"We need cash, Jack. And we need a lot of it. The vet has dozens of ranches vying for his attention, and we need him full time. The animals need medication-that takes money. And we need extra help to get fences rebuilt and to haul hay to feed the herd, who can't be sustained on the property we currently have them on. That doesn't even begin to address the ongoing issues about those acres not producing, the irrigation systems, or the fact that several of our own hands lost their houses to the fires and are displaced."
"We have guys who lost their houses?"
I nodded. "Several."
The county was in a bad way. Fires didn't just take out empty fields; they ate anything in their paths from animals to homes. Cross Acres had lucked out; the ranch saw far less devastation than many others the fire
