This is the twenty-fifth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV, Part XV, Part XVI, Part XVII, Part XVIII, Part XIX, Part XX, Part XXI, Part XXII, Part XXIII, and Part XXIV before continuing.
I did my best to tip-toe my way to the house, which wasn’t easy given the gravel road. I walked on the grass as much as I could and just kept my fingers crossed that there weren’t any snakes around. I made sure to keep Cordy facing away from the barn so she wouldn’t see anything that would make her start barking.
When I got to the porch, I looked back to check on Michael. I couldn’t find him in the dark, which I decided to take as a good sign. If I couldn’t see him, maybe whoever was messing around in Uncle Phil’s barn couldn’t see him either.
I also looked at the barn. The truck had pulled up to the door of the barn and, yep, that was a trailer hitched to the back of the truck. That couldn’t be good.
I went inside, then slammed the door behind me, which caused Cordy to bark and Uncle Phil to come storming out of his office. “What in the hell do you think yer doin’?”
I hesitated, unsure whether to tell him what Michael and I had seen. We hadn’t discussed telling Phil, and I knew he would charge out there if I told him. I definitely did not want him to do that.
Uncle Phil stared me down until he lost patience and yelled, “Well?”
I couldn’t help it. I blurted out, “There’s a truck outside the barn.”
“There’s a what?”
“There’s a truck outside your barn with a trailer hitched to it. Michael went to investigate and sent me inside so Cordy wouldn’t bark and scare them into doing, well, whatever the worst-case-scenario is.”
Uncle Phil stomped up to the kitchen window, which looked out to the barn. He swore and stomped to the door, where he started putting on his boots.
“You can’t go out there.”
“‘Course I can. They’re stealin’ my cattle.”
“What if they’re armed?”
“They’ll have to shoot me to take my cattle.”
By this time he had his boots on, but I threw myself between him and the door. “Don’t be an idiot.”
We were staring each other down when we heard the truck take off down the driveway. The sound distracted me enough that Uncle Phil was able to push me out of the way and run out to the barn. I followed.
“Michael,” I called as we crossed the threshold of the barn.
“I’m here,” he said as he emerged from the shadows outside the entrance to the barn.
“What did you see,” said Uncle Phil.
“They took three cows.”
Uncle Phil swore again. “Did you see who it was?”
“I couldn’t get a good look at any of the guys. But it was Ledd’s truck.”
To be continued…