Chapter Twenty-Three
Joey and Felix dug a shallow pit six feet from the fence outside the north corral gate. “I’ll gather kindling if you run to the outhouse and tear a couple of pages out of one of the catalogs. Then we’ll fetch logs from the woodpile.”
“Got it.” Felix ran off to bring the catalog pages.
Joey hurried to the garden area, looking for dried plants and twigs. Felix joined him, and they hauled enough kindling to start the fire. Felix carried an armful of smaller branches from the woodpile while Joey carried two good-sized logs. It was not long before they had a roaring fire.
“We’ll let this fire burn down to a bed of glowing red coals. We’ll keep adding wood to get it good and hot.” They fetched more wood and had a nice pile to feed the fire.
“Will we brand the cows out here? How come we didn’t build the fire in the corral?”
Joey raised an eyebrow. “Think about it, Felix. We don’t want a fire in an area where cattle are trapped. If they get spooked, they could step into the fire. We’ll keep the fire outside the corral and the cattle inside. We can heat the branding irons out here and brand them in there.”
“Branding irons?” Felix asked.
“Come with me.”
In the farrier stall, a trio of three-foot-long steel rods hung on one wall.
At the top was a handle in the shape of a triangle.
At the bottom was a metal thing attached to a U-shaped bracket.
“These are our branding irons,” Joey said.
“They are all the same. The ranch brand is two horseshoes that make an S.”
Joey stopped and stared at Felix. “Like those two horseshoes we found in the farrier stall the other day. I never thought about it, but those two horseshoes were hooked together like an S, only I saw them from a different angle.”
Joey grabbed Felix and hugged him, then gave him a quick kiss.
Felix panted, “Gosh…you should figure these things out more often.”
“Like I said the other day, Felix. You and me are the S in Sterling.” Joey watched Felix’s puzzled expression, then saw his eyes sparkle.
A grin spread across Felix’s face. “You mean we’re connected as Sterlings?”
“You bet. It’s fate or something.”
“If there is one thing I must thank my father for, it’s sending me out here so I could meet you, Joey. You made me a different man, and I think it is definitely fate.”
“We were made for each other, Felix.” Joey squeezed Felix in another hug before letting go.
The branding irons clanged together as he took two down, handing one to Felix.
He grabbed a pair of heavy gloves from a shelf above and gave them to Felix.
“We’ll need these to handle the hot irons.
” He took a pair for himself. “Let’s go check on the fire. ”
Out by the fire, Joey showed the branding iron end to Felix. “See the S on the end?”
Felix nodded. “The two horseshoes, you and me.”
Joey turned to the fire, poking at the logs with the branding iron.
Heat radiated from the fire, and the embers glowed a bright orange under the larger logs.
“The S end goes in the red-hot embers.” Joey shoved his branding iron deep into the middle of the fire.
Sparks and smoke rose into the air, carrying the aroma of burning wood. “Now you shove in your branding iron.”
Felix shoved his branding iron into the fire like Joey.
“Now we let them get good and hot. The S end needs to be as red as those embers, so it takes a while.”
“What about the log? You mentioned something about using a log.”
“Follow me.” Joey took off through the barn.
Felix trailed him to the woodpile, and they retrieved a big log. Each carrying one end, they brought it to the corral and dropped it ten feet from the north corral gate. Joey left the gate open and pulled on his heavy gloves. He tugged the branding iron from the fire to see if it was hot enough.
“Felix, see how the end of this branding iron is red? That means it is hot enough to use for branding.” Joey walked to the log. He held the end of the branding iron handle with his gloved right hand and placed his left gloved hand about a foot further down the shaft.
“Press the branding iron firmly and evenly onto the surface.” Joey demonstrated on the log.
A cloud of smoke puffed from the branding site as he pressed.
“Count to two, then pull the branding iron away.” He removed the hot end of the branding iron from the log.
The smoke cleared, and a perfect black S had burned into the side of the log.
Joey nodded toward the log, “That’s branding. ”
“It doesn’t look so difficult.”
“Getting the branding iron so it is not crooked is the challenge,” Joey said. “We want a full brand, not one where the edges of the S aren’t clear.”
“Okay, Joey…let me try.” Felix pulled his branding iron from the fire and walked to the log. “Like this?” He grasped the branding iron like he had seen Joey hold it.
“Like that,” Joey nodded.
Felix pressed the branding iron against the log, counted to two, and removed the iron from the log's surface. The puff of smoke cleared, and Felix had made a brand with the edges of the S missing on one side.
“Looks like I need to practice.” Felix examined his handiwork. “Getting a solid S isn’t as easy as I thought.”
They returned their branding irons to the fire and practiced branding for the remainder of the morning. Felix improved his skills; before long, he was branding as good as Joey.
“You are amazing,” Joey boasted. “You pick up things fast, cowboy.”
“Thanks. You’re a good teacher.”
“Let’s go see what Ma has for lunch. I’m getting hungry.” Joey laid his branding iron across the log to cool and removed his gloves. “We’ll leave these here and come back after lunch.”
Felix did the same. “Sounds good. I’m hungry, too.”
Joey closed the north gate before they hurried through the barn and back to the house, where their boots clomped up the wooden steps. The screen door hinges squeaked as Joey tugged it open, and they entered the kitchen.
Felix drew in a breath. “Lunch smells wonderful, Ma.”
“You two get washed up.” Mabel stirred a big pot of chicken and dumplings. “Grover got home a few minutes ago, so we’ll eat soon.”
They rushed over to the kitchen sink. Joey filled the basin, and they washed their hands, laughing as they shoved each other.
* * *
Grover came into the kitchen and placed a hand on each cowboy’s neck. “You two quit horsing around,” he chuckled. “You’re going to make a mess, and we don’t want to make Mabel’s job any harder than it already is.”
“Yes, Pa,” they kept nudging each other as they dried their hands and moved to their chairs on opposite sides of the table.
Grover washed and dried his hands and joined them. Mabel dished up the chicken and dumplings and set a steaming bowl in front of each of her men. She added a plate of sliced homemade bread to the table and then sat.
“This tastes great, Ma.” Joey swallowed the first mouthful.
“Thanks, Joey.” Mabel lifted her spoon to her mouth.
Felix brought a piece of dumpling to his mouth and blew on it. “You sure do feed us well, Ma.” He shoved the dumpling in and began to chew.
“I’m lucky to have four wonderful men in my life, counting Jacob,” she smiled. “I want my men to be healthy and happy.”
“Mabel, I think you had a lot to do with those men growing up to be wonderful.” Grover smiled at her.
He was proud of his wife and couldn’t imagine loving anyone more than he loved her.
The passion they shared passed to their sons.
He didn’t know about Jacob, but he watched as Joey began to recognize his love for Felix and allowed himself to appreciate and accept that love.
While he didn’t understand Joey’s love for another man, he did understand how love worked and what it meant to him and Mabel.
“Let me say something,” Felix said. “Before this summer, I never experienced the love I see in this house. I didn’t have that in my family.
We existed together, but the closeness here was missing there.
” He looked down at his bowl of stew and said, “Thank you for showing me what love is and letting me be a part of that love.”
“We didn’t have anything to do with that, Felix,” Mabel said.
“You two young men bonded from the day Grover brought you to the ranch. As your friendship grew, you learned how to deal with feelings that neither of you understood, how to accept those feelings, and how to share them. You let yourself love Joey, and Joey let himself love you. It’s that simple. ”
Felix gazed at Mabel and smiled. “Thanks, Ma.” He winked at Joey.
After lunch, they spent the afternoon practicing branding.
They would be branding for real next week, and it would go much faster if two of them could tackle the task.
By evening, they were hot and tired. After supper, they played dominoes for a while, then climbed the stairs and snuggled in bed.
There was something very secure about being together. They drifted off to sleep.