Page 136 of The Mountain Echoes
Nadine’s laying out paperwork near the tack room. I glance over the manifests, triple-checking health certs.
I’m smiling when I hear it. A metallic groan. Then a sickening pop. Then Earl’s voice—sharp, ragged, wrong. “Shit?—”
It all happens in a breath.
I turn and see the trailer hitch jack collapse. The whole front end of the loaded trailer slams down, axle twisted, the weight jerking it forward just enough to crush Earl between the front rail and the tongue.
“Earl!”
I run—dirt sprays under my boots.
Tomas yells. Nadine screams. The cattle spook and start lowing wildly in the pens.
Tomas and I reach Earl together.
He’s on the ground, his body curled, one leg grotesquely angled. Blood is blooming fast under his ribs, soaking into the dust.
“No, no, no—Earl, stay with me!” I drop beside him, my hands shaking as I take my jacket off and press it against him where the blood is seeping. “Call 911.”
His eyes are open, blinking slow. “Aria….”
Tomas pulls out his phone and starts shouting into it. Ambulance. Ranch address. Come now.
Nadine kneels beside Earl, tears already falling.
She knows this is bad.
It is bad.
But if I keep the pressure, hold, he’s going to be fine.
Earl’s going to be fine.
Tomas comes around and shakes his head at me. “Trailer hitch…,” he murmurs. “Someone…loosened…bolts….”
This can’t be happening, I think. Not Earl. He was supposed to retire and….
Earl’s hand grips mine, tight. “You did good, Aria…you brought Longhorn back.”
I sob. “Don’t do this, Earl. You’re not allowed. We’re almost there.”
But his eyes have that look—that farawayflicker, like someone already slipping down the road you can’t walk with them.
Then…his hand goes still.
His chest doesn’t rise again. And just like that…the heart of this place, my second father, is gone.
Nadine and I stay with Earl as Maverick’s truck comes barreling down the road, tires screaming.
His face breaks when he sees Earl, limp in my arms, blood on my shirt, my hands, my face.
He drops to his knees beside me, his expression raw and stricken. “Oh, baby….”
“He saved the trailer,” I whisper. “He was doing one last check. One last stupid check.”
Maverick doesn’t speak.
He pulls Nadine and me into him. We sit like that, the three of us.
