(1)

1

Night-black, night of the New Xi zi Mexican southwest, a
luminous black sky, and the stars seem close to earth. Into this
sky of quiet ecstacy the form of a mountain lifts. The mountain,
vast itself, lifts into the greater immensity of the universe as
manifest at this view-point. The surrounding hills repose
beneath the intensity of stars.

The line of the slope is broken by a gap - a canyon to the
country north.

This side of the mountain, fitted into its slope, are the
two terraced forms of Taos pueblo, one on each side of the creek
that comes down from Blue Lake.

On a high terrace of each pueblo building is the figure of
an Indian, robed in white, face to the hills.

No lights show from the houses. No figures cross the
plaza. No dogs bark. The only sounds are those made by the
creek as it runs its course from Taos mountain to the Rio
Grande.

The night, the mountain, the pueblo, the silent men -
all seem simply to have come into being...being by birth...
created but not labored - the night from all preceding nights,
then mountain from the ample earth, the pueblo from all
dwellings back to the cliffs, the men from all the people of
their race.

It is quiet. In this silence, repose and intensity co-exist.

Then comes a call, human, but like a high bark.

Several robed figures emerge from the houses, pass across

2
(2)

the plaza, and exchange greetings - "He-ah-ho." The voices
are those of men.

The men gather at a k bridge over the stream.

Pause, silence.

Then suddenly a Taos song. Another song and another!

Then silence again...and life becomes existence again...
and existence, focused for a time in a group of singing men,
expands to the mountain and the close stars.

2

Day of the southwest, a brilliant blue sky in a vast
arch, sun, intense dry heat.

An adobe house of which chiefly the roof is seen. Against
one side of the house a weathered & mddy cedar ladder slants, its
two poles rising somewhat higher than the roof. On this roof
is a chair. In this chair sits a figure wrapped in a blanket
like an Indian, though he is not an Indian. He is Mr. Ubeam
Riseling, poet, import, and visionary, a person of some depth
and dignity who does not belong to the art colony because he is
above art. Directly opposite Ubeam a second figure is also on
the roof but not in a chair. This second figure, wearing blue-
jeans soft and pale from many washings, lies nonchalantly,
propped on an elbow, abwently plucking and chewing bits of
roof-grass. He is Mr. Buckter T. Fact, butcher, proletarian,
and plazaboy, a realistic person of some intelligence who does
not belong to the art colony because he is below art. The
two figures face each other, but whereas the visionary gazes

(3)

off into space, the realist sizes the visionary up.

Ubeam

(speaking from himself to the wide world, inadvertently or in any case only incidentally including Buck Fact)

*including UBEAM for UBEAM*

This is the roof of the world.

Buck Fact

(now using his other elbow for support)

Is it!

Ubeam

Thy house, O earth, is of adobe, mixed through the geologic ages and baked by the everlasting sun. *EARTH FAX*

From far up the canyon where the great trees are, the vigas came - and who was the builder?

Buck Fact

A house, a roof, you say? The roof of the world?
Elevation six thousand nine hundred and feet. Over
Raton pass...down Comarronx canyon...curve by Eagle Nest
Lake...sweep down MAMMA Moreno Valley...then cross a pass
or two, and you too, my dear tourists, will be here on the
roof of the world, even as he and I.

Ubeam

There are two aspects of mystery. On one side you will find the mysterious, on the other you will find the queer.

9 (3)

Buck Fact

I'll vouch for the queer. The longer I live the more queer people I see, and I do believe that everyone is queer save thou and me, and as for thee...As for Taos - go down to the plaza any day and you'll see more queer birds per square yard than you'll find anywhere else on this adobe planet.

Ubeam

Back by the mountain where the stream comes down, tumbling twenty miles from Blue Lake, is Taos pueblo, the most beautiful of all. It's people do not know their own history, nor do we.

Buck Fact

Nearby, however, lives a writer who sees to it that her history is better known.

Ubeam

The spirit of the Indian still lives in and dominates this land. Disappearing elsewhere, it is vital here, vital like these hills, living since Jicarilla was a volcano, Indians of the pueblo, you have charmed these mountains, you have filled the canyons with echoes, you have magnetized Taos. To this little cluster of earth-built houses the entire world comes.

Buck Fact

Comes and goes as fast as it can. It is amazing, though,

(5)

the way they come. License-plates from every state in the
Union, from Canada, and even from Europe too. And why?
What's to be seen here? One bank, one newspaper, grocery
and drug stores like you can see anywhere, an armory, a
baseball field, a fish hatchery, bad roads, the plaza
and a dump heap. Why should anyone come all this way to
get dust in his eyes? As for me, it means a job. I'm the
butcher at McNulty's.

## Ubeam

One of the laws of the cosmos is to the effect that
a reciprocality must be established: that which draws in
must also give out. Taos magnetizes; hence it must create.
In the days of the great seasons, after this awful winter
of man, something very great will come to growth in the
Southwest, uniting the geography and the people, the earth
and man, this planet and the universe. Remember
that the cactus blooms.

3

## Interpreter

People are coming, people from the East. They will
find this land preinhabited, even as the first desert
was; but they will come as if discovering Taos, planting
their flag in this high earth. They will come southwest-
ward, not on horseback or in a covered wagon but driving
a motor-car. Even so they will strike experience here, as
man ever does when his heart is freshly given to a place.

(6)

First the Indians came. Then the Spaniards. Then the
fair-skinned northern fold. So, in their turn, our man
and woman come, moving in the restlessness of peoples -
two people in search of their environment, two human
beings seeking an answer to the question - "What is
my function in life?"

4

Taos. 4PM a June afternoon. Interior of an adobe house.
One room, a combined studio, bedroom, and living room. It is
equipped with studio bed, Mexican chairs, two nondescript tables,
electric lamps, and a sort of wardrobe closet. The floor is of
earth. In one corner is a fireplace, southwestern. Several
pieces of pinon wood are in a basket nearby. Above this basket is
a bookshelf. One door opens into the yard. The other connects
with the second room of the house. A large double window gives
a view of Taos mountain.

Two women, the landladies of the place, are busy fixing up
in anticipation of the arrival of summer tenants. The first
landlady, taller and leaner than the other, is in blue jeans,
a blue work shirt, and has a dark red scarf around her head. The
second landlady is in corduroy trousers, a blue work shirt, and
her hair with its man-style cut is creased at the back from
wearing a Stetson hat. There is a third woman helping, a Mexican of
short stature and ample female figure. She is putting tierra blanca
on the walls and passes in and out. Except for their hips and the
fact that they call each other dear, the two women might at first
glance be mistaken for men.

(7)

Workmen are repairing the roof damaged by storms. From the roof come sounds of pounding. At each thud, particles of adobe mud fall from the ceiling. After each shower, the women make haste to clean up. The men on the roof pass from spot to spot. The women on the floor likewise pass from spot to spot.

2nd Landlady

I do hope they won't arrive today. A house is a mess when tenants leave it, but I still cling to my code that it should be clean when they take it.

1st Landlady

You shouldn't say hope. You hope for something you want. You don't hope for something you don't want.

2nd Landlady

You should know what I mean.

1st Landlady

You should say what you mean.

2nd Landlady

I mean I'd like to know exactly where they are and exactly when they will arrive. ΞΜΕΡΕΙΕΣ Suspense is all right in ≈ novels.

1st Landlady

Their letter was posted in Denver. They said they'd arrive tomorrow. If they got our letter before they left New York they know the storms we've had and they know the house was damaged and they must realize that torrents are torrents and mud is mud, even if it is called adobe.

(8)

2nd Landlady

That was two weeks ago. In two weeks in the East they'd
put up a skyscraper.

1st Landlady

That may be. This is New Mexico. I sometimes wish we
didn't have this place. Something is always happening to it.
If it isn't the roof it's the well, if it isn't the well
it's the windows, if it isn't the windows —

2nd Landlady

Didn't have it? What would we do?

1st Landlady

I've never found time weighing on my hands. Leave a
career as I did, come out here and bring up three children, —
and after all that I'd like to look forward to a little
leisure.

2nd Landlady

Ethel dear, we forgot to get that ironing board.

1st Landlady

We did. They won't use it. Have you the dx key to
the escusado?

2nd Landlady

You need it?

1st Landlady

I want it. I wonder if they'll like this place when they
see it.

(9)

2nd Landlady

She's seen it. Why do you think she got in touch with
us? I don't know about him. Writers are fussy.

1st Landlady

Stop talking about writers. You can thank your stars
he is. If he were a business man they'd have taken a house
in Santa Fe where he could go on being civilized with
telephones, -not that I want them.

2nd Landlady

I'm not talking about writers, or painters either.
I could, though. Stop talking about Santa Fe. Here's the
key.

1st Landlady

I don't want it. I simply wanted to know where it was.

2nd Landlady

Anything else you want?

1st Landlady

You needn't be sarcastic. Hand me that dust pan. (she
looks up at the ceiling) Won't they ever finish? My back
aches.

2nd Landlady

All right, your back aches.

Someone on the outside call Hello. Both landladies give a
start and regard each other with consternation.

(10)

2nd Landlady

Безумая Bournes?

1st Landlady

Don't stand there. Go see who it is.

Enter Hanna Gow. Hanna Gow is a slender manish woman of
about the same age as the landladies. She is handsome. Her
face is finely modeled, with sensitive nostrils. Life has
hurt her. Her chin has become aggressive, her manner casual
and hardboiled. A woman of peculiar pallor, and thin red lips.
Her outfit is a pair of cowboy boots, blue jeans, blue shirt, and
a Spanish style black felt hat which she swings in her hand.

The landladies greet her, then resume sweeping up the mud
that continues to drop as the men on the roof heave away at
their steady unremitting tamping.

Hanna Gow

Not finished yet?

1st Landlady

Oh! It's you!

Hanna Gow

Who did you think it was? Didn't you hear the horse?
I'm riding this afternoon.

2nd Landlady

We thought it was the Bournes.

Hanna Gow

Don't make that mistake again. I'm not Grace Bournes

(11)

and I never expect to be. How much longer is it going to
take?

1st Landlady

The men promised to be finished today, but you know
how it is. Took a week to get them to start work; now I
suppose it will take a week to get them to stop. They
really aren't finished. I hope this job will be the last
for this summer.

Hanna Gow

Then why don't you wait? What's the use of trying to
clean when the stuff keeps falling down?

1st Landlady

We never thought of that.

2nd Landlady

Yes we did, but what are we to do? They may arrive
any minute. How'd you like to find your place in a mess
after coming all the way from New York. Besides, we've
varnished the kitchen floor and don't want dirt tracked
in. If they come today they'll have to stay at the Inn.

Hanna Gow

Why not? They can afford it. Let them be thankful they
weren't here when we all got washed out. You're becoming
slaves to this mud house. Don't take so much on yourself.
I hate her.

2nd Landlady

We know you do. Why?

(12)

Hanna Gow
The way she dresses when she gets out here. Ugh!

2nd Landlady
Nothing wrong that I can see, except that she does
wear dresses.

Hanna Gow
Now what do you mean by that?

2nd Landlady
Just what I say.

1st Landlady
Then you mean too much. Are we or aren't we going to
finish cleaning this floor.

Hanna Gow
I'm not fond of him, either. One of those real men-
you know the kind I mean-who fancies himself taming
shrews and all that. The damn conceited fool. Don't wish
them any bad luck but I hope they both get drowned in the
floods. Which way are they coming?

1st Landlady
The Conoco man said Kansas can't be crossed.

2nd Landlady
Colorado isn't much better.

Hanna Gow
Here's hoping. What are they coming to Taos for, any-
way, No one wants them.

(13)

## Both Landladies

We do.

Hanna Gow

Of course. I'd welcome Jesus Christ if he'd rent my
house.

A car is heard to stop on the road before the house. It
starts again, and seems to be going around to the garage. Both
landladies jump.

## Both Landladies

Them?

Hanna Gow

(making a face)

We'll see soon enough.

Exit two landladies in a flutter. Hanna Gow starts to make her exit out the side door, then reconsiders. She remains in the room, eyes lowered, swinging her hat, uneasy and angry that she may be caught in the situation of the Bourne's arrival.

Hellos and greetings are heard outside.

Lewis Bourne enters, bent on seeing the house.

Bourne is a tall man of forty, critical, disposed to be
sociable in manner while his eyes look on. His body is
somewhat stooped, as if all his life he has had to bend down to get
through doors too low for him. He wears grey flannel trousers,
norfolk coat, blue shirt with soft collar. he is surprised to
see Hanna Gow standing in the room, yet greets her by
name cordially, as she is part of the New Mexico to which he has

(14)

I am sorry, but I cannot recognize any text in the image. The image appears to be a blurry depiction of a person on a horse.

just arrived with fresh enthusiasm. Hanna says hello but does not unbend. Bourne then glances around the room, appraising it to discover if he is going to like living in it. Has eyes fasten on the ceiling. He is about to make some comment on the pounding and the falling particles of mud when -

Hanna Gow

Well, now are men? I suppose you've started the revolution?

Bourne

Men? Oh, men. Exactly what your opinion of them is.

Hanna Gow

They are marvels, then. What about the revolution?

Bourne

Which revolution?

Hanna Gow

The one you are going to start against female fascism.

Bourne

Still underground.

Hanna Gow

Your name is known.

Bourne

I'm aware of it. If fully expect to be put in a concentration camp in Taos before the summer is over. Will you see to it?

(15)

БЕХИВА

Hanna Gow

Gladly.

Bourne

So pleased you are here to welcome me. If you can't
make friends, make enemies.

Enter Grace Bourne with the landladies.

Grace Bourne, younger than her husband, is a splendid
woman-type, dark hair, dark eyes, natural and open in manner, with
a joy in moving her body. She is dressed in a striped grey sport
suit. Happy to have arrived, she accepts the house, accepts the
room, the mud, the men tamping, even accepts Hanna Gow though she
is aware that Hanna and herself are not supposed to like each other.

1st Landlady

We're so sorry we aren't ready for you, but your
letter said you'd arrive tomorrow.

Grace

We didn't know what we'd strike south of Denver. You
know about the floods. Colorado Springs was a wrack. I've
never seen anything like it. The mud was simply awful.

1st Landlady

So it was here. We had torrents, seven days and seven
nights - almost biblical. The house was left in a frightful
mess, as I wrote you. Did you get last letter? The
roof leaked, the walls were stained. Some of your rugs
and pillow-covers are still in Santa Fe being cleaned.

(16)

We hoped to have everything done, but the men are
working on the roof and we've been cleaning up after
them all day.

Grace

We'll make out.

1st Landlady

I hope you won't mind staying at the Inn tonight.

Grace

The Inn? No thank you. We've been living in Inns and
hotels and camps for two weeks. We want x to unpack and
get settled.

1st Landlady

But the men will be working tomorrow too.

Grace

We won't mind that. We want to get settled.

1st Landlady

Your laundry isn't here. There's not a sheet or a x
towel in the house. It's ready, but we haven't had time to
call for it. The place closes at five.

Grace

Lewis, what time is it?

Lewis Bourne

XxxxFive of five.

Grace

I'm going for the laundry. Will you bring the suitcases

(17)

in? I know where the laundry is.

2nd Landlady

All the roads are torn up.

Grace

I'll find my way. We promised ourselves we'd sleep in
our own place tonight.

2nd Landlady

Where's your little girl?

Grace

Playing outside. I'll take her with me. Goodby.

Exit Grace. Soon after she has gone, Hanna now moves to the door
and goes out without saying a word. Bourne follows her
departure with his eyes, and shakes his head.

1st Landlady

(to Bourne)

I'm so afraid you won't be comfortable here tonight,
and we do do want you to like our little house. (looks
up at the x ceiling) Well, thank goodness, they're going
over the other room. I'll just clean this up and you won't have
track it through.

She sweeps again. She finishes.

1st Landlady

Lucy, what are you doing standing there in a daze?
Get your broom and come with me. Mr. Bourne, if you'll

(18)

wait just a minute before getting your bags, we'll have a
path swept in the next room and you won't track dirt
through.

Both landladies go out, closing the door kicking behind
them. Bourne smiles, shrugs, lights a cigarette, and goes to the
window from which can be seen the dark form of Taos mountain, a
nest of white clouds, and the blue-brilliant sky of a New Mexican
late afternoon. Presently he leaves the room, soon to return
with suitcases which he stacks in a corner. This finished, he
tries to fit into a creaking Mexican arm chair. He gets to his
feet, fishes in a duffle-bag, and produces a bottle of whisky.

There is a knock on the door leading from the room to the
yard outside. Bourne goes and opens it and greets Clifford Genth.

Clifford Genth, as tall as Bourne, is heavy boned, and
seems always to have something weighing on him. He is both
proud and apologetic, genial and embittered, easy going and tempestu-
ous. He smokes a pipe, wears glasses, and makes a point of
appearing in conventional city clothes.

Bourne

Well, Clif! Glad to see you. Come right in.

Genth

Heard you were arriving. Came out on a chance.
How're things? How're Grace and the baby? Have a
good trip?

Bourne closes both doors. Genth stands around as if he
may not be welcome, as if someone may jump on him.

(19)

## Bourne

Quite a voyage, in fact - with dangers of a kind, and a lively sense of the unknown. To cross the earth was adventure this time, yet not pleasant to be reminded of our puppet-place. In our new Ford we were like ants, zigzaging to escape cloudbursts, floods, washouts, and the general compulsion towards catastrophe. Nature, it would seem, has come to her final protest against us who, having power, are less than we should be. She would rid herself of our rapacious arrogance, even if this means the end of man as the dominant species. Has it struck you, Clif, that there seems to be a concerted attempt, not far scattered episodes but a unified upheaval, as if the very planet itself were fighting off a sickness, as if each acre, remembering all the wrongs done it, were discontent -

## Genth

I'm afraid I can't answer for the earth. Haven't been out of Taxos for x two years. Don't want to go. I'll take what's coming to me, here. There's enough and to x spare. At least I know the compulsion towards catastrophe, as you put it. Sometimes I'm afraid I can't even answer for myself.

## Bourne

Something particularly wrong? I, you will note, am characteristic of my time in that I'm interested only in the grave great troubles. The lesser ills must go

(20)

by the boards.

Genth

I'll be able to interest you.

Bourne

What is it? Helen and you, or just yourself, or you
and X Taos? Or have you too suddenly been struck
to realize the diabolical insanity of poverty in the midst
of plenty - and you want to know what to do about it?

Genth

I'd like to talk, but not now. You've just arrived.
The women will be X barging in. Christ, it's good you've
come. Jesus Christ, it's X good to talk with a man - X
any man, but you X especially. We'll go off by ourselves,
sometime soon.

Bourne

Rights, Sounds as if you've been on a fast.

Genth

Sounds as if! You left here the tenth of last
September. From that day to this there hasn't, as we
may say, there hasn't been a man in my life.

Bourne

That is serious.

Genth

(21)

Genth

More than you feel, you who live in New York where
things are going on and men and women live in something
like a balance, you who have Grace and no damn in-laws to
rub it in that you aren't worthy of them their daughter.
You know Helen's mother came on?

Bourne

How could I know? You haven't written, What is this
hole you've dug for yourself? What do you call it? What
way is the resurrection of Clifford Genth, man, human
being, and my friend?

Genth

(passing a hand over his face)

What way. Do you know a way? That isn't what I was talking about. What was I talking about? Oh, Her. She came on. Now her permanent residence is beside her daughter in the casa de Genth. Always says she's going, never goes. Says she hates Taos and loves the East. Says too gooddam much. So you see how it is. If I stay home I have her delightful company. If I go out, I run into the incorporated females of Taos.

Bourne

What a plight. Women to right of you, women to left
of you - and your only choice is to up or down. You're a tragic man, Clif.

(22)

Genth

I'm tragedy itself. It isn't the women who need men, it's the men who need men. A hell of a setup. And now, dammit, if I come out to see you I'll run into your charming landladies.

Bourne

How so?

Genth

You'll come to know the dears. Ever hear them dearing each other? Guess not. That was in vogue last year. This year they're bitching each other. Relationships do change, even the best. What I was going to say is this. Ever see meticulous possessiveness personified? That's them. They've been working on this house two solid weeks - a three room house, two husky women - and I'll bet it isn't finished yet. They never finish. They'll pop in and out all summer, tinkering with this, puttering with that. It's yours in theory, it won't be yours in fact.

Bourne

In any event it's mine for the moment - and you are welcome - so sit down, and we'll drink to - what?

Genth

There you have it. We don't even know what to drink to any more.

(23)

Genth nevertheless unbends. The two of them take chairs at
the table. x Bourne pours drinks.

Bonne
Oh well, We'll find something

Genth

Aren't they likely to barge in?

Bourne

Here's how. No, I don't think so. Our masculing
privacy is insured for the time by the simple fact that
they do not want dirt tracked through. Dirt, you see,
has it's advantages. When we xxx arrived this afternoon the
ladies were in the throes of cleaning up the adobe droppings
that fell from our too generous ceiling. The said ladies
were stitched and dithered lest Grace and I, particularly
I, track dirt. It is still reasonable to assume -

Genth

What did I tell you. All summer they'll be stitched
and dithered lest one thing or another - and no one damn
thing of any consequence. That's what gripes me. If xmt
the fuss were about something - but no. You know what they'd
do? If they kept chickens in a house, they'd go about meticulous-
ly with dustpan and brush -

XXXX Bourne

I get the picture perfectly.

Have a cigarette?

(24)

Genth

I'm serious, Lewis. What in hell has happened? How
did life slip from the control of men? Why is it a woman's
world world? What's the matter with our women? Indian
women aren't like this. Our women weren't x this way a
century ago. You pick up a book or a magazine and all you
& read about is the economic problem. The economic problem
is nothing compared to the problem between men and women.

Bourne

Now It's my turn to be afraid. I'm afraid, Clif,
that I understand little or nothing about causes. I have
a somewhat better understanding of cures - strange though
such a statement may seem. About the world, I don't know.
About some individuals I do know a little something, per-
haps a serviceable something. Someday when you are in the
mood for it, ask me how life xip slipped from your control,
ask me why you haven't a world, ask me what's the matter
with you - and we may x be able to work out something.

Genth

As you wish.

Bourne

Tell me about our landladies. How long have they
been as we see them now?

(26)

Genth

Joke about it if you want, but wait until it hits you.

Bourne

God forbid.

Genth

Quite beyond His power.

Bourne

What *exactly* is the relationship between Landlady one and
Landlady two?

Genth

That's one of those questions you ask but don't answer.
Can't tell you. I've seen them together long enough to accept
them without asking. You've heard the story of Ethel Hart?
She's no ordinary person, she.

Bourne

What is the story?

Genth

Well, she lived in New York, was a concert pianist with a career.
Then the skies fell. She injured her hand and had to give up
piano. Her Husband died, and left her with two children and
no money. She came out here on a shoestring. God knows how
she's done it. Somehow, she scraped together enough money to buy
a house. By the same somehow she scraped enough to buy a second
house - which is considerably more than I've done. She's brought
up those children, exceptional children. She's been through Hell,
and nobody has ever heard a whimper from her. Maybe what's happened

(27)

to her now is the strain of all those years finally breaking
through. Or, is it simply that she has lived too long in
Taos, that what was effort is now inertia, and that the
inertia has turned hysterical?

A (see other side page)

Bourne

I know this in general. Fussiness is a symptom of
under-use. Inertia is a flow without a goal. If you have
nothing important to live for you are consumed by the un-
important. As a substitute for big issues you make issues
of trifles. If not to the stars, your weight and force
become attached to mud. How old are her children?

Genth

Old enough to take care of themselves.

Bourne

muv
What else does she do besides keeping this house in
disorder?

Genth

Not much, any more. The same can be said of more than
one of us in Taos. I wouldn't deny the accusation that the
reason we're here is because we're in ruts and want to stay
in them. Let the world change all it wants; we'll remain
as we are.

Bourne

Weren't you all but washed out several weeks ago?

Genth

You talk about ants. Three weeks ago today the skies
fell. They fell for a solid week. For a time it looked

Bourne

It may be. There's an interesting thing about this
southwest. It attracts an unusual kind of woman - strong
resourceful women who like the starkness and the isolation
of this country and have the power to be alone. You find
them in the most unexpected places, here and there over the
state, living at the foot of mesas, far removed from every-
thing they have known. And it's they, these women, who are
claiming this land which used to be thought of as man's
country. But to return to what you asked -

(28)

as if there would be nothing left but streams of mud. Even
at the pueblo some of the houses leaked and the Indians
camped in the school buildings, and for once the government
buildings were put to unquestionably good use. The funniest
sight was Riva Lentin.

Bourne

How is she?

Genth

Quite well when I last saw her, much improved despite
the torrents. She was waiting for you and Grace to come.
You know how other-worldly Riva is, much here mentally but
as if her body were absent-minded. She was staying at
Dr. Flanner's at the time. The rain came down and the house
leaked. There was some sort of complication. Neither lady
wanted to leave the ship. Both felt obligated to stay on
account of the other. Well, one day I went out to see Riva--
and this is how I found them. Water was streaming down the
walls. The floor was a puddle. Riva, in a chair in the
middle of the room, had rubbers on! Over her head she held
an umbrella and with her free hand she was writing poetry!
This, I submit, is the best picture of 1935.

Bourne

Have you painted it?

Genth

I have not.

Bourne

Have you painted anything? Have you written?

(29)

Genth

Not a thing. I use my pallette for a bread-board.
I've leased my typewriter to a spider.

Bourne

Why don't you paint that? Paint it and title it
"Winter in Taos"; or if you're afraid of being sued, title
it more generally, thus: "Why Artists Need Relief". Speaking
of Taos, how is Taos? It will be a new experience for me.
I've never seen a place, or the people of a place, after a
deluge.

Genth

Sorry to have to disappoint you. It's the same place,
the same Indians, the same sun, everything the same.

Bourne

And the great struggle that's going on in the world
between the old and the new, between the past and the future?
Taos must be affected by that.

Genth

If I understand you, Taos is affected not at all, in
my opinion.

Bourne

But it must be. All over the world the new economics
of abundance is struggling to displace the old economics
of scarcity. You are aware of that.

Genth

Verbally.

(30)

Bourne

The new politics of cooperation is struggling to displace the old politics of antagonism. The new religion of Man to displace the old religions of idols, the new science of Life to displace the old science of matter. All the vitality of the modern world is engaged in this fight, and to be out of it is to be an exile from life.

Genth

You've come to the wrong place. We exiles here, and love it.

Bourne

You mean you try to make yourself love it. It can't be done until you die. Each man has his quota of uneasy potentialities which give him no peace. The world has never known the perfect exile. But it does know the countless those who ask for something worthwhile to do, who ask that they may be. Of these people whom life knows, there are two kinds. One kind works for what it wants. The other kind waits.

Genth

It is easier to wait than work. I've tried both. To work you've got to have something to do. You've heard of unemployment. To wait, all you need is time and space, and God gave us lots of both. He favored Taos especially in this respect. And besides, my dear lewis, I've done a bit of musing on that matter you just mentioned - the fight between the old and the new. None other than H.G.Wells started

(31)

me off. The communists carried on where he stopped. And
what is it all about? Those gentlemen have never really
thought of what they're writing about. To show you what I
mean. Take the old. The old was here, years and centuries
ago. It's still here today. It always will be here. It has
a big head-start on the new. The new can never catch up.
Don't you see? By the very nature of the setup, the
established will always outweigh innovations, the conservative
will always dominate the radical, habit will always bulk
larger than originality, the old men of the world will always
be too much for youth. So where's the fight? What's
the struggle? What's the sense of it? The new may fight
but it can't possibly win. It's like pitting a new-born
babe against a giant. If by any chance the new ever does
catch up to the old, then by that time the new has it-
self grown old. So what? A flare at the impossible. Much
ado about nothing. It's a drama cooked up by those who
haven't yet learned how to take it easy. But they talk
about leisure, They, the hectic fellows, the warriors for
civilization, the rebels, the revolutionaries, they all
talk about the desirability of leisure. Leisure, they say,
is to come from all this struggle. Doesn't it sound very
much like the war to end war? Fight to get leisure. Go
through God knows what revolutions to get what these Mexicans
around here already have. A fine ideal for modern civilized
people. Work like hell and progress to the position already
occupied by backward peoples. Your landladies are workers.
I'm a lazy man!

(32)

Bourne

I've never heard a better brief for doing nothing. In
you, laziness has at last found its articulate advocate. Then
a drink to the world's lazy men.

Genth

Sure, I'll drink to that. Only those merit good
Scotch who sit on their ass. You say, <u>be</u>. I go you one better
and say how to be. Be lazy, says Clifford Genth, ex-artist.
Here's mud in your eye. Swell stuff, excellent stuff, a
real treat after the rot-but you get around here. It's
strange but true - and you'll find it so, a custom of the
old Southwest - our best people give you the worst
liquor. They cordially invite you to come and be burnt out.
That's nothing, however. What I want to say is this. Now that my
belly is warm, now that I've declared my creed and gotten
myself off my mind, I want to ask how you are. How are you,
Lewis?

Bourne

A year older than when you saw me last.

Genth

Have a good trip! Oh - forgot - I asked you about
that.

Bourne

There's one thing I didn't tell you. You know how you
feel when Helen seems contrary, when she tolerates what to

(33)

you is intolerable, when she shows no active interest in
what you value, when she seems not to want what you want,
in short, when she seems to be going against you - and all
your feelings rise up to declare that it's a wife's duty
to move with her husband. You know what you do. You make it
worse than it is. You protest against everything she does and
does not do. Protests, many of them held in, pile up till
soon you are protesting against everything, life itself, even
yourself. You put up a wall and rail at it. From behind this
wall you rave to yourself, "If she doesn't want what I want,
I won't want it either."

Bonne
Right you are.

Unable to change her - and how could you, when you've
cut her off? - you're determined to punish her. Punishment,
curiously enough, takes a form expressed thus, "Neither will
I do what I want to do." And you don't. You stop making
effort. You get a reverse satisfaction because you know
that in defeating yourself you're defeating her too, since
her life is so bound up with yours. In silence you go about
accusing her, fuming to yourself, "Look, woman, this is what
you've brought about." Occasionally you let off steam in
a vehement outburst about something miles removed from the
main issue. The rest of the time you drag your tail about
the house, or stalk from the house as if you were leaving
it forever. Other than this, you do less and less until
finally you do absolutely nothing. Thus having cut yourself
off from your goal, you feel choked. You become bitter.

(34)

Then comes a time when a flash of sincere self-criticism makes you ashamed of yourself. To remove this shame you try to justify yourself. To the degree that you succeed in justification, you're confirmed in doing nothing. Time passes. One day you awake to realize that You've been going down, down into a pit of bitter inertia from which it is most difficult to arise. You feel an awful thud, and fear that your protests and your punishment have got the better of you. This sudden shock hits some spring in you - and on the rebound, after long idleness, you actually try to do something again. The machine is rusty. You're so out of practice that you feel incompetent and inferior when you try to get into practice again. Such feelings are intolerable; so you fall back and give up the attempt. And now you realize that You're trapped in the hole you've dug for yourself. This is how I felt just before I left New York. The trip across the continent was a release of a sort. The world came into me and I forgot myself. Something out of the ordinary must have happened, for when we began mounting Raton Pass, I lifted to it. The man in the pit climbed out. This man became the youth of twenty years ago when the world had a sweet core and a bright rim. As a boy at Coney Island, did you ever take a Trip to the Moon? A flim-flam contraption, fascinating to a boy's imagination. Remember the sensations? So I felt as we went up the pass; this time I was an adult and it was a Trip to the Sun. Below were the shadows. All above was the radiance of space. The day was

(35)

vast and powerful. Behind me I could look down upon what
I had left. Before me was a magnet more forceful than I
had ever felt in the world before. Poverty in the midst of
plenty is the economic condition of most people in the modern
world. It then occurred to me that poverty in the midst
of plenty has been the spiritual condition of most men and
women since the year one - and I at last, a human being, was
expanding to consume and reproduce the wealth of the universe.
As I reached the top and caught that first marvelous sight
of New Mexico spreading out, something in me said, "I must
dedicate myself to people, to give them a sense of a new
world coming into life. Such states, as you know, are difficult
to sustain; but mine persisted until I reached this house.
I entered it - and who do you think was here to greet me?
None other than Hanna Gow.

Genth

That, I believe, would be called a flop.

Bourne

Just that.

Genth

What did she have to say?

Bourne

Baited me. Wanted to know if I had started the revolution
against female fascism.

Genth

She did, eh? Better look out for her. She's a wildcat
those people who'll like you today and out you tomorrow.

(36)

Rothering and her wrong and
right with anybody. I've heard her use the knife on
her claws. scratch
Lewis Bourne. Your back already has a slash or two, and
if you provoke her further and
imagine,
I can believe it.

Bourne
imagine,
I can believe it.

Genth

Well, so here you are, on the fringe of the little
village of Taos. What are you going to do with yourself
all summer?

Bourne
Write a book, as a writer should.

Genth
Wish you luck. What about? The rising tides of communism
and fascism?

Bourne
Not exactly. I have an understanding that I'm working
out. It gives a picture of human society in terms of auto-
matic behaviour on the one hand and conscious behaviour on
the other. The thesis, in brief, is the more or less obvious
one that what is automatic takes care of itself unless irregu-
larities occur, that what is conscious is not taken care of
by the general processes of the world, and that, therefore,
those who are conscious - if they would function - must
build their own worlds. As you can see, it's not a new
idea: but my understanding of it. and my development and application
of it to the modern situation may help clarify the basic
needs and desires of many who now see only chaos and a
clash of surface phenomena.

(37)

Genth

More power to you. Will it have a communistic bent?

Bourne

It will include communism - communism as the most powerful
present-day force working for a new automatism.

single

Genth

Milner will be interested. You know Frank Milner? He
went to Russia last year and came back bright red.

Bourne

Has he influenced any of the people here?

Genth

Here? Don't make me laugh. The Anglos are bourgeois
to the core. The Mexicans already have the land. Our only
potential revolutionaries have private property rights.
If you ask my opinion, the system of private ownership
will be in vogue in Taos Valley for many a day. By the way,
weren't you looking for land last year?

Bourne

We surelv were.

Genth

Going to buy?

Bourne

That depends. If it were a matter only of our personal
desires. I'd say yes. We want to buy and build. That's
precisely why we returned this year.

(38)

Genth

Then why don't you?

Bourne

We've got to find the general place and the particular
spot. People ruled by practical necessity - their choice is
made for them. They pitch tent on the best that comes to hand.
even if the best be pretty bad. We, for better or worse, are
ruled by ideal necessity. In our hearts is our ideal place.
All these years we've been carrying it around, looking for its
actual counterpart. This counterpart will not be found in the east,
we're pretty sure of that. Connecticut and Pennsylvania are lovely,
but tame and constricted compared to New Mexico. Besides, they're
already made. We want to make. We want to take the raw materials
and shape them to our form. We want the land itself to help us
circulate, stimulate our expansion, encourage us to be and live as
free human beings upon a free earth. The urge to growth should
come from the soil. The urge to develop should come from the sun.
Here, the soil and the sun are right. So we know we want something
in New Mexico. But just where among these millions of acres, is
that plot which we'll recognize and claim as our own? To live in
it and cultivate it, finally to be buried and -

Genth

Never mind about that. It's got you too. The southwest
is in your blood. You've got to want some of its land

(39)

and your own kind of adobe house. You get the fever.
You want to do things with adobe. You want to mix the mud
with straw, get your hands into it, feel it, work it. You
want to mold the mixture into bricks, and lay the bricks.
and see walls going up. The material is here, enough to
build houses for all the people in the world. It's easy to
work, it's fascinating to work, once you start you can't
stop. Often the fever gets out of hand and you add room
after room to your house until the thing is too large and
horrible for any use. Then you start again and swear that
this time you'll hold yourself to a simple little place.
It's the strangest thing.

## Bourne

We looked at a piece of land last year. Quite a site,
about ten miles out, off the road to Cuesta. It's like
being on a ship in the middle of the ocean. You feel way
out. Indeed you feel that perhaps after all you do live
in the universe. All around the valley spreads out and you
see the mountains at the far rim. Trees, an irrigation ditch,
acres of sage brush, no house. Only a pig pen. It would
seem that it has never been farmed; but you know what they
say about the soil here. Water it and it will grow anything.
We can't find out who it belongs to.

## Genth

You can't?

## Bourne

The nearest we've come is to be told that it may be

(40)

tied up in one of those companies formed by the notorious Mambev before he was murdered.

Genth

That's the joke. He wasn't notorious until after he was murdered. Why don't you look up the land records?

Bourne

They were burned in one of those mysterious fires.

Genth

They are damn mysterious fires, and they are happening all the time and nobody yet has a clue. But there must be records in the county clerk's office of the taxes paid this past year.

Bourne

But there aren't. That's the trouble. We had a lawyer making inquiries. Even he was baffled.

Genth

Too many owners turned up when we were getting our little place. At least ten of them, each owning a part of a room, part of an acre. They lived all over the map. It isn't difficult to understand why no one has yet dared to set himself up in the real estate business here. Wish you luck. I'd like to see you and Grace established somewhere near Taos. I still firmly believe this is the greatest earth on earth. Don't ask me to guarantee the inhabitants.

Bourne

Who can? It's they who make every paradise a purgatory.

Genth

Make it a hell, you mean.

(41)

Bourne

I mean it's up to you to make it a purgatory. But we'll let that pass. To return for a moment to the matter of locale. I've a few thoughts on that matter - if you'd like to hear them.

Genth

Let's hear them; though what you say now won't do me much good. I'm committed to Taos. All my eggs are in this basket. My choice has been made.

Bourne

One should, I think, view an environment in terms of what it actually is, and in terms of its possibilities - keeping in mind the essential fact that not the place itself but your ability to function in it is the important thing. Having done this there are three main factors to be considered: first, the physical factor, the obvious physical geography of the place; second, the human factor, the people themselves, the obvious living conditions the subtle human atmosphere; and, third, the supernatural factor, the extraphysical, the extra-human, the soul of the place. Now to comment on these three in turn. Physical New Mexico is magnificent, unqualified. I say yea to it with all my heart. I say yea to adobe Taos. But as to human Taos I have certain understandable questions and reservations. You, already as permanent resident will sympathise with me.

Genth

Don't rub it in. Already I'm envying you your freedom

(42)

to come and go. A little more and I'll grind my jaw to
hold you as I'm held.

Bourne

Then grind - and we'll pass on to the next factor to
be considered. As to the soul of Taos, I'm unsure if it
is friendly or hostile to me.

Genth

Listen to the man. The soul of Taos! Has Taos a soul?

Bourne

I'm sure it has.

Genth

Then you're sure of nonsense. Where does it manifest,
this soul? In which bit of gossip? In whose neurosis?

Bourne

A pointed question, my dear Cliff. Count one for
you. But let's not stop there. Illusion and disillusion
give different views of unreality.

Genth

Now what do you mean?

Bourne

I mean that the world seen through illusion and the
world seen through disillusion are similarly unreal. You
now are caught in disillusion as formerly you were caught
in illusion. Move on to the third position - the real. You
took one step when you dropped illusion. Then you stopped

(43)

dead. You're arrested in your disillusion as so many people
are arrested in rebellion. They revolt and are never get
beyond the revolt. But to come back to you. Illusion believes
the impossible; disillusion denies the possible - and the
possible is the most important thing in life. It is
that that keeps you moving.

Genth

You've gotten off some good lines but where does the
soul come in?

Bourne

It is in you already. If you had no soul you'd be
entire content. If you had a soul completely developed
you'd be happy. Yours is a germ of a soul just grown enough
to make you miserable.

Genth

You may be right, but what has all of this to do with
whether you buy land in Taos?

Bourne

You led me astray. Having commented on physical and human Taos I was going on to say that supernatural Taos does strange things to me. I don't support superstition. I am, as you know, biased toward reason. But just this reason plus certain experiences, lead me to think that while most supersitions are examples of things that in life delusions, some few so-called superstitions are better imperfect recordings of that in life which transends our five senses and our one used brain. I could easily become superstitious in Taos. The minute I get here I feel - something opens up. Night opens the gap wide. Night in Taos...That of me which

(44)

has always lived, the eternal dark "me" submerged, begins
stirring. It brings to me the fears a man might have
should he be walking a dark road alone and suddenly the rocks
crept from their places and the trees spoke in undertones
and the air was thick with sinister animation.

Genth

You'd better stay away from Taos.

Bourne

But here I am. Again I'm here, to live another summer.

Genth

Does Grace feel as you do?

Bourne

Not at all. She's quite at home here. She shares all
of my positives, none of my negatives. She was ready to
buy last year. I held back. She's ready to buy now.
Again I will have to weigh and consider.

Genth

That's not like you. Five years ago it was you who
went ahead. What's the matter?

Bourne

I've told you.

Genth

You haven't given me the real reason yet.

Bourne

What have I been talking about all this time?

Genth

You think too much. You try to be too conscious. You
complicate what after all is a simple matter. Keep on this
this way and in another five years, your change of life

(45)

will come. You'll be worse than the Landladies.

Bourne

That's a happy picture of the future.

Enter Grace and the Landladies. Men rise. Genth has some special
words to say to Grace whom he likes and admires, welcoming her to
Taos.

Bourne

(to Grace)

Get the laundry?

Grace

I got it, and I bought things for dinner tonight, and
I ran into several people on the plaza -

Bourne

You do deserve something. (Прочитали He pours her
a drink. Then speaking to the Landladies) Scotch for you?

1st Landlady

(pushing past him)

Thank you, but first I must tell you about the keys,
so as not to forget them. (She gets a bunch from the ledge
over thex fireplace, holds them up and begins telling them
off) This is for the front door. This is for this door.
This is for the back door. This is for the ice-box.
It's outside on the portal, you know. This is for the
garage -

Bourne

Keys and more keys. The curse of keys under capitalism.

1st Landlady

Now where was I?

Bourne

(46)

Bourne

Once upon a time a key was a symbol of initiation.
See what they have come to in these modern days. Must
they really be used out here?

Grace

Nothing has ever been stolen from me.

1st Landlady

All the large houses have been robbed.

Grace

When no one was in them. I won't lock the ice box,
I simply won't. If anyone needs food that badly -
All the large houses you say. We'll be quite safe here.

Bourne

1st Landlady

You may be but I must ask you to consider the things
in the house. Now where was I. Oh yes. This is the key
to the escusado ...

Bourne

The escusado? What's that?

1st Landlady

(embarrassed)

It's ...

Genth

The out-house

Bourne

On, the privy. A new word for my New Mexican vocab-
ulary. By all means lock it. So a drink then. (He pours
more glasses. Now at last the Landladies allow themselves to

(47)

be seduced. But only for a minute.)

1st Landlady

These chairs are rather nice, don't you think? I
bought them in the drug store in Santa Fe. They're not
very strong. If you need to stand on a chair, you'll use
the hard kitchen chair, won't you?

Bourne

With pleasure.

2nd Landlady

About your bed. You wrote you wanted a double bed.
Do you think that one will do?

Bourne arises, solemnly measures the bed with his eyes, shakes
his head.

Bourne

Doubt it. We'll test it tonight and see. It's only
three-quarters.

1st Landlady

Mrs. Metchnikof has a large double mattress and spring
which she said she'd be glad to lend.

Bourne

That's splendid of her. Can't beds be bought in Taos?

Grace and the Landladies exchange doubtful glances.

Bourne

What about it, Cliff? You have beds in your house
haven't you?

Genth

We made the stands ourselves.

(48)

Bourne

And the springs and mattresses? Borrowed from
Mrs. Metchnikof?

Genth

Helen got them in Santa Fe.

Bourne

Are there no stores in Taos or won't they sell
anything?

1st Landlady

We've made arrangements with the ditch boss, ~~To have a man~~
a week ~~when he will come~~ to irrigate.

Bourne

We have an irrigation ditch?

2nd Landlady

Indeed. We've planted a garden for you.

Bourne

Splendid. Vegetable <del>of</del> flower?

1st Landlady

Radishes, onions, cucumbers ... The <del>only</del> thing is
you'll have <del>to</del> keep the burros out.

Bourne

Excellent. Grace, isn't that fine? At least we won't
have to go to Santa Fe for radishes, onions, cucumbers, and
burros.

1st Landlady

Oh, Mr. Bourne, One more little matter. I wonder if
you'd mind watering the geraniums every morning and evening
for the next few days. We put them in day before yesterday
and there hasn't been any rain.

(49)

Bourne

Happy to. Cliff, will you come up and help me?

1st Landlady

(rising)

You will find some plants by the gate of the front
fence, and others just to the east of the house. Now
before we go, are you sure there's nothing else you want?

Bourne

Can't think of a thing.

2nd Landlady

(to Bourne)

Thank you for the drink. It was a treat. It isn't
often we get such Scotch in the Southwest.

1st Landlady

(moving towards the door glancing at the ceiling)

As apparently the men have stopped for the day. I don't
think they'll need be over this room again. Tomorrow
they'll work on the roof of the other room and the kitchen.
I'm so sorry - We'll be around to help you clean up. Oh,
by the way, I almost forgot. You'll be wanting a girl to
help you. I'd be careful of the young girls. They speak
English but aren't reliable.

Bourne

And I suppose the old women are reliable but don't
speak English!

1st Landlady

Exactly. Whomever you get, would you be good enough to
give them special instruction about the floors? Nothing

(50)

wet should be put on the kitchen wooden floor. It should
be swept, not washed. This earthen floor in here should
be sprinkled and swept with a native broom each morning. Xa
You'll find one in there. Our brooms are too stiff. And
once a week it must be gone over with fresh mud and a sheep
skin.

Bourne

How simple it is to keep house in these native houses.

1st Landlady

If there's anything else you want to know, please feel
free to get in touch with us.

Grace

We will.

1st Landlady

Goodnight. We hope you'll find everything and have
a good first night.

2nd Landlady

Goodnight.

Exeunt Landladies. Grace, Bourne, and Genth, make faces,
give signs of relief, go towards the table and settle themselves.

Grace

Phew! Now do we dare occupy our own house?

1st Landlady suddenly reappears.

1st Landlady

Oh excuse me. I forgot to tell you that the best way
to reach us is by dropping a card in the Post Office. We
have no telephone.

(52)

Bourne

(rising and going towards the first LL)

Allow me.

Exeunt Bourne and LL.

Grace

(to Genth)

I suppose Lewis wants to be sure they're off.

Genth

He'd better. By the way, Grace, may I ask you a question? Was Lewis in a bad way before you left New York?

Grace

Not that I know of. What do you mean? He was tired.
Nothing else. Why do you ask?

Genth

Something he said set me wondering.

Grace

Our last two weeks were quite strenuous. Night after
night we had people to the house, all with something to say
and eager to say it, all with different and often clashing
views of the trouble and remedy of the modern world. Both
of us felt the strain.

Genth

I'm sure you did. There was nothing else?

Grace

If there had been, Lewis would have said so. He always
comes out with it. Says that's the only way. Says that if
you hold something in beyond a certain point, it invariably
gets hold of you.

(53)

Genth

Thank you. I suspected one of his psychological tricks -
though I shouldn't call this a trick. Oh, I've a message
for you from Riva.

Grace

How is she? Where is she?

Genth

She's pretty well, considering. TAKEN Taos has built her
up; the people of Taos have worn her down.

Grace

What have people done to her? Everybody always loves
her. Genth

Genth

Tried to help her.

Grace

Then what's the trouble?

Genth

They've helped her with their right hands and fought
each other with their lefts - and all the squabbles have
fallen on her head.

Grace

I don't understand.

Genth

To give an example. One day I was in Riva's room.
A well-intentioned lady came in bringing fruit. Presently a
second well-intentioned lady entered bringing wine. Then
and there the two good intentions got jealous of each other
and the ladies made a scene. That's what Riva is in all the

(54)

time.

Grace

What nonsense. Where is she living now?

Genth

In a horrible little place off the plaza. Pink walls,
no view, an iron bed, one slit of a window, one narrow door.
She herself is the only light in the room. Every time I go
there I want to take her outdoors and let the sun get into
her body.

Grace

We must get her out of that. We feel responsible. She
came out here because of all we said of Taos and the south-
west.

Genth

Just what is her trouble?

Grace

Some kind of TB. The doctors discovered it last winter
and said she'd have to leave New York. We felt sure this
was the place for her.

Genth

So it is. The place is the best. Her physical tone
has improved one hundred percent. It's the people who damage
her. They are in and out of her room all day. She can't do
her work. She can't escape. They see her from the window -
and there's no back door. So in general I'd say that hers
is a case of looking better and feeling worse.

(55)

Grace

You said you'd had a message from her?

Genth

She's going to Santa Fe.

Grace

Leaving Taos?

Genth

She said she's had enough of it here. She's been staying on until you and Lewis came. She wants to see you at once.

Grace

We'll go in the first thing tomorrow. I want to see Helen too. How is she?

Genth

Coming along pretty well. The child is due sometime this month.

Grace

I'm very happy for her. She has wanted one so.

Genth

Yes, she has.

Grace

Is there a good doctor here?

Genth

She'll be taken care of. As you can see by looking around, quite a few children have been delivered into the world in New Mexico. No New York specialists - but, somehow or other, the larger part of the human race seems able to get born without them.

(56)

Enter Bourne

Bourne

We're going to have a problem with that young lady of
ours. She's a sociable young lady, Cliff. If there are
children anywhere around, she'll find them. I just found
her trying to cross the road to take up with a gang of
Mexican kids. There were about ten of them of all ages
sitting on a broken wall. The cars come down the highway
at 50 and more. She's had no experience with cars. We've
got to stop that.

Grace

(on her feet)

Where is she?

Bourne

In the yard - for how long I don't know. The gate
was closed but she found the cattle guard. I'm damned if I
see how we're going to keep her in. Nor do we want to.
She's got no have children to play with. What's the answer?
What about Mexican kids, Cliff?

Genth

As good as any and better than most. I'll be able to
give you first hand & dope in several years.

Grace

It's getting late. I must fix Betty's supper.

Genth

And I must go home. I've been away too long as it is.

Bourne

And I must get wood for the kitchen stove - and our
first dinner in an adobe house on the fringe of the little