TO FIND PEACE 11

cleve stayed behind kateys horse keeping hime walking toward the kj. katey had the bridle reins gripped in her hands and with both hands was clenching the saddle horn the tears kept comming. she was ridgid. all the way to the kj cleve kept the horse moveing and kept telling katey to stop bawling. he was running out of patience. at the kj he rode over to the corral where they had dropped some hay. cleve slipped off his horse and handed katey his reins. " stay right here" was all he said. katey had quit crying but was still visable scared. cleve went into the corral and started breaking bales and scattring the hay around the fence line. when done he came back to katey. : we wantt o pen as many cattle as we can . that hay will make it easier." he turned to ride away toward the cattle. he looked back and katey was just sitting there. " COME ON! we dont have all day kick that horse up. you will be fine KICK HIM!" cleve almost yelled. katey shook her feet in the stirrups bob didnt move. then she very tenativly kicked. bob started walking toward cleve. " see? you can do this. just watch me and let olew bob do his job. he will teach you as much as i can. your doing fine."cleve encouraged her. they rode down the road where they fed hay every day. the cattle were scattered along it , laying down and chewing their cuds. cleve led katey to the far end of the feed grounds. when there was no more cattle he stopped and turned around. " you take that side of the road. just ride along, whistle yell shoo them i dont care just keep all the cattle in front of you headed to the corral. ill be over on this side doing the same thing. ill keep a eye on you you will do fine. if i see you haveing a problem ill come help you . turn that saddle horn loose if you need to turn ole bob you do this." cleve reined his horse around to show here how to rein ole bob." now, kick ole bob up and lets get crackin pardner. " cleve rode back to his side of the road and started getting the cattle to their feet and walking away toward the corral. he looked over at katey and she was talking low and rideing in a straight line but the cattle were moveing ahead of her. occasionaly she would turn ole bob aside to get a cow up and moveing. cleve nodded to himself. as they drew near the corral they could see the cattle streaming in to the corral and eating on the hay there. cleve could tell that if all the cattle went in it would be a crowded corral but he didnt stop. katey was comming along slowley, waveing her hands and smooching the cattle. cleve felt something like pride in her. as few cattle missed the gate. there was none that he wanted to sell so he didnt follow them up. he told katey they had enough cattle pened. he rode into the corral and waved katey to come in. then he shut the gate. " you did good kid. see? it wasnt that bad was it? ill make a hand out of you yet."cleve bragged on her. katey was still scared but had relaxed a bit. cleve remoounted and rode over to a side gate which opened into a ally for loading trucks.he pulled the gate open. motioning katey he told her to let only the cattle he wanted into the ally. he knew she would let some he didnt want but that was ok he would re cut them. two hours later cleve had the sale cattle he wanted in the ally. he had fought himself to keep from yelling at katey when she didnt do just as he wanted . but he could see she was relaxing a little more as time went on. when they finished cleve tied the ally gate shut then opened the outside gate and let the main bunch of cattle back out. the sun was sinking in the west as they rode back into the yard at the house. katey still held the saddle horn with her right hand but was useing the bridle reins and kicking with a little more force to keep ole bob moveing. cleve smilled at her when they stopped in front of the saddle room. he stepped down and took her bridle reins and tied ole bob and stood by as katey stiffly got down. that she was stiff and sore was plain to see. she started to the house. cleve shook his head and began unsaddling the horses.

TO FIND PEACE 10

for three days as soon as they got through feeding cleve and katey flew at the corrals at kj repairing them it became painfully clear after the first day that the more they did the more they found needing repair. cleve had set railroad ties in the weakest areas to support the fence line. katey was going around and hammering nails into the boards snugging them up to the posts. but the wood was pretty rotten they were crossing their fingers the corral would hold the cattle long enough to sort off what they needed. cleve made a point of saying that he wanted the dairy breeds gone. but they were some of the poorest cattle out there. he figgured there were ten cows or so that were strong dairy blood. the cattle who were branded besides them showed some good brahma and herford breeding and they were bounceing back with the hay. cleve was hopeing to get two maybe three trailer loads of these cattle into the auction barn the following week. every morning he listened to the market report on the radio while he was eating breakfast. the per pound price on theese better cattle had risen dailey any where from a couple of cents to a nickle a pound. the morning of the fourth day in the dark he saddled two horses and left them tied at the saddle room. then he and katey took the load of hay as usual to the kj.. once inside he had hewr drop a dozen bales inside the corrals and shut the gate. then they proceeded to feed as usual. when through they went back to his headquarters. parking the truck he went straight to the horses. as he untied them he looked back at katey who was still stasnding at the truck. " come on we gotta get back up there." he said as he was snugging up a cinch. katey didnt move. he led the horses over to where she was standing. " here get on we need to get back!" he tried to hand her a set of reins. katey shook her head, the color gone from her face.she took a step back " whats wrong with you girl?" cleve asked visibly irritated. " ive never ridden a horse before. they scare me." katey answered in a quivering voice. " well you wont get a better chance to learn, get on ill help you. ole bob here is as gentle as they come. wouldnt hurt a fly get on we gotta go." cleve was getting angry katey just shook her head. cleve stepped up and grabbed her left arm just below the shoulder and drug her up to the horse then reaching behing her grabbed her belt and lifted and flung her astraddle the animal.he put the reins in her hand " follow me kick to make him go, pull on the reins to stop. it wont take long you will get the hang of it." cleve swung up on his horse. katey sat frozen tears streaming down her face. " STOP THAT DAMN IT! i wont allow it now stir that horse up and come on!" cleve said through clinched teeth. katey wiggeled her feet in the stirrups , ole bob took a few tenative steps and stopped. the tears kept comming. cleve rode around behind bob and takeing the tail of his rope slapped the horse over the rump.