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One of the boys had somehow knocked over an entire section of newly repaired fence.

The silence lasted exactly two seconds.

Then Beast sighed.

Long.

Painfully.

The sound of a man surrendering to fate.

And I laughed so hard I nearly fell over.

10

BEAST

The cow was on the roof.

I stood in the yard staring at it.

The cow stared back.

For a long moment neither of us moved.

Then I looked at the teenage ranch hands.

The teenage ranch hands looked everywhere except at me.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

"Explain."

Nobody spoke.

The cow mooed.

Helpful.

Very helpful.

I pointed at the roof.

"The cow."

Still silence.

I slowly removed my sunglasses.

The boys immediately started talking.

All at once.

"It wasn't our fault."

"It slipped."