THE OLD COWBOY Part Twenty Seven
(continued)

"After I lost that championship first buckle I met yer Grandma an' I wasn't a card player anymore."

"What-a-ya mean Grandpa?"

"Well I'd moved back in with yer Great Grandpa after that summer in Oklahoma. Seems a whole lot more people had moved in to our little valley. That's how we come about needin' the general store where yer Grandma worked with yer Great Grand parents.

When she learned I'd gambled that gold buckle away... well ser, she knew I needed a keeper. It was O.K. with me, I'd fallen in love with that gal. I can't say that I ever told her so then, but now-a-days I tell her all the time."

"Grandpa, Grandmas not here anymore. Mom says she went to heaven a long time ago."

"Yes ser, she left me by Gods hand one day...

I'd heard they needed cowhands up near Livingstone, Montana. Well she talked me into leavin' Amarrillo and headin' up towards Montana. 'Bout two days out, there were a sign in a cafe, said 'help wanted, if you can't break a horse - don't apply. Two miles east, three miles north, Double J bar D! I told yer Grandma Montana could wait another day. She agreed.

Just northeast of Denver 'bout fifty miles near Fort Lupton we'd found this outfit with a couple million acres. The forman put us up in a real fine home.

It was a barn once upon a time, back when they'd had some milk cows. It was real drafty an' I knew I'd have to remodel a bit. I talked to the ranch owner and he agreed. I told him I'd do it a bit a time. He gave me all the supplies I needed an' a little extra time off when he could. By the time winter set in I had them old drafts down to where you could carry a candle 'round from room to room without it blowin' out. It was that winter we lost yer Grandma.

We took the kids out to play in the snow, when she..."

To Be Continued. . .