Tales for Late Night Bonfires by G.A. Grisenthwaite

Author:G.A. Grisenthwaite
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Freehand Books
Published: 2023-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Sunshine Rainbow Peace Ranch

So some time ago them dippy-hippies took over that dead settler’s shack. Old guy. Kept to himself. Called himself Harvey Blackwater. Poached deer sometimes. Stole a cow one time. One of Leon Jimmie’s. Leon drags a cop to Harvey’s squat. Leon says to that cop, “There. That cow’s mine.”

Cop says, “How can you tell? Where’s your brand?”

That Harvey Blackwater says, “Nope. Ol’ Suzie here’s my cow. Bin takin care of her for some time. She got no tag. No brand. No collar. Nothin to say she belonged somewheres else. Looked at the board in front the post office. No one lookin for a lost cow there, neither. Anyways, I give Suzie her name. I give her a warm place to sleep. Inside with me.

“I take her on a long walk two times a day. Morning, we walk down River. Look for jade and other valuables River gives us. And after supper every night we walk the bush. Little cooler then.

“Before bed I brush her out and sing her lullabies. Sometimes read her scriptures, too.

“We’re good, God-fearing Christians, so Suzie belongs to me.”

That cop nods, says, “Harvey here makes good sense. He’s a good Christian, raising his cow to be a good Christian too. And Harvey here has the cow in his possession, on his land.”

Leon’s wife Eloise always tells him to breathe and think before talking out loud. That Harvey Blackwater parks his ’47 International Harvester on a patch of land just north of Three Mile. Puts a six-acre fence around it. Puts a big red barn on it. Puts a two-room shack on it. Puts a fancy gate in front of it. Puts a fancy sign on the fancy gate. Crown looks it over and tells him and us that he earned that land fair and square.

Not so nice now. Swaybacked barn roof. Swaybacked shack roof. Fence trampled in places, crushed by snow in others, barbed wire snipped in others. Once some guy cuts ten or twelve feet of barbed wire to tie his muffler back onto his car, but most of that wire snipped because Harvey Blackwater strung it.

And now he rustles Leon Jimmie’s milk cow.

“It’s my cow. I got papers to prove it.”

Harvey Blackwater pours black coffee into a chipped, blue enamel mug. He doesn’t offer one to Leon or the cop.

Cop says, “It’s a cow. All cows look alike.”

That Harvey Blackwater, squatting on Crown Land. Like any Crown ever set foot on it, hey? Lots of crows, but. Definitely crow land, that.

Cop says, “I think you want to use the justice system to steal a hardworking man’s cow.”

Harvey Blackwater snorts wetly and clears his throat. Sounds like a rabid coyote Leon come across out hunting that one time. Harvey Blackwater belches.

“I think you are wasting my time, as well as the time of this hardworking gentleman.”

Cop says, “Leon Jimmie, I have more important things to do than help you solve a civil dispute. If you are so sure this fine gentleman has taken your cow, take him to court.

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