Two Sides of the Same Coin Read Online Free Page A

herded out beyond the fence. I looped Charlie’s reins around the fence post and walked along the trail of cattle tracks.
    “Somebody cut the fence and drove the cattle out,” I said to Mike.
    “You able to track too?”
    Distractedly I answered, “Nothing much to it other than looking at the tracks left behind. Like here it looks like there were two guys on horseback who drove the cattle out.” I followed the trail about one-hundred yards into the trees. I saw where an unimproved track bore the signs of truck tires and a line in the dirt which indicated to me a ramp had led down from the truck. The hoof prints from the cattle ended where the ramp began.
    “What the fuck!” I swore in frustration. “It looks like we been hit by rustlers!” I felt like I was in some B Western saying those words.
    “I been hearin’ reports of cattle rustlin’,” Mike continued in an almost condescending voice. “Seems they been hittin’ around here lately. With the price of beef goin’ up, it’s worth the risk to them.”
    Immediately I began to think about how close the ranch seemed to the break even point. We’d need every head to make a good profit when roundup time came. The random thoughts kept coming back: losing my dad, the ranch close to failing, the questions about my relationship and my living in San Francisco. I felt overwhelmed and very alone. I wished that Dad were here to talk to. The anxiety, grief, and sense of being totally unable to control the situation were channeling into anger, a useless and uncalled for anger.
    “Hittin’ around here, where?” I asked Mike with some panic and a great deal of anger in my voice.
    “Well, your dad told me we’d lost about fifteen head so far. Sheriff has been lookin’, but nothin’ so far.”
    “He told you and he never bothered to mention it to me in any of our calls or e-mails?” The anger was beginning to rise, and I felt almost betrayed.
    “Lotta good you woulda done off in San Francisco. I reckon he just didn’t want to worry ya.”
    I walked over to Charlie, untied his reins, and swung myself up to the saddle. Mike was watching me. From the expression on his face, it was clear that he’d enjoyed seeing me swing my leg up over Charlie to saddle up. I was pissed as hell about his remark, probably because it was the truth. I was also more than a little hurt that my dad, who I’d considered really close, hadn’t bothered to tell me. Unfortunately, that hurt and the defensiveness caused by Mike’s offhand remark came out in hot anger and a desire to hurt.
    “It’s none of your goddamn business where I go, or what good I could do.”
    He looked like I’d socked him hard in the face, but didn’t say anything. I wheeled Charlie around and began the ride back to the ranch, the phone, and the sheriff. I could hear Mike behind me, but I didn’t really care. I was riding high on a tide of self-righteous anger, hurt, and panic. It was after a few miles I realized I had acted like a total asshole and began to feel ashamed. I needed to apologize, but worry about the ranch drove me to continue riding. I needed to talk to the sheriff as soon as possible.

Chapter Two
     
    I SAT in the ranch office with my head in my hands. It must have been about two in the morning. My laptop was in front of me, and my eyes were blurry from going over the ranch financial books. It seems ranchers live from one year to the next, waiting for the cattle to be sold off and get some money. I had enough money to make payrolls and pay on the loans we had out. I wasn’t sure that the remaining herd was going to bring in enough to keep up the mortgage for the next year. I needed to get the mortgage information and all that from Dad’s attorney. We’d lost a good number of cattle over the last few months. I couldn’t help but remember the conversation with the sheriff. Followed by Mike, I’d ridden a good part of the evening to get back to the ranch house and call the sheriff. He got out