It is a hot, midsummer afternoon, and Jody is bored. He throws rocks at swallows' nests, baits a rat trap to snap the dog's nose, and uses his slingshot to kill a bird. It is the first time he has actually killed a bird, though he has shot stones at many before. He cuts the bird into pieces and throws them into the brush, ashamed of what the adults might think.
Jody washes the bird's blood from his hands in the cold spring. He sits in the grass and gazes at the clouds and the mountains to the west. He has asked his father about the mountains before; they are a great mystery that he longs to understand. His father and the ranch hand Billy Buck have both told him there's nothing but dry,.....
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