Chapter Twenty-One
At breakfast the following day, Grover decided to lay down a few ground rules.
Becoming a member of the Sterling household meant Felix needed to adopt family habits.
They already considered him family, but until the point when he chose to stay on the ranch, Felix was temporary.
Now that his future included Sterling Ranch, he needed to take on responsibilities.
“Felix, your choice makes you a permanent part of the Sterling family, so we need to set a few guidelines.”
“Yes, Pa,” Felix said. Mabel set a plate of scrambled eggs and ham in front of him. “I expect to have chores and want to do my part for my new family.”
“That’s good, Felix. First of all, I've become your father. You can come to me and talk to me about anything. I will call you by your name and tell you I love you. I will praise you when you do well and scold you when you do not. Are you okay with all of that?”
Felix beamed at Grover. “Yes, sir, Pa. I’m good with all that.”
“Good. Now, as for chores. You will help Joey clean the barn every afternoon. You will be the primary cowboy responsible for riding fences. If you find an issue you cannot fix, you must tell Joey or me you need help with repairs.”
“Yes, Pa. Primary rider of fences.”
“You will help Joey with herding cattle when needed. Joey will tell you when he needs help, and you should be ready to help him when asked.”
“Yes, Pa. Help Joey with herding.”
“Finally, you will spend as much time with Joey as possible. You two have a rare and valuable connection. I don’t want to see either of you down in the dumps because I know something is wrong between you when that happens.
If I see that, I’ll pull both of you into the parlor, and we’ll talk. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Pa. Spend time with Joey.”
“Good. Now that we have that settled, I expect you to be 100% Sterling. Your name will always be Bonner, but your insides will be Sterling. Be true to the family, and the family will be true to you.”
“Yes, Pa. 100% Sterling.” Felix grinned.
Grover reached over and tousled Felix’s hair, smiling at his adopted son.
“Dig in,” Mabel said. “Don’t let your breakfast get cold. I need my men to get plenty of nourishment for their hard work.” She smiled at Joey, then Felix.
Joey took a forkful of scrambled eggs. “Felix, today I’ll teach you to shoe horses.” He shoved the food into his mouth.
Felix munched on a piece of homemade bread slathered with apple butter. “I never learned to shoe horses, Joey. Father always used Mr. Gunderson, Blackfield's blacksmith and farrier.”
“You’ll do fine at it.” Joey cut a slice of ham and lifted it to his mouth. “You’re a fast learner.”
“I have a good teacher.” Felix scraped his plate with his bread, getting every last morsel.
* * *
After breakfast, they went to the barn. Felix remembered seeing the farrier stall on his tour on the first day. Joey took him into the stall and showed Felix the tools, explaining the purpose of each.
As they left the stall, the toe of Felix’s boot kicked something. “Look, Joey,” Felix pointed to the floor. “Two horseshoes together.”
Joey followed Felix’s pointed finger and smiled. “I think one horseshoe is me, and one is you. We’re hooked together, like the horseshoes.”
Felix picked up the two shoes. “Can I keep these? They will always remind me of you and me.”
“Let’s put them in our room so we can both remember.”
Felix hung the horseshoes over the stall wall and removed his hat. “Joey?”
Joey came to Felix. “What?”
Felix leaned in and pressed against Joey’s lips for a brief jolt of pleasure. “I love you,” he whispered, stroking Joey’s cheek with his free hand.
“Me too,” Joey said. A grin crawled across his face. “Now, let’s learn about horseshoeing.”
Joey pulled one of the horses into the farrier stall.
They spent the morning checking, repairing, and replacing shoes.
Felix didn’t realize the front hoof was more round while the back hoof was more oval.
He learned a lot about hoof anatomy that he didn’t know.
It was an essential part of becoming a rancher. Soon, he was ready to try his hand.
“We have a colt that isn’t yet broken. We need to shoe her before we break her, so I’ll let you do that.” Joey brought in the new horse.
Felix tackled the task. Joey stood aside, offering assistance when needed. Soon, the horse had new shoes and was ready to be broken. Felix beamed at his new skill, and Joey grinned back at him.
When lunchtime arrived, they bounded into the kitchen to the hearty aroma of beef stew simmering on the stove.
“Smells great, Ma.” Felix turned to wash up.
“Sure does.” Joey nudged Felix with his hip. “Are we about ready to eat?”
“Sit down, you two. Grover is on his way, and we’ll eat in a minute.”
Felix sat at the table in his usual spot across from Joey. “What are we doing this afternoon?”
“We need to herd the cattle over to the spring.”
“Great. That means swimming, and we have not done that since the first time you showed me the spring after Pa brought me to the ranch.”
“I remember that. We’ll swim once we get the cattle over there. It'll be fun. Jacob and I used to splash around in the water. I’ll show you.”
Felix saw a twinkle in Joey’s eye, and his stomach fluttered. “I can't wait.” The anticipation made his dick swell.
“You two cowboys doing okay today?” Grover sat at the table.
“Yes, Pa,” the two answered in unison. Felix’s thoughts turned away from Joey and swimming.
“What’s planned for this afternoon?” Grover asked. Mabel set a bowl before him, steam rising from the hot beef stew.
“We’re herding the cattle over to the spring,” Joey said. A bowl of stew appeared before him.
“I’ve not herded cattle yet,” Felix said. Mabel set a bowl in front of him. He closed his eyes and breathed in the succulent aroma of the fresh stew. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“It’s dirty work.” Grover lifted a spoonful of hot stew and blew on it to cool it.
“But the swimming afterward makes it all worthwhile. I used to take Jacob and Joey into the water when they were younger. Now you two men get to do all that.” The spoonful of stew disappeared into his mouth.
His jaw worked as he chewed, then swallowed.
“Felix, you mentioned something about wanting to go to college. Are you still interested?”
“You know I always wanted to go to college, Pa.” Felix tapped his spoon on the edge of his bowl. The metal against ceramic tink echoed in the kitchen. He lifted it to his mouth.
“I remember, and I was thinking…next year, Joey will be ready to go off to college. Do you two want to go together?”
Felix’s eyes got wide as saucers. “You mean it?”
“Do you remember the day you came to the ranch?”
“I’ll never forget that day, Pa. I thought I would hate this place.”
Grover chuckled, “Well, I’m glad that part didn’t come true. As I recall, you said your father thought college was for sissies.”
“I remember that Pa. Father didn’t cotton much to college.”
“Felix, no man should be denied the chance to get an education. Mabel and I both attended college, and I want my sons to do the same. Since you’re one of my sons now, you are included.”
Felix stared at his bowl, dumbfounded. He always dreamed of going to college, but his father would have none of it. “I don’t know what to say, Pa. Thank you doesn’t seem enough, but thank you.”
Grover reached over and tousled Felix’s hair. “You’re welcome, son. Now you work hard and wait for Joey to finish, then we’ll talk about where you both want to go.”
Felix and Joey finished their bowls of beef stew, then hurried out of the house to saddle their horses.
* * *
“Gosh, Joey.” Felix saddled Sparkle. “Pa is sending us to college together. I feel like I died and went to heaven.”
“To tell you the truth, I was worried about college.” Joey tightened the cinch on Lightning’s saddle. “I didn’t think I could do it, but now you’ll be there with me, and I know I can do anything.”
“You bet, Joey. We can rely on each other and show that college what top-notch students are made of.” Felix stuck his left foot in the stirrup and mounted Sparkle.
Joey laughed and mounted Lightning.
They rode out onto the ranch. In the distance, the herd grazed on dry prairie grass.
Felix eyed the cows as they approached. He remembered the day they roped a couple of calves for practice before the rodeo. The herd didn’t move at the time except to scatter a bit. “What do we do when we get there?”
“We want them to go east toward the spring,” Joey motioned his arm to the right. “We’ll circle to our left and approach them from the west. They’ll see us and turn to start moving away.”
“Is that all?” Felix shrugged, thinking this herding business was not too tough after all.
Joey winked at Felix. “Cows do not always do what we want. They’ll tend to scatter. Of course, a few flat don’t want to go in the direction we want them to.”
Felix glanced back at Joey. “So they don’t follow the leader? We must get the entire herd to go where we want?”
“Yes. You’ll see when we start herding.” Joey gigged Lightning into a gallop.
Felix did the same with Sparkle, keeping up with Joey.
He never ran a horse before he came to the ranch.
Now, he liked it, and Sparkle responded well to his hand.
They circled to the left around the herd, then slowed as they approached the cattle.
The cows nearest them began moving away, and the herd started moving in the right direction.
Joey raised his voice over the heavy hoofbeats and mooing. “The drive will be much easier once the cattle furthest from us start moving toward the spring.” He motioned forward with his arm. “Cattle tend to move in the direction the leaders go.”
“How do they know who is the leader and who is not?” Felix noticed the dust kicking up from the ambling, noisy herd.