I don’t hurry to the ranch. Telling myself I need time between Jack and the new life, I let Doc walk a road near the river, the two of us ambling along under a clear sky. I’ve looked back just once, not so much to recall Jack as to get a last look at the prison. How good it will be not to see it every day. At last I can truly let go of the awful place.
Stopping once for water, I let Doc splash into the river to drink while I remain at the edge. I note the quiet, thinking I’ll never get enough of it. After prison life, then saloon life, it’s good to be with nature where all are welcome and nobody makes much noise. Birdsong begins, which I take as Mother Nature saying she agrees.
Riding up a low rise some time later, I see the ranch in the distance. It has what appears an adobe house, long
