“I don’t understand,” he said after a few moments of silence. “What kind of livestock vet hires someone like you as his assistant?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He jumped down and stood before me, hands up. “That came out wrong. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“So what did you mean?”
“Just, it seems a dangerous choice.”
“Farm animals aren’t dangerous. Well, except for bulls, but they’ll get after anybody. Being little probably helps me with them.”
“Still. They’re all so large and heavy, and you’re so very small. Wouldn’t you worry one might kill you?”
My shoulders relaxed as I considered his question. Truthfully, before I’d started working with Dr. Green, I’d been very afraid of cows. But after Jackson said I was too little to do it, my fear transformed into determination to prove him wrong. That was pretty much how it always went with us. Him saying I couldn’t do something, me proving I could.
“Dr. Green was good about knowing when to get me out of harm’s way. I never felt afraid with him.”
“I’ve known people like that.”
At that moment, the cow started walking slowly in the stall. She struggled and groaned, and Gallatin and I exchanged worried looks.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, stepping back to give her room. “I think she’s just getting ready.”
“Should we prepare somehow?”
“Your sister said she’d read something about milking. Do you have any books about livestock here?”
“No. That was all before I arrived.”
It was the perfect opening, and everything in me wanted to question him further. Where did they come from? Why would invaders be studying livestock practices of all things? But I had to wait. We didn’t have time. Our patient let out a strangled bellow.
“Nevermind,” I said. “Get some big towels, warm and damp if you can. I’m pretty sure there won’t be a cord to cut or anything. And I remember she’ll lick him clean and eat the afterbirth. But we definitely need towels. It’s messy.”
Gallatin nodded and took off toward the main building. I backed around the stall, trying to stay clear as the cow swung her horned head back and forth.
“Easy, girl,” I whispered. “We’re gonna help you out.”
I watched her huge, golden-brown body ease to the ground rear-first, and just when it touched, two little white hooves popped out under her tail. At that moment she became quiet. The air grew tense, and I could barely breathe as I watched her body convulse. All my muscles were straining with her until at last, a little black nose joined the hooves. Its tongue lolled out on the side, and I could see its nostrils clear the birth canal. I stood taut in the silence. Gallatin was nowhere to be seen. A bead of sweat rolled down the center of my back as the cow stood again and tried to pace the long, narrow space. My legs started to shake. They were always my body’s first signal of fear. I was way too small to help her by myself, and I knew it. Heck, she might even know it.
“Easy, Bessie,” I whispered, backing out of her way. I chewed my bottom lip. “Come on, Gallatin.”
She took a staggered step, and then eased her rear back down again. Nothing seemed to be moving. The hooves and nose were sticking out, so I knew the little guy was getting air, but nothing else happened. I remembered at some point Dr. Green started pulling. My eyes blinked rapidly as drops of sweat hung on my eyebrows, and I could hardly bear the sight of her straining body. She had to be in pain, but she was silent.
A welcome voice cut through the tension. “Sorry, I looked everywhere.”
“Gallatin!”
But when I jumped up, the room grew white. I felt light-headed, like the tension was winning and all the blood suddenly rushed to my feet.
“Prentiss! What—don’t do that!”
I felt strong hands grip my upper arms as he led me back to a stool. Then he braced my shoulders as I lowered my head between my knees. He slid my hair off the back of my neck and placed his palm against me like he was taking my temperature there. The swoon passed, and I was able to breathe again.
“Some vet you are,” he said as I leaned up again slowly.
Embarrassment crept under my skin, but he smiled in a friendly way that relaxed my defenses.
“I’ve never done that before,” I said, trying to stand. “It must be the stress or something.”
“It’s this suffocating heat,” he said, holding my arm. “It’s okay, just take your time. She’s calm for now, and I need you well enough to direct.”
I nodded, and he stepped back to survey me. “Let me get you some water.”
He opened the stall door and disappeared around the wall. I tried to get myself together and stop acting like a sissy. The tone sounded for lunch, and I looked back at the laboring cow. She was still breathing heavily, and her swollen hind quarters were pulsing as she tried to pass her calf’s head. Clear liquid was streaming out with the newborn, and he was coated in a clear film. I pushed myself up and walked back to her just as Gallatin returned with my water.
“Here, sip this.”
I took the plastic bottle and drank, then I knelt beside the heaving mamma. My body hurt watching her, and I placed my hand on her stomach. The nervous tension of watching her struggle was making me feel exhausted.
“What do you think?” he said.
“She seems stressed. I mean, of course she’s stressed. It’s just hard to know how much they can understand and can do on their own.”
He nodded. “They can’t tell us.”
Just then she tried to stand again, and we both jumped back against the wall. My back was pressed into Gallatin’s chest, and I realized our hands were clasped. She heaved, and her head swung near me.
“Oh, God.” My voice shook, and as it did, his fingers tightened around mine.
Calm flooded me like diving into a pool of warm water. My brain cleared, and I was able to relax and think. I moved away from Gallatin and rounded the cow.
“It’s probably okay for her to walk around like that if she needs to, but stay away from her head. I don’t know what I’d use for stitches if one of us got gored.”
He nodded, and we waited, watching, until she lowered herself again with a groan. Silence again. Another bead of sweat trickled down my forehead and then my cheek before running down the side of my neck. It was so hot, and the calf was moving by fractions, and at times not at all. It was in limbo, half in this world and half out, and I didn’t know how long it could stay that way before it died.
“I wish we could help her,” I whispered.
“It seems, if she could get it out just a little more, we could pull.”
“That’s what I’ve seen Dr. Green do, but it’s tricky. Their joints are kind of rubbery at first, and I don’t want to dislocate anything.”
“That would make it lame?”
“Maybe. And they’re really slippery.”
We sat on edge watching for what felt like an eternity. My hair was stuck to my forehead with sweat, and my whole body was damp. Gallatin stretched his long body against the wall, and his head leaned back. I rested my forehead on my arm and wondered what Flora did at lunch today. I hoped she was okay. Tears of exhaustion filled my eyes, and I prayed this would end. Another century-long minute passed, and at last, we got a miracle. Like a hiccup, the calf’s front legs popped out.
“Oh!” I cried, jumping up.
In my excitement, I forgot the danger, and I rushed forward. The cow suddenly stood, and everything spun out of control.
My arms caught the calf’s forelegs, but my feet slipped in the amniotic fluid coating the hay. I fell as the enormous newborn slid out in one fast surge, pushing me down hip-first into the ground. Pain flashed white behind my eyes. I was trapped under a mass of heavy, wiggling calf, and it was pressing all the air out of my body. I tried to push it off, but my hands slid through afterbirth. I tried not to panic, but I couldn’t breathe. The animal struggled to stand on top of me, and with ever
y kick, pain shot through my torso. I couldn’t even scream.
My breath was gone, and just as I tried to gulp air, amniotic fluid filled my mouth. I was drowning. Panic hit me fast and hard. I tried to roll over to cough it out, but I was pinned on my back. From far away, a voice shouted my name. I couldn’t feel my legs. I tried to fight, to answer the voice, but I was blacking out. The weight suddenly lifted, but it was too late. Everything went dark.
* * *
“Harvest Moon”
Volume 3
Chapter 10
My mamma died when I was nine.
It wasn’t anything sudden like a car crash or drawn out like cancer. If it had been, I might’ve paid better attention. As it is, I don’t have a real strong memory of her last days.
She’d been coughing a lot, but everybody coughed a lot in the winter, when the weather finally got colder, and we all started pulling out dusty blankets and barely used sweaters.
The last time I heard her voice, she said, “Prentiss, be a good girl and watch TV while Mamma naps.”
Braxton used to play with me when I was little, but when he turned fifteen, he discovered Lisa Magee, Flora’s big sister. He decided chasing her was better than chasing me. Lisa let him catch her, and looking back, I supposed she let him do more than that.
Pneumonia took my mamma’s life.
It was such an old-fashioned way to die, it seemed to fit her. She was always interested in old things and antiques. Not that we ever had money for stuff like that. But she had some old handkerchiefs and lace. She was small like me, only five foot. Pretty, with long blonde hair and a happy smile.
She named me Prentiss after my great-grandmother, and I think she’d wanted me to be like her, a delicate little antique doll. But all I’d ever been was little. I was never delicate a day in my life.
In the black, I wondered if I’d die like her. Drowning on dry land.
* * *
A metallic ticking was the first sound I heard. Tick, tick, tick, tick. It was a familiar noise, but I couldn’t place it right away.
My eyes opened slowly, and I saw an ancient metal ceiling fan wobbling above me as it turned. I lay in a comfortable bed, in a cool, white room, with a clean white sheet covering my body. To my left, a window was propped open by a metal lever, and a screen kept the bugs from coming in. I realized I was in one of the small cabins down below the barn and the guards’ quarters, and it seemed to be early morning. The air was still damp, but much cooler.
In a chair at the foot of the bed sat Gallatin. His hands were clasped over his flat stomach, and he was leaned back with his eyes closed. I studied his sleeping form. He wore brown canvass pants and a grey tank. His exposed arms were toned but not hugely muscular. I remembered the sudden feeling of lightness before everything went dark. Did he lift that calf by himself? Was someone else there?
The scars I’d seen striping the underside of his forearms were hidden, but the one on the back of his hand was visible. My eyes flickered to his cheek, but as usual, his brown hair was swept over that scar. Where could he be from?
His sister was clearly Russian, but he looked more... Cuban. Minus the accent. Just then his eyelid twitched. I looked away and tried to move, but I couldn’t. Everything hurt, my hip worst of all.
For a moment, I lay still trying to summon any memories after the blackness took me. I was trapped under the calf, it was kicking and trying to stand on me, my mouth filled with liquid—gross!—the strange lightness, then nothing.
I tried to sit up but he stopped me.
“Take it easy.” Gallatin dropped to a knee at my bedside.
I turned my head to find his golden-brown eyes right next to me, and I jerked away fast. An expression like disappointment or hurt flashed across his face, but he smiled and backed up.
“I’m sorry,” he said, resuming his position at the foot of the bed. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
My throat hurt so badly, it was like when I’d had my tonsils removed. But I forced the words. “What happened?”
“The calf fell on you, and I couldn’t get him off. He kept slipping out of my arms.”
I nodded. “Mine, too.”
Gallatin picked up a towel that had fallen to the floor and stretched forward to hand it to me without leaving his seat. I was conflicted, feeling grateful but wary, as I realized he’d probably cleaned my face and taken care of me. I gingerly slid forward and took the towel.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“You can’t imagine how happy I am to see your eyes open, to hear you speak.”
I nodded and looked down. I was wearing only my underwear and a t-shirt that must’ve been his. The coveralls were gone, and I didn’t see them anywhere in the room.
He read my expression. “Oma was in the barn preparing for the second shift. She helped me change your clothes. They were covered with fluids and blood.”
“Where are they now?”
“She’s cleaning them, but I can get you something different to wear.”
He stood and went to his drawers, pulling out a pair of coveralls that were so long, they’d fit me like a clown suit.
“If you have some shorts, I could wear them to the dorm,” I said.
He dug around and pulled out a dark pair of boxers and passed them to me. As he walked to the door, I asked. “What about the calf?”
He stopped in the doorway and smiled. “You should see him. He’s fluffy and clean, and you were right. The mother ate the afterbirth. It was disgusting.”
“How long was I out?”
“A while, but Shubuta gave you medicine so you’d rest.” He held the door and looked down. “If you’d like, I’ll take you to see the calf before breakfast.”
“Let me get dressed.”
Using the mattress for leverage, I pushed my body into sitting position. Then I cried out in pain as I rotated my hips. Gallatin stepped back, and I saw his hand go into his pocket.
“We checked you out. I don’t think anything’s broken,” he said. “I had to turn you to get you breathing again.”
“My hip’s... really sore,” I gasped. “I wish I had some ibuprophen.”
“I thought you might say that.” He pulled his hand out, and two white pills lay on his palm. “And you need a day off to rest.”
Pain radiated through every part of my body so badly, I didn’t even hesitate to take the pills and the water he offered.
“I thought I was going to die,” I said.
“When that fluid went in your mouth and nose, I thought you might, too.”
“Did you lift the calf off me? All by yourself?”
He went back to the door and hesitated before speaking. “I should let you get dressed.”
“Newborn calves weigh about a hundred pounds.”
“I doubt he weighs that much.”
“It felt like he did to me.”
He started to leave, but again he paused. “Do you need help? I could get Oma.” I shook my head, and he nodded. “Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll walk you to the barn.”
The shorts hung to my knees, but they were a nice change from our heavy canvass coveralls. I had to lean heavily on Gallatin’s arm as we walked, but he took it slow. I noticed he also shortened his strides to accommodate the difference in our heights. I appreciated his obvious care, but I was also puzzled by it.
When we reached the back stall, I rounded the corner and then stopped. A little brown and white calf stood suckling his huge mother. The last time I’d seen him, he was in distress trying to push through a hole at least ten times too small for him. Now he stood in front of me, perfect.
“I didn’t expect to feel so proud,” I whispered, leaning against the rail. Then I laughed at my silly damp eyes.
Gallatin smiled. “I felt the same way.”
“It’s silly. Isn’t it? Getting sentimental over a cow.”
“I guess. But it’s nice, too. We did this.”
“Well, I think she might have a different
version of the story.”
He reached over and rubbed my shoulder as I looked around the stall and saw the remnants of my accident. In one spot the hay was spread away from the floor, and I noted a place where Gallatin must’ve done CPR.
“I do think he outweighs you,” he said.
“Then he’s at least a hundred pounds.”
I reached up and placed my hand on top of his still on my shoulder. The pain reliever was taking longer to kick in, and I appreciated the support. We continued to watch the little calf nestle against its mamma until the breakfast tone sounded, reminding me I was a prisoner. I stepped back against the wall and held the rails instead of Gallatin.
“I think if I move around, the stiffness will start to let up,” I said.
“I’ll get you another set of clothes.”
“Thanks.” I paused, not meeting his eyes. “And thank you for helping me. I can’t believe I swallowed that goo.”
“I think the technical term is afterbirth, doctor.”
“And to think I always wanted to be a doctor.”
“An obstetrician?” he teased.
My eyes rose then, and I studied him for a moment. He was smiling and being kind, and I didn’t know how to respond to this, even if it was my goal. Now that he’d saved me, now that I’d been in his room and spent the night in his bed, it felt strange. Too familiar and wrong. In light of what had happened with Cleve, the rumored mass graves and electrified chips, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to be friends with him.
Internally, I shook myself. I had to be friends. I had to get the information I needed.
I swallowed my emotions and smiled. “I pretty much gave up on that dream a long time ago.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have.”
I shrugged, and he stepped to me. Then he crooked his arm and pulled my hand through it.
“Let me take you back. You need to eat and then rest. I’ll take care of getting you a day off.”
I took a step, then leaned heavily on him again as my hip flashed with pain. He slowly escorted me through the empty barn, and when the rising sun hit my face, it was already hot. No breeze moved the damp air.
Behind the Stars Page 10
