27

LISA WENT TO NEWPORT with Brenda Todd. At least, she left the house with Brenda Todd. John ate his second breakfast while Katy got dressed in the living room. She had pulled off her nightgown and had her panties on. He looked at her smooth back as she laid her T-shirt flat on the coffee table. She always followed this procedure so “it would go on right.”

“Are we going riding?” she asked, lacing her sneakers.

“If you like.” He took his plate and silverware and set them in the sink. “Shoes on the right feet?”

Katy laughed. “Yes, silly.”

“Did you see the sunset last night? I’ve never seen such a red sky.”

“Why does the sky get red?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” He turned and stopped the faucet from dripping. “It means good weather, though. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”

“Daddy told me that once.”

“Ready to go?”

“Ready.”

They walked the back roads. The morning was mild and full of the chatter of birds.

“I wish I knew more about birds,” John said.

“I saw a movie about birds that scared me. They just kept coming. I couldn’t sleep that night and Daddy told me it was just a movie.”

“Did that help?”

“Not really.”

Ruth was not at the office of the stable. The teenage boy saddled rides for them.

“Where’s Ruth?” John asked.

“Didn’t show up today.” The boy pulled the cinches tight, took a look at Katy, and adjusted the stirrups on the smaller horse. “So I gotta do everything myself.”

Mounted, they followed the trail up to the first clearing.

“Maybe she’s sick,” said Katy.

“Excuse me?”

“Ruth.”

“Oh,” John said, nodding. “Probably.” But he wasn’t thinking about Ruth. He was preoccupied with hatred for Greg Yount, trying to feel it for all it was, trying to understand it. This emotion seemed natural, justified, but also intensely directed—and it was this that comforted him.

“Grandpa, I’ve decided I want to be a doctor when I grow up. Like you.”

“That’s good. But that time is a long way off.” He coughed into his fist. “When I was your age I wanted to be a cowboy.”

“A cowboy?”

“I guess kids don’t think those things now. Yep, I wanted to ride the range and herd the dogies. And here I am. Where are them cows?”

“In the trees,” said Katy.

“In the trees again. Let’s see if we can’t round them up, missy ma’am.”