Dang Near Dead (An Aggie Mundeen Mystery Book 2) by Nancy G. West

he only came when he needed money.” She hung her head, embarrassed.
    “Didn’t he have a job?”
    “After he quit going to school, I think he had lots of jobs. But they didn’t seem to last long.”
    “Do you know why he came here the night before the Vernons died? Did he need money?”
    “I don’t know, Señora.”
    I expressed my condolences for the Vernons’ deaths.
    Maria had been part of the family. To cheer her up, I told her how much everybody enjoyed the good food she prepared and that I hoped to talk with her again later. Right now, I had to treat my poison ivy.
    With Maria standing watch, I gingerly opened the freezer, peered inside and grabbed the bagged cubes. I scurried back through the dining room and walked fast to our cabin before the ice cubes could melt.
    When I entered our abode, Meredith looked up from her reading.
    “Bertha makes ice cubes from jewelweed,” I said. “She says they’re a good treatment for poison ivy.” I placed a towel in the chair in front of my computer, rubbed orange-colored cubes on the backs of my legs and put bagged cubes at the edge of the chair. Pressing my legs against the bag to hold it in place, I sat on my tailbone.
    “That’s an old herbal remedy,” she said. “Native American Indians and herbalists used jewelweed to counter poison ivy, bruises, cuts and burns. Even now, people chop stems of the plant, boil them, strain the orange liquid and pour it into ice cube trays. I never knew if it worked.” She paused. “They say jewelweed grows on the east coast down to Florida and likes moist woods. I’d think Texas would be too dry for it to grow. Wonder where Bertha gets it?”
    “She didn’t say.”
    Meredith shrugged and returned to her reading. I turned on my laptop to check my email.
    The letter came from someone who hated sun and bugs but liked cowboys.
      
    Dear Aggie,
     
    I’ve never been fond of the outdoors. At night, I can see plenty of stars just looking through my window. The only critter I care about is my dog. But I met this hunky cowboy. He and his friends want to go camping. The last time they went, a girl came home covered with a red poison ivy rash. Is there any way to prevent that? Short of giving up my cowboy?
     
    Frenzied and fearful,
    Fran
      
    Having searched Ask Jeeves for poison ivy treatments after I sat in the stuff, I felt eminently qualified to give Fran advice.
      
    Dear Frenzied Fran,
     
    Poison ivy has three leaves on a reddish stem. Rashes from poison ivy, oak or sumac are caused by urushiol, a substance in their sap. If you spray deodorant containing aluminum chlorohydrate on your skin and clothes before heading outdoors, it helps prevent urushiol from irritating your skin.
     
    If you misstep, you’re going to sting and itch like crazy, but you are not going to die. First, pour water on your skin. Second, pour rubbing alcohol over the area where you brushed the plant. Third, pour on, do not rub, calamine lotion on the area. Fourth, stick your clothes in the trash. Liquid made from jewelweed cuts down the allergic reaction, but it may be hard to find in the right concentration.
     
    Are you more interested in prevention than remedies? Study photos of poison ivy, oak and sumac. Don’t sit on or walk through anything that looks like that. A sure-fire way to avoid the dangers of country living is to not go ape over a cowboy in tight jeans.
     
    Itching but wiser,
    Aggie
      
    I decided not to mention that to keep clothes away from her itching skin, she might have to wear a ridiculously huge dress that would make her appear ninety years old.
    I craved a nap. The cubes had almost melted, and my thighs were happily numb from dribbling on jewelweed and sitting on bagged ice. I lay on my bunk, covered my poison ivy patch with the bag of melting cubes and directed the fan on my legs and derriere. At least my medical condition temporarily removed me from the tensions between people and hazards of ranching. I’d changed