Pick stomped up to them. “Listen, you two, I’m not made of money!”
Laura and Tanya re-exchanged their glances, then provided a very similar response to the one just given. In fact, it was the same one. Pick glared at them, then said, “I’m going to bed.”
“Good,” Laura said.
“Good,” Tanya said.
“Good night,” I said.
Pick pointed at me. “Mike, at least you understand,” he said, then wandered off in the opposite direction of his tent, caught himself, and crept back past us. I tried not to laugh but wasn’t entirely successful.
Laura looked over at me and said, “Sometimes, even geniuses can be assholes.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t know,” I responded. “But whoever fixed this v-and-t is a genius.”
“That would be me,” Laura said.
“I provided the vodka,” Tanya said, “and the recipe.”
Maybe I was being a little too full of myself, but I caught a hint that these two lovely ladies were sparring over me. I wondered if they’d hang up on me like Jeanette had done and concluded neither would be so rude.
We enjoyed a couple more drinks, watched the satellites fly by, admired the moon, and then a sudden reality settled on me. “This weather is entirely too nice,” I said. “We’re going to pay for it.”
“In what way?” Laura asked.
“Montana will figure it out.”
Neither woman seemed inclined to worry about the weather at that point and instead said they were getting sleepy. I was, too, truth be told, and after Ray and Amelia got back, this time hand in hand (go figure), off we went to sleep under the stars and, in my opinion, the entirely too clear skies. My sleep was restless though I didn’t hear the mysterious engine noises.
The next morning, Pick, Laura, and Tanya acted like nothing had happened the night before. In truth, it hadn’t been much, just a little dustup between friends and colleagues. Pick said, over his breakfast cereal, “We need to load everything up on the truck and four-wheelers this morning. Mike, what route should we take, do you think?”
I consulted a BLM map and pointed at the network of roads on the ranch. “Best thing is to go back onto the Square C, drive to this Y in the road here, turn left, and follow the trail. It will take us to Blackie.”
“Is it a good road?”
“It’s not really a road. Just a cow path. But I think our trucks should be able to cross along it. We just need to go slowly.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Pick said.
And that’s what we did. By early afternoon, we’d broke camp, loaded everything up, and transited over to Blackie Butte. We left the big plastered Trike bones behind, Pick saying we could pick them up later. Heavy as they were, I didn’t see anyone stealing them.
I was burning to get up on Blackie and see what had been found but first things first, and that meant re-establishing our camp. This we did, me driving the last tent peg in just as Jeanette rode in atop Nick. Ray saw her and good son that he was went over to say hello. She got off and they spoke. There were no hugs. Amelia, however, provided a hug, which Jeanette received with obvious joy, meaning she didn’t flinch. She also patted Amelia on the back, which, for Jeanette, was like she had smothered her with kisses.
Jeanette came over as I put down the sledgehammer. “How’s your bum?” I asked, reflecting that only on a cattle ranch would that question to a woman be received correctly.
“He’s fine. I let him out in that little fenced section of the Mulhaden. The heifers and calves next door have been coming over and paying attention. He seems to like that.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
“All I’m planning right now is seeing him get fat on good Square C grass.”
“How about our little C-section heifer and calf?”
“She’s been accepted by the other girls. Her calf’s loading on the pounds. Do you like being a fossil digger?”
“I like it a lot but I like being a cowboy more. Don’t fire me just because you figure I’ve got another gig.”
She shook her head. “Mike, just before he passed, Bill told me I was to keep you around as long as you were willing to stay.”
“Bill gave good advice,” I said.
Her answer inordinately pleased me. “Yes, he did.”
Pick called everyone over. “We’re going up to the site now. I want everyone to start being very, very careful about where you step. All dig sites are fragile but this one is especially so. Just follow in my footsteps and I’ll point where I want you to go. Before we begin, it’s important you understand what we know we have and also what we think we may have. OK?”