He opened the barn door. He was greeted with a chorus of moos, most of them welcoming, a couple pissed, he could tell. They didn’t like all the new equipment that relieved them of their milk.
Shirley was the one who hated the machines the most. Since she was one of his old girls, he’d decided just the week before to milk her himself. She enjoyed that, turning her head to look at him while he pulled on her teats.
He got all the other cows set up. It still took him a while. Well, he’d get better and faster at it soon. Then he took his old stool down to where Shirley was standing, still and fat with milk, watching him come closer.
“Good morning, old girl,” he called out, giving her a wink like the one he’d given her every dawn for the past seven years.
He began to whistle as he set the stool down beside her. “Now, let’s make you a couple of pounds lighter.”
He heard a soft whooshing sound. It was close, real close. He wrenched around on the stool. There was a man standing over him. He was black, his eyes hard and wide, his head bald. Joe never even had a chance to ask the man who he was.
He felt a huge hand on his shoulder, and saw a big hammer part the air. He felt the blow throughout his body, but it wasn’t exactly painful, just a numbing jarring that made his eyes blink once in surprise. The large hand released his shoulder.
Joe Elders fell beside Shirley’s stool, his eyes staring up at her milk-swelled teats.
10
“I JUST HEARD Emma moving around upstairs. We’ve only got a few minutes before she comes down. We’ll get back to your daddy a bit later. Now our immediate problems: We’ve got to assume they’re professionals. And that means we’ve also got to assume they have a backup organization to be on us in a flash if we use credit cards. If we’re careful, your three thousand and my two thousand should last us just fine until this mess is cleaned up.”
Molly figured she’d been frugal for a total of thirteen months in her life. She’d gone from one wealthy home to taking care of herself, and she’d done it, not that it had lasted long. Then she’d gone to another one. From a rich father to a rich husband. But for the past two years, she’d been on her own again. She loved it. She grinned. Actually, it was the first time she’d smiled in a very long time. “I’m going to go scrub a toilet.”
“Mama, you’re joking.”
Emma had arrived, full of energy. Molly hauled her up in a big hug, kissed her small ear, and said, “No, sweetie, this time I’m not. Well, maybe. I’m thinking that if I can take Ramsey in poker, then he can scrub the John. What do you think?”
Emma looked very serious, her head cocked to one side. “I think you could beat him in Old Maid. I beat you last time we played poker.”
“Thanks for the support, kiddo. All right, I’ll think about it. Maybe I can play him to a draw.”
“That’s chess, Mama.”
“Yes, but maybe I can figure out how to apply it to poker. Hey, you want some hot dogs for supper?”
“Oh yes. Ramsey makes the best. We stuck them on coat hangers and held them over the fire in the fireplace.”
Ramsey was sitting in that big recliner, his hands folded over his stomach, a pillow under his leg. “You’ll have to go a long way to beat my hot dogs, Molly.”
“I know how to make the secret relish, handed down from my mother’s family in Italy. The relish will make her jump off your bandwagon quick enough.”
“We’ll see about that. I’ve got secret other things, like good cheap yellow mustard.” He said to Emma, “How come you know about draws and chess?”
“My boyfriend taught me.”
“You’ve got a boyfriend, Emma?”
“His name’s Jake. He’s my nerd boyfriend.”
Ramsey rolled his eyes. “You also got a jock boyfriend?”
“Oh no, Ramsey, they’re gross.”