That was the thing to remember about all monsters, They love to frighten people, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run.

She was developing what Mom called a bit of a sarcastic streak.

You're in a horse race but you're thinking like a sheep. Sheep don't win horse races.

Maybe I should have cut him some slack. With his broken wing and lifetime of eating roadkill, he probably had a lot to be ungrateful about. Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.

Things usually work out in the end." "What if they don't?" "That just means you haven't come to the end yet.

Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.

The way Mom saw it, women should let menfolk do the work because it made them feel more manly. That notion only made sense if you had a strong man willing to step up and get things done, and between Dad's gimp, Buster's elaborate excuses, and Apache's tendency to disappear, it was often up to me to keep the place from falling apart. But even when everyone was pitching in, we never got out from under all the work. I loved that ranch, though sometimes it did seem that instead of us owning the place, the place owned us.