Page 64

“Yeah, for sure we’ll cruise by there,” said Harlan. “I’d like to think he’d stay away from that life, but I don’t know my brother too well. Found out he’s a user and a thief. I’d hate to think he’s worse than that, but I guess we’ll find out.”

“Not your fault how he turned out,” said Travis. “He was separated from you by the system.”

“Yeah, the fucking system,” said Harlan. “Sometimes they make things worse instead of better.”

“I guess it’s the system were stuck with,” said Billy, “until they come up with something better.”

I felt better after I had a beer with my family. I spread out the food from the deli and we ate together and all of us relaxed a little.

When we finished, Billy cleaned up the kitchen while Harlan and I went to the barn.

Chapter Twelve

Thursday, August 1st.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

Harlan was up early and came to the barn with me to do what he could to help me one-handed. He managed to feed the oats and do some of the easier jobs while I mucked out the stalls and climbed up the ladder to the loft and threw hay and straw down.

“How upset was Travis when you told him about the bike?”

Harlan leaned on Windrider’s empty stall and lit up a smoke. “He took it a lot better than I thought he would, Tam. He just sat quiet and thought about it for a couple of minutes. Then he said,“We’ll get the bike back and I’ll show Virgil he ain’t as tough as he thinks he is.”

“Wow.” Was he talking in that flat, calm voice? You know—the scary one.”

“Yeah,” said Harlan, “and that shook me up a bit. But Virge needs discipline in a bad way, Tam. Can’t deny that.”

“Sure does. Ain’t gonna be a picnic when Dad shows him the goods.”

“Fuck,” said Harlan. “I wouldn’t want him showing me the goods either.”

When we went back into the house, Travis was sitting on the side of his bed. Definitely an improvement over the day before.

“I’ll help you to the bathroom, Dad,” said Harlan. “Tammy can start breakfast.”

“How are the horses, son? I haven’t seen Outlaw in days.”

“He’s fine. You can take a stroll out there tomorrow and lean on the corral fence and smoke. Be something for you to do while you’re healing your side.”

“Yeah, I guess. I gotta get over this and get back to work. You kids got too fuckin much to do.”

“We’re okay, honest,” said Harlan.

“I’m not convinced of that, son. Not convinced.”

Tammy made pancakes for breakfast, and we were all hungry as bears. Looking at her over by the stove, I could tell she’d lost weight in the last few days and Travis picked up on it.

“You’re working too hard, Tammy,” he said. “Shift into a lower gear, girl. You’ll get the same amount of work done.”

She turned and smiled at Travis. “I’m good, Daddy. Lots of work keeps me out of trouble.”

Travis pulled her over and hugged her close to his chair. “You never were any trouble, was she Billy?”

Billy laughed. “Well, there was that one time…”

“What time are you talking about?” hollered Tammy.

That made Travis laugh, and he had to hang onto his sore side.