Two Sides of the Same Coin (34 page)

“Hell, Wayne, your business is your business. Like you said to me once, I just wanna see you happy.”

“Thanks, Jeff.”

We continued on with lunch, deciding on what types of things to have. Mike then asked about Thanksgiving.

“So you reckon we ought to have lunch for Thanksgiving, or just have snacks and cut ’em off about one or so, and then eat at around four?”

“I like the idea of no lunch and snacks only, Mike; we’ll all sure appreciate Thanksgiving dinner more. What were you thinkin’ of makin’ for Thanksgiving dinner, Jeff?” I thought Sandy was asking a funny question.

“Duh… turkey.” Sandy threw a pillow from the armchair behind her at me.

“I know you’re gonna have turkey, but how are ya gonna cook it? Roast it, barbeque it, fry it, do a couple different types or what?”

“Maybe one roasted one barbecued. You guys figure two will be enough?”

“For eleven adults and two kids, that’s more than enough unless you get real small ones.” I trusted Sandy’s judgment.

Wayne asked, “What’s that?” He was pointin’ at the printouts Mike and I had made for our huntin’ trip.

“That’s just some printouts from the Internet on the forest service roads. We used ’em for our huntin’ trip.”

“Thank God you guys got outta that okay.”

Mike added, “We were pretty lucky, havin’ a good idea of where we were sure helped. We were pretty exhausted the second half of the second day and the third day. It woulda been easy to take the wrong road.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Mike. You guys are pretty sharp. I hear you were out in the woods with the sheriff today. Did you get your truck all towed, Jeff?”

“Yeah, we did. Sure is bad luck havin’ the truck all busted up.”

“I’d say you were lucky you guys were out huntin’ and not in your truck when whoever did that shit to it came by.”

“You can say that again, Wayne.” Mike was still a bit spooked.

“You kids reckon that the rustlers are usin’ the national forest?”

“Seems likely, the forest service and old loggin’ roads all interconnect, and since there’ve been rustlings all around the forest, it stands to reason that it’s the center of activity.” Wayne looked at me and then screwed his face up in concentration.

“Sounds reasonable. There ain’t too many folks in there this time of year, just hunters. You boys still plannin’ on lookin’ around in there?”

“Probably not, Wayne,” Mike answered this time.

“If we do go huntin’ again or horseback ridin’ or whatever there and find somethin’, we’re goin’ right to the sheriff.” Wayne looked at me again.

“None of my business, but don’t you think you boys better keep outta there? Until they catch the rustlers and whoever trashed your truck, you could be in danger.” For Wayne that was a pretty long speech. I’d rarely heard him say that much unless it concerned givin’ orders to the cowboys.

“You think they’re two groups, Wayne?” I asked this time.

“Can’t see how they’d be connected. That biker that knocked the fence down sure wasn’t bright enough to herd beeves. I’d reckon he’s just usin’ the forest service roads to avoid the sheriff.”

“You could be right.”

“You sound disappointed, Jeff.”

“Reckon I am.” He looked at me.

“I understand how you want this all to be done and over with. Hell, bein’ shot at makes me hope you’re right, but I figure they’re separate.”

“That makes two things we have to worry about then, the rustlers and Porky.” Mike didn’t sound happy.

Sandy was frownin’.

“Jeff, Mike, I bet you done seen the last of that biker,” Wayne said. “What, Jeff, with you whompin’ his ass twice and him messin’ up when he tried to get back at you here and then trashin’ your truck, I bet he’s long gone. Rustlers were probably gone even before.”

“This time I do hope you’re right, Wayne. It’d be nice to be able to get out in the woods and not worry about crazies, and bullets, and stuff.”

“I understand. What do you boys got planned for tomorrow?”

“We were plannin’ on takin’ Mike’s truck into Wenatchee. I need to talk to the lawyer about Dad’s estate.”

“Will you boys be around in the mornin’? I needed you to get some stuff from the feed store, then I wanted to talk to ya about horses and tack for the dudes.”

“Sure thing, Wayne, we’ll make time.”

“Good, I gotta do some errands in the mornin’, but I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t wanna mess up you boys’ day too much.”

“No worries, Wayne. We’ll take care of whatever you need. Right, Mike?”

“Right.”

“Good.” He chugged the rest of his beer and stood up. “Good night, boys.” He tipped his hat to Sandy. “Good night, young lady.”

“Night, Wayne, I’m glad you’re up and doin’ again.”

“Thanks, Jeff.” He headed out.

“Do you know when you’ll get your truck back, Jeff? I don’t mind drivin’ you around or loanin’ you my truck if you need it.”

“That’s real sweet of you, Sandy. Right now I have no idea. They probably haven’t looked at it yet. I’ll let you know if I need a ride or somethin’ and Mike’s just too busy.” I hid a smile on that one and so did Sandy.

“Jeffy, I hope I’m never too busy for you.”

“I hope ya ain’t either, bud.”

“Will you two quit it with the mutual admiration society?”

“I thought you wanted us to be together?”

“Before Jeffy got back here from California, why were you always tellin’ me how perfect he was and how this and how that?”

Sandy got a bit red on that one. “I’m very happy for you two. You know I’m just joshin’ when I give you a hard time. If I didn’t, you guys would wonder if I still loved you two.”

“She’s got a point there, buddy. A nice, sweet Sandy? I’d think she was inhabited by some alien who didn’t have a clue about the real Sandy we know and love.”

“You’re spot on, Jeff. I’d think it was her nice twin sister if she was decent to us, not the evil twin we hang with.”

“Okay guys! You’ve made your point.” We all started laughing. We began planning the meals and got down a good menu. I then had a thought.

“Does anyone know if anyone has any food restrictions? Or if there’s stuff the kids don’t like?”

“Hell, Jeff, all you’d have to do is say you liked something and the kids would eat it up.”

“I reckon so, Mike, but I want ’em to like what we have.” We finally had the plans complete and called it a night. It had been a long day.

Chapter Fourteen

T
HE
smell of coffee woke me up. I could tell by the light in the skylight it was well past dawn. I was lying on my side with my arms around Mike. He felt me move a bit and backed up into me. I knew what he wanted and my body responded immediately. I nuzzled the back of his neck and rubbed the fur on his chest.

“You’re gonna have to take a rain check.”

He ground into me all the harder. “Why’s that?”

“Wake up and smell the coffee, buddy. Sandy’s downstairs and from the smell of things she’s makin’ breakfast.”

“What about a quickie?”

I laughed at that one. “I wanna take my time and fuck you right. Don’t ya think I’m worth waitin’ for?”

“Well, since you put it that way.” We got up and got dressed and headed down the stairs. Sandy had not only made coffee, but she’d fixed a breakfast we called campers. She’d taken hash browns, onions, peppers, bacon, cheese, and eggs, and mixed it all up.

“Sandy, some guy is gonna be lucky as hell to hitch up with you.”

“That smells wonderful, Sandy! Thanks!” Mike added.

“I’m just practicin’ for the dudes.”

“Hell, Sandy, you keep cookin’ like this, and they’ll come just for the food.”

She smiled at me. “Thanks, Jeff. So what are you guys doin’ today?”

“Wayne’s got some stuff for us to do, then I’m gonna drive Jeff to Wenatchee to talk to the lawyer about his dad’s will. What about you?”

“I gotta work four to midnight.”

“It’s the easy part of the season for us. Not much to do until the heifers come into heat.”

Mike perked up. “Jeff, Sandy, I had an idea about somethin’ for the dudes. Did you ever hear of the ‘testicle festival’ in Montana?”

“Can’t say I have, you Sandy?”

“Nope.”

“It was on TV as one of the wackiest parties in the US. It’s outside Missoula, Montana. They put it on right after calf cuttin’ time. They have lots of people, lots of beer, and lots of mountain oysters.” Both Sandy and I started laughin.”

“So you think dudes would come up here to eat mountain oysters?”

“A hell of a lot of ’em go to Montana, and there’s another one in Missouri.”

“I’ll have to think on that one.”

“Well, guys, on that one, I am gonna head home. Let me know if you need a ride somewhere,” Sandy said.

“Sure will, and thanks!”

She headed out with a wave. I turned to Mike. “Testicle Festival, eh? You got one thing on your mind, buddy.”

“No, Jeffy. Think about it. We all look forward to cuttin’ calves because of the mountain oysters. It’s a real cowboy thing.”

“You’re right there, but I’m not sure if dudes would appreciate it. It’s kinda like your son of a bitch stew. Cowboys love it, but dudes gag. That’s why we have the sayin’ ‘He’s actin’ like a city boy in front of a plate of mountain oysters’. I’ll tell ya what, let’s ask Jonathan, Tom, Ann, and Renee. We can see what they think.”

“Okay. So what do ya wanna do until Wayne shows up?”

“Remember we said we was gonna write down all the stuff we know about the rustlin’ and the stuff goin’ on around here? We ain’t done that yet. I think that’d be a good project for us. A lot of that stuff just doesn’t seem to fit together. Maybe if we write it all down, it’ll start to make sense.”

“Sounds good to me; let’s put it on your computer, Jeff. That way we can move around the data and see how it fits.”

“Good idea, buddy.” I gave him a big kiss.

“I’m gonna have to get lots more ideas if that’s what happens.”

I ran upstairs to get my laptop. In a flash I had it booted up. We began to conjecture on what we knew.

“Mike, we know there are about four guys. Three are cowboys and one rides a motorcycle. One or more of ’em is local and knows the area.”

“Jeffy, I still think that they shot at us and killed Pedro because they were afraid of bein’ recognized.”

“It still doesn’t add up, Mike. Murder is a lot more serious crime than rustlin’. I figure that there has to be somethin’ else there.”

“If Porky is involved, he’s after you.”

“Yeah, but Pedro was murdered and you were shot at and Wayne was shot before my run-in with Porky.”

“So you think Porky is involved?”

“My gut says yes. We don’t have proof though. I think that the rustlers were tryin’ to kill us when we were out huntin’ too.”

“It seems we got a whole lot of circumstantial evidence, but nothin’ concrete.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” We sat and looked at each other for a while. Just then I heard the back door open and close.

“Jeff? Mike?” It was Wayne.

“Hey, Wayne, what you got for us to do today?”

“I need some help roundin’ up the bull and doctorin’ him up. Looks like he’s got an infected hoof; I want to clean it out and give him some antibiotics so it don’t get no worse.” This was serious, especially the timing of it. Breeding season was almost here, and we needed the bull or there would be no beeves the next year.

“Jeff, you also need to see about gettin’ another bull for stud. Rentin’ is fine, but we kept back a good number of female calves last year, so we’re gonna need more than the one bull.” It was pretty late in the morning, and tending to the bull would take several hours if we were lucky, more if we weren’t.

“Thanks for lettin’ me know, Wayne. I’ll get on it today. I can always go to Wenatchee later in the week.”

“Thanks, Jeff.” He looked at my laptop. “One of these days you guys gotta teach me how to use one of them computer things.” He stepped closer and looked at it then shook his head and smiled. “If that just don’t beat all what you can do with them machines nowadays. Let’s get goin’; I don’t wanna keep you fellers all day.”

It took us several hours to round up the bull. It’s not easy rounding up or herding a bull. We finally got him in one of the chutes near the holding pens. Wayne was right; there was an infection on his hoof. He wasn’t too happy about us fiddling with it; it must have hurt like hell. We finally got the hoof all cleaned, some antibiotic ointment on it, and gave the bull a shot of antibiotics. We decided to leave him in the near pasture for a couple of hours to let the ointment and antibiotics do their job.

By the time we were done, it was after three. There wasn’t any time to go into Wenatchee today. I needed to call around and find another bull for stud. We’d end up dividing up the heifers, separating them from the calves that were old enough to be on their own anyway, and leaving them in the pastures with the bulls. Then we’d round up the male calves and cut them to make steers out of them. I started making phone calls, and finally just before five I found a bull, and made arrangements to get him over here and to pay the stud fees. I then went out and threw a bale of hay in the manger in the pasture where the bull was, made sure the water tank was full, and added some oats to the hay. When I came back into the kitchen, Mike was making something that smelled great.

“What ya cookin’?”

“Chili; I reckon we could make some cornbread too.”

“How long does the chili have to cook?”

“I like to let it stew for a couple of hours.”

“Wanna get a workout in?”

He smiled at me. “Sure, I like workin’ out with you, Jeff.” We headed upstairs to our room and changed into workout clothes. When I was putting on my jock, Mike didn’t even try to make a pretense of not looking.

“You look pretty hot in that, Jeffy.” The way he said it and the look in his eyes left me no doubt I would get a piece of tail tonight.

“Thanks, buddy! I appreciate the compliment, but let’s get the workout done first.”

“Okay.” We headed down the stairs to my little gym. We both stretched out and then began our routine. Since we’d be able to work out tomorrow, I thought just an upper body workout would be great. Mike agreed and we began the series of repetitions to work out our backs, biceps, triceps, chest, and shoulders. It was a good workout. It took a couple of hours. We both felt good and looked good, with the pumped up muscles in our upper bodies from the workout. We went back upstairs and began to undress.