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the next morning leo was struggling with a decision was he going to let travis go or keep him on? as leo was shaveing he stared at himself in the mirror" everyone is entitled to on chance right?" he asked himself. when breakfast was over he had made his mind up .. in the back of his mind he told himself one more day, one day at a time. as every one was leaveing the house he stopped them out side on the porch. " gather the holding pasture again. we need to put those cows through the squeeze chute and worm them. with the feed getting so dry and short theres no telling what they ate out there. " every one nodded and started to the barn, every one except travis" me too" he asked. " yeah, one day at a time lad, thats all i can tell you." leo tried to sound firm. " thats fair enough" travis said as he turned to follow the other two. the old squeeze chute was a antique. it still worked well but it was labor intensive and could be hard on the cattle. when the riders had sorted the calvees off the cows they put the cows in a corral that fed the lead up chute to the squeeze. cassie was to push the cows into the chute with a hot shot electric prod. zane would work the head catch and travis the squeeze and the release. leo would squirt a gun full of wormer in the cows mouth the minute she was caught. mollie worked on the side opposite of zane and travis. she would squirt a gun full of grub repellent on the cows backs. zane took a few moments and showed travis just how the chute worked. when unsqweezing a cow you had to pull a short rope that allowed the squeeze to open then pull another short rope that would open the whole side of the chute on millies side. you had to pay attention and make sure mollie was out of the way. when everyone looked ready leo waved at cassie to load the chute and bring a cow into the chute. the first five or so was slow work until travis got the hang of things. then things speeded up with each cow. about half way through a big bellyed old cow stalled at the entrence to the chute. cassie ran up behind her and stung her with the hot shot. the old cow was startled and coughed big, at the same time a blast of green watery manure shot out from under her tail. it hit cassie right in front from her face to her waist. she fell over back wards cussing a blue streak. travis had been watching her and when that happened he absently grabbed the sort rope that opened the side escape. the big bellys cow had jumped into the chute and had put some pressure on the sides of the chute. when released the side panel flew open, mollie was surprised by it and threw her hands up to protect herself. but the gate hit her and knocked her down next to cassie, now both were cussing a blue strak. zane came to him self first and pulled the chute side closed. travis and leo ran around to where the girls were sitting in the puddle of washy green manure. cassies hair looked like a die job on a disco dancer. but smelled worse. leo grabbed mollie and pulled her to her feet. " you ok?" he asked. she brushed the dirt and green mud from her cloths and started laughing" ime better than cassie" travis had stood rooted. cassie looked up at him then past him. zane was bent over holding on to the chute laughing so hard tears were streaming down his face. travis extended his hand to cassie who slapped it away" i can get up by my self!" on her feet she looked at travis who still hadnt said anything. she then yelled at zane " knock it off zane, or ill break your plate at supper tonite!" zane caught his breath" just as long as you take a bath first"he answered..finaly travis managed to say " ime sorry, i never saw that happen before." mollie reached over and patted him on the shoulder " me neither no harm done." then she looked at cassie and had to hold in a laugh. that made cassie madder. after seeing that every one was ok leo simply said " lets finish these cows. its getting late.. we do the clean up when we are through." when they started back to work travis was extra careful as to which rope he pulled but zane would still break out laughing at times. when he did cassie would shake the hot shot at him in a threat. when the last cow went through the chite zane hollered over to leo " do we draw straws for the bath room and the shower?" every broke out laughing. but mollie took cassie to the water hose at the corner of the barn and started hoseing the green manure from out of her hair. leo told zane and travis to turn the cows back out to the holding trap and feed the horses. he didnt think they needed to be gawking at cassie s white blouse with it wet.

ENTANGLED 11

trais wasnt very happy boy. today he jumped in and worked as hard as zane, done everything asked of him, made a point to not whine or complain and still come out looking like a rookie. his leg was scrapped pretty good. the loss of the fancy britches wasnt that big of a deal but getting kicked while cassie was watching was. zane didnt get kicked all day. travis had hooked a water hose to his trailer and he had a shower in it. stripping down he got in the shower and washed the dust of the corral off his self. the hot water running over the raw leg stung but he gritted his teeth and scrubbed the dirt and manure off his leg. he was argueing with himself about staying on. maybe draw his wages and get on down the road. he just couldnt stand the thought of cassie and zane thinking him a gunsil. after all he RODEOED! when at rodeos he was sighning autographes, little kids looked up to him. he got dressed and headed over to the house. mollie had a meal about ready. it suddenly dawned on him here was a very attractive woman who put in a day working out in the corrals and still came in a cooked a meal for a hungry crew. he had never even heard of such a thing. he stood at the door looking in at the table set with silver wear and plates. cassie was scurring around helping her mom. travis suddenly felt a pang of shame. these hard working people had been tolerating him and giveing him every chance to prove himself and they still treated him respectfully. and he thought all along they were beneath him. mollie looked up from what she was doing and saw him standing there" come in here, lets look at that leg." she pointed to a bedroom . travis hobbled into the bed room and sat on the edge of the bed. " shuck those pants and lay back so i can see the cut."mollie was rummaging around a medicine cabinet in the bathroom. travis slowley unbuckled his belt and his pants he wasnt real comfortable about dropping his pants around this woman. " get them off. ive seen lots of bare bare legs cowboy get those pants off. " she stepped over to the bedroom door and closed it. a little while later they came out of the bedroom she had put some antiseptic on the scrap then covered it with a salve. then wrapped it. travis had to admit that it felt much better. when he came back to the kitchen leo, zane and cassie were at the table wolfing down a good meal. zanes face was clean but he was still covered in dust. when travis sat down he quietly told zane he was welcome to the use of his shower in the trailer. everyone stopped eating for a few seconds and stared at travis. zane looked over at travis" thank you, i could use a shower. maybe after supper huh?" travis nodded and started eating. leo looked over at mollie and she smilled a knowing smile.