Montana Hearts

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Book: Montana Hearts by Charlotte Carter Read Free Book Online
Authors: Charlotte Carter
face and a blush raced up his neck to stain his suntanned cheeks. “Thanks, but no, thanks. Cattle is the only audience that’ll ever hear me perform.”
    â€œYou’re just chicken.” Toby’s accusation came with a smile.
    Kurt shot the boy a mock look of censure.
    â€œAre you ready for lesson two?” Sarah asked the boy. “Sure.”
    â€œOkay, keep your jaw relaxed and say the whole alphabet.”
    Toby frowned in concentration again and raced through the letters at breakneck speed.
    Shaking a finger at the boy, Beth said, “Your lips moved. I saw ’em.”
    â€œIt’s all right,” Sarah said. “Some letters are impossible to say without moving your lips. Like B and F and M. So that’s when a good ventriloquist has to fool the audience just a little.”
    â€œHow?” Beth asked, showing at least a modicum of interest in process.
    â€œYou’re going to learn to substitute other sounds that don’t require using your lips.”
    As Sarah explained what sounds to use as substitutes and gave Toby some practice sentences to work on, Kurt cleared the table and started to rinse off the dishes.
    â€œI’ll do that,” Sarah told him.
    â€œNo, I’m good. You go ahead with the kids.”
    Sarah had found ventriloquism a great way to entertain sick children at the hospital. A way to help them and feel good about herself.
    She’d been given a talent, a gift from God. If she could pass that on to Kurt’s children, she’d feel doubly blessed.
    Â 
    After the children went to bed and Kurt holed up in his office, Sarah went to her room. Despite the fact she’d awakened early that morning, she wasn’t sleepy.
    Instead, a sense of restlessness plagued her, a feeling of heightened awareness of her own needs as a woman, as though she’d been given an extra dose of hormones.
    Which was peculiar. As a rule her emotions remained steady with no wild mood swings. She was in control—control that seemed to be slipping.
    To divert herself and her thoughts, she decided to do an internet search to find what she could about Western Region Cattle Feeding and their feed lot activities. With a little luck, she could build a strong case for Kurt to present to county and state authorities about the company’s lax feed-lot practices.
    Curling up on the bed with pillows propped behind her, she opened her laptop. With a few keystrokes, she found thousands of references to the company. Shenarrowed her search and began methodically working her way through the websites that appeared the most informative.
    She downloaded the most telling reports to a flash drive—complaints and suits filed against the company in a half-dozen Western states, photos of environmental damage caused by Western Region’s practices, copies of internal emails the management had exchanged that had been provided as evidence in subsequent litigation. Finally she located the company’s annual report to stockholders.
    Leaning back, she rubbed her tired eyes. Kurt was right. The chances that Western Region Cattle Feeding would pollute the water table on his land were extremely high. He had to stop them.
    She checked her watch. A little past ten. If he was still in his office, she’d show him all this evidence tonight and he could begin building his case to present to the county.
    Taking the flash drive out of her computer, she went in search of Kurt. She found him in his office, tilted back in his desk chair, his stockinged feet propped on a drawer he’d pulled out. A newspaper lay open in his lap, and he was sound asleep, snoring lightly.
    She started to back away from the door.
    He opened his eyes. “Did you need something?”
    â€œI’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
    His feet hit the floor. “I wasn’t asleep. Just resting my eyes.”
    Yeah, right, she thought, wondering if he always snored when he was awake.

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