TO FIND PEACE 13

cleve was sitting behind thewheel of his truck, motor idyling. he ws watching the house and wishing katey would hurry up. the day was warming up and hauling those cattle in the heat wasnt a good thing. they would loose weight and they didnt have it loose. he beeped the horn a couple of times and sat there thinking how lucky he was. she was a pretty girl, she gave him all the respect she could kept the house spotless and still managerd to help him with the ranch as he was sitting there she came bounceing down the steps and jumped into the cab. she had a tight pair of desighner jeans and fluffy blouse. " i thought your legs were burning up?" cleve asked. " that stuff you gave me was great what was it?" she was gushing. " alo vera juice. old remedy. ime glad it worked. but i dont think those sale cattle show you any respect dressed that nice. manure will be the order of the day" cleve giggledd. at the corral he backed his traile right up to the chute. when he bunoed it the post s wiggled. when he got out of the truck he pulled a hot shot prod from behind the seat.katey got out and skipped around to him " ehat do i do?" she asked. cleve was opening the trailer gate and pulled it back to the fence" hold this gate right here. when i tell you shut it. its gonna be tight " katey stepped behind the gate and took a hold of it cleve walked down the ally and let the cattle drift past him when the last one trotted by he turned and trotted up behind them.useing his hot shot on the cattle trailing behind he got them to hurry toward the open trailer. the four old dairy cows were last to get in the trailer. he pushed and proded then motioed for kathey to swing the gate. with both of them pushing they finally got the gate closed and latched. just then the last old cow coughed, a big glop of loose green manure issued from under her tail the end gate deflected most of it but some spattered kathey and cleve. cleve picked up a stick and started scrapping the green waste from his clothes. kathey stood there shocked. she found a stick and started doing the same. thing muttering curses about the cows parentage. "see what i mean" cleve grinned at katey. " theres nothing to laugh at this was my last clean clothes." katey was attacking the green spots. " people will know your the real deal in the cow business." cleve was still smilling. but the smile fadded when a state goverment truck rolled up in a cloud of dust. a short man in khaki uniform got out, a baseball cap perched on his head. he marched right up to cleve and stuck his hand out" ime mark dillon, range con for the state. i just got assighned here. headed to town?" cleve shook his hand and pointed to katey and introduced her . " yes we were just going its getting hot and i want these cows off the trailer before noon. what can i do for you?" " i was just makeing the rounds evaluating everyones leases. every time ive come here the gate is locked i want to drive through your pasture ill be back in a while."mark said matter of factley. " go ahead but we will be gone when you get back just besure to close and lock the gate.. i know theres to many cattle but we are just getting started moveing them come by tomorrow and we can talk about it."cleve invited. katey was getting in the truck. mark stood there shocked he wasnt bowed down to. he stood and watched cleve drive out of the drive way and head toward willcox. cleve turned to katey as he shifted the gears" damn goverment man. nothing but trouble we will see what his story is tomorrow."

TO FIND PEACE 12

when cleve got in the house he could hear the shower running . there was food layed out on the counter to be prepared for supper but katey had stopped in the middle of preparing it cleve washed his hands and went to work. by the time katey had got out of the shower he had a meal ready and on the table. she came into the kitchen with a towel drying her hair. " ime sorry about supper, but i just had to shower. i hurt to much and was grimey." she explained. " no worries. i didnt mind finishing it up lets eat."cleve pulled out a chair from the table for katey to sit down. as they were eating he explained she needed to ride a lot more to get her body in shape. and there was going to be a lot of rideing to do soon. they had fed almost half of the three loads of hay. the next day they would skip and haul the sale cattle to town to the auction barn. but cleve said he could see the cattle bounceing back with the good hay. the summer monsoon rains werent far away. he wanted to get as many cattle off the kj as possible to give the grass a chance at regenerating. he was even considering driveing the cattle to his corrals to hold them while they fed up the rest of the hay.. they could use his squeeze chute to brand the larger mavericks. all the time he was talking katey sat there looking at him she listened as he kept talking slipping a fork full of food into his mouth when ever he stopped to take a breath. when he came to the part about her rideing horse back she could see a bit of pride in the tone of his voice. " kid you did all right today on ole bob. we are looking at a lot of horse back work you will get in shape pretty quick"cleve was rattling on . katey was amazed at his enthusiasom. the next morning when he came into the kitchen for his coffee cleve found katey sitting on her cot looking at her wallet. her open purse next to her. he didnt say anything but poured her a cup of coffee and took it to her. " something wrong" " no, i just need a few things and was counting my cash." katey took the cup of coffee. " my legs are raw i need something to put on them to stop the burning. " cleve stood up" you get dressed then fix breakfast. ill do the chorees before we eat." he refiled his coffee cup then put his hat on and went out the door.he had gotten a good look in her purse and wallet and he didnt see any cash. when he came back in from grainning his horses he had a metal container with a label stateing it was a saddle sore remedy.when he sat down to eat he handed it to katey" rub this in, it will help." katey looked at the tin with wide eyes" horse liniment?" she blurted. " no i just used the empty tin to put the juce in dab it on the raw places .. its good stuff."cleve kept eating.