A Wolf in the Fold

I had a thought. “Did the Tanners accuse your family of rustling before your pa disappeared?”

Her smooth brow and her full lips puckered. “Not that I remember, no. They didn’t start in on us until after he vanished.”

“How were they before that?”

“Polite enough, I suppose. They would say ‘howdy’ in town. But that Gertrude always said it like she had a mouth full of nails.”

“Some people are born with too much acid in their system.”

“Ain’t that the truth.”

We sat in silence, the shadows lengthening around us, the birds and the insects and the frogs providing a sort of music. It made me wish we could sit there forever, but presently I sensed we were not alone and I shifted to find Ty and Clell with their rifles.

I was becoming downright sloppy. I never heard them come up. It would do well for me to keep in mind that I was dealing with a bunch of backwoodsmen with as much wilderness savvy as Indians.

“Ma wants you and him back at the cabin,” Ty said to Daisy.

“You shouldn’t have come out here without a gun,” Clell scolded her. “It’s not safe.”

I didn’t like the glance he shot at me. Rising, I held out my hand and Daisy took it.

“Don’t fret about me, big brother. I can take care of myself. I heard you two clomping through the brush like a pair of half-blind bulls.”

“Like hell,” Ty said.

Grinning, Daisy skipped past them, pulling me after her. “I’m not a little girl anymore, big brother. The sooner you own up to it, the sooner you can rest easy when I’m off by himself.”

“So long as the Tanners are out for our hides, I can’t ever rest easy” was Ty’s reply.

So far I had not seen any sign of cattle, alive or otherwise. I reasoned that if the Butchers were lying—and they had to be—then they must keep the cattle off in a canyon somewhere.

Hannah was in a rocking chair under the overhang. Another chair had been set beside it for me. “I like to sit out here and admire the sunsets,” she said as I sank down. “They’re always so pretty.”

The Dark Sister was silhouetted against a sky painted bright hues of red and orange, laced with traces of pink. “That they are,” I allowed.

Daisy had roosted nearby. Ty and Clell were listening with their arms folded. Out of the cabin filed Sissy, Jordy, Kip, and Sam. There was no sign of Carson.

“We need to talk, Reverend. We need to work out what to do about the Tanners.”

“I promise to do what I can.”

Hannah nodded. “And I’m grateful. But how do you intend to go about it, exactly? How can we get it through Gertrude Tanner’s thick head that me and mine don’t steal her cows?”

“I will talk to them—” I began.

“No offense, Reverend, but talking hasn’t done us much good. I sent word to Gertrude through Calista that I would welcome the chance to sit down with her and hash it out, but Calista says all Gertrude did was laugh.”

“Now there is a bitch if ever there was one,” Sissy remarked.

Hannah grew as stern as a riled schoolmaster. “That will be quite enough cussing in front of our guest! You are a lady and you will act like one. Never forget you’re not too old for a tanning.”

“Switch my backside all you want,” Sissy said. “It won’t change the truth.”

Tapping her fingers on the rocker’s arm, Hannah said, “Do you see what I have to put up with, Reverend? I never gave my ma sass like they sass me.”

Sissy snorted. “Since when is saying our mind sass? You’ve always told us to be honest with you, haven’t you? Or would you rather we wear gags all day? If so, I want a pink one. You’ll have to go into town and buy a bolt of pink cloth or I’ll just keep on speaking my piece.”

“We don’t have the money for a scrap of cloth, let alone a bolt,” Hannah said good-naturedly, “so flap your gums all you want.”

They grinned and chuckled and laughed, and I was struck by how much they cared for one another. Genuinely and truly cared. It put me in a funk. I kept forgetting who I was and why I was there. This had never happened to me before. I never let myself have feelings for those I was to exterminate for the same reason you never became too fond of a cow or a hog or chicken you might have to eat. Yet here I was, entertaining preposterous notions about Daisy and feeling sympathy for the rest of her family.

I needed a drink. I needed a drink bad. I needed to get drunk and stay drunk for a week, but I had the job to do. The damned, stinking job.

Suddenly I became aware they were all staring at me.

“You all right?” Hannah asked. “Do I bore you so much that you’re not paying attention?”

“Sorry, my dear woman,” I said. “I was racking my brain for a way to get Gertrude to listen to reason.”

“You would have to be a miracle worker,” Hannah said. “But I reckon that’s your line of work.”