``Gosh, I don't know. Thirty-five, I guess. He's been married and got this half grown kid. If he bothers you, don't pay him any mind. He's just a big windbag.'' Bobby Joe was thinking about something else. ``Say, did you know they're fixing to have a two day antelope season on the Double X?''

He was talking about antelope again when they woke up. ``Listen, I never had a chance to kill an antelope. There never was a season before, but now they want to thin'em out on account of the drouth.''

``Did he ever visit here when he was a kid?'' Linda Kay asked.

``Who?''

``Howard.''

``Hell, I don't know. When he was a kid I wasn't around.''

Bobby Joe took a gun from behind the door, and with a quick ``Bye now'' was gone for the day.

Almost immediately Howard and his daughter Debora drove up in the Cadillac.

``We're going after ice,'' Howard said, ``and thought maybe you'd go along and keep us company.''

There was really no reason to refuse, and Linda Kay had never ridden in a Cadillac.

Driving along the caliche-topped road to town, Howard talked. Finally he said, ``Tell me about yourself,'' and Linda Kay told him, because she thought herself that she had had an interesting life. She was such a well-rounded teenager, having been a twirler, Future Farmers sweetheart, and secretary of Future Homemakers. In her sophomore year she had started going steady with Bobby Joe, who was a football player, Future Homemakers sweetheart, and president of Future Farmers. It was easy to see that they were made for each other, and they knew what they wanted. Bobby Joe would be a senior this year, and he planned to graduate. But there was no need for Linda Kay to go on, since all she wanted in life was to make a home for Bobby Joe and (blushing) raise his children.