Free Clint Faraday Mysteries Collection B :This Job is Murder Collector's Edition by CD Moulton Page A

Mark said.
    “ Oh, he’ll do the drag queen thing for
a year or two, then get married – as much as they do – and have a
couple of kids,” Judi said. “They seem to do that. The Indios like
sex and don’t pretend otherwise. We’re the ones with the taboos and
inhibitions.”
    “ He’s so openly gay, yet a girl will
marry him?” Matt asked. Pablo snorted.
    “ They think nothing of it. It’s sort of
a stage that some of them go through. They’re genetically bisexual
to one degree or another,” Clint said. “They don’t think it’s even
a little unusual. Some people like yuca, some don’t. Some people
like fish, some don’t. That’s what life is like.”
    “ Oh?” Mike asked innocently. “Do you
sleep with many of them?”
    “ Only when I’m in the mountains and in
their culture,” Clint replied, leaving them all uncertain of how to
react, so they changed the subject. They didn’t know if he was
putting them on or serious. Pablo seemed actually shocked. He
dropped back a bit. Matt asked if it was natural to make everything
center around sex out there. He had seen that in several
places.
    Clint had slept with a few of them, but sleep
was all they did. They slept wrapped up in each other in the
mountains. It got cold at night and they usually didn’t have but
one blanket. If something developed from that closeness, it
happened. Clint had wondered what was going to happen at times. He
agreed that it was pleasant to sleep close to someone.
    So far as talking about sex a lot, what else
was there to do for recreation in these mountains? They were sexy
people, so they talked and joked about sex. It was a thing they
were comfortable with. Almost everyone thought of sex a lot, so why
not talk about it? Gringos bragged and lied about it, Indios simply
made it part of their conversations and jokes. They didn’t have a
need to try to impress anyone with the fact they were no different
than other people – except for the honesty part.
    They stopped several times to take pictures
and to just enjoy the view. They passed across a valley from a
waterfall that dropped more than a hundred meters. The sun was at
just the right angle to have a very bright rainbow at the bottom.
Judi stopped several times to take pictures of various plants.
Orchids worth thousands in the states were as much as weeds
here.
    They finally reached the house. It was down
in the trees about a hundred meters from the top. The convection
winds would make being on the top extremely uncomfortable at times.
Obilio ran out to embrace Clint and welcome him. He embraced Judi
and shook hands with all the Campbells and the Garzas. Ann said she
brought some food because that’s what you did in the states. Where
to put it? Lila came out to embrace Clint and to meet the
others.
    Obilio is in his seventies. He thinks nothing
of walking four hours up the mountain to his house. The Campbells,
on horses, were as much as exhausted. Pablo seemed a little tired.
Maria didn’t seem affected one way or another.
    Lila showed them the men’s room and the
women’s room and pointed to the creek a little down the mountain.
The Indios are clean to almost an extreme. The water is ice cold,
but they bathe at least once a day. Obilio had a small outhouse
built over the ravine the creek fell into.
    Lila served a drink she made from corn that
was delicious and refreshing. They all knew about the chicha, how
it was corn fermented very slightly in water and sugar, then milk
was added. Ann was allergic to it, but the rest would like a glass.
Ann preferred water, anyhow.
    Lila, Judi, Cori and Ann hit it off quickly
and became pals. Cori, unlike a lot of gringas her age, pitched
right in around the house. That impressed Lila and Obilio. The few
gringas and Latinas her age they knew were little princesses who
would be insulted if anyone expected them to do anything.
    Clint rested with the others for an hour or
so, then said he was going to the top to see the view. Obilio