He leaned both hands against the table.
“What have you done?”
No answer.
Then a sound upstairs.
Soft.
A child crying.
He followed.
One twin lay awake.
His brother slept beside him.
The awake child looked embarrassed when the rancher entered.
“Bad dream?”
The child nodded.
“Want water?”
“No.”
“What then?”
The child looked toward his sleeping brother.
“Don't move him.”
The rancher frowned.
“What?”
“At the hearing.”
“Don't send him somewhere else.”
The rancher sat on the floor beside the bed.
“I’m trying not to send anyone anywhere.”
“Trying isn't the same.”
The words came from a child of perhaps seven.
They landed like accusation from a judge.
“No.”
The rancher admitted.
“It isn't.”
The boy looked toward him.
“Then what is?”
The rancher had no answer.
The child eventually slept.
The rancher did not.
By dawn, he understood one thing clearly.
The judge's forty-eight hours were not a trial for the children.
They were a trial for him.
The county agent arrived at nine.
He inspected everything.
Kitchen.
Bedrooms.
Water pump.
Privy.
Smoke condition around stovepipes.
Food storage.
Barn.
Distance from open wells.
Ranch hands' quarters.
The rancher followed like a defendant.
The county agent looked into the upstairs rooms.
“Crowded.”
“They prefer crowded.”
“You ask?”
“No.”
“They arranged themselves.”
The agent nodded.
That mattered.
Outside, the children were feeding chickens.
The toddler remained beside the older girl.
The county agent looked toward the rancher.
“You need help.”
“I know.”
“A woman.”
The rancher frowned.
“A competent adult.”
“Male or female.”
The agent almost smiled.
“Fine.”
“A competent adult.”
The rancher thought of the ranch cook.
A sixty-year-old widower who cooked beans well and everything else with enough salt to preserve wood.
Probably not enough.
The county agent continued.
“School.”
“I can arrange wagon transport.”
“Winter?”
“I'll hire a teacher if I have to.”
The agent stared.
“You planning to spend money.”
“Yes.”
“You understand nine children consume money faster than cattle?”
“I’m beginning to.”
The agent looked toward the toddler.