Ruby said "You're gettin' us in a world of hurt.
Down below the Mason-Dumbass line the food gets worse.
I can't go back to Tennessee
That NASCAR country's not for me.
Go on, if you think you must."
Carlos packed his drums up in the dark of night
Ruby's standing just outside the front porch light
Chain-smoking Camel straights
The sky off to the east got gray
And he rolled off in a cloud of dust.
And the gray colt knickered at the gate
She said "You're right it's getting late.
You and me got work to do
We can't be burning daylight too."
She took down the long lead rope
And stayed off that slippery slope
The aspen trees were turning gold up top
The talk was buzzin 'round the beauty shop
"Wasn't he barely half her age.
Well that's just how they do now days.
We should all had been so lucky."
By spring she'd had the run of the free born men
Ruby turned 50 in a sheep camp tent
Her body still could rock all night
But her heart was closed and locked up tight
Potato fields all muddy and brown
The gossip long since quieted down
And after one more Coggins test
Pouring coffee for the county vet
Pictures on the ice box door
Of Carlos in the first Gulf War
Black-eyed brown and youthful face
Smiling back from a Saudi base
And then Carlos on the big bay mare
Heavier now and longer hair
Looking past the saddle she'd
From way on back inside his head
And the old vet said, "One day, Rube,
That colt will break an egg in you.
Now and then one comes along
You just can't ride." And he went on home.
And the storm door didn't catch
It blew back hard as she struck a match
But she cupped it just in time
And she sent that ash tray flyin'
And holding back the flood
Just don't do no good
You can't unclench your teeth