Winter In The Blood

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual assault.

This chapter occurs 20 years in the past. The narrator reflects on the delayed onset of fall and explains that because of the unusually late shift in the seasons, ranch work was slightly off schedule. First Raise tells Mose that he and the narrator should go up into the summer ranges and retrieve the cows the next day. Mose and the narrator eagerly make plans and Teresa packs them a lunch to take. At four in the morning, First Raise wakes up the boys and cooks breakfast for them, then gives them advice and directions on how to find the cows. Mose is 14; the narrator is 12. At the time, Bird, the horse, is only three. The boys work to bring the cows home, boastful and proud of the responsibility they’ve been given. Mose says that they are going to get all of the cows in one day and not come back out tomorrow. The narrator says that would be good because he sees a storm coming in and thinks it may snow the next day.