| OCR Text |
Show HI THE BULL-365 "I guess he heard us say his dad's dead," said die driver. "Reckon he'll be OK? Maybe I'd better go on up there and see if he's gonna be OK," he said, and started out after him. "Maybe he just wants to be off by himself," said die driver, and die man stopped. "You know, maybe that's why he's nuining off up diere." Frowning, only half convinced, the hired man turned back. He took die cigarette the driver offered him and dien the two men walked around the tractor to the lee side out of the wind. The hired man was just beginning to feel a little sick, his legs just beginning to tremble, and the two leaned against the cab and smoked silendy. The wind was dying out but the sky was growing more darkly overcast and the men pulled in smoke as if it was salvation. When the driver said My God and shook his head, the hired man shook his in agreement. After a time they could talk about getting the body down the hill before it stormed, and the hired man decided to go up to die camp for the dead man's bedroll. The wind had stopped and in the quiet darkening air he had grown anxious about the boy. Instinctively he knew the boy must be horrified by his own desires, must be trapped in the unbearable pressure between his hate and his love, and he wanted by some human touch to help him support his pain. So he started off at a brisk walk, stopped by the sound of a gun. As he turned it went off again, his 30.30, and he saw the boy standing over at the corral, resting the barrel on one of the rails. As he ran toward him, yelling, the boy fired a third time, levered in anodier cartridge, fired again. He shot five times before the hired man reached him. Inside the corral the old bull was on his knees trying to lift his head, his hind quarters trying to stay up, and then he crashed over and was still. "Oh my god," said die man, "oh my god." The boy continued to stare into the corral as if he had been struck blind. The man was shaking his head. "What good did that do?" he asked in a hushed voice. But the boy was deaf too. He did not cry, he only stared blindly at the dead bull. And then he began to sag, his shoulders slumping down as if the curve in his spine had become permanent, as if he |
