Scarlett Rose's Arc

Chapter 4 of 57

Scarlett fed the mare at dawn and checked the tree line for the coyote. No sign. The white horse stood easy on the sore hoof now, mane pale in the gray light. Scarlett had the coffee on and a plate of biscuits under a cloth. Clayton was due at six with fence wire and, she hoped, another reason to stay. Then she heard the sound from the hayloft. It was low and steady, the kind of yowl a barn cat only made once in her life. Scarlett climbed the ladder with a flashlight in her teeth. The tabby was curled in the straw behind the old grain sacks. One kitten was already out, wet and moving. The tabby was straining and could not push out the second. Her sides heaved. Her eyes were wide. Scarlett checked her watch. Twenty minutes till six. She went back down for warm water, clean rags, and the bottle of iodine. She left the biscuits on the counter and did not look at the mirror by the door. Her hands smelled like barn. Her jeans had straw on the knees. It did not matter now. Back in the loft she knelt in the straw and talked soft, the way she had talked to the coyote pup. She wet a rag and wiped the tabby's face. She felt along the belly with two fingers. The second kitten was crooked. She worked her finger in and turned it, slow, the way she had watched Clayton turn a calf when she was nine years old and hidden behind the fence. The tabby pushed. The kitten came free in Scarlett's palm. She cleared its mouth with the rag until it mewed. A truck door shut in the yard. "Up here," Scarlett called down through the loft hatch. Boots on the ladder. Clayton's hat came up first, then his face. He took in the straw, the cat, the two wet kittens, Scarlett's rolled sleeves and streaked hands. He did not say anything about how she looked. He climbed the rest of the way up. "Third one coming," he said. He crouched across from her. His knee touched hers in the straw and stayed there. They worked the last kitten out together. The tabby licked all three and settled. Downstairs a dog barked once, deep and long. Scarlett looked at Clayton. "Brought you something," he said. "Bloodhound pup out of my brother's line. He'll bed down with the mare at night. Coyote won't come near a hound." Scarlett wiped her hands on a rag. Her hair was falling out of its tie. She did not fix it. "Coffee's on," she said. "Figured it would be." He climbed down the ladder first and waited at the bottom with a hand up for her. She took it. The barn cat had her kittens. The mare had a guard. Clayton was not leaving at six.