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with coffee and water, Patty set it on the gas burner of the small stove and began putting back the breakable items she had packed away before the morning's journey. She was in the bedroom setting the clock on the small shelf near the bed when her grandfather came in.
    "The coffee isn't quite done yet," she called out to him. "Do you want to shower and change while you wait?"
    "No, I don't think so," he answered.
    "I think I will," speaking her thoughts aloud without actually addressing her comment to him. She ran a hand over her hair. "And wash my hair, too."
    "You go ahead, girl," nodded her grandfather as she stepped from the bedroom into the narrow hallway and opened the door containing the bath towels. "I'll have to checkon Libbie later on. After that I'll clean up."
    Patty leaned against the closet, drawing her brows together in a serious expression. "Gramps, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."
    "Do you want to save it for another time, honey?" he asked as he bent his lean flame to peer out of the window of the trailer. "Pete Barber just walked by and I wanted to talk to him about when we can use the arena tomorrow for practice. We'll discuss it later, okay?"
    With a wave of his hand, he was walking out the door.
    With a shrugging sigh, Patty hung the bath towels on the rack beside the shower stall, walked into the small kitchen to turn down the fire under the bubbling coffee pot and returned to adjust the water temperature for her shower. A few minutes later she was beneath the refreshing spray, the tingling jets of water massaging her tired muscles as it and the soap washed her clean.
    She had just lathered her hair when she heard the trailer door open and her grandfather walk in again. "The coffee is done. You can pour yourself a cup now."
    Ducking her head under the spray to rinse away the shampoo, Patty called out again. "The thing I wanted to talk to you about was next year's bookings. I'd like to change our tour to another circuit."
    "Why?" was his answering question.
    Her hair squeaked clean and she turned off the water, stepping from the shower to wrap her head in one towel as she dried herself with the other.
    "I know all the arguments for staying here," she replied. "It's closer to home. The dates are all fairly close, so we don't have very many long trips to make from one rodeo to the other. And we've performed in all these places before so they know us and it's easier to book. But I think it's time we made a change, saw a different part of the country."
    She paused, staring at the wall as if she could see through it to the kitchen on the other side. Her mouth twisted wryly.
    "The truth is I want to get away from all these old faces, all the people that have known me since I started in the business. They all remember me as that pigtailed little kid that followed Lije around. And I'm tired of their amused sympathy."
    An angry toss of the towel onto the rack followed the last clipped statement. "Especially Morgan Kincaid! I know you like him, but I really can't stand him!"
    Reaching for the robe that she usually kept on the bathroom hook, Patty discovered it wasn't there. The clink of a cup against a saucer sounded from the kitchen as she reached for the damp towel on the rack and wrapped it sarong-wise around her body.
    "Before you start telling me all the reasons why it's impossible to switch circuits, pour me a cup of coffee," she called out.
    Her grandfather's muffled okay was followed by movements in the kitchen and another clink of a cup while Patty wiped up the scattered droplets of water that had escaped from the shower. She and her grandfather had discussed the possibility of changing their tour before, shortly after Lije was married. At the time she had been too miserable to argue and had been easily persuaded by his arguments to stay with the same circuit. Now she felt distinctly refreshed and ready to do battle. He would find that she wouldn't be so easily convinced this