The boar’s heart, still beating, hopped like a legless frog in the Texas heat.

I was a long way from Manhattan.

Dean wiped boar blood on his Wranglers, sheathed the knife. Squinted at me.

You just lost or are you looking for something?

Good question. Wish I had a good answer. Fresh out of those since the divorce, the foreclosure, the bankruptcy. I’d wanted to die but only made it as far as Texas.

I told Dean my troubles and got no sympathy. By his cowboy calculus, I hadn’t lost anything of value. He accounted me a man in full – as long as I could stay in the saddle.

We mounted. Redlight skittered and stamped, his nostrils flaring with the smell of the boar’s still-warm blood and my cold sweat.

You only have to know you’re a horseman. As long as you know the way home, your horse’ll get you there.

I spurred Redlight and was on my way.