Bill Fletcher was famous in farming, obviously.
‘Not for an awfully long time,’ she said, her voice climbing higher. ‘But you’ll come as soon as you can?’ Laurel nodded. ‘Okay. Thank you.’
She handed the phone back to Owen who pushed it into his back pocket. Nate held his breath as he looked at Laurel, waiting for her to say something.
‘We’re going to have to deliver this calf.’ She visibly swallowed. ‘Owen, I need ropes, I need those gloves, I need those chains. I need you guys to back up,’ she said, ushering him backwards.
The cow mooed louder, obviously distressed. Whether it was because she was actually giving birth or because there were loads of people watching, Nate wasn’t sure.
Owen produced some rope and Laurel quickly made up an impressive looking harness to tether the cow to a support on each side to keep her still.
She unzipped his hoodie and threw it at him, before pulling on the arm-length plastic gloves Owen had brought. He wished she’d put a bra on under that tiny scrap of satin before she’d rushed out of the room because he could feel Alex’s dirty leer behind him. Nate turned his head and glared at him, silently warning Alex that he would kill him if he uttered one word about Laurel’s breasts.
He passed the hoodie to Jess and stepped closer to Laurel.
‘Can I help?’ he asked quietly.
‘Not yet.’ Her eyes were on the leg sticking out of the cow. ‘But I’ll need you to help pull in a bit.’
Pull?Pull what?
‘Oh, okay,’ he said. She looked up at him with a tight smile.
‘It’s been a long time since I’ve done this,’ she said, very quietly. ‘And the last time it wasn’t a massive calf, or half as difficult as this.’
‘You can do it, it’s all good. You’ve got this,’ he said, because quite frankly, Laurel Fletcher could do anything she put her mind to.
‘Okay,’ she said, more to herself than him. After pulling on the gloves, she braced one hand against the cow’s arse.
Laurel gripped the hoof protruding out of the cow’s behind and pushed it gently back inside, her arm disappearing inside with it. Nate tried to keep his face neutral, to ignore the sucking sounds of the cow’s insides, and general disgust coming from behind him.
‘Okay, I can feel the other hoof and head. Head is the right way.’ Laurel shuffled to rearrange herself and her arm disappeared further into the cow. ‘Okay, I’ve got both hooves now.’
Nate nodded, even though she wasn’t really talking to him. ‘Good, that’s good.’
Her arm quivered as she pulled, and there, with a sucking noise, her hand came out, clutching two wet, slimy hooves. She pulled until they were both free of the cow and then rested her hands on her knees, out of breath.
‘Right,’ she said, brushing her hair out of her face and leaving a smear of cow juice across her forehead. ‘This calf is really big. Owen, do you have a winch for the chains?’
Eyes swivelled to Owen who shrugged his shoulders, wide eyes trained on the rear end of the cow.
‘Owen,’ Laurel snapped his attention to her. ‘Do you have a handle? Where did you find the chains? Bring me anything that was with them.’
She looked up at Nate as Owen stumbled off, rolling her eyes in exasperation.
‘Oh for god’s sake, I’ll go,’ Jess muttered, following her husband into the office.
‘What’s next?’ he asked her.
‘Doesn’t it just flop out now? Give it a tug and it’ll be done?’ Alex called. Laurel ignored him.
‘She needs some help because the calf is so big. I’ll use the chains, but you’ll have to help me okay?’
He wasn’t going to have to stick his hand up the cows vagina was he? Because he would, for her, but he really didn’t want to. Like, at all.
‘I won’t be able to pull it on my own, so you’ll need to pull as well, okay?’ Laurel said.
‘Yes,’ he said, nodding. Pulling was fine, he could pull stuff.
