Dale came home for Christmas. Dad had him fly into Midland/Odessa and sent Brian to pick him up. I don’t know what’s with those two. I know they love each other, but I think they’re still quarrelling.

Brian pulled his truck up to the back porch. Dale jumped out, grabbed his bags out of the back and Brian tore off to the bunk house. Dale stood in the dust and watched until Brian disappeared around the building. Then he heaved a big sigh and trudged over to the porch steps and dropped his bags. Dad wrapped him in one of his big bear hugs. Dale clung to him for a long time, and Dad just held him until Dale was ready to let go. 

“Still haven’t resolved your problems, have you?”

Dale sighed, “I just don’t know what to do, Dad.”

“Well, time will straighten it all out.”

“Sure is hell waiting.”

Dale pulled away and hugged me, “I’ve missed you, Little Brother.”

“I’ve missed you, too, Dale.”

 Then he turned to May. “Welcome to the family, Ma’am.”

“You used to call me Aunt May, Dale honey. But since things have changed, why don’t you just call me May? Welcome home.”

“Thank you, May. I just want to tell you that I’m so glad that you and Dad got together.”

May gave him another hug; he then turned and wrapped Jimmy in a hug. “How ya doing, Jimmy Bro?”

“I’m doing fine, Dale.” Jimmy grinned like Alice’s cat.

Granpa Hilliard had stood to the side observing. Everybody kind of stood back and watched as Dale stepped up to him. Neither man made a move to hug the other.

“Granpa.”

“Dale.”

“He’s still mad at me, Granpa.”

Granpa held up his arms then and Dale walked into them. He laid his head on Granpa’s shoulder.  Nearly a minute passed before Dale finally straightened up, smiled at him and let go. May ushered everyone into the house. I don’t know why, maybe I felt his presence, but I turned and looked toward the bunk house and Brian was leaning against the wall watching. I nodded to him and went on in.

Later, I was doing my chores in the barn when I heard Dad and Brian arguing. I moved closer so I could hear.

“That’s so much bullshit, Brian. You may not be of my loins, but you are just as much my son as Dale, Dane or Jimmy. So stop being so pigheaded,” I heard Dad say.

“But he’s going to think I’m just going to school to be with him.”

“Well, Son, that would be about half true… wouldn’t it?”

“But... I just don’t want to end up an uneducated bum. I already don’t feel like I deserve him.”

“You’d never end up being a bum, Brian. You’ve got too good a work ethic for that to happen.”

Brian must have nodded his head. I didn’t hear him reply.

“And as for deserving him, I personally can’t think of anyone that deserves him more’n you.”

“Thank you, Sir. I wish I could believe that.”

“Well, believe it, ‘cause, God as my witness, it’s true.”

Before I had a chance to get back to my work Dad was walking past me. He ruffled my hair and smiled. “Hurry up and get your work done, Son. May’s going to be calling you to dinner soon.”

When I finished in the barn, I went looking for Jimmy and found him by the chicken coop talking to Dale. I walked up and put my arm around Jimmy’s waist and kissed him on his cheek. Jimmy blushed.

“Ahh, that’s sweet.” Dale said with a big grin. Jimmy tried to duck away from me, but I had a couple of fingers through his belt loop and just hung on. His movement just whirled him around and I pulled him back against me. “I’ve got you lassoed, Cowboy. You’re not going anywhere.”

He looked at me with a devilish gleam in his eyes. “I’m going to get you for that, Dane.” Before I knew what was happening, he had my arms locked to my sides and he attacked my neck with his tongue. Dale was leaning against the coop laughing.  I struggled at first, and then pushed against him and his tongue, moaning.

“Guys, get a room.” Dale laughed.

At that moment Brian came around the corner. He took one look at us and said, “Are you two at it again?”  Then he said to Dale, “You’d think these two fellows were in love.”

Dale had stopped laughing and he just stared a Brian. Brian shuffled his feet looking uncomfortable. Jimmy let me go and we just watched to see what would happen. “Dale, I need to talk to you,” Brian said.

“You had me as a captive audience all the way from Odessa. You hardly said a word.” Dale pushed off the coop and turned toward the house.

“I love you, Dale. Why are you treating me like this?”

“When you’ve figured it out, you can tell me.” Dale turned back toward the house.

Brian had his head down like he was thinking hard. Then he raised it and yelled after Dale, “I just wanted to tell you I’m registered to start to school next semester.”

Dale stopped, then he slowly turned around. “Where?”

“Same place as you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to be a dumb cowpoke all my life, especially if I’m not going to be with you. Your dad said he’d give me a hand finding my own place when I graduate.”

Dale started back toward Brian with a determined expression. Brian stood his ground. When they were nearly nose to nose, Dale asked, “Are you sure you’re not doing this to please me?”

“I’d be lying if I said, no. But that’s only a little bit of it. I realized that even though I love working on this ranch for your dad, one day it will be yours, and I don’t think I want to work for you.”

Dale stumbled back like Brian had physically pushed him. “You just said you love me,” he protested.

“I love you with my whole being, Dale. But right now, I don’t like you very much. And I damned sure won’t work for someone I don’t like.”

“Oh.”

“That’s why I have to get an education. So I can be my own boss. It’ll never work between us if we’re not equals.”  He headed toward the bunkhouse.

Dale just stood staring at the ground. May called out for us to get to the house and wash up. Brian didn’t slow down.

I called after him, “Brian, Dad said you’re having dinner with us tonight.”

Brian yelled back, “Apologize for me. I find it hard on my digestion to sit to a meal with someone I don’t like.” He disappeared behind the barn.

Jimmy grabbed my arm. “Come on, let’s go wash up.”

 We left Dale standing there staring at the ground.

When we were ready to sit down to dinner May asked, “Where’s Dale and Brian?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know where Dale is, but Brian asked that I apologize for him. Seems he gets indigestion sitting at the table with someone he doesn’t like.”

“He means Dale?”  May asked.

I nodded.

Dad sputtered. “But he told me, just a while ago, that he loves Dale with his whole heart.”

“Son,” Granpa said, “you of all people should know it’s not necessary to like someone that you’re in love with.”

Dinner proceeded with hardly any conversation after that. I was wondering if Granpa meant that Dad had been in love with my mother but ended up not liking her. God knows she wasn’t very likeable… the worse she got. Dad kept glancing at the door, like he expected them to come in. It didn’t happen. Jimmy and I helped May clean up after dinner. She made up two plates of food and put them in the fridge.

When May went to join Dad watching TV, Jimmy and I put on jackets and went outside. Granpa was sitting on the porch smoking one of his old stogies. I didn’t much like the smell of them, but I liked the image it gave him.

“Let’s go check on my mare,” Jimmy said. Just before he got killed, his dad had given him a yearling roan mare for his birthday. Dad had found a suitable sire to mate her to. She was due to drop her foal soon.

When we entered the barn we could hear Dale and Brian up in the hay loft. Jimmy winked at me and pulled me back outside. “If they’re getting things straightened out between them, we shouldn’t interfere,” he whispered.

We wandered out to the water tank and sat down under the old creaking windmill.  It was a warm night for the later part of December. Last year at this time it had been sleeting and cold as the ol’ proverbial witch’s bosom.

Jimmy was sitting between my legs, lying back against me. He twisted around to look at me. “Dane, when you go off to college, are you and me going to have problems like Dale and Brian?”

I hugged him and kissed the crown of his head. “I wouldn’t think so. You’ll still be in high school… we’ll be so busy with school that we won’t even know the time goes by.”

“I don’t think I’d ever be so busy that I wouldn’t miss you.”

“Me too. I was just B.S.ing ‘cause I didn’t know what to say.”

“Dane?”

“Hmm?”

“Wish we didn’t have to go. It’d be so nice to just stay here on the ranch forever.”

“Yeah, but there’s a big world out there and we gotta be prepared.”