And Hutchins signed it first without being asked, which Caleb thought was the most useful thing the man had done since his arrival. The agreed system was imperfect in practice, the way all agreed systems are. The first real friction came from the Kellerman boys. They were good workers, both of them, but they were also teenage boys sharing close quarters with people they didn't know well after a week of stress and cold and insufficient sleep.
And on the fifth day, the older one, his name was Carl, 16, with his father's wide frame and his mother's quicker temper, got into an argument with Evan over the order of the morning chores that went from a disagreement to something louder in about four exchanges. Caleb heard it from the paddock. He came into the barn to find Carl at full volume and Evan at controlled volume, which in Caleb's experience meant Evan was angrier than Carl, just better at not showing it, which was a more dangerous state than Carl's version. "You don't run this place."
Carl was saying. "I didn't say I run it." Evan said. "I said the horses need water before the cattle because the horses are closer to the pump and the line is shorter. That's just how it works faster."
"Well, we always did cattle first at our place." "This isn't your place." Evan said. That was the wrong thing to say and everyone in the barn including Evan knew it a half second after it left his mouth.
Caleb walked between them, not pushing anyone, just occupying the space between them, which was enough. He looked at Carl. "He's right about the horses and the pump." He said.
"It's a practical matter, not a rank matter. Water horses first because the line's shorter and we get through it faster." He looked at Evan. "And he's a guest on this property and you'll speak to him like one."
Evan looked at the floor. "Yes, sir." He said. Carl looked surprised, not at the correction of Evan, but at the sir and at what the sir said about how Evan thought about Caleb and what that meant.
He stood down from where he'd been a moment ago. "Horses first." Carl said and picked up the water pail. Evan picked up the other one.
They didn't speak for the rest of the morning, but they worked efficiently and in parallel and by the afternoon there was a functional piece between them that had something in it that might, given enough time, become something better. Later Caleb told Mara about it. She was at the table with the accounts, the same way she was most evenings. She listened without looking up from the page.