My brother stood ankle deep and grinned at Dick as he dried himself. “We’re gonna have ourselves a wild fandango, aren’t we?”

“Can I dance cheek-to-cheek with her, Bob?”

Powers swam out into the river and floated on his back to the bullrushes.

At dusk I sat on the sod roof with the binoculars to my eyes while the others squatted outside with cigarettes, passing a mirror and comb around. My brother said, “I don’t want any rough talk or lewd suggestions or taking the Lord’s name in vain. Remember how you were taught to act around ladies.”

Then Miss Moore arrived and seven beaming men stood with their hats in their hands and white shirts and neckties on and their hair slicked down with rose oil.

Bob picked her up and swirled her around and they kissed for two or three minutes while the gang whistled and made noises. I ducked inside to stoke the stove and I could hear Bob making introductions again in case she’d forgotten names. After that she came inside and gave me a hug and a sisterly kiss. I think she wanted to tousle my hair but I had too much size for it.

I fried plank steaks of deer meat and Doolin cooked the rest of the meal with underwear tied on his head like a chef’s hat. Then we sat outside in the cool breeze and Miss Moore discussed Leliaetta and the farmhouse she’d just rented in Woodward for the winter. Bob dealt out cards to indicate who would do what on the job and Powers got out his fiddle and bow. Bob clapped his hands and did the calling for “Turkey in the Straw” and some Virginia reels and Broadwell and Pierce danced with each other, interweaving with Newcomb and Eugenia.

Then Bob and his woman retired to spend the night indoors with two bunks pushed together while six men slept on bedrolls under the white moon. It was near autumn but what we heard were summer noises: frogs at the river and crickets in the grass and cicadas rattling out of shells that looked like brown blisters on the trees. Night birds dived and swooped.

Newcomb said, “Bob’s a lucky devil, ain’t he.”

Powers rolled away to his side.

“This is a hell of a life,” said Pierce.

I watched the lightning bugs turn green-gold in part of the night and then green-gold someplace else. I remembered what Julia had said about her crying into a pillow, and I wanted to be rich very soon.