TO FIND PEACE 3

the old dodge truck bounced and dodged down the dirt road headed down into the arrivipa canyon. cleve clung to the steering wheel and swung the truck left and right dodging pot holes and boulders. he looked over at kate whose face had drained the blood from it. she still gripped the front of the coat holding it shut. " why dont you just button that coat up instead of holding it shut?" cleve commented. " the buttons dont reach its to tight. " katey mumbled. after a second cleve understood what she meant. he just nodded. at the kj gate he pulled up to a stop. a chain and padlock held the gate shut" i have a key, hang on" katey jumped out and went to the gate with a key in hand. when she pushed the gate open cleve drove through and waitted for her to shut the gate. looking out the window at the ground he saw it was a mosaic of cattle tracks beating the soil to powder. when kate got back in the truck he shifted to low gear and let the truck walk up the two track road to the head quarters. " how did you get this job girl.?" cleve asked insinuating she didnt have enough experience. " i just came on board with the company a few weeks ago. all the other agents had lots of listings. the company owner handed it to me. i dont think i could handle it." katey said. " well lets check this mess out . unless i miss my guess your gonna handle it just fine." cleve turned into the ranch yard and came face to face with the damnest mess he ever saw. the old frame house was painted a kalidascope of ugly colors. trash was scattered about the yard and out into the yard. the door to the little house stood open and a dead pit bull dog lay on the steps. the little fence around the yard was down in places and cattle had wandered in and out of the yard. on top of everything else the place stunk to high heaven,. cleve looked over at katey, " i dont think we need to get out " and he drove on by toward the corrals and little barn. the gate to the main corral was laying on the ground the barn stood open with a trail of deep cow tracks going inside. cleve parked and got out. the wind was still howling he snugged his hat down. he walked into the corral and saw the water trough was still full, a gavanized pipe trickling water into it from a ubknowen source. there were numerous side corrals and a place to load a truck. here and there were broken boardes and the fence leaned over from rotted posts. katey stood by the truck watching the old man limp around looking. he came back and turned and walked into the barn. it was empty the saddle room door stood open. inside saddles and other tack was scattered on the floor. the leather dried and curled. back outside he pointed to the truck and went to the drivers side and got in as katey slid in the passenger side. " i had no idea the condition of the improvements. i couldnt give this away." she pronounced. her head bowed. " lets go see what the cow situation is ." was all cleve said as he eased the clutch from the floor board and moved the truck ahead. the two track that led into the interior of the ranch hadnt been used in years. cattle sighn was every where. the ground was bare. many of the trees had had the bark chewed off up as high as a cow could reach. cleve shook his head" ive heard of deals like this but never seen one " katey looked at him in disbelief a head they could see a wind mill slowley turning." it must be dry of grease, in this wind it ought to be spinning like a button on a out house door." cleve commented. when they pulled up to the wind mill a few cattle stood around, poor, skin and bones, the worst showed to be of dairy breeding the rest were a mixed bag of different breeds. a few baby calves that were under nourished wobbled around. katey looked over at cleve, his jaw was ridged he gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white.they drove on. a hour later they pulled back up to the gate to the road. cleve hadnt said anything since leaveing the windmill, but they had seen lots of cattle . all were in a starved condition. the ranch was grubbed out. a few carcasses lay along the road of starved animals. back on the road and headed back to his house cleve didnt relax any. katey looked at him once in a while but he didnt speak and she was afraid to. she had no idea what was comming but she knew it wasnt going to be good.