Page 5 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight
Grady noticed Cole had found the other thermos and wondered if he shouldn’t have told him where it was, but he shook his head and watched as the dogs settled back near the wheels. The engine rumbled to life and he figured Cole could take care of himself.
The earth was soft under his boots as Grady made a beeline for the glow of the house on the other side of the front field. Cole had left the front porch light on, but otherwise the house was dark. Grady reckoned he must’ve figured that’s what Grady wanted after he’d left it like that himself. The heat was threatening, an oppressive ball hanging over the land, promising to burst and setting that tension back in Grady’s muscles; the heat should’ve broken months ago.
He went through the gate and walked along the fence line to the house. He wondered if he shouldn’t set an alarm to go out and tell Cole to come in at noon. It was too hot to be working all day. But if Cole wanted to do it, well then, Grady might be able to get to moving the sheep sooner. And he needed to check the dams. The cattle.
The tractor was a soft purr behind Grady as he made his way up the porch steps and went inside.
5
G
rady was finishing uphis first coffee for the night when Cole came in the back door, dogs on his heels.
“Sorry, I’ll send ’em out,” Cole said when he saw Grady standing there.
Grady sized Cole up—and the damn dogs, who were just coming on in like they’d been doing it all their lives.
“’S all right,” Grady said and leaned back against the kitchen counter. He crossed his ankles and brought his mug up, took a sip. “They stayin’ out all day then?”
Cole was unlacing his boots. He stood and used the toe of one boot to push the heel off the other one, tossed it, then used his socked toe to loosen and slide the other one off with a shaking motion. He looked up at Grady watching him do it.
“Yeah. Sleep under the trees when it gets too hot, I reckon.”
“You’re not gettin’ too hot?”
Cole shrugged. “’M all right.”
He got a glass off the sink, turned on the tap, filled it and chugged the whole thing before filling it up again.
Cole sipped and turned back. “That field’s done.” He took another sip.
Grady was surprised, but he kept his expression neutral as he took a good look at the kid. He was drenched in sweat. His faded white shirt was sticking to his body, and his hairline was so dark he looked like he’d taken a shower with a cap on.
“Get it straight this time?” Grady asked, his lips quirking to let the kid know he was kidding.
“Fuck off.” Cole smiled before quickly smothering it like he wasn’t sure if that was allowed.
“I’m just messin’,” Grady said, a little gruffly, which made him wonder how long it’d been since he’d really interacted with someone. Particularly in this odd way. This wasn’t like regular hands or even the shearers. Those conversations felt like they’d been set down for generations and everyone knew what they needed to say and just said it, so the reply was already there, waiting for you. With Cole, something was off, not quite sliding into place. Grady pushed himself off the counter, went to grab his stuff, and thought it wasn’t all that bad a thing.
“You set the tractor near the gate,” Grady said once he had his bag and thermos.
Cole was nodding. “I weren’t sure which one you’d do next, so I left it near the gate near them big trees.”
“North-east. On the north-eastern side.” Grady glanced back over his shoulder and saw Cole watching him. He was having a real good look, Grady reckoned.
Cole cleared his throat and drank his water. “Yep.”
Grady didn’t know why, but he felt like teasing the kid. He wanted to ask him if he’d ever had need for a compass, considering he was being raised to be a city boy. He didn’t. He just hitched the bag on his shoulder, whistled the dogs up and chanced one more look at Cole against the sink in his socked feet, his body brimming with the same energy he’d had after hefinished last time. He wanted to ask him if he’d got to reading anything, but he didn’t. He just went down the hallway, glanced into the living room and tried to see if there was a book out, but he couldn’t see any, so he figured maybe Cole was just getting to sleep after all.
6
T
hey fell into anice routine after that, crossing paths before dusk in the kitchen and well before dawn in the wheatfields. Cole never did learn how to run a straight line, but the fields were almost done a good month before Grady thought they would be. It set up a kind of hope in his chest he knew was dangerous.Can sow them fields all ya like, but if there ain’t no rain, then there ain’t nothin’ to hope for, his daddy used to say. And Grady learned he had as much control over the rain as he did over the wind.
Grady was finishing up a row and expecting Cole to appear any moment from out of the dark like usual, but he didn’t. He reached the far end of the final field and turned so it was facing out, ready to make the final rows. He turned the key and looked down at the dogs, who were looking back up at him.
Maybe it was too far to walk. Grady had known it was, especially in the black of night to get out here before dawn, and he’d told the kid to use the truck, said he’d use the flatbed. ButCole had shaken his head and said he liked the walk, and that was that.
