At three o’clock the next afternoon, while I was taking a breather on my front porch, I watched as car after car left the ranch. Sam’s candy-red pickup was still there, though. I wondered if he’d say goodbye before he left. He might have been embarrassed about last night, but I’d gotten over it. At any rate, I needed to go up to the big house to give Bulldog a report on how things were going, the way I did every week.
After finishing my can of soda, I left it on the deck and wiped the sweat off my face with a bright green bandana that matched my shirt as I walked over to Bulldog’s place. As I got closer, I heard raised voices and wondered what the hell was going on. I moved a little faster, and once I got to the porch stairs, I took two steps at a time to get into the house through the op
