Winter Moon

deep blues and funereal purples, hinted at "I could have ten ponies," Toby said. "Wrong,"
        Heather said. "Whatever business we decide to get into, it won't be a manure factory."
        "Well, I just mean, there's room," the boy said. "A dog, ten ponies,"
        Jack said. "You're turning into a real farm boy.
        What's next? Chickens?"."A cow," Toby said. "I been thinking what you said about cows, and you talked me into it."
        "Wiseass," Jack said, taking a playful swipe at the boy. Dodging successfully, laughing, Toby said, "Like father, like son.
        Mr. Youngblood, did you know my dad says cows can do any tricks dogs can do-roll over and play dead and all that?"
        "Well," the attorney replied, leading them back through the stable toward the door by which they'd entered, "I know a steer that can walk on his hind feet."
        "Really?"
        "More than that. He can do math as well as you or me." The claim was made with such calm conviction that the boy looked up wide-eyed at Youngblood. "You mean, like you ask him a problem, he can pound out the answer with his hoof?"
        "He could do that, sure. Or just tell you the answer."
        "Huh?"
        "This steer, he can talk."
        "No way," Toby said, following Jack and Heather outside. "Sure. He can talk, dance, drive a car, and he goes to church every Sunday," Paul said, switching off the stae unrelenting darkness of night in that largely unplowed vastness. Looking directly upslope from the stable, toward a knoll at the terminus of the western woods, Paul said, "No point showing you the cemetery in this poor light. Not that much to see even at noon."
        "Cemetery?" Jack said, frowning. "You've got a state-certified private cemetery on your grounds," the attorney said. "Twelve plots, though only four have been used." Staring toward the knoll, where she could vaguely see part of what might have been a low stone wall and a pair of gateposts in the plum-dark light, Heather said, "Who's buried there?"
        "Stan Quartermass, Ed Fernandez, Margaret, and Tommy."
        "Tommy, my old partner, he's buried up there?" Jack asked. "Private cemetery," Heather said. She told herself that the only reason she shivered was because the air was growing colder by the minute. "That's a little macabre."
        "Not so strange around here," Paul assured her. "A lot of these ranches, the same family has been on the land for generations. It's not only their home, it's their hometown, the only place they love.
        Eagle's Roost is JUST somewhere to shop. When it comes to being put to eternal rest, they want to be part of the land they've given their lives to."."Wow," Toby said. "How cool can you get? We live in a graveyard."
        "Hardly that," Paul said. "My grandfolks and my parents are buried over to our place, and there's really nothing creepy about it.
        Comforting. Gives you a sense of hentage, continuity. Carolyn and I figure to be put to rest there too, though I can't say what our kids want to do, now they're off in medical school and law school making new lives that don't have anything to do with the ranch."
        "Darn it, we just missed Halloween," Toby said, more to himself than to them. He stared toward the cemetery, caught up in a personal fantasy that no doubt involved the challenge of walking through a graveyard on All Hallows' Eve. They stood quietly for a moment.
        The dusk was heavy, silent, still. Uphill, the cemetery seemed to cast off the fading light and pull the night down like a shroud, covering it-self with darkness faster than any of the land around it. Heather glanced at Jack to see if he showed any sign of being troubled by having Tommy Fernandez's remains buried nearby. Tommy had died at his side, after 11, eleven months before Luther Bryson had been shot.
        With Tommy's grave so close, Jack couldn't help but recall, perhaps too vividly, violent events best condemmed forever to the deeper vaults of memory. As if sensing her concern, Jack smiled. "Makes me feel better to know Tommy found rest in a place as beautiful as this."
        As they walked back to the house, the attorney invited them to dinner and to stay overnight with him and his wife. "One, you arrived too late today to get the place cleaned and livable. Two, you don't have any fresh food here, only what might be in the freezer. And three, you don't want to have to cook after putting in a long day