Into the Fire

(For His Glory continued . . . )

Hutch picked up his equipment and walked out to his truck. It felt good to do some work. As he was about to get in, a man introduced himself by the name of Brady York.
“Look, my shoer stayed down south this year. I just talked to Pete Keppler and he said to give you a try. I’ve got a barn full all near ready or overdue. You got time to shoe a few for me?”
“All the time in the world, Mr. York.”
“Call me Brady, and follow me.”
“Call me ‘Hutch’, and lead the way.”
By the time Hutch was done at Brady York’s barn, he had shod 10 head all with his new pads. He dreaded going back to his motel and determined he would find an apartment or a small house to rent in the next few days. Maybe Nelson would know of some place. Another night to stare at the ceiling and toss and turn. For a moment he felt the tears threaten his eyes so he drove out the front gate taking time to introduce himself to the late afternoon guard before he left.
It wasn’t evening but he saw no reason not to eat dinner. Since he was sweaty from working, he spotted a hamburger joint and drove up to the window placing his order for a double bacon cheeseburger, a large order of fries, and a giant size coke. He drove to his motel to clean up, eat, watch some TV and turn in early. The fatigue nagged him. He’d driven nearly all the way across the country as quickly as he could with as few stops as he could safely manage. The three hour time difference was just starting to catch up with him, and since he hadn’t worked in a week, his body objected to the 11 head he’d demanded of it today. Maybe now he could finally sleep. Tomorrow would be another full day. He’d have plenty to shoe in both of his new barns. Plus he had to find time to meet some of the other shoers, check out where the best place was to get supplies, and he knew if these new pads caught on like it looked like they were going to, he’d better call in his order to be shipped to him right away. He’d brought a lot with him, but at this rate, he didn’t have enough to last even a month.