if she ever needed anything she’d call. Hell, Tippy cried like a baby all day and told her she’d drop everything and come out to wherever Miss Elizabeth was if she ever needed anything.” Colton looked like he could almost cry himself. “Such a fine woman so was Mister Herman. Me and Tip figure that sooner or later she’ll need looking after, and we promised ourselves that we’d do it, whether Miss Elizabeth liked it or not.”
“I kind of got close to her in a hurry, too. She’s so open and sweet. Didn’t have many women in my life. She kind of reminded me of what little I remember of my grandmother.”

Colton laughed. “Hope you didn’t tell her that, she’d a kicked yer ass, boy! She was nobody’s grandmother. Reece, my oldest, called her that one time, and I never seen her face get so blood red in my life. She insisted that the boys call her by her first name, and out of respect we all added the Miss. She seemed to like that. Told Tippy one time that it reminded her of the movie star she never become. Yep, she was a firecracker.”

They looked at the pool water in silence for a while. Finally, Colton rubbed his nose with his sleeve and turned to Ian. “So have you ever had a pool before?”

“Nope, just a mud hole in the crick once and a while; before Uncle Nate would find it and rip down the dam we’d made.”

“Well, let me show you what cha need to do….”

For the next hour or so, Colton taught Ian how to maintain his newly acquired accoutrements. He wrote some things down on a pad so he wouldn’t forget, but assured him that he and the boys would be happy to pitch in. Ian even felt comfortable enough to tell him that he had plans to eventually tear down the wall, and Colton even went over and helped him inspect it and make some suggestions on how to go about it.

They ended up at the old rotting gate. Colton rattled the handle a little but it wouldn’t budge. It was a thick and heavy, but smelled of rotted wood. They both pointed and yanked but didn’t seem to be able to get the damned thing to budge, but Ian was determined to at least get it down. His weekend would not be complete unless that thing was gone.

Colt disappeared for a moment and came back with a large sledgehammer. It was heavy enough to make the big man’s biceps bulge just carrying it. “Stand back buddy, if this won’t take ‘er down, the damn thing will outlast us both.”

With that he picked it up and swung as hard as he could. It landed square on the old gate with a thud. They both laughed.

“I think I just lost confidence in my manhood, buddy.”

Ian beat his chest, “It’s just some iron and wood, Colt, give it one more shot!”

“You got it, kemmosabbi”. Colt took a deep breath and swung at the door one more time. This time they heard a crack and then a bark.

They looked at each other blankly. “It’s alive!” Ian said and then they heard some scratching and another bark. Then a creak and some more scratching.