My father looked from Rys to me and then back again, certainly stunned by the announcement, but he remained quite calm. “Good for you, boy,” he finally said. “Keep that up you might actually tame that brat.” Ambling from his chair, daddy left the kitchen, with me standing shocked, staring at the door, my toast starting burn. Rys eyed me, knowing he’d won round two.
My angered brewed all day. Rys was smart enough to stay away from me, and I certainly kept my distance from him. At lunch we barely talked. Then at dinner, there was only a stilted conversation. While we ate, no one really paid any mind to my icy silence. Daddy, Rys, and a fellow rancher eating dinner with us had a lively conversation about an upcoming horse auction. I kept quiet, quietly nurturing my revenge.
As we
