Valentine

As the summer passes, D.A. begins to spend more time with her new friend, Jesse Belden, at his makeshift home in the drainpipe. The two exchange stories. His are about growing up in Tennessee, his stint in Vietnam, and how he came to be in Odessa. Hoping to find employment in the oil fields, he came to Odessa in his new pickup truck to stay with his cousins. Initially, he found work but working in the oil field was dangerous with impaired hearing. When he was let go, his cousins, fearing Jesse could no longer pay room and board, confiscated his pickup truck and dumped him unceremoniously in Odessa. To make matters worse, Jesse, while working his shift at the strip club, got word that his cousins had moved to Penwell, about 15 miles away: “Come get your truck when you can,” the note said.

D.A. is determined to help her new friend get his truck and go back home. She offers to steal Mrs. Shepard’s (Corrine’s) old pickup truck from her garage, that she was tall enough to drive it back to town: “It’s not stealing if you bring it back” (205). As Jesse mulls over his limited options, D.A. tells him a story her mom would tell her about a rancher’s wife who lived on a remote sheep farm along the Pecos River. When her children and her husband were all frozen to death during a blizzard, the woman refused to come to town. She stayed out at the farm. Three years went by and no one heard from her. A detail from town went out, certain that they’d find a dead body, only to find the woman quite happy, tending a miraculous garden full of ripe fruits and vegetables, unbelievably huge despite the months of drought. Weeks later, when influenza gripped the town, rumors swirled that it was the mischief of the woman herself, that she had cast some kind of spell. They dispatched a man to her farm to ask her point-blank if she was a witch. Her response was to shoot the man square in the head and dump his body outside the gate of her property. No one disturbed her after that.

The story turns to Mary Rose and the trial of Dale Strickland. It’s August and oppressively hot. Mary Rose heads to the courthouse determined to testify. The DA warns her that Strickland’s attorney is a “pushy little son of a bitch” (220). Mary Rose then learns that the entire case rests on her testimony because Gloria won’t testify. At first, Strickland’s lawyer is cagey, asking Mary Rose about her new baby and about why she relocated into town from the ranch house. The lawyer then asks point-blank whether Gloria, when she appeared at Mary Rose’s door, ever said the word “rape.” Mary Rose says yes—but the lawyer points out that wasn’t what she told police that night. Next, the lawyer asks about Dale and whether he seemed a bit hungover but said he was looking for his date after their “squabble” (228). Mary Rose, seeing where this is going, bristles, points at Dale Strickland and says, “She is a child and you a piece of shit” (229). The lawyer then asks whether Mary Rose pointed a loaded rifle at Dale, making Mary Rose look like the aggressor. The DA tries to repair some of the damage and asks Mary Rose to share how Gloria looked and what her injuries were. However, the judge calls for a recess—he must get to a restaurant early for dinner. As the court adjourns, Dale leans into an exasperated Mary Rose and whispers, “When this is all over, I hope to see you again […] maybe at your ranch or here in town” (233). Without hesitation, Mary Rose responds, “I will look forward to blowing your fucking head off” (233), for which the judge puts her jail for contempt of court. She’s released for dinner. That next afternoon, the court proceedings wind down and the jury returns a verdict quickly: simple assault, probation, and a $5,000 fine to be paid to the Ramírez family. Dale is out of jail by dinner. When Mary Rose gets the phone call, she goes to the backyard and, using her daughter’s .22 rifle, shoots Dr. Pepper cans off the fence posts.

The novel returns to the story of D.A. and Jesse Belden. Jesse now has enough money from his work at the strip club to settle his debt with his cousins, reclaim his truck, and go home to Tennessee, but he’s uncertain how to get to Penwell. It’s just the day after the trial concluded, and a wildcat storm, near tornadic, rakes Odessa, kicking up loads of sand and grit: “Dirt blocks out the sun, and the sky changes from an old bruise to a ripe plum” (240). The storm passes. At the height of its threat, D.A., who’s out on her bike, goes to the Whiteheads to be with her new friend, Mary Rose’s daughter Aimee. They find Corrine at the house with Mary Rose. The two girls can’t help but notice that Aimee’s mother is distracted, unconcerned with the violent storm and strangely quiet, until, without warning, she suddenly hurls her glass of iced tea against the wall. Aimee goes to her mother, “who is crying so hard her whole body shakes with the strength of it” (244). Corrine sends the two girls to Aimee’s bedroom, where they watch Aimee’s baby brother and talk about the trial and what they’ve heard and what the word “probation” means. Aimee says, “Dale Strickland can still go anywhere he pleases, he can eat ice cream whenever he wants, and go see a football game. What about Glory Ramírez?” (245). Just a half hour later, when Corrine stops by the room to check on the girls, she notices that D.A. is gone.