Red Hill Road (Three Creeks #2) by Ken Farmer

Author:Ken Farmer [Farmer, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Timber Creek Press
Published: 2020-12-12T06:00:00+00:00

After a few minutes, Uncle Dorris got to his feet, walked back to the front an’ picked up the hymnal.

“Let’s all sing number twenty-eight, The Old Rugged Cross.”

That’s one of my favorites, too.

After we finished that song an’ had a long prayer by Uncle Dorris, it was over, an’ everbody headed to the two long tables up front with all the food.

The ladies removed the white linen cloth that had it all covered. They stood back an let the men serve themselves first, which never made any sense to me.

Folks were shakin’ Uncle Dorris’ hand an sayin’ stuff like his sermon was like bein’ at a tent revival meetin’.

A man walked up to grandpa while he was workin’ on a plate of food grandma had brought him. Could tell the fella was either a farmer or rancher, his face was kinda sunburned an’ he had a white forehead where he wore a hat all day out in the sun.

“John, got a minute?”

“Sure, Lloyd, what’s on your mind?”

He looked around like he didn’t want anybody else to hear an’ leaned closer to grandpa. “Somebody killed fifteen of my best cows yesterday.”

Grandpa kinda rocked back. “What? You sure?”

He nodded. “Sure as I’m standin’ here, John. Somebody dumped lye in my stock tank…You know how horses won’t drink bad water, but cows can’t tell the difference.”

“Yeah, familiar with that.”

“Yesterday evenin’, close to sundown, noticed my saddle stock was all up at the barn, snortin’ an’ stompin’ their feet…sure sign they ain’t happy ‘bout somethin’. They were at the water trough, which was empty since there was plenty in the tank.”

“They were thirsty.”

Mister Lloyd nodded. “I filled the trough an’ they musta drunk for fifteen minutes…they was purty dry. Figured I best go down in that pasture an’ check things out.”

Daddy moved up beside grandpa with his own plate.

“Lloyd, this is my son-in-law, Joe Lee. Just moved to Junction City. Driller for Shell Oil…Joe, this is Lloyd Connors, a neighbor. Raises some dang nice Angus cattle.”

Daddy held his plate in his left hand an’ stuck out his right to shake with Lloyd. “My pleasure.”

“Did, might be a better description, Joe…somebody killed ‘bout half my best breedin’ stock…poisoned ‘em.”

Daddy looked at grandpa an’ frowned. “Hate to hear that, Lloyd. Any idea who might have done it?”

He shook his head. “Not nothin’ you can carve in stone, it’s why I’m comin’ to you, John…Heard tell you were wearin’ the badge for Sheriff Wilson again.”

“For a while.” Grandpa scratched his chin. “You had any lease hounds been by your place?”

Mister Connors nodded. “Now that you mention it…Came by wantin’ to lease my land an’ drill for oil.”

Daddy looked at him. “What are they offering, Lloyd?”

“Hundred dollars an’ acre for a two year option. If they hit oil, I get six percent.”

“Did they offer to kiss you, too?”

“Huh?”

Grandpa grinned as he understood what daddy was sayin’. “He means that you’d be gettin’ a royal…”

“Oh! Right.” He nodded. “That bad, huh?”

Daddy blew out his cheeks. “You could say.”

Grandpa put his hand on Mister Connors’ shoulder.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.