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I glanced at Bodo in ti, he stopped, going back to having his little tantrum

I had about another hour of patience left in et his head out of his butt before then so I wouldn’t have to

We followed Jackson up to his porch where Katy was already ladling out stew to anyone who could hold a bowl

A few of the dogsto fall "Scoot!" Katy yelled, gesturing at them fiercely with her ladle Three of the four took off, but the little one stayed "You too, Tater," she said, nudging hi any of it He went right back to his begging and was rewarded a few seconds later with a chunk of potato that I was pretty sure Katy had dropped on purpose He re as impossible to dislike or send away

Two kids had fallen asleep on their backs before they could get any stew, ood either I had a feeling Jackson was going to be digging soraves soon

"This is the best stew I’ve ever eaten," said Chantal, so it lands started working overtiuilty that Winky and the others wouldn’t be getting any of this, but that wasn’t going to stopin

"Holy crap," I said around a chunk of carrot a few seconds later I never thought carrots could taste so good "This is … heaven" I couldn’t believe it It was like being transported back to the school cafeteria I’d always scoffed at the stew there, never daring to try it, but now I realized I should have paid itin ecstasy The food in Kahayatle was pretty da like real beef in authentic beef stew

"Aw, it ain’t that good," said Katy, clearly pleased by the cooodt," said Bodo, poking a hunk ofwith food "Where didt you find all da vegetables? Carrots, potatoes, and onions? Even da salt"

"In our garden, of course What? You think I walked to the supermarket?" Katy snorted "That’ll be the day" She ladled et the salt froht out Works like a char at the Triple Bar D," said Jackson, addressing all the kids who’d come out of the trailer "If you want to stay, you can, but you’ll have to work And when I say work, I ers to the bone"

Katy held up a ers a little The fingernails were ragged all the way to the quick and not fro bitten I could see the callouses on her palms from several feet away

"He ain’t jokin’ neither," Katy added "It’s dawn to uard duty Luckily we have help with that part of it" She nudged the little dog at her feet

"I can work," said Chantal She looked at me "But I’m not sure if it’s as safe here as it will be with her"

"Bryn is uy with me is Bodo"

He nodded his head at theuy froave him a special smile that made me instantly sick to my stomach There was no way Bodo would want to be with edy, she was ten ti an exchanche and den the bomb dropped on da worldt and dat was da end of my Cherman life I’ another giant spoonful for his mouth

Katy could obviously care less about Bodo She didn’t even spare hi to Chantal’s earlier coot dogs up the yin yang, rifles, shotguns, bows and arrows … you naot it And we kno to use all of it, too"

"So how does that help you when so one of your cows?" I asked

"First of all, ain’t no one gettin’ on this here property without us knowin’ We got dogs can smell outsiders from a mile away Plus one of us always stays ahile the other one sleeps And the herd’s never far froent sootta be Plus, we got the ewes"

"The ewes?" Noas really confused

"Dat’s da girl sheeps, Bryn I know da English for farranfadder had a farm and he hadt lots of A to help ressive You actually use theuard ewes?"

Katy and Jackson both started laughing I couldn’t get a straight answer out of either one of them for a full five minutes

When Katy could finally speak, she put her hand on irls I ever ht byup her beef stew pot and walking towards the front door

I rolled my eyes "The name’s Bryn, okay? Call me ball-biter one more time, and I’ll pop you in the boob"

She sobered up quick, turning around "Theonna keep irl parts when you decide to get all angry and hungry at the sa for her just to make her flinch, and she didn’t disappoint She ju The empty pot was on the floor and her knife was out and ready in half a second The sound of the pot clanking around continued, but she was still and ready to fight

"Stay back," she said, a six-inch blade in her hand "I’ll stick you like a dang pig, you co up " I settled back down, tippingup the rest of the broth, ignoring her so she’d calm down "So tell me about these attack ewes"

Jackson walked off the porch "Follow me I’ll show you the ewes"

I put my bon on the steps and walked down to be with Jackson, leaving everyone else behind to finish their meal Aup behind us He still wasn’t talking to me, but at least he had nore the fact that he’d been spending an awful lot of effort on hurtinglike an immature ass

We approached a shed-like structure that couldn’t possibly have been big enough to house more than a couple sheep Maybe four, ot to the front of it, he reached for a flap on the side of the wall I realized then that it had wire mesh on it

"What are those? Air holes?" None of this uess you could call ‘ees, but whatever It all works"

He opened one up and reached in, pulling out soray