"I ain't ornery," Seth said guzzling down more beer. He stared straight out the window as if he were reading a sign out on the street.

"You're chewin' your dang beer like it was rawhide, boy. Don't try telling me you ain't ornery."

Cal laughed. "Leave the boy alone, Harlan. I think maybe Ruby in there's been giving the boy a hard time. She can get a might ornery herself. Just give me a few minutes with her, Seth. I'll knock some sense into her silly head." He started to climb out of his chair.

Harlan reached over and held him back. "Whoa there, Cal. Seth ain't stated his grievances yet. Now you just rest easy."

Cal sank back into his chair, looking relieved that he didn't have to get up. Harlan smiled to himself. Ever since Cal had moved to the city he'd been getting lazier and lazier, and his paunch had been getting bigger and bigger – not that Cal wasn't a lazy bastard even when he'd still been a farmer.

"Rest easy Cal," Harlan said. "These young 'uns can care of theirselves. Ain't that right, Seth?"

"Sure, Pa." A vein on the boy's temple throbbed. He guzzled down the last of his beer, then swore under his breath.

"Goddamn it, Seth," Harlan said. "Now you open up or I'm gonna lay you out flat. Why are you so Goddamn ornery?"

Seth crushed his beer can with a clap of his two large hands, "Ask Delbert," he said. "Don't ask me. Ask him."

"What do you mean, ask Delbert? I'm warning you, boy. Out with it."

"Delbert's hogging her, Pa. I ain't had a crack at her yet. He's up on her ass like a billy goat, and he ain't getting off." Cal guffawed, nearly falling out his chair. "Shove it in her mouth, boy. She's got more holes than one. Shiit!"

"I tried," Seth said. "She's got her jaw set like a mule. One at a time, she says. One at a time, or she ain't doing no more fucking today. Christ, it ain't fair Delbert's been up on her for more than an hour. Oh, jeez!" He rubbed the leg of his jeans. His hard cock throbbed inside his pants like a living salami.