Once inside the house, I washed my hands at the kitchen sink, and helped finish getting supper on the table. Hannah was upstairs,

with Isaac, rocking him. Clare said he'd been fussy most of the afternoon. That in itself, is unusual. He's usually such a happy go lucky

little guy.

"Is he runnin' a temperature?" Adam asked, drying his hands with a dishtowel, his forehead lined with concern.

"A low-grade one," Clare said.

"I'll go up and check on him, then," Adam said, and started towards the back stairs.

"I'll keep a plate warm for you," Clare said.

"Thanks," Adam said, and headed up.

After the food was all set onto the table, and everybody was in their seats, the conversation turned, naturally enough, to

what we'd seen with the Mustangs.

It was Guthrie who brought it up, and Evan and Daniel both started asking questions. I could tell from a couple of things that

Evan said, and by the look on his face, that he felt compassion for the horses.

Crane was actually fairly quiet during the conversation, and with where I sit at, with Guthrie and Clare between Brian and I,

it was hard to judge Brian's reaction.

"How many?" he asked.

"They probably ran forty or so into those pens," Guthrie said, leaning forward so he could address Brian. "Wouldn't you

say so, Crane?"

"Yeah," Crane said.

"And then there were others, and they were weeding them out, it looked like," Guthrie said then.

I hadn't known that part of it, and I was curious about it. Still, I didn't ask any questions at that point.

I drank milk, and ate my pork chop. After a few bites of carrots, I shook my head as Guthrie offered me a piece of

bread.

I got to my feet, and went to scrape my plate into the dog dish just outside the back door. I carried my plate over to the sink,

and then went to look at the dishwashing duty list. Guthrie and Daniel.

I went out the back door, where Warrior had taken the bone from the pork chop and snatched it from under Gus's nose. He was

happily ensconced under the hammock, crunching on the bone.

I went to sit in the hammock, lifting Clarence up to sit with me, and rubbing his ear as I watched the clouds rolling by.

After awhile, the back door opened, and Crane stepped out. "Phone for you, peanut," he told me.

"Okay," I said, and scrambled out of the hammock, putting Clarence on the ground. He stood there, holding the door

open, as I passed by in front of him, and past Guthrie and Daniel, who were still working on the dishes, and alternately flicking

each other with dishtowels.

When I went into the living room, Brian and Clare were sitting there, across from Adam and Hannah, and Isaac was asleep on

Adam's chest. Crane followed me and sat down in the chair to the side of Hannah.

My 'hello?' was answered by Lori's cheerful voice.

"Hey, Harlie-boo," she greeted me, using an old nickname from elementary school. "Can you come over for a while? Watch

a movie or something?"

I considered. That sounded like fun. I hadn't gotten to hang out with Lori for awhile.

"Sounds fun," I said. "Hang on a second." I laid the phone down on the little table, and went to stand closer to them all, and

they looked at me expectantly.

"What's up?" Brian asked me.

"Lori wants to know if I could come over for awhile," I said, as Daniel walked into the living room, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"To her house?" Adam asked.

I nodded. "Watch a movie, maybe."

"What if that Seth's in town?" Hannah asked, sounding worried.

"I'd just be at Lori's," I said. "We wouldn't go out."

For a couple of long moments, nobody said anything. Then Crane spoke up.

"I think she should go," he said. "She'll be fine at Lori's, and it's not right that her summer's been so limited."

I looked at Crane, surprised at what he was saying. When he glanced at me, I smiled at him gratefully, and he

gave me a half-smile in return.

Daniel said, "I'm goin' into town for awhile tonight. I can drop her off and then pick her up later on."

Adam nodded. "That's alright, then," he said.

"You make sure you stay right there at Lori's house," Brian said, from his spot on the couch. "You hear?"

"Yes, I hear," I said, and went back to the telephone to tell Lori that I could come. We talked for a few minutes, and then

I turned to ask Daniel what time he was leaving.

"Let me wash up and change my shirt, and then we can head in," Daniel said.

I told Lori that I'd be there shortly, and I went upstairs then, to change my own clothes.

7

Before I left with Daniel, I thought suddenly about Isaac, and went to sit on the edge of the couch, running a finger over

the baby's cheek, as he looked at me out of wide eyes, his cheek laying on Adam's chest. "Is he feeling better?" I asked.

"He's teething, I think," Hannah said. "He has his daddy now, and that always helps him feel better."

That made Adam feel good, I could tell, even though he didn't say anything.

Crane was out on the front porch, leaning against one of the porch pillars, as Daniel and I came out.

"Have fun at Lori's," he told me. And to Daniel, he said, "You be careful."

"I will," Daniel answered.

Once in the cab of Daniel's truck, I put on my seat belt, and then we began the drive into Murphys.

The sun was just starting to lower a bit, and the horses were at the fence near the road, at the end of the driveway, as if telling us

goodbye.

We had the windows down as we were driving.

"Do you have a date tonight?" I asked him.

"Nope. No date."

"A poker game?" I guessed next.

Daniel gave me a sideways glance, and a grin.

"No poker game."

"You going to rob the bank, then?" I suggested, smiling back.

"I hadn't planned to."

"You're being mysterious," I said, more serious now. "And Crane told you to be careful-"

"There's no mystery to it, squirt. I'm just gonna shoot some pool, and have a couple beers."

By now, we were pulling up in front of Lori's house.

I paused, my hand on the door handle.

"I'll be back around ten or so to pick you up," Daniel said. "Alright?"

"Yes," I said, with a nod. "You'll be okay, right?"

"Don't worry about me," he said. "Go on, and have some fun, for a change."

"Okay," I said, and opened the door to get out. "Bye."

"See you later."

I went up to the front door of Lori's house, turning back to look and see that Daniel had waited until I knocked and

Lori opened the door, and I was safely inside, before he pulled away.

7

I had a good time at Lori's. We watched a movie, and ate a bunch of snacks that her mom fixed for us. I was glad to see

that her mother seemed to have forgiven me for my part in the party Lori and I had gone to a few months earlier. And then also

I'd said I was at their house when I was really meeting up with Karissa. So, considering all that, I was thankful that Lori's mom

didn't hold anything against me.

Lori's dad works a lot out of town, so he's not around much. And her brother, Brent, is pretty much of a jerk. He came thru the living

room as we were watching the movie, and when Lori asked him something, something simple, about if he'd taken money she had

on top of her dresser in her room, he started yelling at her.

Then to top it off, he came up from behind, and smacked her on the back of the shoulder, really hard. Lori sort of hollered, from

surprise, I guess, and also because it hurt. I could tell it had really hurt by the look on her face, and the way she rubbed at it.

"Ow! Darn you!" she hollered, and then, under her breath, "Jerk."

Brent went on his way then, out of the door without saying anything else.

"You ok?" I asked her.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

"Does he act like that a lot?" I asked her then.

"All the time." She reached for another handful of popcorn, from the bowl that sat between us on the couch.

I considered, thinking. Brent was around twenty-one or so, so somewhere between Ford and Evan's ages. Closer to Ford's. I'd never heard

Lori say anything about Brent being nice to her, or doing anything for her in a good way.

Still, I asked the question.

"Is he ever nice to you?" I asked curiously.

"No. I can't remember even once when he was. He's either mean, or ignores me." Lori turned to face me. "Not all brothers are like yours, Harlie."

I knew that. I did. I couldn't imagine any of my brothers stealing from me, or smacking me like Brent had, just out of the

blue like that. For no reason. Even Guthrie, when we'd gotten into our very few shoving matches over the years, had never

hit me like that, just out of pure meanness.

"That's terrible," I said, with sympathy, thinking that I could never imagine Ford acting that way.

"I wouldn't mind having a brother or two like yours," Lori added.

"They can come in handy at times," I admitted.

After that, we went back to watching the movie, and didn't talk anymore about Brent, or about brothers in general. When the movie was

over, we hung around in Lori's bedroom for awhile, talking about school, and gossiping a little.

When it was nearly ten o'clock, I heard Daniel's voice from downstairs, and Lori's mom called upstairs to me.

After we'd said our goodbyes, and Daniel and I were headed home, he asked me if I'd had a good time.

"Yeah, I did. It was fun," I told him.

"That's good."

"How was your evening?" I asked.

"Just fine."

Out of curiousity I asked Daniel what he thought of the wild horses being captured, and sold for the purposes that Crane and Ford suspected.

"I think it's a damn shame. That's what I think," he said.

"So you don't think it's right, then? To catch them and sell them?" I persisted.

"Not if it's for the purpose of sellin' them to the glue factory."

Since I couldn't see his profile very well in the darkness of the truck cab, I had to judge his words by the tone of his

voice.

"What about catching them for another reason?" I asked then.

"What other reason?"

"To have them. To own them," I said. "Do you think that's alright?"

Daniel was quiet for a long moment. "I think if a person can provide a proper home, with veterinary care, and all, then yeah, I

think it's alright."

I couldn't explain why exactly, but I felt a little bit of disappointment in his answer. Which wasn't fair, really, because I had

asked him his opinion, after all. But the thought of those horses, running free across the grass, with their noses stretched out,

and their manes blowing in the wind, well, it just didn't seem right that they should be anything but free.

7