Coles stands in the entrance. He had wondered how the horses had been returned to the paddock and now he knows.
The body swings like a pendulum, the rope creaking with the weight and he remembers the way Captain Fleming’s body moved in the same way. No feelings meander through him. He is cold now. As cold as the winter.
After the doc patched Roose up, Cole’s old friend insisted coming out to the ranch, so Cole borrowed the Doc’s buggy and here they are. Both of them, staring. Cole had shown Roose Julia’s body and Roose had wept like a baby. Cole never knew the depths of his old friend’s feelings. Another reason for a withdrawal from this world.
“You gonna cut him down?”
Cole looked askance at his old friend. “I’d rather he stayed there and rotted.”
“Yeah, but you know you can’t do tha
