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Texas Hill Country, 1953
Gale force winds rattled the windows in Ruby’s bedroom at the ranch as a cold norther seeped through frosted glass panes, chilling the room. February in Texas was usually bitter cold. The wind whistled across the pastures, bending trees until their frigid limbs froze, forming awkward, akimbo skeletons listing to one side.
Footsteps sounded through the house. On the coldest of nights such as this in the higher elevation on the Edwards Plateau, Ruby’s father woke long before sunrise to make sure the animals were moving so they wouldn’t die from temperatures far below freezing. With less feed this year, the cattle had thin winter fur and less fat to insulate their bodies, so the risk was higher.
Even though Ruby had been sending funds to her parents and her sis
