The Family Ranch by Linda Hussa

Author:Linda Hussa [Hussa, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780874178197
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

FROM THE KITCHEN WINDOW at the Shumway, there was no break of light between earth and sky. The world of white silence enveloped her troubled mind. She let it go and focused her attention on policies and procedures.

Joyce didn’t dwell on the dangers of being there alone until one day she put the truck in low and, as usual, climbed up three tiers of bales on the back. She was flaking the hay to the cows when the truck jolted over a big rock and sent her cartwheeling off the load. The snow broke her fall, and she climbed back on as the truck inched forward. Had she been hurt or broken a leg, she could have frozen solid while waiting for help that wouldn’t be coming until March. After that, she was more careful.

In time, she found a balance between the physical work and the familiar territory of her medical training. Words and definitions she thought were forgotten returned. Yet, nursing bleached pale and antiseptic when weighed against loping her horse to turn a cow and hearing Joe yell, “Good job, Joyce!”

Weeks passed. One afternoon when she took Moss for their walk out to the road and back, she found herself standing looking at her truck’s tracks that disappeared under the drifted snow. Any sign of her was obliterated. She felt truly alone in the world.

As days passed, her mind began to stray from hospital procedures to spring calving, plans for the young horses coming on, trimming the budget, things she wanted to talk over with Joe.

Halfway through February, headlights glowed through a whiteout. A truck stopped in the yard. Moss got up and went to the door. Her tail was wagging when Joyce opened the door. Joe came out of the dark with a Valentine box in his hand. Inside was an engagement ring.

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