TO FIND PEACE 25

at the hospital cleve was propped up in his bed with two pillows behind his head. when ty and katey walked into his room he was eating a pudding cup with a wooden spoon. the over head tv was blareing away." you look pretty well established in here cleve do we need to make arrangments for you to stay full time?" ty asked. " smart alec, but if i thought my insurence would covr it ide stay a bit longer" cleve chuckled. his color was better and the iv s had been removed. he had just finished a good meal." well how did the cows sell?"he asked. katey looked at ty with a look of fear. " well the first package sold for 1250 a round." ty took a step back. cleve sat up and leaned over. 1250 a pair? damn we need to sell every pair we got at that price." ty took another step back" we did" was all he said cleve glared at ty for a second then the hear monitor started squeeling. a nurse rushed in but cleve waved her away" its for a good thing., leave it." cleve turned to katey" were you in on this?" " not at first, but i came around to it. here." katey handed over the note from the DEA that was stamped paid in full. " damn, i need to have more heart attacks." was all he said. ty eased back uo next to the bed, " you got enough females left to stock the ranch plus some yearlings. everything is so framey the buyers are loveing them." you got money left over?"cleve asked " yes sir, where do you want me to put it?" katey answered in a whipped voice. " buy another couple loads of hay, some protein tubs. bank the rest for operating expenses. you need to get back to the kj and prowel for any remnents. i know we didnt sweep it clean. doc says i can go home friday if i behave myself." cleve was rattling off orders.his whole attitude had changed." you two make a pretty good team no, get outta here and go danceing or some thing. come back for me friday, scram!" out in the hall way the doctor had been standing there listening" you two did him a lot of good ill see you friday"

TO FIND PEACE 24

by mid day katey and ty were sitting in the grand stands at the auction ring watching cattle sell. they knew that the pairs would start right after the baby calves and they were almost done with them. a well kmowen order buy came and set by them." you all selling some of thos kj cows today?" he asked. katey looked sideways at him " yes sir." " ive got a order for all the bred cows and pairs i can deliver.do you think they will make the trip to southern california?" the buyer asked. ty leaned over to look past katey" they made it here" the buyer nodded and stood up and walked back down the stands so that he was positioned in the middle of the ring. the sale barn had cut the pairs into packages of 10 head. when the first ten head entered the ring you could see buyers slide forward on their seats to get a bettter look. the auctioneer was bragging the cows up," rock footed, desert aclimated and gentle to handle.he then stated there was 2 truck loads of the cows. buyers moved from their seats to stand at the fence for a better view and to make sure the auctioneer saw their bid. as the bidding started katey was wringing her hands a worried look on her face. when she looked at ty he was grinning like a cow eating molasis. katey had a number in mind that the cows had to sell for so they could pay off DEA. the bidding hit that number and roared on past. tys grin got bigger. by mid afternoon all the cows were sold. katey had her calculater out punching in numbers, shakeing her head as she worked the numbers. " we need to make sure we get to the bank today i dont want to carry this much around even over night." katey was getting down from the grand stands where they were seated. two buyers came to them. " you got any more of these cows?" one buyer pushed past the other. ty stepped around katey" nothing left but cuttin bulls and yearling feeders. fresh branded. be in here in a couple three weeks. " " can we come to the ranch and look at them before then?" the buyer pushed. " they are getting hay now, you can come look but everything sells here.ill let you know when." ty took kateys arm and pushed by the buyers and went into the office to the sellers window. one of the sale barns owners were standing there behind the girl working the window. " thos cows got gold in their bellys?" he asked good naturedly. Kaey looked at him solom as could be" if they did we wouldnt let them sell so cheap!" the whole office erupted in laughter for the kj cows had topped the market that day. three hours later ty and kathey were walking out of the DEA offce. they locked the doors behind them.ty looked over to kathey" well now you own a ranch. did you have money left over?" " yes more than i ever even dreamed. lets go see cleve. i hope he will be happy wwith this." " he will be, it just might make him jump outta that bed!" ty was laughing uncontrolable" that would be a sight, cleve running around in his night gowen." katey broke down at that one as they got in the truck