They got a rope around the heifer’s neck, made a quick halter of it and snugged her tight to the shed wall. Then Harold took off his mittens and pushed at the hoof for a long time until he was able to move it back inside, and then he went inside with his hand and felt of her and tried to position the calf’s head between the two front feet as it was supposed to be, but the head wasn’t right and the calf would not come. The little heifer was worn out now. Her head hung down and her back was humped. She stood and moaned. There was nothing to do but use the calf chain. They put the loops inside the heifer over the unborn calf’s legs above the hocks, then fit the U-shaped piece against the heifer’s hindquarters, and began to jack the calf out. Ratcheting it out of her. The heifer was pulled against the rope around her neck and head and she moaned in harsh pants and once raised her head to bawl, her eyes rolled back to white in terror. Then the calf’s head came out with the front legs and suddenly the whole calf dropped heavily, slick and wet, and they caught it and wiped its nose clean and checked its mouth for air passage. They put the calf down in the straw. For the next hour, while the heifer stood panting and groaning they cleaned the prolapsed uterus and pushed it back inside of her and then sewed her up with heavy thread. Afterward they shot her with penicillin and stood the calf up and pointed it toward the heifer’s bag. The heifer sniffed at the calf and roused a little and began to lick at it. The calf bumped at her and started to suck.
By now it was after midnight. It was cold and bleak outside the shed and utterly quiet. Overhead, the stars in the unclouded sky looked as cold and arctic as ice.
They came back into the house without yet removing their canvas coveralls and sat spent and bloody at the wood table in the kitchen.
You think she’s going to be all right? Raymond said.
She’s young. She’s strong and healthy. But you don’t ever know what might could happen. You can’t tell.
No. You can’t tell. You don’t know how she is. You don’t even know where he might of took her for sure.
He might of landed her in Pueblo or Walsenburg. Or some other place besides Denver. You can’t never tell.
I’m going to hope she’s all right, Raymond said.
I hope it, said Harold.
They went upstairs. They lay down in bed in the dark and could not sleep but lay awake across the hall from each other, thinking about her, and felt how the house was changed now, how it seemed all of a sudden so lonesome and empty.
Guthrie.
Lloyd Crowder called him early in the evening. You better come down here. It looks like they’re going to try to blindside you. You better bring your grade book and any papers you have.
Who is? Guthrie said.
The Beckmans.
He went out of the house and got in his pickup and drove across town to the district office next to the high school and when he went in he saw them immediately. They were sitting in the third row of the public chairs off to the far side. Beckman, his wife, and the boy. They turned and looked at him when he entered. He took a seat at the back. The school board members were ranged about the table at the front of the room, each with his name tag facing the public. There were framed pictures of outstanding seniors from the years past on the walls behind them. They had already gotten beyond the minutes of the previous meeting and the approval of the bills and the various items of communication and were now finishing discussion of the budget. The superintendent was taking them through each step. They voted on matters, if that was called for by regulation, and it was going smoothly, all cut and dried since they’d prepared for it earlier in executive session. Then the board chairman called for public concerns.
A thin woman stood up and began to complain about the school buses. I’d like to put a plea out there, she said. My kids used to get on at seven and off at four, now it’s six-thirty and four forty-five. The bus driver gets disgusted and starts driving slow, that’s what it is. What happens is those kids, all their cussing and getting out of their seats. Well, all their language is cussing. If we took that away from them they wouldn’t have a thing to say.
The board chairman said, Safety is the big concern. Isn’t that right. That’s what we have to think about.
I’ll tell you, the woman said, one time the bus finally had to pull over. The driver had to stop and she come back in the row and said to this girl, You been yelling at the top of your lungs all morning, now go ahead and yell. And the girl did too. Can you believe that? Well, my daughter didn’t appreciate her yelling at the top of her lungs. I don’t think she should have to put up with that.
Riding the bus is a privilege, the board chairman said, till they violate the rules. Isn’t that right? He looked at the superintendent.
Yes, the superintendent said. After three misbehaviors they’re off.
Then somebody better learn how to count to three, the woman said.
Yes ma’am, the chairman said. You need to come in and talk to the principal about this. About your concern here.
I already did that.