Page 65 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight
“Nothin’, just thinkin’ it’s downright funny how you bossin’ me around is all.”
“Yeah, well.” Cole turned, got his jacket on and did his scarf in the mirror like yesterday. “I wouldn’t have to do it if you didn’t make stupid suggestions.”
“Breakfast is stupid now?”
“You know it,” Cole said and gave Grady a mocking smile in the mirror.
Grady swatted him on the ass as he went past and opened the door. The weather didn’t blast him like the day before, which was a start, but it sure as hell felt wetter.
“Think I prefer the wind,” Cole said.
“Ain’t no one else prefers the wind.”
Cole squeezed past him and groped Grady’s ass as he did so. Grady smirked at him sideways. Cole smirked back.
“Chloe does.”
“We ain’t riding.”
Cole shrugged and stepped ahead of him. He flicked his collar up and went to the truck, the rain swallowing him up as he moved. Grady followed, the rain a steady sheet of gray between him and Cole’s form in front of him.
They didn’t have to drive far before they saw a fence that looked like it’d come down in the wind and had been fully taken down by sheep trampling through it, probably disoriented by the storm.
There were two lambs caught in the wire, and Cole was hopping out before Grady had come to a stop. The windshield wipers slashed through the water as Grady got out, the spray hitting him in the face. The headlights cut two hazy beams through the wet and gray where Cole was leaning over the first lamb and examining how he was caught.
Grady came up and saw it was a total mess, but the little fella was thrashing around, trying to get his soft hooves on theground and Grady knew that was a good sign. He hip-bumped Cole aside.
“I got it, check the other one.”
Cole dashed through the puddles, and Grady got to work untangling his own charge. It was heavy going, getting the wire untangled and not making it worse. The water ran down his face and he was blinking his eyes to clear it, his fingers going numb as he tried to get the lamb to settle and let him do it. He popped free eventually, and Grady picked him up. He stood and made out Cole crouching and trying to do the same with the other one.
Grady took this one to the truck, wrapped him in a towel and set him between the seats before walking over to Cole. He could see Cole picking at the wire and the lamb limp in the fence. Grady put his hand on the shoulder and found it cold but the body still soft like it’d only been dying just now.
“He ain’t made it,” Grady said to Cole.
Cole ignored him. He kept on picking at the wire, nimble fingers gentle like he didn’t want to hurt him further.
“Can just yank him out so we can repair the fence,” Grady said.
Cole shook his head and kept at it. Grady peered at him and saw his face running with water like Grady’s, but his eyes were all red. Grady kneeled down in the wet grass and got to picking the wire from the front of the body. He lifted it over the lamb’s head as Cole got the rear wire free from his legs. Cole picked him up and turned for the truck.
Grady blew out a breath. He got up and started lifting the fence. Cole came alongside him after a moment and helped.
“I reckon they’ll be all right here if we close the front gate,” Cole said, his voice straining like he was trying real hard to get his words to sound normal.
“I reckon,” Grady said. He went and got some wire from the back of the truck. Peering into the cabin, he saw the deadlamb wrapped careful and snug in a blanket at the base of the passenger seat.
Grady repaired the fence and told Cole to drive on up and close the gate. He was walking up and preparing to fix the next hole when the lights from the truck came back as twin beams through the sheet of water, the swish of the windshield wipers loud even above the incessant pounding of the rain.
Cole hopped out and helped him, told him the rest of the fence had held and he didn’t see any more lambs. Grady grunted and started twisting the wire into a ring and wrapping it around the post, his hands white and numb from cold, slippery with the rain. Cole took over with his long deft fingers, braiding the wire and securing it. Grady handed him the pliers to clip off the end. He tugged at it once they were done and felt it hold. They went back and got in the truck.
The live lamb was curled in a ball like a little fetus, his black eyes looking around, quiet. Grady didn’t look at the other one as he did a U-turn and headed back for the house. He put the truck in Park and scooped up the lamb while Cole said he’d do it.
“I got it.” Grady shut the door and heard Cole coming up behind him.
Grady walked into the living room full of lambs walking around and shitting everywhere and placed the newest arrival in the bed nearest the fire. Cole said he’d get him a bottle.
“I’ll take care of the other one,” Grady said and went back out the open front door.
