Ashley Davies sat on the hard wooden bench between her two
friends and stared fixedly at the scoreboard. Her time of
16.082 seconds was still holding third place behind Madison
and Kyla. Only one racer had yet to ride and she was about to
make her run. Kyla and Madison almost always placed top three,
but Ashley was new to barrel racing and had not placed better
than fifth this season. A top three finish here in Austin,
the biggest event of the season, would assure her of an
invitation to ride again next season, even though she
wouldn’t have the points otherwise. She was so nervous that
her mouth was dry and her heartbeat was pounding in her
temples. Her long fingers unconsciously stroked the beads of
her rosary.

The final rider thundered down the chute and as she crossed
the line the clock began running. Ashley didn’t watch the
girl; her eyes were glued to the clock. The rider chose to
go left first, which meant she would have two right turns
before the long straight away to the finish. She cut the
last barrel very tightly and it leaned over at a dangerous
angle. The crowd watched as the barrel slowly tumbled to its
side. In racing you could touch the barrels, but if you
knocked one over there was a five second penalty. With that
barrel falling Ashley was assured of holding third and she,
Kyla and Madison all jumped up and down and hugged. It was the
first one, two, three finish for Valdez Junior Collage that
season.

Ashley had been born and raised in Valdez. Her father worked
as security advisor for one of the big defense contractors
and her mother ran a small clothing shop. The two had met in
Mexico City where her father had been an embassy guard. Her
mother made a very comfortable living with her shop, which
catered to the large immigrant population in Valdez. She
sold dresses, skirts and tops in traditional patterns and
colors and all of her cloth was imported from Mexico. She
also did a small but lucrative business with some of the
richest Anglo families in town, to whom showing up in
"authentic" Mexican garb was the new Chic. They had two
children, the older a boy named Curtis who took after his
father and the younger was Ashley, who looked like a carbon
copy of her mother.

Ashley had earned a scholarship to Valdez Junior College for
her scholastic achievement. Her real desire was to go to A &
M and become a vet, but it was expensive and two years free
at Valdez while living at home would make it much easier for
her folks to afford her final two years at A & M. Ashley
wasn’t sure she was ready for living so far from her family
and friends anyway, so the JuCo seemed the best option. The
fact that Kyla was going to Valdez too had made the decision
easy.