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His gut tightened and he repeated, "What happened?"

"Dad had another stroke soht And…" Brandt closed his eyes

And Dalton knew before Tell said, "He didn’tbetween thery? Relieved?

No He felt fucking nuo to the rehab hospital and Casper would be sitting there, glaring at theain look on his face So Dalton didn’t say anything, lest he say the wrong thing

"The hospital calledwhen I was out feeding cattle" Brandt scrubbed his hand over his razor-stubble jaw "They found him in bed and it, ah, appeared he’d died a few hours earlier"

Dead dead dead dead dead, kept echoing in Dalton’s brain

"Brandt caught ht we’d better tell you in person"

He nodded Say soot coffee on" He led theotta call the uncles Three of us, three of them"

Dalton didn’t want to do that Why couldn’t Brandt do it? He was the oldest

"I figured we’d talk about who’s calling Mouess I’d better call Barbara Jean too"

Silence

Dead dead dead dead dead

Stop It

"Dalton? Did you say so?"

His head snapped up "Nope"

Brandt drained his coffee "Ain’t gonna get any easier if we put it off I’ll call Carson, Tell, you call Cal, and Dalton call Charlie" Then Brandt pulled out his cell phone

"Wait a second What are we supposed to stay? That Casper is dead and we’ll be in touch?" Dalton asked

"He has a point, Brandt"

"Let them know that’s all the information we have for noe haven’t even been to the funeral home yet"

Dead dead dead dead dead

"I don’t have Uncle Charlie’s number," Dalton said

Tell read off the number and Dalton punched it in Brandt had wandered into the living room, so Dalton headed to his bedroo "Yeah, who’s this?"

"It’s Dalton, Uncle Charlie"

A beat passed

"I apologize for calling so early, but we got word thisthat Casper had another stroke"

"Is he okay?"

"No He’s uh…" Dead dead dead dead dead

"He…passed on?"

"Yep The hospital called Brandt so we’re letting everyone know"

"Ah hell, Dalton, I’ured he’d better get used to accepting condolences "Thanks, Uncle Charlie I’ll pass that along to my brothers"

"You do that So Carson and Cal…?"

"Brandt and Tell are letting the we can do?"

"Not right now We’ll be in touch soon, okay?"

"Sure Don’t hesitate to call on any of us, if you need us"

"Thank you"

He sat on the edge of the bed Talk about feeling disjointed None of it seeet a lot rounded Al his elbows on his knees, he waited for her to pick up

"Hey, handsoreat way to starther voice that a luht I ere kissing each other goodbye at the door right now"

Me too

His nonresponse tipped her off "O?"

He cleared his throat "Casper had a fatal stroke last night"

"Dalton I’m sorry When did you hear?"

"Brandt and Tell are here"