Be My Guest by Caroline Clemmons

her escape the previous evening. Now she stood
secure and warm near this intriguing cowboy. But for the proof of
cuts and bruises on her body, it all seemed a terrible nightmare.
Will's voice brought her from her reverie.
    "If you wonder why the house faces the
railroad, you'll understand when you see the view from the back,"
Will turned to lead the way. When he reached the family room, he
paused to let Aurora go first.
    The huge family room provided true
southwestern atmosphere. Aurora loved it at once. A glance
confirmed books by several of her favorite authors resided on the
shelves of the bookcases flanking the massive fireplace. Several
large area rugs in conversation groupings partially concealed earth
colored tiles on the sunken floor. One sofa faced the fireplace
with other perpendicular to the first to form an el. Upholstered in
a Navajo rug print of burgundy, gray, white, and black, the two
sofas blended with the small rug displayed on the wall nearby.
Their arrangement gave a view of both the fireplace and the
large-screen television.
    An arrangement of cowboy equipment on one of
the pecan-paneled walls included a pair of ancient spurs, a
branding iron, and several implements Aurora could not identify.
Will hobbled to the south wall of the room and opened the
natural-weave draperies along a massive wall of glass with French
doors in the center.
    Aurora gasped in awe at the panorama laid
before her. "Oh, Will, this is wonderful. What a glorious
view."
    He smiled proudly as he led the way out the
French doors to a covered patio that ran the entire length of the
house. Architecturally, the typical West Texas rambling ranch style
house used tan exterior brick, sized to resemble the softer and
less durable Mexican brick. Chocolate brown paint on the exterior
wood trim presented a pleasing contrast to the brick.
    From the covered portion, the patio extended
to reach a raised sun deck near a rectangular swimming pool. Beyond
that, rolling hills and prairie stretched with magnificent vistas
of red bluffs streaked with buff and brown and gray, of canyons,
ravines, and grassland bounded by the creek on the right. A ribbon
of bluffs of the Caprock escarpment wound rippling back and forth,
at times facing east, sometimes north, and sometimes west.
    "Whenever I see this view I think of that
song `The Red Hills of Utah.' I especially like the version sung by
the cowgirl singer Trudy Fair. Even though the song is about Utah,
it really fits this part of Texas as well as the areas around
Benjamin and the Palo Duro Canyon." He stared out across the
expanses as if mesmerized by its beauty.
    She shook her head and confessed, "I don't
think I know that song." She curled up in one corner of the glider
swing.
    Will moved slowly toward her. "It talks
about the green valleys, tall trees, cool rivers, soft breezes,
pretty flowers, and sweet songs of the mockingbirds." Will smiled
and admitted, "Well, there aren't a lot of tall trees here but,
fortunately, you found one of them."
    "That's true. I'm very grateful to that
particular tall tree, and I do love this view of the bluffs." She
raised her hand to shield her eyes as she peered in the distance.
"You don't see a little blue boat out there anywhere do you?"
    Will sat beside her, "No, I'm afraid not.
Let's hope it beached itself before it made it to the Brazos."
    He called her attention to a small fruit
orchard between the house and the creek on the right, most of which
was hidden from sight by the house. Those and other tree plantings
for the property left the view from the patio free of obstruction.
Even partially covered in flood water, the view was
spectacular.
    "I know that landscape seems barren to a lot
of people, but it's beautiful to me. I never tire of the view."
Will's eyes drank in the view as if he would never get his
fill.
    Aurora slipped into another bond with Will
as she shared this part of his life. His love for this land was a
part of him far greater than this house or