He took up a folded paper map and pink highlighter and then held out a laminated picture of purple-shaded knapweed. This,too, made him feel good about how it was going. From his years of helping his dad on the family farm, he knew plants, that was for sure.
“It looks like thistle, right? Well, it’s not. Everywhere you see this plant, put a yellow flag in the ground. I’ll be marking the map to show where the largest swathes of knapweed are.”
“Why don’t we just douse it with kerosene and burn it?” Toby even raised his hand while asking this, like he was in school. So rather than answer Toby like the latent arsonist he was, and ignoring Owen’s snort of dismissal, Galen did his best to turn it into a teachable moment. Like his dad would have done.
“That’s what some people do,” Galen said. “But that leaves fumes and ash. The BLM uses chemicals sometimes, but we don’t want that in the valley. We’re going to dig each and every plant up.”
“Every plant?” squawked Toby, then Bede asked, “What’s BLM?”
“BLM is the Bureau of Land Management,” said Galen. “They oversee the use of all the public lands for recreation and grazing.”
Galen gave each member of his team a small canvas sack of yellow flags on thin metal stems, and watched as they slung the strap of the sack over to the opposite side of their necks. Like they’d done this before, been on some kind of job duty. Maybe picking up trash.
When he handed Bede his sack of flags, Bede took it and, as he slung the strap around his neck, he said, straight-faced, “This looks like it’s going to be hard. Maybe I should have stayed in prison.”
Feeling a tickle of a laugh in the back of his throat, Galen concentrated on his map.
Unfolding it, he showed his team where they’d be looking, along the lake, on the path up to the ridge, the dirt road on theother side of the team lead tents. And, if they had time, on the other side of Horse Creek.
“Beyond Horse Creek, we’ll be on a trail that leads to Aungaupi Valley, but we won’t be going all that way, as it’s a day’s ride by horseback. We’ll start on this side of Half Moon Lake in a group, and then spread out. It’ll take us a few days to mark all the locations. Any questions?”
Every man on his team shook his head, and then they headed out as a group, going along the dirt road beyond the team lead tents first, planting flags as they went.
At first it was easy, going along the slope of the path toward the lake, where the sun sparkled on the water. Bend and stick, bend and stick.
The knapweed was thicker along one side of the dirt road, past the team leads’ tents. Galen noticed that Toby and Owen were staying in the shade, along the side of the road with less knapweed. All the while, in the broad sunshine, mere feet from Galen’s side, Bede was head-down, deep into the task.
Without a breeze, they were all sweating, but Bede seemed to do it more artfully, his dark hair slick like ink, sleeves rolled up, graceful patches beneath his arms, a long line sticking his shirt to his back.
Galen didn’t know when the last time he thought a man sweating in the sun was a greedy eyeful. But perhaps he shouldn’t be thinking about that right now.
The heat continued to rise, and only Galen was wearing his straw cowboy hat to keep off the sun. Asking the men to do more without sun protection would have been cruel, even if he felt a little hardship might do the ex-cons some good.
But perhaps he should stop thinking that way. After all, Leland had started the program, and believed in it, so there must be some good in it.
Maybe they needed those hats sooner rather than later.
Right before lunch and after they found and marked all the knapweed along the road, he took them to the mess tent for cool drinks.
“I had no idea how hot it would get,” he said as his little team gasped as they gulped down cold soda and iced tea.
“I’m going to change it up,” he said. “We’ll clean up, have some lunch, then go up to the ranch for hats and boots this afternoon, rather than later in the week.”
This seemed to brighten all of their spirits considerably, and while it would have been nice to have a little rain, the day was a beautiful blue-sky day, and the air was sweet. Making him think it would be a good summer, after all.
Galen grabbed a clean shirt and his shower things and headed to the showers. There, he found Toby and Owen milling about in front of the mirrors, shaving, like they were going to a dance.
And as for Bede, he was still in the shower. Steam roiled over the top of the shower curtain, and he seemed to be humming to himself.
Not thinking about Bede naked in the shower, not thinking about what tattoos would look like with bubbles of soap sliding across them, Galen took the quickest shower in his life, got dressed and headed to the mess tent.
There, he consulted with Gabe as to the change of plans, and called Maddy on the landline that sat on the bookshelf in the corner to tell her they were on their way to the ranch’s store.
Then, finally, he grabbed some chili and cornbread, two of his favorite things. A nice green salad. Cinnamon rolls for dessert. A great cup of coffee to finish it off.
Then he sat down with a sigh and began to eat amidst the friendly chatter all around him.
Sitting across from him, Kell and Bede seemed deep in conversation, with Marston looking on like he was taking notes on how to behave like a human.
