SMALL TOWN BIG CATCH 3

as del was clinching the last nail. on the last foot of jakes horse jake walked up. " that looks good del. can you come ride with me a few days?" " i dont know why not, anything in particular we gotta do?" del set the horses foot down and straightned up. his back makeing a audible crack in doing so.he stretched and smilled at jake. " ime not sure yet last week i found some different horse tracks back in one of the pastures. i havent counted noses but i dont think ime missing any cattle. i think the two of us will get a better handle on the deal."jake had gotten kind of solom. " why dont you get the brand inspecter to come along? if there has been some theivery he can deal with it." del was loading his gear while he talked. "that town pimp cant even ride a horse let alone tell if anything was stolen. all he know how to do is fill out papers. half the time he dont even look at the cattle he is inspecting."jake fairley spit the last sentence out. his disdane for the cattle inspecter wasnt hidden at all. as del drove toward home he had jake on his mind. jake was a dyed in the wool pessamist, everything was a disaster. where del was just the opposit. he figgured the tracks jake saw were probably trail riders from town after all this land here abouts was state owned. open for recreation activitys. but a few days horse back would be a pleasent change for once. del stopped at the mail box on his drive way. inside was some junk mail and a letter from his sister. she was letting him know she was comming for a visit. he checked the day this was mailed and realized she could be here at any time.he figgured he better get his house ship shape before she arrived! as he rolled into the yard he realized she was there. her car parked at the yard gate with the trunk open. when he got out of his pick up she came out of the house and skipped down the steps and gave him a big hug. " i hope this is alright del. but i had to go somewhere. i wont get in your way i promise." " no worries, you and me are the only family we got left. ime glad your here. where is the little one?" del grinned. " inside, sleeping." she said. " you finish here, ill go unload the truck and get ready for tomorrow. ill be back in a bit."del gave her another squeeze. del was excited about seeing his nephew. he hadnt seen hi since he was born. his sister, sharon seemed to have a knck for picking the wore kind of men the one she marrried was probably the worse one she had ever taaken up with. but little mike had come from the marriage and that was a good thing del figgured. he figured while he was gone working sharon could clean and get settled in. he would give her some cash so she could go grocery shopping. this was going to work out fine.

SMALL TOWN BIG CATCH

del pulled off the county dirt road into his front yard. he had a 40 acre home place. it consisted of a two bedroom one bath house, a small barn and a corral next to it for his 3 head of horses. the rest of the property was fenced as a pasture for his horses. as he pulled up to the barn a black and white border collie came out of the barn grinning and shakeing his pleasure of seeing him home. he backed his truck into the door of the barn then shut it off and got out he rubbed pete behind the ears and talked to him. then he went into the saddle room. he grabbed his shoeing box which held all his tools and slid it into the truck bed, then his anvil and stand for it. back inside he found a cardboard box full of new horse shoes of different sizes. these went into the truck also. looking at pete he smiled " well now we are loaded for tomorrow. ill grain the horses and we can have supper." while pete trotted along behind he took a bucket full of rolled barley into the corral and poured it the length of the feed trough then banged the tin bucket a few times. three head of horses loped into the corral from the pasture and lined up at the trough.a bay, a grulla and a sorrel all about the saame height and weight. the hair was worn short over their loins where the saddle skirts rubbed from lots of work. clean legged heavy muscled they were stock horses to be envied.del was extremly proud of those horses. it had taken a couple of years of hard searching to find them and get them bought. all three were five years old and gentle but knew cow work . for the past ten years del had worked like a african feild hand to pay for this little out fit then to buy the horses. he had no debts. everything was paid for. he sent his sister money to help out. and he could afford to be pickey about who he worked for. but he wasnt. he was the most affable man in the area.