We often go to the mall to walk in the mornings.  I can't do as much as wife Mary can, so I sit with a book while she goes another round.  Lately I've been reading Elmer Kelton's novel Barbed Wire.  Kelton leaned more to the literary type of writing as opposed to many of the "gun and run" variety of Western books.  He knows how to write well from learning his craft as an ag reporter for a Texas newspaper.  When he retired he turned to writing full time and turned out some darn good stories.  This one features the age-old theme of building fences and walls.  Were they to keep something in or out?  At one time the range was open and cattlemen could let their cattle run freely.  When farmers started coming onto the land and planting crops, free-ranging cattle ate and ruined any chance for a harvest.  And if a farmer had a small herd, he could not have much of a breeding program with better bulls when scrub bulls got there first.

So it was with the characters in this book, a farmer wanted to operate successfully and a rancher couldn't give up the freedom he'd become accustomed to.  Conflict arises.  To the lady who stopped and inquired what I was reading, I enjoyed our visit.  Kelton's best are The Time It Never Rained and The Good Old Boys.  Of course, this is a good one, too.


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