On the Mountain Read Free Page B

and listened for any movement or sound.  He wholeheartedly expected to hear a wild animal devouring one of his birds.  Instead, there was only silence.
    Rifle cocked and positioned, he entered the barn and paused only long enough for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.  Again silence filled the air.  He glanced back and saw Joe covering his backside, a rifle cocked on his own shoulder.  Wade moved forward.  What he saw shocked the hell out of him.
    Lying in the corner of the barn was a boy, wrapped in a blanket and sleeping peacefully, unaware of the new arrivals.  He was filthy, his head covered in a thick cake of mud.  His face barely visible beneath a good layer of dirt.  However what was noticeable was the very obvious trace of chicken blood around his mouth.
    Wade sighed and lowered the rifle but not the entire way.  Instead, he used it to nudge the boy awake.  He sprang up like lightning, startling Wade into snatching up his gun once more.
    “Whoa there, kid.”  He pointed the barrel directly in the boy’s face.
    His eyes were wide awake now and Wade thought how comical they looked, huge and round through a mask of mud.
    “What are you doing here, boy?”
    He didn’t respond, simply sat there staring wide-eyed up at Wade.
    “Did you hear me?  I asked you what you were doing here?”
    Again, no answer.
    Wade frowned.  What was the matter with the kid?  With the rifle he nudged the boy in the chest and was rewarded with movement.  The boy scurried further back into the corner.  “You realize stealing is a crime, boy?”
    Once more, he received only silence from his intruder.
    “You get jail time for that.  Ever been to prison?”  When Wade still got no response, he turned his head and looked at Joe who only shrugged.  “Don’t you speak, boy?”
    “Maybe he’s one of them mutes,” Joe offered.
    “Maybe,” Wade said and eyed the boy closer. 
    He was shivering in the corner and looked like a trapped and frightened animal.  He felt a sense of sympathy for the kid and figured he must have been awfully hungry to devour a chicken raw.  He wondered where he came from and looked at him closer. 
    Unable to make out his appearance because of the barn’s dim lighting and the boy’s appearance, he did, however, sense something familiar about his eyes and for some reason thought of the people who lived up on the mountain. 
    They were an odd group.  Keeping to themselves and far from civilization.  For twenty-four years they had lived as recluses.  Rumor even had it they married their own.  He wondered if that was where the boy came from.  One thing for sure, the boy needed food and a good clean bath.
    Putting down the rifle, he spat out the tobacco in his mouth before saying, “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood today, boy.  I won’t report you to the constable on account you pay for that chicken.”
    A look entered the boy’s eyes and Wade quickly offered, “I don’t mean money.  I mean work.  You can work, can’t you?”
    He nodded slowly and Wade felt a sense of relief.  He was beginning to wonder if the boy was simple-minded.  What with Chuck already on staff, he didn’t think it would be a good idea for two simpletons to be at the homestead when Kathleen arrived.
    “Can you speak, boy?”
    There was a moment’s pause and what looked as if the boy was about to say something, then instead shook his head.
    Wade nodded in understanding, even though he really did not.  He had no idea how to communicate with a mute.  “Joe here will show you what to do, and when you’re done you can join us for supper.”
    He left the barn without expecting a thank-you or look of gratitude, knowing he wouldn’t have received one.  Instead, he pulled Joe aside and assigned a job for the boy.  “Make sure he gets a bath and a clean set of clothes as well.”
    His ranch foreman nodded and Wade made his way back up to the house.  Kathleen was expected soon and he didn’t want to smell