THE NEW HOUSEKEEPER
67
got me in a hopper." He looked at Steve with the corner of
his eye. "She's a fine piece, that Elsa. A fellow feels these
days what's left is curling up in a hole. But Mule's no fool.
Hell of a time with Bill, hell of a time with Sarah and Murf.
... Women take the cake when it comes to stirring clean water
muddy."
Steve scratched his head. He went to the old man. The
old man said: ''Sure, it ain't a bad
ide~,
the boss acting some•
rimes like we'll be with him all the days of his life, sometimes
like he got no more use for us than a boarhog for tits. But
about women, they got two mouths, and you got to be careful
to see
if
both mouths talks together. I'm an old geezer, an
old orphan boy, and we three got to stick together.... '' And
again old Mud turned to politics to explain it all.
"If
we voted
maybe for LaFolly, Farmer Labor man, we wouldn't agot this
Hoover is my shepherd, he leadeth me past souphouses.
If
no
Hoover, no Roosevelt with a great hog reducing plan that's
filled the country with more hogs. This LaFolly wore no man's
collar, was going to make excursion boats out of battleships...."
Steve went to Mule. He thought he could handle his
brother, softhearted at the bottom, still wearing a faded arm–
band like a recruiting sergeant for the mother dead
15
years.
He explained that the three of thef!l. could tell the boss _go bull
himself, could rent a farm or even only a house and work the
country round. They would be able to get young Slim out and
take care of him.
Mule snorted.
"Murf says the boss acts like he'll throw us otf, old mitts.
We take Elsa-."
"Elsa?"
"I got a halfhitch on her already."
"Hell, you drunk."
Steve shoved his rammy fist underneath the jack of a nose,
and backed away.
Mule hawed again. He had never been drunk in his life.
Drink, no matter how strong, seemed to have all its fire sapped
out on its way down the long gut. He stuck his head into the
tractor. "Go dibble yourself in the engine. Them oil holes is
dry."
Steve went out and wandered around in the barnyard. So
be would have to wait until after harvest.. A hen fought a
mole in the grass. He caught the mole by the tail. It was a fat
