WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.950 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.950 --> 00:00:05.400 align:middle line:90% Let's see there, OK. 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:10.500 align:middle line:84% During the course of the novel, the past 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:12.060 align:middle line:84% is very important to the narrator. 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:18.810 align:middle line:84% His father froze to death in a snow bank, 10 years previous 00:00:18.810 --> 00:00:20.580 align:middle line:90% to when this novel occurs. 00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:25.620 align:middle line:84% And his brother was killed on the highway 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:28.290 align:middle line:90% by a car 20 years ago. 00:00:28.290 --> 00:00:32.189 align:middle line:84% The narrator and his brother were driving some cattle down 00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:36.300 align:middle line:84% from the summer range to the Milk River Valley 00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:37.410 align:middle line:90% to the winter range. 00:00:37.410 --> 00:00:40.970 align:middle line:90% 00:00:40.970 --> 00:00:45.530 align:middle line:84% So this piece here is about them driving these cattle down 00:00:45.530 --> 00:00:50.300 align:middle line:90% and how the brother got killed. 00:00:50.300 --> 00:00:52.100 align:middle line:90% The brother's name was Mose. 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:56.060 align:middle line:84% This is quite a short little piece here. 00:00:56.060 --> 00:01:01.640 align:middle line:84% The flashbacks occur with a kind of regularity. 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:03.710 align:middle line:90% They don't all happen at once-- 00:01:03.710 --> 00:01:06.320 align:middle line:84% the present and then the past, and the present and the past 00:01:06.320 --> 00:01:06.920 align:middle line:90% like that. 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:10.190 align:middle line:90% 00:01:10.190 --> 00:01:13.880 align:middle line:84% And they have just dug a grave because his grandmother has 00:01:13.880 --> 00:01:16.655 align:middle line:84% died, and he's remembering his brother. 00:01:16.655 --> 00:01:19.330 align:middle line:90% 00:01:19.330 --> 00:01:21.130 align:middle line:84% "We shouldn't have run them I thought. 00:01:21.130 --> 00:01:22.690 align:middle line:90% It wasn't good for them. 00:01:22.690 --> 00:01:24.520 align:middle line:84% But it was getting dark, and we still 00:01:24.520 --> 00:01:26.590 align:middle line:84% had to get them across the highway. 00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:30.580 align:middle line:84% So we had them racing full tilt down the hill into the Valley, 00:01:30.580 --> 00:01:33.460 align:middle line:84% both of us swearing and swatting at their behinds 00:01:33.460 --> 00:01:35.140 align:middle line:90% with the ends of our robes. 00:01:35.140 --> 00:01:38.200 align:middle line:84% The wild eyed spinster was stretched flat out, 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:42.130 align:middle line:84% running low to the ground like some ungainly antelope, which 00:01:42.130 --> 00:01:43.660 align:middle line:90% the others chased. 00:01:43.660 --> 00:01:45.640 align:middle line:90% Behind them came the bulls. 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.210 align:middle line:84% Their short legs almost a blur in the dusk, their heads 00:01:49.210 --> 00:01:52.960 align:middle line:84% swinging from side to side hooking the wind. 00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:56.020 align:middle line:84% And the bucking calves, the whiter of their faces, 00:01:56.020 --> 00:01:59.380 align:middle line:84% necks, and under bellies almost dead white. 00:01:59.380 --> 00:02:01.810 align:middle line:84% Down in the Valley they slowed to a trot, 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:05.680 align:middle line:84% and Mose looked around them to open the gate. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:09.250 align:middle line:84% I had lost track of the cold in our wild rush down the hill. 00:02:09.250 --> 00:02:12.190 align:middle line:84% But now as we trotted across the Valley floor 00:02:12.190 --> 00:02:16.300 align:middle line:84% toward the highway, I felt the wind sing through my clothes. 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:19.360 align:middle line:84% The tops of my thighs were numb beneath the worn 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.580 align:middle line:90% Levis and long johns. 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:24.400 align:middle line:84% Tears rolled back away from my eyes. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:28.000 align:middle line:84% Mose skirted the crowd, cows, and rode up beside me. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.760 align:middle line:84% He wiped his nose with his coat sleeve. 00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:31.570 align:middle line:90% 'OK. 00:02:31.570 --> 00:02:34.510 align:middle line:84% We've got to keep them moving through this gate, 00:02:34.510 --> 00:02:37.510 align:middle line:84% over the highway, and down through the other gate. 00:02:37.510 --> 00:02:40.390 align:middle line:84% Got that?' He tried to sound confident. 00:02:40.390 --> 00:02:42.670 align:middle line:84% 'We've got to keep them moving, OK?' 00:02:42.670 --> 00:02:44.110 align:middle line:90% Roger, I said. 00:02:44.110 --> 00:02:46.190 align:middle line:90% Mose was 14. 00:02:46.190 --> 00:02:47.590 align:middle line:90% It should have been easy. 00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:50.500 align:middle line:84% All of the cows had been through the routine before. 00:02:50.500 --> 00:02:54.220 align:middle line:84% They knew that when the weather turned cold and the sky gray, 00:02:54.220 --> 00:02:55.960 align:middle line:90% it was time to come in. 00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.660 align:middle line:84% After grazing the dry prairie grass, 00:02:58.660 --> 00:03:02.830 align:middle line:84% they were anxious to get at the alfalfa and blue joint stubble. 00:03:02.830 --> 00:03:04.030 align:middle line:90% It was dusk. 00:03:04.030 --> 00:03:06.790 align:middle line:84% That time of day the light plays tricks on you 00:03:06.790 --> 00:03:10.000 align:middle line:84% when you think you can see better than you actually can 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.580 align:middle line:90% or see things that aren't there. 00:03:12.580 --> 00:03:16.780 align:middle line:84% The time of day your eyes, ears, nose become confused. 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:19.670 align:middle line:84% All become one gray blur in the brain. 00:03:19.670 --> 00:03:22.240 align:middle line:84% So you step outside your body and watch 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.370 align:middle line:84% the movie of a scene you have seen before. 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:28.840 align:middle line:84% So it seemed as I cut back and forth behind the herd 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:31.690 align:middle line:84% that I was somewhere else, not far. 00:03:31.690 --> 00:03:34.360 align:middle line:84% A hawk circling above or a beetle 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:38.710 align:middle line:84% tracing corridors in the Earth below the stamping hooves. 00:03:38.710 --> 00:03:41.770 align:middle line:84% We pushed them through the first gate, up the incline 00:03:41.770 --> 00:03:43.240 align:middle line:90% and onto the highway. 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:46.300 align:middle line:84% Screaming and swearing, we flailed at the stragglers 00:03:46.300 --> 00:03:47.920 align:middle line:90% with the ends of our ropes. 00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:51.940 align:middle line:84% The cows clattered on the hard surface of the highway milling, 00:03:51.940 --> 00:03:53.620 align:middle line:90% circling, shying. 00:03:53.620 --> 00:03:56.980 align:middle line:84% My eyes watered in the gray wind until most 00:03:56.980 --> 00:03:58.720 align:middle line:90% seemed to crystal motion. 00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:02.680 align:middle line:84% No more or less distinct than the smell of fresh crab 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:04.450 align:middle line:90% or the squeak of leather. 00:04:04.450 --> 00:04:07.570 align:middle line:84% The cows were spooked by the sound of their own hooves 00:04:07.570 --> 00:04:10.250 align:middle line:84% on the unfamiliar asphalt. The bull 00:04:10.250 --> 00:04:12.850 align:middle line:84% swayed behind them tensely waiting 00:04:12.850 --> 00:04:15.010 align:middle line:84% to see which way the herd would move. 00:04:15.010 --> 00:04:17.079 align:middle line:84% We struck at them, but they wouldn't 00:04:17.079 --> 00:04:18.970 align:middle line:90% move without a direction. 00:04:18.970 --> 00:04:22.570 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, the spinster raced headlong down the incline. 00:04:22.570 --> 00:04:24.820 align:middle line:84% The other cows plunged after her, 00:04:24.820 --> 00:04:28.750 align:middle line:84% and the bulls began to lumber across the highway. 00:04:28.750 --> 00:04:30.410 align:middle line:90% It should have been easy. 00:04:30.410 --> 00:04:32.800 align:middle line:84% All we had to do is get them through the gate, 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.550 align:middle line:84% close it, and push them back a ways away from the highway. 00:04:36.550 --> 00:04:39.940 align:middle line:84% Then we could go home to a plate full of meat and potatoes 00:04:39.940 --> 00:04:43.990 align:middle line:84% and drink hot coffee and tell First Raise how we'd done it. 00:04:43.990 --> 00:04:46.300 align:middle line:84% He would listen and be pleased that we 00:04:46.300 --> 00:04:50.290 align:middle line:84% had done our job, surprised that we had done it in one day. 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:52.750 align:middle line:84% And he would tell us how to be smart, 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:56.290 align:middle line:84% how he had charged the white man from Dodson $20 00:04:56.290 --> 00:05:00.910 align:middle line:84% to kick his baler awake, $1 for the kick, $19 for knowing where 00:05:00.910 --> 00:05:01.840 align:middle line:90% to kick. 00:05:01.840 --> 00:05:04.270 align:middle line:84% By now, the light was almost gone. 00:05:04.270 --> 00:05:06.460 align:middle line:84% And these thoughts were as real to me 00:05:06.460 --> 00:05:09.130 align:middle line:84% as the cows bunched up on the incline. 00:05:09.130 --> 00:05:11.590 align:middle line:84% But the spinster wouldn't go through the gate. 00:05:11.590 --> 00:05:14.200 align:middle line:84% She stopped before it and lowered her head. 00:05:14.200 --> 00:05:18.010 align:middle line:84% I could see only the bulk of her back in front of the others. 00:05:18.010 --> 00:05:22.240 align:middle line:84% But in my movie, I saw how she was standing, leg spread 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.940 align:middle line:84% and stiff, head cocked to one side, 00:05:24.940 --> 00:05:27.970 align:middle line:84% the skin on her shoulders rippling and spasms 00:05:27.970 --> 00:05:31.120 align:middle line:84% as though she were trying to shake off a horse fly. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:34.600 align:middle line:84% It was at this instant that I felt bird quiver beneath me 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:37.240 align:middle line:84% and gather his weight in his hindquarters. 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:41.260 align:middle line:84% Then I saw the smallest shape of a calf break from the herd. 00:05:41.260 --> 00:05:44.020 align:middle line:84% I barely had time to grab the saddle horn 00:05:44.020 --> 00:05:46.480 align:middle line:84% before bird leaped forward chasing 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.550 align:middle line:90% the calf along the fence line. 00:05:48.550 --> 00:05:50.740 align:middle line:84% We stayed on the shoulder of the highway 00:05:50.740 --> 00:05:53.890 align:middle line:84% keeping the calf between the barbed wire and us. 00:05:53.890 --> 00:05:56.290 align:middle line:90% Mose yelled but I couldn't stop. 00:05:56.290 --> 00:05:58.720 align:middle line:84% With one hand, I pushed with all my strength 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:00.250 align:middle line:90% against the saddle horn. 00:06:00.250 --> 00:06:02.920 align:middle line:84% With the other, I pulled back on the reins 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:05.470 align:middle line:84% until I was standing my leg stiff 00:06:05.470 --> 00:06:07.780 align:middle line:84% against the stirrups, which were forward 00:06:07.780 --> 00:06:09.430 align:middle line:90% around Byrd's shoulders. 00:06:09.430 --> 00:06:11.050 align:middle line:90% I couldn't raise his head. 00:06:11.050 --> 00:06:15.580 align:middle line:84% I had no strength, and so I clung helplessly to the horn. 00:06:15.580 --> 00:06:19.450 align:middle line:84% Through a prism of tears, I saw the searching yellow lights, 00:06:19.450 --> 00:06:21.380 align:middle line:90% the gray whine of metal. 00:06:21.380 --> 00:06:22.870 align:middle line:90% And it was past me. 00:06:22.870 --> 00:06:25.870 align:middle line:84% A scream of air whipping the hat off my head. 00:06:25.870 --> 00:06:28.730 align:middle line:84% The stinging blast against my face. 00:06:28.730 --> 00:06:30.200 align:middle line:90% I couldn't have seen it. 00:06:30.200 --> 00:06:33.970 align:middle line:84% We were still moving in the opposite direction, the tears, 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:36.460 align:middle line:90% the dark, and wind in my eyes. 00:06:36.460 --> 00:06:39.370 align:middle line:84% The movie exploded whitely in my brain. 00:06:39.370 --> 00:06:41.860 align:middle line:84% And I saw the futile lurch of the car 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:45.190 align:middle line:84% as the brake lights popped, the horse's shoulder caving 00:06:45.190 --> 00:06:49.030 align:middle line:84% before the fender, the horse spinning so that its rear rim 00:06:49.030 --> 00:06:50.650 align:middle line:90% smashed into the door. 00:06:50.650 --> 00:06:54.370 align:middle line:84% The smaller figure flying slowly over the top of the car 00:06:54.370 --> 00:06:57.460 align:middle line:84% to land with the hush of a stuffed doll. 00:06:57.460 --> 00:07:00.160 align:middle line:84% The cow stopped at the sound of collision. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.860 align:middle line:84% Bird jolted down the slope of the shoulder. 00:07:02.860 --> 00:07:06.850 align:middle line:84% And I tumbled from his back down into the dark weeds. 00:07:06.850 --> 00:07:10.600 align:middle line:84% I felt my knee strike something hard, a rock maybe 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:14.987 align:middle line:90% or a covert, then the numbness." 00:07:14.987 --> 00:07:15.820 align:middle line:90% And then it goes on. 00:07:15.820 --> 00:07:19.080 align:middle line:84% There are other flashbacks like that.