yourself. I’ve got a lot of work piled up on my desk. We have a shipment going out tomorrow.”

“That should keep you busy all right. It looks to me like the cattle business has a lot of paperwork,” Cindy said.

“It does. Besides, apparently they’re expecting some pigs down at the pump station today. I’ll probably be in the office by myself.”

Arlene helped Cindy out of the tub and dried her off, then helped her get dressed. Cindy had chosen just a T-shirt and walking shorts. The T-shirt had really short sleeves but her arm bulges still did not show. The sleeves just hung there—empty and unoccupied. She wanted to wear hiking boots, but because she was traveling by herself and going to need to use her toes, she was forced to wear a slip-on shoe with a heavy sole.

After being around Arlene with her paralyzed legs, Cindy had come to believe that she was better off. Sure, she couldn’t pick up things with her nonexistent hands, but she still had her mobility, and that was the lesser of two evils in her eyes.

Arlene made Cindy a big breakfast and some sandwiches for lunch while Cindy ate the breakfast. She left the sandwiches and a water bottle in a backpack on the breakfast bar. Arlene left for the office, and Cindy had the place to herself. She finished eating in her usual manner using her toes and managed to get the plate back to the sink. Cindy worked her way into the backpack, wiggling her shoulders skillfully to get the straps over her arm stumps.

It had cooled down a bit overnight so Cindy walked at a brisk pace as she headed out for her adventure. Her walk took her in a large circle around the edge of the fields, and she ended up on the ridge that overlooked the gas pumping plant when it was lunchtime. It took very little effort for her to remove the backpack. She sat down and slipped off her shoes, then opened the top flap of the backpack with her toes. She took the sandwiches and water out of the backpack and positioned herself to be able to eat lunch holding the sandwich with her foot.

As she was eating, she noticed George’s pickup pull up to the pumping station. He went inside, and in a few minutes, he came out with two of the cowboys and backed his pickup around to the pig trap building. They had just gone inside the pig trap building and out of her view when she saw Marty pull up in his jeep. He went inside the building too. Before too long, the two cowboys hauled a pig out and put it in a cradle in the back of George’s pickup. They repeated the process three more times until four pigs were loaded into the back of the pickup. The four of them gathered around the tailgate of the pickup, and it appeared to Cindy that they had opened one pig. Next, she saw Marty take out a white bag out of the pig about the size of a loaf of bread. He looked at it carefully and put it back into the pig. George got in the cab, and the pickup drove off in the direction of the office. Marty followed him in his jeep, and the two cowboys went back inside the pumping plant.

Cindy was puzzled as she sat there looking down on the pumping plant from on top of the ridge. ‘I wonder what they’re up to’ she thought to herself. ‘I thought that they put the pigs in the other shed.’

She finished her lunch and put the water bottle and the sandwich wrappings into the backpack. She had a little problem getting the backpack back on, but she managed to do it. She stood up and slid her feet back into her shoes before she started down the road off the top of the ridge. Her route back to the ranch house was roughly the reverse of the tour that Marty had given her a month earlier. When she got to the office, George’s pickup was parked in its usual place with the tailgate down. She looked at the pipeline pigs still in the back and noticed that these looked different from the others that Marty had shown her. They were a little longer, and each one had a little door in the side that needed a screwdriver to open. One of the doors was slightly ajar, and Cindy used a well-practiced toe to flip it open. She looked inside and saw several clear bags filled with white powder.

Her heart sank when she realized that she was looking at a cocaine shipment! This whole place was an elaborate front for a drug smuggling operation! Marty had lied to her!

She used her toes to close the lid and slipped her shoe back on. Tears welled up in her eyes as she started walking back toward the house. She walked up to the front door but couldn’t open it and cursed her armlessness under her breath as she walked around the back toward the pool. It took a bit of doing, but she was able to slide open the sliding glass door. She dropped the backpack in the kitchen and continued on to her room. She was now able to open the door because of the lever handle hardware that Marty had authorized.

Cindy slipped off her shoes and managed to get her shorts off. She went into the bathroom and took care of some urgent business. When she was finished, she used the bidet. She looked at herself in the mirror and noticed how red her eyes were from crying. She walked back into her bedroom and, after some contortions, managed to get her T-shirt off. Now nude, she went into the walk-in shower and used the low controls to get the water flowing at a temperature that felt right. She was unable to scrub herself, but the water flowing over her body felt wonderful to her.

When she’d stood there almost a half hour, she turned off the water and, still dripping, got out of the shower. She used her teeth to get an oversized bath towel from the towel bar. She was about to spread it out on the floor and roll on it to dry when she looked out the window and saw the hot tub by the pool calling to her. With a toss of her head, she managed to get the towel over one shoulder and walked outside through the sliding glass door in the family room. She dropped her towel over a chair, got into the hot tub, and managed to get the bubbles going. She sat down on the seat that gave a full back massage, then closed her eyes and tried to relax. Unfortunately, the pain of Marty’s lie came flooding back causing her to begin crying again.

She was still crying when Arlene found her alone in the hot tub.

“What’s the matter?” Arlene asked, turning off the bubbles.

“I’ve been lied to, and I’m just sick about it,” Cindy replied.

“Lied to?”

“Yes, lied to!” Cindy said forcefully. “That son-of-a-bitch lied to me. He said he was out of the drug business, and he isn’t.”

“Are you sure?” Arlene quizzed.

“Damn right,” she told her. “I saw it with my own eyes right in the back of George’s pickup.”

“I just walked by George’s pickup, and I didn’t see anything except the pipeline pigs,” Arlene said.

“The stuff is in those damn pigs,” Cindy said. “I was up on the ridge above the pumping plant when the pigs came in. Marty, George, and two of the hands were there. I saw them look in one of the pigs and then put it and the other three in the back of George’s pickup. George drove the pickup back to the office, and I followed it. When I got to the office, no one was outside and I managed to get one open. It was full of bags with white powder.”

“Cocaine?”

“They’re not shipping in flour from Mexico. They’re shipping coke down the pipeline in the pigs,” Cindy said.

“I swear I didn’t know anything about it,” Arlene said. “But that explains a lot.”

“Explains what?”

“Why Big Al would finance this place and let Marty out of the downtown trade just like that. Nobody, but nobody, ever walks away from Big Al alive. Marty told me he was doing it so that he could bring you out here and away from all your friends in the fire department.”

“If that was the case, why did he bring you along? He must have known you were in love with him,” Cindy said.

“Is it that obvious?”

“I saw it that afternoon when you were giving me the tour and the three of us were together. He told me how he’d found you on the weekend we broke up and how faithful you’d been to him,” Cindy told her.

“I had to beg to get him to bring me out here,” Arlene said. “I know now his plan all along was to get you out here all by himself and live happily ever after.”

“And he got Big Al to finance it for him in trade for running a clever smuggling operation for him,” Cindy observed.

“It must pay pretty well,” Arlene said. “Marty had George take me to the county seat to record the deed to the place last month. It was made out to just Marty free and clear.”

“I wonder how they get the stuff out of here?” Cindy asked.

“The only things that go out of here are cattle trucks and the jet,” Arleen said. “He loves the jet and wouldn’t risk losing it. They must be shipping the stuff out in the cattle trucks.”

“Have you ever seen them putting anything other than cows in the trucks?”

“Now that I think of it, yes,” Arlene told her. “They were doing something under the floor of one of the trucks. I thought they were just fixing it.”

“It’s got’a be the cattle trucks then,” Cindy said. “So now what do we do? There’s no way two cripples can go up against Big Al. That’s assuming that you want to do something.”

“Believe me when I say that I thought we were running a legitimate cattle feeding operation. I hate drugs almost as bad as you do. They helped get me the way I am now. The gangs weren’t just vying for turf; they wanted the drug trade area. I just happened to be in the wrong spot. To answer your question, I don’t know what we can do. I can’t run, and you can’t shoot,” Arlene said. “But enough of this just talking, we should get you out of this tub and presentable.”

Cindy stood up, and Arlene helped her get out of the hot tub. She dried Cindy off as she continued to lean on the side of the hot tub. When she had dried Cindy off, she wrapped the towel around her to turn the towel into a sheaf dress. They started for Cindy’s room.

“Don’t say anything about the pigs; the house might be bugged. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there isn’t a surveillance TV in here too,” Cindy whispered as Arlene crutched beside her.

Arlene proceeded to finish drying Cindy and began doing her hair. She commented on how much longer her hair seemed to be getting. They picked out some slacks and a sleeveless blouse for Cindy, and Arlene put them on her. They returned to the bathroom for some makeup for Cindy, including some eye drops to mask her crying. When they finished with Cindy, they went to Arlene’s room for her to freshen up.

Arlene had Cindy help her choose her clothes. They chose a nice silk blouse and a short dark skirt. Arlene did her makeup and put on the clothes. She sat down in her wheelchair and removed her braces. This was the first time that Cindy had seen her bare legs without braces.

“Your legs must have shrunk a lot after your accident,” she commented.

“Not really,” Arlene replied. “They’ve become pretty flaccid, and I have no muscle at all. I was a skinny kid when I was shot. The rest of me grew, but my legs didn’t grow larger around, only longer.”

They went back out by the pool and sat next to the edge of the lawn in an area they thought couldn’t be bugged.

“So have you worked out a plan?” Arlene asked.

“Not really,” Cindy asked. “What do you know about Big Al?”

“I’ve heard he’s one mean son-of-a-bitch—the kind of guy who might just as well shoot you as shake your hand,” she said.

“I guess I don’t have to worry about shaking his hand at least,” Cindy quipped. “Is there any way that we could make Big Al think the Marty was skimming on him? Like empty out one of the pigs and hide the coke.”

“It might work,” Arlene said. “I just hope we don’t get caught.”

Cindy noticed Marty in the kitchen and alerted Arlene. He was carrying a drink when he came out onto the patio.

“So what are you two plotting?” he quizzed.

“Just girl talk. You know, hem lines,” Cindy said.

“It looks like Arlene is going for short,” he said. “It looks good on you. I like a girl with skinny legs.”

“You’re not going to find much skinnier unless you go to Ethiopia, and I might have some of them beat,” she quipped.

“I’m not going to be around tonight,” he said. “I’m meeting Big Al in the city tonight, and he’s coming out here tomorrow to see how we load cattle. I guess my question is, will you two be OK here by yourselves for just tonight?”

“I think so. We’ll be fine,” Cindy replied. “Besides, where are we going to go?”

“Do you want me to fix supper early?” Arlene asked.

“No. I’ll eat at the hotel with him,” he replied.

“So when did Big Al get so interested in cows?” Cindy asked. “I thought he only did drugs and women.”

“I think he wants to get a little fresh air, and the cattle shipping was a good excuse for him to see it first hand. George and the boys will be here if you need anything, and he’ll get the trucks lined up when they get here in the morning. They’re scheduled in here at six, and we should have them on the road by ten at the latest. We’ll be here about six-thirty.”

“I wish I was going,” Arlene said.

“Me too,” Cindy chimed in.

“This is a business trip, and Big Al doesn’t mix business with pleasure. We might want to do some pleasure in the afternoon though,” he said. “Look, I’ve got to get going. I still need to pack.”

When he was well out of earshot, Arlene whispered, “So now what are we going to do?”

“We need to find the pigs and empty one out. We’ll hide the stuff in the credenza in Marty’s office. Big Al will pitch a fit and raise hell, and I’m sure will fire him from this project. Then we can be in the cattle business legitimately with no drugs.”

“What if we get caught?” Arlene asked.

“Who’s going to catch us?” Cindy replied. “Marty will be gone, and the bunkhouse has no windows facing the parking area. Let’s just hope those pigs are still in the back of George’s pickup.”

They heard the jet starting. Soon the whine of the engines became the roar of takeoff and then quickly faded into the distance.

“Well, it looks like another quiet evening at home,” Cindy said.

“Again,” Arlene replied. “Are you getting hungry?”

“You know me, I can always eat . . .”

----------------------------------------

There was a full moon out as the two women both dressed in black went out the back door. They used that door because it had the wheelchair ramp, and they had decided that to carry the bags of coke it would be easiest for Arlene to put them on her lap. It was difficult for Arlene to push herself through the gravel on the driveway so they stuck to the grass whenever possible. The last major obstacle was the expanse of soft driveway gravel in the bunkhouse parking area. Cindy went to the back of George’s pickup to be sure that the pigs were still there. She returned to Arlene with the news that they were still there in plain sight. Arlene struggled to get her wheelchair to the pickup tailgate.

They were about ready to start unloading when the door to the bunkhouse opened and someone could be heard stepping outside. Arlene crouched down the best that she could and, using the pickup, shielded herself from his view. Cindy lay flat on the ground beside the pickup away from the open door. The silhouetted figure stood on the porch stoop and looked around, then lit a cigarette. He then leaned against the wall enjoying the evening and his smoke as the two women stayed motionless. After what seemed like an eternity, he went back inside.

Arlene straightened up, and Cindy struggled to her feet. Arlene couldn’t get close enough to reach the pig sitting in the bed of the pickup because the tailgate was down. Cindy sat on the tailgate and slipped out of her shoes, then spun herself around and stood up in the back of the pickup. She used her toes to open the pig whose door had been ajar before. She tried to pick up one of the bags with her toes, but they just kept sliding from her ‘grasp.’ Finally, she dropped to her knees and used her teeth to lift the bag out so that Arlene could reach it. She tried to get a second bag but couldn’t get it with her teeth, and she had to stand again and position the bag with her foot. She then dropped to her knees again to be able to lift the repositioned bag with her teeth and pass it to Arlene. They repeated the process until the pig was empty.

Arlene maneuvered her wheelchair away from the pickup, and Cindy slipped off the tailgate. She slipped back into her shoes and followed Arlene toward the back of the office and the wheelchair ramp that had been built for her. When they reached the top of the ramp, Arlene punched in the code on the entry keypad, and the door unlocked. Arlene pulled the door open and Cindy held it open with her foot while Arlene pushed herself inside. Once inside, Arlene turned on the small Mag Lite style flashlight for Cindy to hold in her mouth. With Cindy providing the light, Arlene unlocked her door and wheeled herself into her office to get a key out of the top drawer in her desk. With it, she was able to open Marty’s office door and wheel herself into Marty’s office. Cindy pointed the light on the credenza, and Arlene slid the center door open. Luckily, there was very little on the shelf, and Arlene quickly put the bags of coke from her lap onto the shelf. She closed the credenza, and they left Marty’s office, locking the door behind them. Arlene returned to her office and replaced the key. Arlene took the flashlight from Cindy’s mouth once they reached the back door. They both breathed a sigh of relief once they had left the building.

Once back at the ranch house, Arlene helped Cindy change into comfortable lounging clothes and then went to her room to change clothes herself. Cindy was just walking into the kitchen when there was a loud pounding on the front door. She was startled, as well as frightened, and hesitated until they heard the pounding again. She looked through a side window and saw that it was George. She used her toes to open the heavy door.

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” George said excitedly. “Have you been watching the news tonight?”

“Why no,” Cindy replied. “Should I be?”

“There was a shooting at the hotel where Mr. Garbzeio was staying,” he said. “They say two men were killed.”

Arlene rolled up about that time.

“Let’s go see,” she said, pushing herself toward the large TV in the family room. “What station?”

“I saw it on ZNN just a few minutes ago,” George said as Arlene retrieved the remote control.

It took a moment for the large TV to come to life. It took a few more seconds for her to locate the correct channel. The picture showed a newsman standing across the street from a large hotel who was saying:

To recap. There were reports of gunshots being fired only a few minutes ago. Police on the scene tell us that two persons are dead inside a hotel room in one of the suites. Like I said, gunshots were heard only moments ago. Wait a minute, I’m just being handed an update. It is now confirmed that two men were shot in the presidential suite, and they apparently shot each other. Police had to break into the room. They have tentatively identified the bodies of a major underworld figure known as Big Al and that of Marty Garbzeio a lesser known underworld figure. Hotel staff who were delivering room service said they heard shouting in the suite just before the shots were fired. That’s all we have from here, now back to the news desk.

“Well shit, what do we do now?” Arlene asked, her eyes moistening with tears.

“Be damned if I know,” Cindy replied.

“Mr. Garbzeio left a letter with me before he left. He told me to open it if anything happened to him,” George said. “It’s in my desk at the office. Should I go get it?”

“I think you should,” Cindy told him while Arlene nodded affirmatively.

He left for the office, and Arlene poured them each a drink. Cindy had learned to drink scotch through a straw in college, but now because she was without usable arms, it had become her normal way of drinking.

“He didn’t even kiss us goodbye,” Arlene said tearfully.

“I think he had a lot on his mind,” Cindy said. “He’s been preoccupied for several days now.”

George knocked lightly and then opened the front door. When he came in, he was carrying a large manila envelope. He hesitantly didn’t know who to give it to, and Cindy nodded toward Arlene. On the front of it were large letters “IN CASE I DON’T COME BACK.” Arlene opened the envelope while George picked up his drink she had poured for him.

“While I was at the office, Bill called wondering what to do. I told him to bring the jet back here for safe keeping,” George told them.

Arlene’s hands were trembling as she started to read the letter:

Dearest Cindy and Arlene:

If you are reading this letter, George has given it to you because he knows I’m not coming back. Being involved with the drug business is not as easy as it seems. Getting out of it is even tougher. I’ve told you that I was meeting with Big Al. What I didn’t tell you is that I’m meeting with him to terminate our business relationship.

Cindy, I lied to you, and I’m sorry for that. Arlene, you didn’t know, and I didn’t tell you on purpose. We have been smuggling drugs in from Mexico through the gas pipeline using pipe pigs. My mission is to tell Big Al that I don’t want to do this anymore and that I’m quitting. The only problem is, nobody quits Big Al and lives to tell about it. So I have met my demise.

Now that I’m gone, I want you two to retain your friendship and to stay on at the ranch and run it as a legitimate cattle operation. Arlene knows how profitable the business really is, and that with George’s help, the place will really prosper. To that end, you will find my new will in the safe in my bedroom along with some cash and access numbers to offshore bank accounts. It expresses my wishes and gives you equal shares in all of my assets.

I’m only sorry that things didn’t work out the way I planned. I’ve found myself with the very difficult dilemma of loving two women at the same time.

Arlene, I’ve never told you that I love you and didn’t realize it until Cindy pointed it out to me. I’m sorry for the way I treated and ignored you. Thank her for pointing out the obvious to me. I’m sorry that you lost the use of your legs, but seeing you on crutches or in your wheelchair was a turn on for me. I only wish now that I would have pursued you as a lover rather than just a friend.

Cindy, I have told you that I love you, and you once told me that you loved me too. After we broke up, I knew then that I always wanted you. I realize now that forcing you out to the ranch was absolutely the wrong thing to do, and I apologize for it. I only wish that things could have been different between us. I’m sorry that you lost your arms, but I did find you sexy looking that way.

I only wish I could be there with the both of you now.

I love you both,

Marty

All three of them were in tears when she finished. Cindy was able to wipe her eyes on her T-shirt sleeve using her little arm bulges and leaning her head over sideways. Arlene sat there in her wheelchair sobbing softly. George wiped his eyes with his big red handkerchief.

“So what do I do with the coke in the back of my pickup?” he finally asked.

“Can you mix it in the fertilizer and plow it in the ground?” Arlene asked.

“Sure,” he said. “But that stuff is pretty valuable you know.”

“Then we’re going to have the most expensive fertilizer in the country,” Cindy told him. “There is more coke in his credenza that needs to be disposed of too. Don’t ask how it got there; we’ll tell you later.”

“What about the pigs?” he asked.

“Who do they belong to?” Arlene quizzed.

“Mr. Garbzeio had them built so I guess they belong to you two now,” George said.

“Are there more of them?” Cindy asked.

“No only those four. He was going to have more made,” he replied.

“When you get them empty, take them over to the shop and cut them up with a cutting torch. We’ll sell them for scrap sometime,” Arlene told him. “The drug traffic through this place is now officially over.”

Cindy nodded in agreement.

“You don’t know how good that makes me feel. I’ve always hated drugs, but I do as I’m told,” George said. “I’ll get the coke mixed with the fertilizer tonight, and it will be plowed into the ground at sunup. I’ll get one of the boys to start cutting the pigs up right away tonight.”

“Do you think you can work for two gimp women?” Cindy asked.

“You bet,” George said enthusiastically.

“Good,” Arlene and Cindy said in unison. “Welcome to Gimp Ranch.”

E N D