Harlon stood between them, looking more tired than angry.
"I'm telling you, it's a waste of time," Eli was saying, his voice raised. "The fence has been patched six times already. It's not going to hold."
"Then we patch it a seventh time," Thomas shot back. "What else are we supposed to do? Let the cattle wander off?"
"We should sell them while they're still worth something and use the money to fix the real problems."
"The cattle are the only thing keeping us afloat."
"Barely. And half of them are sick anyway."
Thomas took a step forward.
"You want to give up? Is that it? Just quit like..."
"Like what?"
Eli's face flushed.
"Like Ma did. That what you were going to say?"
The air went electric.
Harlon's expression darkened.
"Ma didn't quit," Thomas said quietly.
Dangerously.
"She died. There's a difference."
"Is there? Because it feels the same from where I'm standing. One day she was here, next day she wasn't, and everything fell apart."
Thomas moved fast.
Eli moved faster.
Within seconds, they were on the ground, grappling and throwing punches that connected more with dirt than flesh.
Harlon tried to separate them, shouting orders that neither boy heard.
Norah grabbed the bucket of water she'd been using for laundry and threw it over both of them.
They sputtered and separated, shocked into stillness.
"Are you finished?" Norah asked calmly.
Thomas glared at her, dripping.
"This isn't your business."
"You're fighting in the yard at nine in the morning over a fence. That makes it my business."
She set down the bucket.
"Now, someone explain what this is actually about because I know it's not about cattle or fencing."
Neither boy spoke.
Harlon looked at her like she'd lost her mind.
Norah crossed her arms and waited.
Finally, Eli broke.
"I want to leave. I'm 15. I could get work in town, send money back, but Thomas thinks that's betraying the family."
"Because it is," Thomas said. "We need everyone here."
"For what? To watch everything fall apart slower?"
Eli's voice cracked.
"I'm tired, Thomas. I'm tired of working myself to death for nothing. I'm tired of being hungry. I'm tired of pretending this is ever going to get better."
"So you just abandon us."
"I'm trying to help by leaving."
Eli turned to Harlon.
"Tell him. Tell him it's okay for me to go."
But Harlon just stood there, soaked and silent, looking like a man who'd run out of answers years ago.
Norah stepped between them.
"You both want the same thing. You just disagree on how to get it."
"We want opposite things," Thomas said.
"No. You both want this ranch to survive. You want your family to survive. Eli thinks leaving will help. Thomas thinks staying is the only option."
She looked at each of them.
"But what if you're both wrong?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eli asked.
"It means maybe the problem isn't the fence or the cattle or who stays and who goes. Maybe the problem is that you're all trying to survive alone when you should be asking for help."
Thomas laughed bitterly.
"From who? The town that's already given up on us? The ranchers who cross the street when they see Pa coming?"
"From each other for a start."
Norah turned to Harlon.