by MJ Perry

Carrie and I moved to Los Angeles. I had rented an apartment in a subsidized housing unit. The city wouldn’t allow us to share the same apartment. Carrie and I were considered two separate families and two families weren’t allowed to live together. Carrie rented the apartment next to mine. My girlfriend, Jan and her two kids, Mike and Dawn, visited with me most weekends. Sarah and her live in boyfriend, Willie, lived in the end apartment next to mine with her three kids. She would occasionally baby sit for us.

We spent most of our weekends at the rodeo. The sailors we dated were also cowboys and participated in them.

“Ursi, are you ready to go?” I called upstairs.

“Yes, Mama. I’m coming,” she answered.

“Would you go next door to see if Carrie and Jesse are ready to go?”

Ursi ran to see if her Aunt Carrie was ready to head to the rodeo.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Carrie told her.

“Do we have everything we need for the weekend?” I asked Jan.

“Yes, get in the van, kids, and let’s hit the road,”

The rodeos were held at a huge ranch in Simi Valley. Ursi, Jesse, Mike and Dawn enjoyed the outings as much as we did.

There was a café/bar and dancehall on the hill above the arena. We loved to dance and always had a great deal of fun. When the rodeos finished for the day, the band started playing. Everyone crowded into the dancehall for the night.
We returned home around eleven pm. The phone was ringing as I walked in the door. I answered it to hear an irate voice on the other end.

“Who is this”?

“This is Ruby, Dick’s wife. I’m warning you to stay away from him.”

“Well, I didn’t know he’d remarried, but I haven’t had anything to do with him since we divorced.”

“I know he’s with you and you’d better tell him to get his butt home!”

“Dick is not with me. I just got home from the weekend rodeo. I haven’t seen him in months.”

“Don’t lie to me! I know he’s there.”

“I’ll say it again. I haven’t seen him. Let me be a little clearer. I don’t want anything to do with him but if you keep bugging me, I will let him come by and visit. You obviously know he’ll come running the minute I call.”

His wife slammed her phone down. She never bothered me again.

We put the kids to bed and fell in to ours.

The next morning we fed the kids breakfast and sent them out to play. There was a knock on our door. I answered it to find Willie Jones standing there with a butcher knife in his hand.

“You tell Sarah to come out here right now,” he said, brandishing his knife at us.

Jan had walked up beside me. When Willie pointed the knife Jan kicked him in the chest knocking him to the ground. We both leaped at him.

“How dare you threaten us,“ we yelled.

Jan sat on his chest as I stood on his arm. I reached down and took the knife out of his hand.

“You idiot,” I yelled at him. “What’s the matter with you? Are you crazy, threatening us with a knife!”

“I just want my Sarah to come home,“ he whimpered.

“Sarah isn’t here,” said Jan. “We’ve been gone all weekend and haven’t seen her since last week.”

“I’m sorry,” whined Willie. “She took the kids and left. I thought she was here with you. She doesn’t have anybody else to go to for help.”

“Well, as usual, you don’t know what you’re talking about! Now get your scrawny butt out of here. I never want to see your stupid face at our door again,” I admonished him.

He got up and hurried away without a backward glance.

That was the last we saw of him. We never found out what happened to Sarah and the kids.