The Bequest
Chapter 37—Abigail

The sun's peeking out over the horizon by the time we're all tacked and ready.

"You're lucky that Birch Creek is right at the bottom of Birch Creek Canyon," Steve says. "Most of the other ranchers using Forestry Service land have a much longer drive." "And look-the cattle are raring to go," Kevin says.

I don't know much about cows, but he certainly seems right. The teeming mass of mooing, lowing cattle, all of them red or black, shift and stomp.

"At least they won't be banging on the fences anymore," Jeff says.

"What does that mean?" Ethan asks.

"This time of year, the cattle are ready to go up into the hills," Kevin says. "They test out the fencing anywhere they can to try and get through." "Why don't we take them sooner?" I ask. "It's been summer for weeks."

"That's the Forestry Service's fault," Jeff says. "They only allow June 20 through September 20." His eyes brighten. "Hey, maybe you can take that up with them for us."

I laugh. "Yes, I'm sure they'd love to hear from me again."

"I loved hearing you go off on them," Jeff says. "I had no idea what you were talking about, but I've never heard of Ranger Dutton changing his mind so quick. There are some advantages to being a scary, big city lawyer." "I'm hardly scary."

Kevin clears his throat, and Jeff snorts.

"Where are the bulls?" I scan the cattle, but don't see any with horns. "Do they go up later?"

"There's one." Steve points at a cow that's a little bigger than the others.

"And there's another." Jeff points at one that's pretty close. "They're out there. You really can't spot them?"

I can tell a slight difference, but... "None of them have horns."

Steve, Jeff, and Kevin share a look, and then all three of them start laughing.

"What's so funny?" Clearly I'm an idiot, but I'd like to know why.

"Angus are naturally polled," Steve says. "It means they're born without horns. It's one of the reasons Jed picked them. He hated removing horns in the spring."

"Removing the horns?" Izzy looks stricken.

"I know, it gets bad press," Jeff said, "but it's better all around to remove them if they have big horns. They can injure themselves and others, and if there's something dumb cattle can do " Kevin jumps in. "They'll do it."

"Alright," Jeff says. "The sun's nearly up, so let's review our jobs. It should be manageable, since we've got a dominant steer, Handsome Rob, there, as we call him. You can see that he's already waiting at the front of the herd. The others are used to following him, as we'd always shepherd him through first from one pasture to the next. Iz, you and Ethan will be my swing riders. You need to try and stay about a third of the way back. You should always be able to see me, and if you have questions, holler. I'll come see what you need."

Ethan and Izzy nod.

"Abigail and Steve-thanks for coming by the way-will be my flank riders, and you'll try and stay about two-thirds of the way back. Your job is to keep the cows together, and keep them moving. You won't be able to see me most of the time, but you'll see Kevin at the back, because he's won the big prize."

Steve laughs, and Kevin scowls.

"It's your turn," Jeff says. "I was the tail last year."

"The tail?" I ask.

"It gets pretty dusty by the end," Steve says. "It's not always a comfortable place to ride, and his job is to encourage the cattle who don't want to move any more. It's not bad at first, but it'll get progressively more exhausting." "Now that the sun's up..." Jeff moves his horse, a big red gelding, toward the gate.

"Time to go." Kevin's riding a grey, and it takes off with the slightest nudge, shoving past a few cows to head for the back of the herd.

"You take things nice and slow, Miss Isabel," Steve says.

"I will." Her eyes are bright, her cheeks rosy. She's not often included in things like this, since she's only twelve. Actually, no one in my family is ever included in things like this. She's probably about as nervous as the rest of us. "I hope she's ready."

Steve drops his voice. "There's a reason we tied the donkey to her."

"Wait, what reason?"

"She's on Maggie, and she's already a very steady, dependable mount. Her lessons have been on her for the past week, and they know each other. But Donk is slow and annoying, and having him trailing along should keep her from being one of the riders expected to deal with problems."

"It won't get in her way?"

Steve shrugs. "There are only three hundred and fifty cows. If we were trying to run five hundred, or even a thousand, we'd need more people, but often Jed only had four guys to move his herd."

"You've been on drives before?" I ask. "You don't have any cattle, so I wasn't sure."

"But I grew up here," he says, as if that explains everything.

"I hope you're not trying to redirect because you haven't been on one, and you're just acting like you know everything."

He rolls his eyes. "Woman, please."

"Woman?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you actually a man?"

I sigh. "You're lucky we're riding horses right now."

"Would you punch me, if we weren't?"

"Probably," I say. "Or light you on fire."

"A violent woman." He grins. "I like my mares fiery. Did I mention that?"

Before I can say anything else, he kicks his horse, whose name I don't even know, and takes off. The cows are spreading ahead of me on one side, but Ethan handles it pretty well. I'm glad I'm not the person stuck in the dust cloud at the back -although when I turn around it doesn't look that bad. There's plenty of grass here, so not much dirt to fly up. And the cows presumably don't want to be left. Hopefully Kevin won't really have a terrible time of it.

The first time I try to herd cows back into the main group, they break off further and start running the wrong way. I swear under my breath and spin poor Snoopy around. Before I can get Snoopy cantering after them, Steve's already there, hollering and redirecting the recalcitrant bunch back toward the main group. I watch Izzy and Ethan, noticing what works and what doesn't, and I improve.

I don't approach them wrong or head-on again, and my job gets easier. Having Steve help is kind of like having two extra guys. He never seems tired, and he rides effortlessly. I watched him in the ER not long ago, and he looked capable, confident, and at ease. I thought then that I'd likely seen him doing the thing he was best at.

But watching him ride is different.

His mare, which I discovered is named Farrah, moves like an extension of his body. He doesn't bounce, or shake, and he hardly even moves his hands. She transitions from a slow and easy walk to a dead sprint at a simple kissing noise. He's probably shifting his body, too, but I can't see it. I honestly can't understand how his upper body stays so still, even when she runs.

Meanwhile, I'm doing my best impression of a sack of potatoes bouncing around atop poor Snoopy.