He looked at the wallclock and picked up his cigar again and put it in his teeth. I'll play you one more, he said.
Yessir, said John Grady.
Socorro took off her apron and hung it up and stood at the door.
Goodnight, she said.
Night Socorro.
JC rose from his chair. You all want some more coffee?
They played. When John Grady took the black queen JC pushed back his chair and got up.
I've tried to tell you, son. There's a cold winter comin.
He crossed the kitchen and set his cup in the sink and went to the door.
Night, he said.
Mac sat quietly studying the board. The cigar lay dead in the ashtray.
Night, said John Grady.
He pushed open the door and went out. The screendoor flapped shut. The clock ticked. Mac leaned back. He picked up the cigar stub and then he put it back in the ashtray. I believe I'll concede, he said.
You could still win.
Mac looked at him. Bullshit, he said.
John Grady shrugged. Mac looked at the clock. He looked at John Grady. Then he leaned and carefully turned the board around. John Grady moved Mac's remaining black knight.
Mac pursed his lips. He studied the board. He moved.
Five moves later John Grady mated the white king. Mac shook his head. Let's go to bed, he said.
Yessir.
He began to put away the pieces. Mac pushed back his chair and picked up the cups.
What time did Troy and Billy say they'd be back?
I dont reckon they said.
How come you not to go with em?
I just thought I'd stick around here.
Mac carried the cups to the sink. Did they ask you to go?
Yessir. I dont need to go everwhere they go.
He slid the cover shut on the box and folded the board and rose.
Is Troy fixin to go down there and go to work for his brother?
I dont know sir.
He crossed the room and put the chess set back in the press and closed the door and got his hat.
You dont know or you aint sayin?
I dont know. If I wasnt sayin I'd of said so.
I know you would.
Sir.
Yes.
I feel kind of bad about Delbert.
What do you feel bad about?
Well. I guess I feel like I took his job.
Well you didnt. He'd of been gone anyways.
Yessir.
You let me run the place. All right?
Yessir. Goodnight sir.
Switch on the barnlight yonder.
I can see all right.
You could see better with the light on.
Yessir. Well. It bothers the horses.
Bothers the horses?
Yessir.
He put on his hat and pushed open the door. Mac watched him cross the yard. Then he switched off the kitchen light and turned and crossed the room and went up the hallway. Bothers the horses, he said. Damn.
WHEN HE GOT UP in the morning and went down to Billy's room to wake him Billy wasnt there. The bed looked slept in and he limped out past the horse stalls and looked across the yard toward the kitchen. Then he went around to the side of the barn where the truck was parked. Billy was sitting in the seat leaning over the steering wheel taking the screws out of the metal sashframe that held the windshield and dropping the screws into the ashtray.
Mornin cowboy, he said.
Mornin. What happened to the windshield?
Owl.
Owl?
Owl.
He took the last screws out and pried up and lifted away the frame and began to pry the edges of the cavedin glass out of the rubber molding with the blade of the screwdriver.
Walk around and push in on this thing from the outside. Wait a minute. There's some gloves here.
John Grady pulled on the gloves and hobbled around and pushed on the edges of the glass while Billy pried with the screwdriver. They got the glass worked out of the molding along the bottom and one side and then Billy borrowed the gloves and pulled the whole thing out in one piece and lifted it over the steering wheel and laid it in the floor of the truck on the passenger side.
What did you do, drive with your head out the window?
No. I just sort of sat in the middle and looked out the good side.
He pushed at the windshield wiper lying inside across the dashboard.
I thought maybe you'd not got in yet.
We got in around five. What'd you do?
Nothin much.
You aint been rodeoin in the barn while I was gone have you? Nope.
How's your foot?
It's all right.
Billy pushed the wiper up on its spring and pried the wiper arm off the capstan with the screwdriver and laid it on the seat.
You goin to get a new glass for it?
I'll get Joaqu'n to bring one when he goes in. I dont want the old man to see it if I can help it.
Hell, anybody could run into a owl.
I know. But anybody didnt.
John Grady was leaning through the open window of the standing truck door. He turned and spat and leaned some more. Well, he said. I dont know what that means.
Billy laid the screwdriver in the seat. I dont either, he said. I dont know why I said it. Let's go in and see if she's got breakfast ready. I could eat the runnin gears of a bull moose.
When they sat down Oren looked up from his paper and studied John Grady over the tops of his glasses. How's your foot? he said.
It's all right.
I'll bet.
It's all right enough to ride a horse. That's what you wanted to know isnt it?
Can you get that in a stirrup?
I dont have to.
Oren went back to his paper. They ate. After a while he put the paper down and took off his glasses and laid them on the table.
There's a man sendin a two year old filly out here that he aims to give to his wife. I kept my own counsel on that. He dont know nothin about the horse other than its blood. Or any other horse I reckon probably you could say.
Is she broke?
The wife or the horse?
I'll lay eight to five they aint either one, said JC. Sight unseen.
I dont know, said Oren. Green broke or some kind of broke. He wants to leave her here two weeks. I said we'd give her all the trainin she was capable of absorbin in that length of time and he seemed satisfied with that.
All right.
Billy, are you all workin with us this week?
I reckon.
What time did the man say they'd be here? said John Grady. He said after breakfast. JC. You all ready?
I was born that way.
Well the day advanceth, said Oren. He put his glasses in his shirtpocket and pushed back his chair.
THEY PULLED INTO the yard in a pickup truck towing a new single trailer at about eightthirty. John Grady walked out to meet them. The trailer was painted black and had the name of a ranch somewhere up in New Mexico that he'd never heard of painted on the side in gold. The two men unlatching and taking down the gate on the trailer nodded at him and the taller of the two looked briefly around the yard and then they backed the horse down the ramp.
Where's Oren at? the tall man said.
John Grady watched the filly. She had a nervous look to her which was all right for a young mare offloaded onto strange terrain. He limped around to see her from the other side. Her eye followed him.
Walk her around.
What?
Walk her around.
Is Oren here?
No sir. He's not. I'm the trainer. Just walk her around a minute and let me watch her.
The man stood for a minute. Then he handed the halter rope to the other man. Walk her around some there, Louis. He looked at John Grady. John Grady was watching the filly.
What time you expect him back?
Not till this evenin.
They watched the little filly walk up and back.
Are you the trainer sure enough?
Yessir.
What is it you're lookin for?
John Grady studied the filly and he looked at the man. That horse is lame, he said.