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“She needs help? Another shepherd?”

He nods “Two others help at times, but they’re both occupied One ill”

I frown “Does she have dogs?”

Several men look up at me

“You know…herding dogs?”

“She did,” one says, “but Heath passed on No more to be trained”

I nod, and toss back halfbefore”

Six

Finley

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

I shut ain, the view is still as bleak I’her slopes out near the Patches, looking down the valley where we grow our food, where we corral the cattle My view is fra in thewider as the rain pours It’s quite dark out, so the sheep scattered about the slopes below me are pale dots—scattered dots, because the herd has splintered…twice

Patch Valley didn’t have soJoe White used to take a group to work on erosion in the valleys, but he hurt his leg slipping on Upper Lane after a hail stor their years I suppose it’s tis

For now, I’ve got to get these sheep into a herd again and drive them down the slopes onto the flat land at the bottom of the valley

Took e, on the island’s northwest tip, over the Hillpiece and past Runaway Beach The road petered out near the flat plane of the Patches, by the sea; froes

First, I tried to lure theulches I rattled a bucket of feed, calling like always But it was raining too hard; got the feed soggy so it didn’t rattle—and anyway, ulch