“Name’s Tual, LaFerenella Teal. Friends call me Tealeaf.” She turned to shake hands with Ross, her grip as firm as her speech. “I’m just sort of taking a break here, a mini-vacation. Goi a friend who owns a house down on the creek. I thought it would be a kick to see what one of these vortex circle sessions was like. Now I’m glad I did.” She nodded at the figure riding loosely in Ross Ed’s backpack. “You make that dummy yourself?”
“I reckon you could say that I’m responsible for him.”
Nodding, the woman raced on. If she’d been speaking Castilian, the breathless pace would have seemed perfectly normal. ‘fat’s one of the best ventriloquist acts I’ve ever seen. And your answers … well, let’s just say that I’m impressed, and I don’t impress easily. What’s your name?”
“Ross Ed Hager. This is Caroline.” He jerked his head slightly to indicate his smaller companion. ‘his is Jed. He’s dead.”
“Jed the Dead. I like that, I like it a lot. Do you have professional representation, Ross Ed?”
His brows drew together. “Representation?”
Caroline stepped in. “What are you, some kind of theatrical agent or something?”
“Actually, I’m a producer.”
“And what, exactly, is it that you produce?”
The woman grinned. “Anything I can, sister.” Her gaze switched back to the slightly bemused Texan. “I take it from your confusion over my query that you do not have representation. In that event, I would like to take you on.”
“I thought you said you weren’t an agent.” Caroline was watching the woman carefully.
“It’s kind of a gray area. ‘Ross Ed and the Dead Alien.’ Oh yes, I like that. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy it ain’t, but then this is the nineties, not the thirties. I got a question for you, big fella.”
Ross Ed waited. The woman’s thoughts seemed to move as rapidly as her speech.
“Can you sing?”
“Passably, I guess. I sure never tried io—”
“Rock?”
He was apologetic. “I kind of prefer country-western.”
She waved it off. “Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter. That can be fixed. It’s the ventriloquism that’s a natural. How long you been doing this act?”
“Not very long,” he confessed.
“Well, you could never tell it by me. I think you’re absolutely fabulous, sweetie. But what are we standing out here in the sun for?” Pivoting, she started back toward the parking lot, assuming they would follow. As that was their destination anyway, they did so.
“I’m telling you,” she rambled on, “you’ve got a great future ahead of you, Ross Ed. You and Jed there.” She chuckled knowingly.
“I don’t know that I know what you’re talking about, ma’am. I don’t know that I’m interested in the kind of ‘real future’ you have in mind.”
“Call me Tealeaf, please. You’ve done this act before?”
He thought of El Paso. “A few times, but I’m not sure I want to take it on television.”
“Who said anything about television? First we’ve got to get you up on a stage, get you some proper backup people.” She made a face. “Need to do something about those clothes, too. I want you to sing through your dummy. An alien dummy. I’m telling you, Ross Ed, it’ll be a sensation!”
“But I don’t think I’m that good a singer,” he protested.
“Since when did singing ability have anything to do with the success of a contemporary band? It’s the gimmick that’s critical, Ross Ed. The hook, the difference, the next outrage. A singing dead alien: it can’t miss. That otherworldly voice you do is perfect for CD. How d’you manipulate your throat like that?”
“I guess it’s a talent,” he replied, not knowing what else to say.
“A natural! I knew it the first time I heard it.”
Abruptly, he stopped. “Loot you’re being very nice about all this, but I think you should know that I’m no performer. I’m just an oilfield roughneck. The business with Jed, well, that’s just kind of a hobby. I’m not sure I want to do it in front of a big audience.”
She gaped at him. “Not do it? Are you crazy? You can’t just squash a natural ability like that. It’s not fair to all the no-talent performers who make it. Once in a while you have to give them something to aspire to.”
How does one say no to this woman? he found himself wondering. He suspected that not many people did.
“Okay, but you should know that army intelligence is after us.”
Turning away, she waved disarmingly. “Don’t tell me, don’t tell. I don’t care who’s after you, I’ll take care of it. I have friends who can fix anything. The important thing is to place a unique talent like yours before the public so that they can make their own decision. Understand?”
“I think—”
“Good!” They were almost to the parking lot. The members of the circle, having missed out on the True Path, had climbed into their cars instead and taken the one which intersected Highway 69 a couple of miles down the hill. “Now tell me: when was the last time you had to worry about these people who are after you?”
Ross glanced at Caroline. “It’s been a while.”
“Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter. You’ll give me the details and I’ll handle it. Imagine trying to suppress a natural talent like yours! Nobody has that right; not the police or anyone.” Her gaze narrowed slightly. “You haven’t killed anybody, have you?”
Ross Ed remembered Lordsburg. He hadn’t laid a finger on anyone. The suit had done it all. “Nope.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about. Not that I couldn’t have fixed things anyway, but this makes it a little easier.” Putting her left arm through Ross Ed’s right and her right arm around Caroline’s waist, she urged them forward. “So tell me: how did you get to Sedona?”
