He was still currying the sweated animal by the light from the barn stall when Billy walked down picking his teeth and stood watching him.
Where'd you go?
Cedar Springs.
You up there all day?
Yep.
The man called that owned that filly.
I figured he would.
He wasnt pissed off or nothin.
He had no reason to be.
He asked Mac if he could get you to look at some horses for him.
Well.
He moved along the horse brushing. Billy watched him. She says she's fixin to throw it out if you dont come.
I'll be there in a minute.
All right.
What did you think about that country down there?
I thought it was some pretty nice country.
Yeah?
I aint goin nowheres. Troy aint either.
John Grady ran the brush down the horse's loins. The horse shuddered. We'll all be goin somewhere when the army takes this spread over.
Yeah, I know it.
Troy aint leavin?
Billy looked at the end of his toothpick and put it back in his mouth. The shadow of a bat come to hunt in the barnlight passed across the horse, across John Grady.
I think he just wanted to see his brother.
John Grady nodded. He leaned with both forearms across the horse and stripped the loose hairs from the brush and watched them drop.
When he entered the kitchen Oren was still at the table. He looked up from his paper and then went back to reading. John Grady went to the sink and washed and Socorro opened the warmer door over the oven and got down a plate.
He sat eating his supper and reading the news on the back side of Oren's paper across the table.
What's a plebiscite? said Oren.
You got me.
After a while Oren said: Dont be readin the back of the
paper.
What?
I said dont be readin the back of the paper.
All right.
He folded the paper and slid it across the table and raised his coffee and sipped it.
How did you know I was readin the back of the paper?
I could feel it.
What's wrong with it?
Nothin. It just makes me nervous is all. It's a bad habit people got. If you want to read a man's paper you ought to ask him.
All right.
The man that owned that filly you wouldnt have on the property called out here tryin to hire you.
I already got a job.
I think he just wanted you to ride out to Fabens with him to look at a horse.
John Grady nodded. That aint what he wants.
Oren watched him. That's what Mac said.
Or it aint all he wants.
Oren lit a cigarette and laid the pack back on the table. John Grady ate.
What did Mac say?
Said he'd tell you.
Well. I been told.
Hell, call the man. You could do a little horsetradin on the weekend. Make yourself some money.
I guess I dont know how to work for but one man at a time. Oren smoked. He watched the boy.
I went up to Cedar Springs. Worked them scrubs up there.
I wasnt askin.
I know it. I took that little blue horse of Watson's.
How did he do?
I thought he done awful good. Not braggin or nothin. He was a good horse fore I ever put a saddle on him.
You could of bought that horse.
I know it.
What didnt you like about him?
There wasnt nothin I didnt like about him.
You wont buy him now.
Nope.
He finished eating and wiped his plate with the last piece of tortilla and ate that and pushed the plate back and drank his coffee and set the cup down and looked at Oren.
He's just a good all around horse. He aint a finished horse but I think he'll make a cow horse.
I'm pleased to hear it. Of course your preference is for one that'll bow up like a bandsaw and run head first into the barn wall.
John Grady smiled. Horse of my dreams, he said. It aint exactly like that.
How is it then?
I dont know. I think it's just somethin you like. Or dont like. You can add up all of a horse's good points on a sheet of paper and it still wont tell you whether you'll like the horse or not.
What about if you add up all his bad ones?
I dont know. I'd say you'd probably done made up your mind at that point.
You think there's horses so spoiled you cant do nothin with em?
Yes I do. But probably not as many as you might think.
Maybe not. You think a horse can understand what a man says?
You mean like the words?
I dont know. Like can he understand what he says.
John Grady looked out the window. Water was beaded on the glass. Two bats were hunting in the barnlight. No, he said. I think he can understand what you mean.
He watched the bats. He looked at Oren.
I guess my feelin about a horse is that he mostly worries about what he dont know. He likes to be able to see you. Barring that, he likes to be able to hear you. Maybe he thinks that if you're talkin you wont be doin somethin else he dont know about.
You think horses think?
Sure. Dont you?
Yes I do. Some people claim they dont.
Well. Some people could be wrong.
You think you can tell what a horse is thinkin?
I think I can tell what he's fixin to do.
Generally.
John Grady smiled. Yeah, he said. Generally.
Mac always claimed a horse knows the difference between right and wrong.
Mac's right.
Oren smoked. Well, he said. That's always been a bit much for me to swallow.
I think if they didnt you couldnt even train one.
You dont think it's just gettin em to do what you want?
I think you can train a rooster to do what you want. But you wont have him. There's a way to train a horse where when you get done you've got the horse. On his own ground. A good horse will figure things out on his own. You can see what's in his heart. He wont do one thing while you're watchin him and another when you aint. He's all of a piece. When you've got a horse to that place you cant hardly get him to do somethin he knows is wrong. He'll fight you over it. And if you mistreat him it just about kills him. A good horse has justice in his heart. I've seen it.
You got a lot higher opinion of horses than I got, Oren said. I really dont have all that much in the way of opinions where horses are concerned. When I was a kid I thought I knew all there was to know about a horse. Where horses are concerned I've just got dumber and dumber.
Oren smiled.
If a man really understood horses, John Grady said. If a man really understood horses he could just about train one by lookin at it. There wouldnt be nothin to it. My way is a long way from workin one over with a tracechain. But it's a long way from what's possible too.
He stretched his legs out. He crossed the sprained foot over his boot.
You're right about one thing, he said. They're mostly ruint before they ever bring em out here. They're ruined at the first saddle. Before that, even. The best horses are the ones been around kids. Or maybe even just a wild horse in off the range that's never even seen a man. He's got nothin to unlearn.
You might have a hard time gettin anyone to agree with you on that last one.
I know it.
You ever break a wild horse?
Yeah. You hardly ever train one though.
Why not?
People dont want em trained. They just want em broke. You got to train the owner.
Oren leaned and stubbed out his cigarette. I hear you, he said.
John Grady sat studying the smoke rising into the lampshade over the table. That probably aint true what I said about the one that aint never seen a man. They need to see people. They need to just see em around. Maybe what they need is to just think people are trees until the trainer comes along.