Eight
Keith
Four Months Later
I drove out of town towards Asa’s place.
He was on a regular maintenance plan and liked to make sure his cows were well taken care of.
I’d gone back to check on the cow with the cracked hoof two weeks later and it had started to heal very nicely.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen Bart. “Wonder what happened to that city kid?” I mumbled to myself as I turned off the main road onto the dirt road that led to the dairy.
It was early in the morning, but it was already obvious it was going to be hot as hell, and while I loved all the surrounding fields, the irrigation along with the lake didn’t help the humidity.
I drove past Asa’s house and forced myself not to look for Bart’s vehicle, but at the same time was disappointed it wasn’t there.
I waved at Noah as I pulled up to the side of the barn where I usually set up for the day. “Hey, Noah, any special cases today?”
“We have three in the medical stall waiting for you,” he said with a grin. The stall he was talking about had been filled with soft straw so whatever cow was injured could rest comfortably while they waited to see me.
“Anything serious?”
“Cracked hoof and a nail or two,” he said and helped me wheel the crush into place. “We have a heifer that’s about give birth but we’re hoping she holds off until Bart gets back.”
“The city guy?”
“Yeah, he’s going to move here permanently. Asa really wants to keep the farm in the family, so he’ll be learning from the best. No one treats their herd as well as Asa does.”
“You’re not wrong.” He was moving here? Well fuck, that was something I hadn’t dared to even think about. I’d seen him around town a few times but never at a time where I could speak to him. He was either driving the opposite way, or I was on the way to a job. Until today.
“I thought he was just checking it out? He didn’t sound like it was something he was considering.”
“Turns out he loves being here.”
“When’s he moving?”
“He went back to Auburn the day before yesterday to pack and take care of anything that needed to be done. He’ll be here anytime I suppose.” Noah glanced in the direction of the road making me look too.
“Hey, Keith, ready to work?” Asa said as he drove up then climbed off a quad.
“Just getting set up.”
“Did Noah tell you Bart’s moving here?”
“He was just telling me that,” I said and ignored Noah’s eye roll.
“I’m so relieved. It’s not time for me to step aside yet, and I want to make sure he knows everything there is to know about the farm.” He met my eyes and gave me a critical look with a scratch of his chin. “What’s that look for?”
“I’m just surprised he didn’t leave a while ago. He’s about as city as they get.”
“Well, he was. Now—he’s not,” Asa said just as a truck I’d never seen came rumbling up to the barn.
Bart waved as he parked close to the house before jogging over to us. He wore jeans and a t-shirt that somehow didn’t make him look quite so city as he had when I’d first met him. “Hey, Keith, here to trim their hooves?” he asked and his hand shot out to shake mine like he did this all the time.
“Yes, and I hear you’re staying?”
“I decided last week, after I kept extending my time here, to make my stay permanent. Asa needs help and wants to teach me. I’m more than willing to learn,” he said.
But it wasn’t his words that shocked me, it was his eyes.
Gone were the doubts and nervousness, replaced by calm confidence, and happiness.
“So, I guess Foggy Basin has a new occupant,” I said, not sure what else to say.
“Yes, and from what I hear downtown there’s a few new people in town. Seems this place draws everyone to it,” he said before turning to Asa who stood there looking between the two of us. “I can handle this if you want to go check the fenceline.”
“That would be good, that fucking turtle next door keeps showing up in my south pasture,” Asa grumbled as he stepped over to his quad before tipping his hat to us as he got on it. “I won’t be long.”
“Ready?” Bart asked.
“Yep, who’s our first customer?” I asked him as he hurried to the other end of the chute to let in the first cow.
“Dolores, she’s been favoring her back left hoof. I tried to get a look at it but you know how that goes,” Bart said as he watched me get her set in the crush. As soon as her feet were lifted, he walked over to my side and peered at her hoof. “I can’t see anything.”
I ignored how clean and fresh he smelled over everything else in the barn and used a spray bottle to clean the back left hoof off to get a better look. “There it is,” I said and took out my nail pullers to see if I could get it all out in one piece.
“I knew it. She’s been wandering over where we had some old lumber stacked. We need to move that out of their pasture,” Bart said to Noah who had also stopped to see what I found.
“We can do that later if you want,” Noah said. They spoke with an air of familiarity they didn’t have the last time I was here and for reasons I could not begin to explain, I wanted to be the one he spoke to like that.