Page 40 of Herds and Hooves

“Excuse me, my uncle was brought in earlier,” Bart said to the nurse at the front desk.

“What’s his name?” he asked.

“Asa Martin.”

“You said he’s your uncle?”

“Yes, can I see him?”

“Let me go check. Wait right here.” He disappeared through a set of doors I unfortunately knew led to the exam rooms.

“Don’t worry, they would have called you if he was hurt more seriously.” I hoped that was true. I was trying to calm him down, but my own words made me more nervous for Asa.

“You can come back,” the nurse said when he appeared again.

“Can Keith go too?” Bart asked and grabbed my hand. “He’s my boyfriend.”

With great effort I kept the shocked look off my face and waited for the answer.

“Sure, just don’t stay long. They’re getting ready to cast him now,” he explained while leading us back. Asa sat on the edge of a bed still in his jeans and boots, his shirt cut from the arm he’d hurt but not looking too bad for someone who’d broken an arm.

“Hey, boys, did you find the swimming hole?” he asked with a grin.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Bart asked and rushed over to him. His arm was wrapped up and secured to his chest, but he didn’t look like he was in any pain.

“Oh, Noah and I were feeding the girls, and I found that fucking squirrel hole the hard way. She’s got babies in there, by the way. I heard them when I fell, so we can’t cover it but maybe we need to mark it a little better.”

“Ya think?” Bart said and looked at the bandages around Asa’s back. “Do they know how bad it is?”

“I broke my humerus. It was not funny by the way. Anyway, I’m going to need a full cast, so it looks like you and Noah are going to be doing most of the labor for a while.”

“As long as you’re there to boss us around, I’m fine with that,” Bart said and tried to hug Asa. “I’m so relieved you weren’t hurt any worse.”

“Me too, I just didn’t see that hole at all and fell pretty hard. That ground there is all clay, so it wasn’t very forgiving.”

“So, it had nothing to do with you being in your seventies and working like someone in their thirties?” I said making him grin.

“No comment.”

“We talked to Don and told him what happened. He wanted me to call him once we knew how you were. Bart thought you probably had your usual movie plans.”

His face softened and he held his good hand out. “Would you mind if I call him?”

I pulled up his information and handed the phone to Asa. “Just press the green button.”

“I know how a phone works. I might be old but I’m not that old. Now can you two give me some privacy?” he asked as the phone rang in his hand and he stared between the two of us.

“Of course,” Bart said and dragged me out of the room. “Oh my god. I’m pretty sure there’s more going on there than two old fuckers watching movies every Saturday.”

“You think? And if there is, they’re sneaky. I had no clue Asa was even interested in Don.”

“We kinda sound like their parents,” Bart said with a grin.

“Sneaky fuckers,” I grumbled.

“Like you have any room to talk,” Bart said, but there was no bite in his tone.

“Your boyfriend?”