Dodge the Bullet
Page 13
After consuming nearly everything on his plate in four bites, Dodge sat back in the creaky vinyl and took a swig of his beer. “You make this seven days a week?”
Donnie looked up from his plate and shrugged. “Isabel and Lissa bring some stuff over every now and again. Deb’s husband has a big garden and they keep me in greens and fruit most of the year. Abbey, Mary Beth and Kelly send over their leftovers with the kids on Sundays.” He rubbed a finger across his chin and leaned back in his chair, a mirror of his son. “Hell, if it wasn’t for needing milk and ice cream, I’d never have to leave the house. And I swear your sister’s would be happy to deliver it to my doorstep if I asked. They think I’m helpless.”
“You’re lucky to have them and you know it.” Dodge felt uncomfortable. He needed to say some things and didn’t know how to say them. “I haven’t been much of a help to you.”
“I don’t need your damn help.”
“I know you don’t.” Dodge carried his plate to the stove for seconds. “But if you did, I’d never have known. I’m sorry about that.” He set his plate down and tried to avoid his father’s stare.
“You were busy becoming a man. Wouldn’t be the one you are today if you’d been around here looking after me.” Donnie moved the food around his plate with his fork, shuffled his feet under the table. “I’m proud of the man you are.” He looked up into Dodge’s eyes. “Never said that before and for that I’m sorry.”
In less than a minute the weight of twenty years dissolved like an effervescent cloud in the air. And the conversation was over.
“How’s the set-up over at the Woodward place?” Donnie asked, digging back into his plate of food.
“Good. Better than good, actually. With the barns and corral at the front of the property, it’s an even better set up than I had at McGills’.”
“How’s the woman. Sarah?”
Dodge looked up. “What do you mean?”
“I may be old, boy, but I’m no fool. I know you well enough to know you’re interested. You tell her everything?”
“Yeah, I told her.” He thought about Sarah throwing herself in his arms. He was more than interested. She’d gotten to him and it bothered him more than he could admit.
“You tell her the truth?”
“Yeah, I told her the truth.”
Donnie moved his chair back, carried his dish to the sink and turned on the water. “You don’t get much sleep for someone who works as hard as you do.” Donnie filled the sink with suds and turned to face his son. “Thought maybe getting some stuff off your chest would help. I hear you at night.”
Dodge carried his plate to the sink and shooed his dad away. “I’ll clean up. Don’t mean to keep you up at night.”
“Hell, you’re not keeping me up.” Donnie reached into his shirt pocket for the cigar he liked to chew on. “Old body like mine doesn’t need much sleep. If I’d been asleep I wouldn’t have heard you.”
###
Dodge lay awake that night under the thin sheet of the double bed in his old room. Things there hadn’t changed much since he’d been in high school. His trophies still lined the bookshelf and the red and blue quilt covered the bed with a weight that was too heavy for the stale air in the small room. He sat up and raised the window, let the cool night air brush over his skin.
One of his sisters had lived in the house a couple years before when her husband had lost his job and they were getting back on their feet. Their son, his nephew, had stayed in the room and a few of his toys remained neatly stacked in the corner. If it weren’t for those toys and his aching back, it’d be easy to close his eyes and feel like he was young and free again.
He wanted to sleep, his body craved it. But every time he drifted off, he saw Wendy Hawkins’ face. He’d jolt awake and roam around only to disturb his father. He glanced at the clock when he thought about rifling through the medicine cabinet for something to help him sleep. He dismissed the idea when he saw it was one in the morning. Whatever good a sleep aid would do for the night wouldn’t be worth it when he couldn’t function the next day. The vibration of his cell phone caused a different kind of jolt.
“Sus vacas están fuera y fuera yo no puedo recuperar en.” Miguel was talking fast and Dodge’s brain was too sleep-deprived for him to realize what Miguel was explaining.
“My cows are out?” he said before remembering Miguel’s English wasn’t so good. “Cómo? Cuántos y cuán son lejos ellos?” He needed to know how it happened and how many had escaped.
“Necesito ayuda,” the man pleaded for help.
“I’ll be right there.” Dodge reached for his clothes.
The drive from his dad’s took only a few minutes, but in that time his cattle had wandered so far down the Seven North that Dodge had to swerve to miss a heifer and her calf just as he turned off the Rifle Range. “Damn it,” he swore and swung the truck around to try to head off the pair and several others whose eyes he saw reflected in his headlights. If they’d gotten as far as the main road, there was no telling how many were out and how far the others had gone. Big rigs and cars traveled along the Rifle Range at all hours of the night. An eight hundred pound cow could do a lot of damage to a car or even cause a semi to wreck, not to mention the dent it would put in his bank account. He needed to get the herd back to the fences and fast.
The cows had worked themselves into a frenzy, scared by the headlights and the horn Dodge used to herd the cows back toward the ranch. He saw the lights of Miguel’s pickup and together they managed to get the dozen or so cows headed in the right direction. They led the cattle to the corrals and locked them in tight. Dodge doubled back to the Rifle Range to see if he could find any stragglers. He came back to the barn for his four-by-four to scour the property for the remaining sixty pair that were still missing.
With only a sliver of moon and full galaxy of stars overhead, he’d be lucky to find any more cows tonight, luckier still if he didn’t kill himself looking. The small headlight of the four-by-four barely reached a few feet in front of him. He found more cows, twenty or so, down by the river in the deep sector where they weren’t tempted to cross. It took some time and a fair amount of cussing, but Dodge eventually got them back to the corral.
He met up with Miguel on the other side of the property where Miguel had spied tracks leading across the river to the newly fenced pasture he hadn’t planned to graze for awhile. They jimmied a fence with some wire and a fallen tree log to hold the cows on the property if they decided to cross back over and then headed back to the original pasture from where they’d escaped. They found the spot where the wire had come lose and secured it back to the rod with fresh wire. Dodge passed out on Miguel’s couch for the remainder of the night. He could have driven home, but he wanted to check the fence and get a head count on his cows come first light. He wouldn’t have seen the first break of daylight if his cell hadn’t started vibrating in the hand that held it firmly even in the throws of sleep.
“Hello?” Dodge tried to sit up and let his eyes focus enough to find a clock.
“There’re cows in my flower beds.” Sarah’s irritation came through loud and clear. “What the hell is going on?”
“Shit.” Dodge flipped the phone closed to find his shoes and rustle up the remainder of his cattle.
###
“There’re going to town on your plants, mom,” Lyle called up from the driveway when he spotted Sarah peering through the window in her nightshirt. “What’d Dodge say?”
Sarah held her head out the window and tried to angle her body to see around the side of the house to appraise the damage herself. “He said a lovely cuss word and hung up on me.” Her voice drifted off as she saw the dust from his approaching truck careening toward the cabin. “Well that was fast.” She grabbed her robe and slippers to join him outside.
Dodge quickly skirted the front of his truck and came to a stop by Lyle. Sarah saw at least fifteen cows eating away at the pansies and wildflowers she’d planted.
Do
dge slapped a hand on Lyle’s shoulder. “Can you fire up the four wheelers and give me a hand getting these guys back in the pasture? And grab your brother,” he called to Lyle’s back as he ran inside the garage. “I need all the help I can get.”
Lyle side-stepped around Sarah as she stomped her way through the vehicles toward Dodge. “You’re supposed to keep the cows off my little section of the property.” She’d worked her butt off the past few days on her flower beds and potted plants. Ever since she’d heard the cows less than half an hour ago they’d put enough of a dent in her work to force her to start over.
“Sorry,” he said. He raised an eyebrow as he took a long, slow study of her attire. She tightened the sash on her robe. “How long have they been here?”
“It’s been about twenty minutes since I heard mooing and took a look. That’s twenty minutes too long.” She set her anger aside long enough to take a good look at Dodge. His heavy eyes and slumped shoulders made him look older. “You look like hell. What happened?”
“The fence wire must have broken loose from the metal post. We did our best to get the ones we could find back in last night, or early this morning.” He ran his hands down his face. “I need to get these guys in the corral and do a count to see who’s missing.”
Kevin and Lyle bounded down the stairs and suited up in their protective gear for cow wrangling.
“You two listen to Dodge and do what he says.” It was almost worth the destruction of her flowers to see them so happy. She turned to Dodge as he tossed Kevin and Lyle their helmets and started the engines on the four wheelers. “I’ve got coffee brewing upstairs,” she shouted to him over the whine of the engines. “I’ll get dressed and bring a thermos to the pasture.”
He nodded his head at her. “Kevin, you take the white one and Lyle, if you can do the gears on your mom’s, we’ll take hers. It’ll do better in all this mud.”
“Let’s go,” Kevin said.
Sarah watched them peel out of the drive and around the front of the house by the river. Dodge shouted directions for them to fan out around him, the effect of which would push the cows back along the road toward the pasture. What little of her lawn that remained was churned to bits by their tires. The smiles on their faces were worth a few stems of grass; her sons were rustling cattle and loving every minute of it. She went inside to get dressed and watch the show from the comfort of her kitchen with the much needed zing of caffeine.
###
The first spray of mist began to fall from the overcast sky on a day that was quickly going from bad to worse. Cows of all sizes packed the corral, mooing noisily after their night on the loose and frantic capture. Lyle and Kevin put out hay in the narrow troughs that lined the outside of the corral while the cows pushed and shoved their way to reach the golden meal.
Dodge and Miguel huddled around the post speaking conspiratorially in Spanish as Sarah approached from the cabin. She’d pulled on some old jeans and a sweatshirt and had poured the coffee into the only thermos she could find. Dodge looked like he needed to inject the caffeine directly into his veins. He leaned against the post, his Stetson high on his head and his boots and jeans covered with mud.
“Did you get them all back?” She handed Dodge a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee and screwed the lid on when Miguel politely declined and walked away toward the boys.
Dodge took a long sip from the small cup that looked like a shot glass in his large hand. “I’ve got ten or so over at the Winslow’s. They’ve got them cornered and are waiting for me to come get them. That should be it.” He looked over at the corral and shook his head. “I’m damn lucky.”
“Do you need the boys to help you get them from the Winslow’s? I’m sure they’d love to.” She watched him absently rub the back of his neck. He looked exhausted and she wished she had more to offer than coffee.
“Yeah, with the four of us it shouldn’t take long.” He took his hat off, ran a hand through his thick hair, the ends of which were beginning to curl in the light mist. When he placed the hat back on his head he looked Sarah in the eye and took a deep breath. “The fence didn’t break.” He picked up the sheared edges of a wire that hung from a post. “This wire was cut. Deliberately.”
“Are you sure?” She moved in to examine the ends of the wire.
“The wire isn’t frayed, as you’d expect if it’d pulled loose. It’s a clean cut. And all the cattle escaped, like someone pushed them out the opening.” He dropped the wire and lightly grabbed her arm, pulled her toward his truck when the boys made their way around the corral within listening distance. “I don’t want to frighten you, but I thought you should know someone cut the wire on purpose.”
“Why should I be frightened? Seems to me whoever did this, did it to you. I’m more than a little relieved I didn’t pay thousands of dollars for fences that are going to break after one week.”
“It’s your property.” He kneaded his neck. “Damn it. I don’t like you being out here all alone.”
Why would he think of her safety when he’d spent all night getting his cows back? “Dodge, I didn’t hear a thing until the cows starting singing this morning. I don’t think anyone came near the cabin. Did Miguel hear or see anything?”
Dodge sighed and leaned his body against the truck. “No, he just heard the cows moving out toward the road and called me.” He pushed himself upright. “Guys, that’s money you’re throwing around there,” he said when Kevin and Lyle started throwing hay at one another. “Fire up the four wheelers. We’ve got a few more to bring in.” He looked back at Sarah, reached down to run his hand over her hair. “You need a hat.”
“And you need some sleep. I’ll start on breakfast for you and the boys. Come on around the cabin when you’re done.”
###
“Kevin, can I talk to you a minute?” Dodge asked the teenager who was all but rubbing up against the Winslow’s daughter.
“What is it?” Kevin asked.
Dodge led him to the four wheelers after he’d briefly spoken to Bob Winslow. Son of a bitch could hardly look him in the eye. The cows were tucked inside the Winslow’s small corral and he wanted to talk to Kevin before they got back to the ranch. “Like it or not, you’re the man of the house and I need you to know what happened.” When Kevin straightened Dodge realized he was right to tell the boy. “The fence didn’t break, it was cut.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I don’t know who’d do it or why, but I want you to tell me if you see anything unusual at your place or if you see anyone lurking around where they shouldn’t.” Dodge kicked a tire in a futile attempt to loosen some of the caked on mud from his boot. “I’ve got Miguel doing the same, but I don’t want anyone messing with you boys or your mom.”
“Yeah, sure.” Kevin set his shoulders, cleared his throat. “Shiloh’s dad doesn’t like you much and, well….” Kevin shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “How do you know the fence wasn’t cut because of you?”
Dodge had to give the kid credit for having the guts to come right out and ask. “I’m pretty sure it was, but either way, you all could be in danger. I don’t want anybody getting hurt.”
“Does this kind of stuff happen to you a lot?”
“No.”
“What’d you do, anyway?”
Dodge slung his arm around Kevin’s shoulder. “That’s for another day. Go say goodbye to your pretty girl and let’s get these cows back. Your mom’s working on breakfast.”
###
Dodge ate every bite of the bacon and eggs, drop biscuits and strawberry preserves Sarah put in front of him. He was too tired to work up a really good mad, but he knew it was there, simmering underneath his skin waiting to come to life. His past had done more than include Sarah and her kids in gossip mill, it’d put them in the line of danger. What if one of them had heard something last night and tried to confront whoever cut the fence? Did Sarah have protection for herself and the kids? Would she even think to use it if she did?
Dodge rubbed his tired eyes. He could almost feel the blood draining from his head and working its way to his stomach, leaving his mind a foggy mess. “You don’t have to drive me home. I’ve got my truck up by Miguel’s house.”
She turned off the faucet and dried her hands on a towel. “You’re in no condition to drive.” And when he opened his mouth to argue, she said, “I insist. Whatever needs to be done about the cows while you rest the boys can do, or they can help you once you’ve gotten some sleep.”
“They did great today. Really great. Now that school’s out, I wonder if they’d be interested in doing some work.” Dodge turned around in the barstool and looked at the two boys lounging on the couch battling each other in a video game. “I’d pay them.”
Sarah moved around the counter and joined him at the bar. “I’d love for them to have some responsibility around here. I’d like to help as well, if you’ve got enough patience to teach me.” She looked over at the boys before zeroing those green eyes back at Dodge. “I’ve been writing again. Just a little, mostly in the mornings when it’s quiet. I get pretty sick of being inside by midday. I’d love an excuse to get outside and play in the dirt. I’ll have my hands full for the next few days getting the yard back in order.”
“I’m sorry about that. I’ll have Phil come out from the nursery and replace your stuff.”
“You’ll do no such thing. It wasn’t your fault the cows got out.” She stood and reached across the counter for her keys. “Guys, I’m driving Dodge home. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Neither boy looked up from their game or replied.
“Kevin? Lyle?” she said louder. When they both turned she pointed her thumb at Dodge. “I’m taking him home. I’ll be right back.”
###
Sarah listened as Dodge told her to turn East on the Rifle Range. When he tried to lean his head back against the seat rest and knocked the back window he cursed her truck again.