Excerpt: Chasing the Dream - One Artist's Adventure into the Unknown West

The farm came into view finally, a large shadowy mass of buildings, and they pulled off to the side where there was a graveled area for parking. Matt let Jake out, and he immediately ran over to the grass and marked his territory. Matt dug around in his car for a change of clothes and his toothbrush, his dream of a shower and a bed close in his future. When he found what he was looking for, he slammed the door and turned around to see Jack putting down the door of the bed of the Ford. His hopes fell as he anticipated what Jack spoke next: “Let’s get this thing cleaned up, boy!”
Matt began to think that walking to the nearest gas station would have been preferable to this, but he didn’t want the old man dragging and hanging the deer by himself, so he put down his bag of clothes and walked over to the truck.
By midnight, Jack had showed Matt how to skin and butcher a deer carcass. They put the meat into the freezer so it would stay good until the next morning, when Jack would take it into town to the meat processor.
“I’ll have myself all the meat I’ll need during the winter,” Jack said proudly. Strangely, the old man didn’t seem at all fatigued for being in an accident, hauling a deer carcass, and then dressing it.