“Name her anything,” said Odell thickly.... “Dang it, I waited twenty years for a boy. And now look what I get! It all comes to once. White Rose drops me a bull-caaf, too. But I can veal that!”
“Better luck next time——”
“No,” he interrupted fiercely, “I’m done!” He turned and stared at the sun-bars on the lowered shade, his tanned features working.
“It’s like the herd,” he said. “Either the cow or the herd-bull’s to blame for every dinged bull-caaf. And I can’t afford to breed ’em together more’n twice.... Twenty years I been lookin’ for a boy, Doc. No, I’m done. And that’s that!”
“You’d better go and eat,” suggested the doctor.
Odell nodded: “Fanny awright?”
“We’re watching her. Perhaps you’d better stay around this afternoon, Elmer——”
“I gotta spread manure——”
“I want you within calling distance,” repeated the doctor mildly.
Odell looked up. After a moment’s hesitation: