Chapter 12: Hiram's Letter

The Black Creek graveyard is a fenced slope above the river, with forty stones and one that is newer than the rest.

Jonas's brother's stone was plain grey granite, with a name and two dates.

Three years of lichen had begun at the bottom edge.

I stood in front of it in the rain with my hands in my coat pockets.

Jonas stood a little behind me, and did not speak.

"I don't know what to say to him," I said.

"You don't have to say anything."

"I want to."

I took the pencil from behind my ear, the 4H, and looked at it.

Then I set it on top of the stone, standing on its end in the groove.

It looked foolish.

It was the only thing I owned that I had made anything with.

"I'm sorry," I said to the stone. "I drew you a road and I didn't know where it went."

The rain ran down my face.

Jonas came up beside me, and this time he took my hand.

Neither of us mentioned the thirty days.

We stood there until the water soaked through both our coats.

The broad woman with the shaved head was waiting at the gate.

She handed me an umbrella without a word.

"There's a man at the north fence," she said. "He's alone. He says he'll only speak to Roxana."

"Colt?"

"No. The Beta."

Orrin Lattimore stood in the rain at the cattle fence with no truck behind him.

He had walked.

His bad leg dragged, and his coat was black with water.

He held an envelope against his chest under his jacket to keep it dry.

"I'm not here," he said when I came up to him. "I'm in the south pasture with the sheep."

Keep reading free with an account. Start One Minute Younger Always Second Best Until I Walked Out the Door from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.