Nick was doing what Heath always referred to as his 'Magic Math Trick" a term that Nick could never decide whether to be amused or annoyed at, partially because he personally found it somewhat disconcerting. It worked something like this: He knew how big the storage barn was, he knew how big the bales of hay were and he knew how much the average horse needed. He considered all of these things carefully, usually while just staring intently into the barn, and from that could determine whether or not they needed more hay.

If you had asked him how he did it, Nick couldn't answer because he didn't know. Just like he didn't know how he could be riding to Stockton and see a leaf flutter to the ground and think: 'we're going to have a dry spell coming up, better plan for a drought' and just as mysteriously, in the middle of a dry spell, realize the ranch didn't need to by any more expensive feed because the drought was going to end soon and there would be new grass growth available.

It was a gift Heath couldn't help but feel envious of. In this he did himself a disservice, because if Nick had a sort of rancher sixth sense, Heath had just as remarkable knack at mining to the point where, except for reviewing the books to make certain he knew the finances, Nick left the mining branch to Heath. If Heath said a seemingly stable mining tunnel needed reinforcing then it needed reinforcing. If Heath said maybe we should keep working a mine that appeared to be ready to close, they would invariably find a new seam that justified keeping it open. If Heath said a mine was tapped out, well Nick took his word for it. It was a gift that Nick envied, resulting-as is always the case in such things-that each wanted what the other had and counted their own gifts as lacking. Had Jarrod been there he would have laughed. However, Jarrod was not there, having returned to San Francisco by way of a cattle auction to pick up a bull, and therefore was deprived of his amusement.

Meanwhile, Heath and Nick were seated on a bale of hay, cross checking notes on the inventory to make certain there were no particularly egregious errors, when they were distracted by a squeaking noise familiar to anyone with a barn. The noise could be traced to two rats crawling on a two by four and Nick scowled, picked up a bucket and hurled it in their direction, knocking both rodents onto the ground, where they lay stunned for a moment before one scurried off leaving the other one frozen in fear. Nick instantly hurried over, seemingly determined to eliminate at least one pest, then abruptly froze as he peered down. A look of surprise crossed his face and he picked up a length of board not to kill the rats, as Heath assumed, but simply to block their path.

"Heath, come look at this."

Heath sighed, being more interested to completing the inventory to studying rats, but obligingly walked over and looked disinterestedly at the source of Nick's fascination.

"Alright Big Brother, they're rats. So what?"

"No, they're not just any rats; look at this one." He pointed down and Heath took a second glance. The one Nick was pointing at had milky eyes; it was plainly blind and had a piece of hay in its mouth. The other one, just as plainly, was not blind, and oddly enough was clutching the other end of the hay.

"So, this one's blind and that one's not. What's the big deal?" Heath asked, a trifle impatiently.

"Watch this." Nick moved the board and the seeing rat started moving, holding onto the hay, leading the blind one behind it. Just as quickly Nick put the board down in front of the first rat and it stopped, as did the blind rat.

"Interesting." Heath allowed, "But what-?"

"He came back."

"Who came back?"

"The seeing rat. He escaped and was safe, but he came back for the other one to try to lead it to safety."

"So, he's a paragon amongst rats, so what?" Heath had the sinking feeling they were about to head down one of Nick's rabbit holes. He had been dragged into them before and like any other rabbit hole, they were long winding places with no end in sight.

"I'm keeping them." Nick announced.

"You're WHAT?"

"Help me build a cage. doesn't have to be large for right now, just large enough to get them into the house."

'Oh My God,' Heath groaned inwardly. Nick had that manic gleam in his eyes and when Nick got that gleam he was like a horse that had the bit in his teeth and was going to go where he was going to go.

"Don't you mean 'just small enough to sneak them into the house so Mother, Jarrod and Audra don't have a fit?'" Heath demanded.

"Don't be silly Heath. You know Jarrod's out of town right now." Nick brushed aside Heath's objections as if the fact that Jarrod wasn't there made it perfectly acceptable to bring the rats inside.

"Mother is, and Audra is. What do you think Mother's going to say about this?"

Nick didn't slow down a bit. "We just won't tell her. If I don't tell her and you don't tell her, she'll never know, right?"

"Wrong! Nick you aren't trying to sneak a frog past a schoolteacher, this is Mother. She'll find out. She always finds out. She's Mother!"

Nick paused, and Heath wondered if he'd gotten through to him.

"Heath, could you bring some of that small fencing from the shop?"

Heath swallowed an urge to pound his head against something and left for the shop.

' At least,' He thought glumly 'Nick was finally interested in something about the ranch again.'