I never had much growin' up, truth was, most times we barely had enough to get by. I think that was why I left Strawberry so young, there didn't really seem no reason to stay when there was nothin' there for me. Most of the early jobs I took were on ranches, size didn't matter much when you were ridin' herd, or busting bronc's, so it was work ( Read more... )

They were honorin' him with a statue, somethin' to tell everyone what a fine man he was. To them he was Tom Barkley the hero, well, tell that to my mother. That's right, you can't because she died dirt poor, the same way I was raised, all the while his other family was livin' all high and mighty in a big fancy house with plenty to eat and no ( Read more... )

Wasn't really much of a ceremony, though it would be the last time I'd have any sense of the family that I grew up 'round. It was my mother's funeral in Strawberry, Hannah was there of course, and my Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt, but, other then that, jus' me and the Preacher. There never was many people in Strawberry, and it wasn't like my Mother ( Read more... )

I never believed in wishes, oh sure, as a kid I would screw my eyes closed tight and think on that one thing that I wanted more then anythin' else in the world, but, I just figured it was another one of those things that happened to other people. I sure never figured that one day I would be one of those other people, and I sure never figured that ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Heath stared deep into the glass of brandy that Jarrod had poured as he thought about the man's question ( Read more... )

If you've ever worked cattle, you know that you spend most of your day in the saddle with only your own thoughts for company and you can't help but ponder on things that you wouldn't usually ponder on. I can't rightly say what prompted me to ponder on this 'cept it might have had somethin' to do with a talk that had been started durin' supper ( Read more... )

When I first decided to come to the Barkley Ranch and confront Tom Barkley for what I felt was rightly mine I figured it would change his life. I mean, how could it not? All of a sudden, you're standin' nose to nose with a son who you've denied existed for close to twenty years. I knew too it would change the life of his family, maybe in a way I ( Read more... )

I can't rightly remember the first time I picked up a rifle, I was young, 'reckon not more then five or six, and once I had it in my hands I knew we would never agin go hungry. I started out shootin' small animals, squirrels, rabbits, didn't rightly make sense to waste bullets on bottles or cans like some people did. I dropped my first deer not ( Read more... )

Time was I think I would have described the life I'm livin' here now as 'bout as perfect as things could git. I got no worries over not havin' somethin' in my belly that's not full of bugs or worse, no worry 'bout sleepin' on cold ground, if I want a new shirt I jus' go to the store and git it 'stead of patchin' the holes in my old one ( Read more... )