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“It’s a boy, you said?”
“A little boy.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever used this word before, but that thing is cute as shit.”
Cricket laughed out loud.
She cleaned up the cow then released her into the stall with her calf. She began sweeping hay from the birthing stall. I saw a broom in the corner near her stereo and pitched in. She locked eyes with me and nodded. We swept it all up and tossed it in a huge barrel for trash. I thought we were done, but she went to one of the long sides on the inside of the barn and started uncoiling a large hose. She began to spray down the stall and tools, the remnants washed down the drains. She then replaced all the tools back where she had gotten them. When it was all said and done, you couldn’t even tell the heifer had given birth. Until, that is, you looked down at my clothing.
“Disgusting,” I said truthfully.
“Just a little blood and guts,” she explained.
“This all cost me around five thousand dollars,” I said, gesturing to my clothing.
At this, she burst out laughing.
“Greenhorn, I don’t even know where to begin.”
She turned off her music and started toward the door we’d entered before coming from the main house.
“What am I supposed to do?” I yelled out.
“I suggest you wash up and get some rest. Work starts at five.” She stopped and turned my direction. “I also suggest you wear something else, if you catch my drift.”
“These are the only kind of clothes I own.”
Where most girls were impressed by my clothing, by her expression alone, Cricket seemed to believe I was insane.
“Then I guess we’ll have to buy you some new ones. Ones that, I don’t know, don’t cost more than my annual salary?”
She closed the door behind her and I stood there feeling like a first-class asshole...as I should have felt, but all that really made me want to do was check the balance in my account. I was going to start counting down the days, no, the minutes, until Bridge turned eighteen. I wanted out of there. Five thousand a year for grueling, thankless work? No, thank you.
o;I’ve got it, Pop Pop,” she told him.
He nodded and sat back down, picking up the drumstick he was still working on, thinking nothing of her offer.
She started for the room with her coat and boots, Eugie nipping at her heels. They’re going to let this tiny nothing of a girl deliver a calf by herself?! I jumped up and everyone’s eyes turned toward me. Bridge eyed me strangely. I stood there a good minute, debating whether I should chase after her like a goon.
“Would you like to go?” Ellie asked me, saving me.
“Is that too weird?” I asked.
“Not at all. I didn’t think you’d be able to see this for a while, but the ranch is fickle and the heifer had different ideas. Go.”
I followed Cricket but not before noticing Ethan’s furrowed brows. He was catching on, but I couldn’t seem to care.
I grabbed my coat and gloves and opened the door to freezing temperatures. The cold was so bitter; it made me step back slightly. I pushed through the frozen wind and saw Cricket’s little frame entering the barn, Eugie right behind her. The wind whipped against my face and I raised my scarf higher against my mouth and nose, reveling in the warmth from my breath. I made an immediate mental note to buy a cap of some kind.
When I entered the barn, it was several degrees warmer than the outside, the cows and hot lights brought it to a tolerable temperature. I looked around and noticed Cricket crouched in a corner messing with something. “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” began to play. Oh my God, could she be any sexier? She stood and did a little shimmy dance move and my jaw went slack, but then she left out the other side of the barn. Where in the hell is she going? I started to follow but she quickly came back into the barn leading the heifer by a rope. She still hadn’t noticed me. She guided the animal into a metal stall and it tried to ram itself through to the other side. It was caught by a hinged gate butting against its shoulder blades and enclosing its head. The gate prevented the heifer from stepping back, most likely to stop her from trampling Cricket. I stifled a shudder.
“You gonna just stand there?” I heard, startling me. Okay, she had noticed me.
“Uh, no, Ellie said I could come down? Is that cool?”
“Sure,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
I walked over to her corner of the barn and carefully made my way around the heifer.
