A helping deed

         "You have got to be kidding." Paul stood on the edge of the filed holding a shovel looking at the unexpected sight in front of him. His disabled neighbor stood beside him. He had gotten a call a few minutes ago that the horse his neighbor had purchased for his daughter had died. He knew it was only fair to come out and bury it for him. He just didn't know it was a Clydesdale. Bob had told him it had to be buried or removed by morning. Paul just stared at the monstrous form.
         "I'm sorry, that I have to go back inside and rest but I also called your brother to come help." Bob touched Paul on the arm and went back inside. In the cold still air, Paul just shook his head. Of all the damn luck.
         He walked around the body and took a quick guess at what he needed to do first. The answer became obvious fast. The horse was too close to the main house. Inside that house was a child waiting for Santa. A child who will jump any sound. A big dead horse was something she should not see out her bedroom window. Only Paul had no idea how to move the darn thing.
         A low motor approached. He turned to watch his brother pull up slowly. Paul groaned inside when his older brother pulled in with the smallest car he owned. Forget just parking Gary’s truck over the animal instead of digging. Gary walked slowly to him and stopped. Paul noticed his brothers white shoes right away.
         "You own a farm yourself and you still wear white?"
         "Bleach cleans great. What do we have?"
         "A dead Clydesdale. We'll going to have to get it away from the house before we can try to dig a hole in this frozen ground. Before Bob went back to sleep he got shovels for us."
         Gary walked around the horse and then stopped by the head. "We could use one of the other horses and drag it beyond the barn."
         "We'll need a couple of them for a horse this size. Could we do it quietly enough?"
         "Maybe. But it'll be quicker than me going back for the Hummer."
         The two men walked to the barn and once opening the door they discovered something that didn't help them any. There was only one other horse. And she was obviously pregnant.
         "I thought you knew your neighbors Paul?"
         "He always had more horses. And they certainly weren't THESE. I don't get it. I'll ask him tomorrow. Now about that Hummer..."
         “No. Look” Gary cut him off and pointed. Beyond the barn he had seen something. Paul followed his figure and saw the tractor. A big tractor.
         "Now THAT will be noisy."
         "Dawn is in less than four hours. My home is more than 30 minutes away."
         "Fine." He looked at the house. “Let’s hope that girl doesn't wake up."
         "She is a farm child. I'm sure she has heard tractors before."
         The two men went over to the tractor and worked in near darkness. Paul found some heavy rope and sat down fashioning some knots. Gary helped him loop it around the front of the tractor and soon a makeshift pulley was ready. As Gary started the machine Paul walked back to the dead horse and struggled to get another rope around the body. He had to get it around the body evenly or else the tractor will pull the body apart. Those tense minutes where worked in silence, a silence that made Paul fear that at any second a little girl would come running out of the house screaming.
         When his brother was near enough, the two worked to tie the ropes together. Paul stole a look at his brother's face. Gary had more lines than he remembered. Something about that reminded him of their father.
         "This reminds me of when we were little and we helped Dad with that huge elk he shot."
         "Yup." Gary then patted his arm. "I think we are ready."
         Gary put the tractor in reverse and Paul keep pace with the horse. He didn't look at it however. Instead he watched his brother, noticing mannerisms more and more like their dads. As Gary passed the barn he turned the tractor to ease behind it. Paul had to get down and physically push on the horse to keep it turning with the rope. He discovered it was not a nice place for his nose to be. Must have been dead awhile before Bob discovered it. Thank god for those stupid chickens of his or else he wouldn't have found it till it was really ripe.
         Gary stopped the tractor. When Paul lost the ability to push more he fell head first unto the horse. Hearing his brothers’ laughter he stood up slowly. Gary took the shovels off the back of the tractor while Paul removed the ropes. After a moment Gary spoke.
         "Houston, we have a problem."
         "That I'll rather be in Houston right now?"
         "No, that the ground is harder over here."
         He was right. Paul kicked it with his boot. He then looked up and cursed the night sky. "Now what? We turn the hounds loose?"
         "Can't leave body parts all over. Call Felicia."
         "Excuse me. It is about 3 o’clock in the morning. I'm not calling my wife just to ask for help."
         "It's just that she once buried that Bigfoot in Alaska, so she claims. I'm sure she knows how to break open frozen ground."
         "My wife, as you know, is a cryptozoologist.” Paul turned facing his brother. He jabbed at Gary's chest. "When you dated her you believed in her work."
         "I actually still do. How is she anyways?”
         Paul wondered if his brother really wanted to know. Felicia still will not face the reality of what she had done that almost destroyed her marriage. Paul didn’t blame either of them. He couldn’t. “She is fine. She is happy.”
         “Now call her." Gary swatted his brothers’ finger away and moved aside while Paul pulled out his cell phone to call home. While Paul spoke to his sleepy wife he kept tapping the ground with the shovel hoping by some twist of fate the ground became softer. When Felicia gave him her suggestion he stopped and waved at his brother. He hung up before Gary got next to him.
         "You're not going to like this."
         Gary planted his shovel tip down on the ground and leaned forward on the handle. It looked almost comical. "What?"
         "The Thompson cemetery is just over that ridge. She suggested dragging the horse there."
         Gary looked puzzled. "They bury people."
         "There is a fresh grave. The ground should still be soft. We dig down to the body and add the horse."
         Gary jumped back. "Like hell!" He then saw a smirk on Paul's face. "Hell, either you made that up or she was joking."
         Paul sat down and rested his head. "She actually suggested that but she only did because she has no clue. As for Alaska, the bears ate most of it. Very little to bury. And it wasn't Bigfoot anyways."
         "Paul." Gary was holding his own head shaking it.
         "What."
         "You’re sitting on the horse."
         As Paul stood he looked back at the house and had one last thought. "We are not going to get this thing buried fast enough. Lets' just get it into the woods."
         Gary shook his head. "The tractor will not fit."
         “We’ll do the rest ourselves. He used the shovel to draft out a plan on the ground. “We get the horse to about here and we leave it roped up. We then drag it far enough in to the woods it is not visible from the house. We can then cover it with as much debris as we can to help blend it in just in case."
         Gary nodded but then waved his hand in front of his face. "What about the smell?"
         "No clue. My only horse to have died so far was in the summer. I never had to worry about the smell because I got it buried quickly. Maybe we'll be lucky and it'll never drift toward the house." Both men looked at each other. Then they went back to work getting the ropes back the way it was before. Gary then started up the tractor they were on the way.
         Once at the edge of the woods they stopped. Gary kicked the fence post. "That’s a problem."
         Between them and the thick trees, was a barbed wire face and a creek. Paul went over the face and stood at the edge of the creek. He tossed a rock in. "Looks deep enough."
         Gary cursed. "Of all the damn luck. Hey what are you doing?" While he was talking Paul was removing his pants.
         "I'm going to wade in. See how deep it is. Maybe we can put the horse in here. Since it is not frozen over there has to be a deep spot somewhere."
         "Paul, it's too cold."
         "Got a better idea? This way my clothes stay dry."
         Gary looked at his watch. "No. You can go freeze, I'll remove the fence. Hell this is easy. It isn't even fasten right." He knocked the wire off the post and tossed it aside. He looked out to see Paul just past the shore of the creek standing in waist deep water. "Looks deep enough."
         "Lets' do it. Before something I'll miss freezes and falls off of me." Naked, he walked up to Gary and together they pushed and pulled to get the animal into the creek. Once Paul got into the water he looked back up at Gary. "Can you use the tractor to push? It'll be faster, then I wouldn't have to go too far in."
         "Yeah."
         It was close. The tractor almost got wet. Paul had to climb over the animal and attempt to roll it. Not just to ease in getting the ropes off but to prevent the tractor from actually getting into the creek. Suddenly the horse disappeared from sight and Paul hung to the tractor’s claw like front.
         "Merry Christmas, minnows." As he climbed down he had the thought; What if the creek is clear? Quickly he turned and yanked on the nearest brush. "We got to block the view!"
         The two worked on moving bolders, logs and brush till the area was covered in a way that kept the water flowing but the animal covered.
         Gary helped him get dressed. As his brother helped get his pants back on Paul remembered something else about their dad. "I think dad had to do this same thing with that elk because the meat was bad."
         "You always remember the oddest things."
         The two men slowly returned the tractor to where it was parked behind the barn. Dawn was approaching. Paul could see lights coming on in the house.
         "Now to sneak away before the girl sees your car and thinks Santa drives a Toyota."


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