So the wolves ate most of us
Which was...
A disappointment
It was a particularly wolf-heavy summer
And we were all pretty weak
Because the winter had been long
And we were all trying to survive
On cornmeal and potatoes
And it just wasn't working out
The new territory was a cruel place back then
And it wasn't uncommon
To watch at least three of your twelve children
Disappear into prairie dog holes
And never find their way out
You learn to live with those sorts of things
So the summer of the wolves
Was when I met Tobias
He was...
He was a harvest
That's all I can say
He brought so much
It was like blessings
From the ground
He appeared on a horse one day
Never asked him where he got the horse
But it was a nice horse
Within minutes, I was taken by him
Something about watching a man
Shear a sheep and fix a wagon wheel
In under an hour
Can't help but stir a woman
We had a good summer that year
Despite the wolf murders
And the Indian raids
And the fever outbreak
And the devil taking over poor Nettie
It was hard to love
In those conditions
But we managed it
Sometimes hardship is good for love
It reminds you to hang on tighter
It teaches you to love deeper
And harder
And fight
I hear you people don't live long nowadays
Not as long as we lived
I didn't even make it to forty-four
But I did make it count
Tobias got killed in a stampede
Two years after the summer of the wolves
And when he died I just remember feeling
That he had all my love with him when he went
And that was how I kept going
There wasn't any love in me
He didn't get
Well, if you'll excuse me
I got to be going now
I believe I hear a horse outside
And it's harvest time again
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