"Parents give presents to their kids, right?" "Right." "Then you stand to get all of this. You're the oldest." "Never thought of it that way." "Sassafras-and-kiss-my-ass you've never thought it. Shit, I figure you're jerking off to the thought on a nightly basis." "Seriously," I said, lying, since I'd considered owning it all many, many times. "I'll go on a mission, then probably college. Maybe I'll be a dentist or something." Jarrett snorted. "Listen, buddy, I like you. But you're not fooling no one. It's nothing to be ashamed of. If I had this spread, I'd give the mission double-birds, say fuckaroo to all that, and take over right outta high school. You seem like a smart kid." We traveled in silence. Outside: ice blue, blanket white. Jarrett turned up the country music and tapped on the steering wheel, glancing my direction. We crossed the Snake River and wound around the hot springs, passed the empty camper park, turned down the gravel road. Another slow mile across ruts and snow, and we arrived at the Heise ranch and drove to the yard. Jarrett parked the truck along the bunkhouse and got out. I followed him across the yard to a pole fence. In the day lot, out beyond the pens, the pregnant cows lulled around the feeders. Trails traced the fence line. The governmentleased land where we summered the cattle was white but splotched with the muted green of junipers and sage. "There's that ornery bitch," Jarrett said. "In the corner." A lone cow paced along a jog in the fence. Jarrett switched in the four-wheel drive on the pickup hubs, and we got back in and drove out into the day lot. Cows followed us for a time then broke back to the manger. We reached the cow, a small red and white heifer wet with sweat, and Jarrett stopped at a distance. ''I'm gonna go open up the corrals," Jarrett said. "You push her up the fence."
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