Top Dog

But Paul was like clockwork, so it shouldn’t have shocked me that he was already out with the cattle.

Grabbing the lukewarm coffee pot, I poured myself a cup and stuck it in the microwave. I watched Paul wrangle up the pregnant heifers as the vet’s truck came rumbling across the field. There were four pregnant ones when I left, but I saw Paul had rounded up seven.

Guess our bull was taking advantage of the prime time.

Grinning, I pulled my coffee out of the microwave. I drank it down, grimacing at the heat as it burned my throat. It was the type of pain I looked forward to every morning. It helped to wake me up until the caffeine could kick in and relieved my head of the pounding ache.

But once I finished slamming it all back, I heard voices coming from the living room. Hank was talking to my sister, Elsie. I didn't want to deal with Hank, but I felt bad for neglecting my sister. I'd been gone for months, finally come home and spend my first day back hungover. Yeah, I felt like a real asshole.

“What was your book about?” Hank asked.

“Human behavior. I’m trying to figure out why people lie,” Elsie said.

“Why would you be interested in something like that?” Hank asked.

“I was told people sometimes lie when the person they are talking to is not trustworthy, but I think I am someone who is easy to talk to. Do you think I’m easy to talk to, Hank?”

“I think you’re very easy to talk to, Elsie. So, what did you come up with?”

“People lie for four main reasons. One is to protect someone, another is to protect themselves. Another reason is to gain a strategic advantage, and the other is to hide.”

“To hide?” Hank asked. “What do you mean?”

“For some people, lying is a personal advantage. It helps them to—”

I hung onto my sister’s every word as she stopped in her tracks. It happened a lot with her. Her autism made some things difficult for her to process. Like wrinkles in her socks. She hated wrinkles in her socks and constantly described it as a feeling of sandpaper against her legs. If there was a wrinkle in her sock at any moment, she would have to stop and fix it, otherwise, she couldn’t focus. As intelligent as she was in some areas, she was absolutely childlike in others. That was the push and pull of autism.

She was like that with a lot of things, and I listened as Hank helped her with her current issue.

Her fingers were sticky from the pastry he had brought her from her favorite bakery.

I set my mug in the kitchen sink as I walked into the room. Elsie’s head was on a swivel, her eyes darting everywhere as Hank wiped off her hands. Elsie was trying to get away from him, pulling and tugging as he tried to clean off her hands.

“You’re replacing one issue with another,” I said.

Hank whipped his head up as he let go of Elsie’s hands.

“It’s wet,” Elsie said.

“What would you like to use to wipe your hands off, sis?” I asked, my voice calm. I already knew the answer, but I tried to give my sister some sense of independence, to allow her to voice her own thoughts and opinions without making choices for her. She was perfectly capable of doing so, even if so many people, Hank included, treated her like she didn't.

“The towel in the closet. It’s red and yellow. Not the one with the polka dots, but the one with the stripes. It has to be the one with the stripes. The one with the polka dots—”

“Is for your shower,” we both said in unison.

Elsie shot me an appreciative grin, nodding her head. I smiled back. My sister needed some help with day-to-day things, it's why she moved in with me, but she wasn't dependent on me. Not entirely. Besides, I liked having her around. I was one of the few people who got her and didn't treat her like she was broken.

“I’ll be right back,” I said. “Hank?”

“Yep?”

“She’s not a fucking child. She can clean off her own damn hands,” I said.

Hank followed me as I made my way to the hallway closet. I shoved towels aside and reached toward the back of the closet. Elsie always put her things far out of sight, so scared of anyone else touching them. If she thought for one second someone had used her stuff, it had to be thrown away, and a new one had to be purchased. So, she tried to minimize the effects by pushing her things to the back.

“When you’re done, you need to get dressed,” Hank said.

“A step ahead of you, since you’re not staring at my bare ass right now,” I said.