"Lunch time," she said and shook her head.

The dirt road took a steep climb and then leveled off wide. It wasn't long before a house came into view. It sat alone with no barns or the usual hand full of out buildings for company. It was a smaller ranch style home with a nearly flat cedar shingled roof. There were no trees for shade and no porch. Jim thought he saw a man wearing a straw hat bending down at a dry streambed around the side of the house.

"There he is," she said as they pulled to a stop in front of the house.

Jim turned off the truck's engine and watched the cloud of kicked up dust catch up to them and engulf the truck. It would take a few cleanings to get his pickup back to its original color, he thought. Although, he was more concerned about what the dust would do to the engine components.

Iris stepped out of the truck and Jim followed suit. This was her family friend and she knew how to approach him and what to say. Jim was the outsider trying to get information. This team wasn't discussed on the way over, but Iris seemed to fall right in.

The man down in the dry streambed off from the side of the house took off his straw hat and waved it in the air to attract attention. There was a hard wind blowing out of the north and it felt to Jim like it was pressing against them, trying to keep them from reaching Sam Hauk. Iris held her chin up to the wind and kept walking like a true outdoorswoman. Jim lagged behind and dug the dust out of his stinging eyes.