Page 106 of Grit
“Yeah, that would be cool. Thanks.”
Looks like the goat queen is getting fencing for Christmas.Cary could think of worse presents.
A floppy-eared brown goat with yellow eyes was staring at him, a piece of grass hanging out of his mouth. “Hey, dude.”
“That’s Mr. Tumnus!”
“Ah.” Cary nodded. “The devourer of roses.”
Mr. Tumnus let out a bleat that sounded an awful lot like a laugh.
Cary picked up another screw and stared Mr. Tumnus right in his weird yellow eyes as he took the electric drill and screwed it into the new corner post. “See this? You’re not gonna be able to knock this one down. We’re on to you.”
Mr. Tumnus bleated again.
“That’s concrete at the base of that post. Two feet of it.”
The goat snorted and moved to the tire tower Abby had built in the middle of the pen. With Cary’s help last summer, she’d filled old tractor tires with dirt and stacked them together to make a kind of obstacle course for the goats. It seemed to be working. With all the toys and all the places to climb, the escape artists were getting out less.
“Hey, Cary?”
“What’s up, buttercup?”
“You knew my dad, right?”
“Yes, I did.” He smiled. “Did you have a question? Want to hear a funny story?”
She was staring intently into Princess’s stall. “What do you think my dad would want me to do about Grandma and Grandpa Rhodes?”
Cary let out a long breath and sat back on his heels. He stood and walked into the shed where Abby was cleaning out Princess’s stall. Mama and baby were in the small corral and the baby was nursing.
Abby leaned on the top of the stall and stared at him.
Cary brought an old stool over and sat across from her. “What’s going on?”
“Okay, so you can’t tell Mom.”
He shook his head. “I can’t guarantee that, Abby.”
She huffed out a breath. “I heard Grandma and Mom talking about a letter from a lawyer and I could tell it was important and it had something to do with the ranch, so I went looking in Mom’s desk—”
“Abby!”
“I know! I shouldn’t have. But I did and I found the letter from my grandpa’s lawyer.” She blinked back tears. “Why would he do something like that, Cary? I don’t understand.” She took a deep breath, trying to control her tears. “It’s my ranch too.”
“Come here.” Cary held out his arms, and Abby came to him. He wrapped the little girl up and she hugged him tight. “First of all, I don’t want you to worry about having to leave the ranch. Your mom has it figured out. You’re not going to lose the ranch, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Do you believe me?”
“Yeah.” She sniffed. “I know Grandpa doesn’t like Mom sometimes and he thinks she’s too proud—”
“Ignore him. Your mother is exactly the right amount of proud.” He kissed her head. “And you are too. You’re both proud of your accomplishments. You know what accomplishments are?”
“Things you… accomplish?”
“Yeah, things you do. Like planting mandarin groves or raising goats. Or getting good grades in school or helping your friends.”
