Story 1 -- Chapter 1

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Driver) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:48:00 +0000

Any other day, any other place, any other time! Why today? Why here and why now? Alyssa fought the urge to bang her head on the steering wheel. Of all the times for her car to finally die it had to be today. The day of her I’ll show you interview. There she sat, on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere with steam pouring out of her car and to top things off, no cell signal. So much for showing Mr. James Duncan himself that she had indeed made something of herself and she hadn’t ended up in living in a box somewhere as he had been so determined that she would.

Her job interview at Flying D ranch was scheduled for 1 p.m. One p.m. sharp was actually what the letter she had received had stated. So much for that sharp part she thought. It was now 12:45. If memory served her right she still had at least 10 more minutes before she reached the gate of Flying D ranch and another 10 before she finally reached the ranch house where her interview was scheduled for. The entire ranch was over 2,000 acres. Huge in her mind but small compared to the largest ranch in the United States which was over 800,000 acres. A person could easily get lost on the Flying D and a few had.

The urge to just cry was quickly out weighing the urge to beat her head on the steering wheel. First impressions could make or break any job interview and this one in particular mattered to her more than any interview she had ever done in her entire life. It was her turn to prove James wrong. To show him that she had done something with her life. She might not be rich and powerful but she was comfortable. She had graduated with honors from Alfred University in western New York State. From there she had taken a job at a size-able farm not to far from the college. She worked there for a year until she saw the job posting in Ranchers Magazine she had been watching and waiting for... ranch manager for Flying D in Oklahoma. She was almost positive she would not be hired. She could count the number of women ranch managers easily because it wasn’t a very high number. The number had risen quite a bit in the last ten years but it still was an easily countable number. She was determined that would not bother her. She was going here for one purpose and one purpose only and that was to show James Duncan himself that she had made it! That, in itself, was going to be her crowning glory.

Still unable to believe her luck Ally looked at her watch again. Twenty more minutes had passed with out a sign of life from either direction. She debated walking or staying still. She knew from her time on the ranch when she was 17 that it could be dangerous here in the wild. The dangers didn’t come from two legged predators out here. No the dangers were much more fierce. Cattle were often taken down by mountain lions or wolves so a human could easily become prey too. She decided it best to start walking. Who knew how long she would be setting there until someone finally came down the road. It might take her a couple of hours to walk the distance to the ranch house but at least it would be progress. She grabbed her bottle of water and her briefcase, slung her blazer over her arm and started off down the road. She could have kicked herself for not having a pair of sneakers in her car. It was going to be an extra long walk in high heels on a gravel road.

She remembered the first time she had met James, Jamie as he was called back then. He was with his father, James Sr. and they had met her and her father at the small home on the property that was set aside for the ranch foreman and his family. Her father had accepted the job here about a year after her mother had passed away. She was almost 18 when they moved to Oklahoma and just about as rebellious as a girl could be. She hadn’t wanted to move away from the only place she had called home, from the memories of her and her mother, from all her friends. She had felt like she was abandoning her mother. Her father had told her later on that he had to move away. Waking up every morning in the room he had shared with the love of his life for 20 years was driving him crazy.

The older men had stood at the end of the pick up truck talking and Jamie had come up to her window and said “hi”.

“Hey” was all she said back. After a long awkward silence he walked away and joined his father and hers in conversation. She kept an eye on him in the side mirror. He was tall, probably close to six feet. He had dark wavy hair and from her brief up close encounter could see he had eyes that were an incredible shade of blue. A shade that to this day she could not describe properly.

As her first weeks on the ranch went on she would see Jamie off in a distance from time to time. Going across a pasture on his horse he called Horse because, she guessed, was all the imagination he had, or coming out of the barn after working all day and putting Horse in his stall. She had been there almost two months when they had their first run in. Since it was the first time they had any conversation of any length she looked at it as their first meeting and how they had gotten off on such a wrong foot she could never quite pin point.

After moping around the first few weeks she had a long talk with her father. Talking to her father after her mother had died had been difficult but one night they had a fight and ended up talking for hours and it seemed to be what they both needed. She decided to quit feeling sorry for herself and to quit giving her father such hard time. The next evening when her father had come home from working all day she had cleaned the whole house, finished unpacking and putting away several boxes that had still been stuck in a corner and had a nice hot dinner on the table. Her father literally stopped in the middle of the living room and looked around as if he had entered the wrong house. “Ally?”

“Yes, Dad?”

“Um, what do you want?”

Ally giggled. That used to be a running joke between her and her parents. If she suddenly did chores without being asked she obviously wanted something. A new item or a yes to a trip with friends. “Nothing Dad, just after our talk last night I figured it’s time for me to start pulling my weight too. I’d like to learn more about the ranch. Help with the horses and stuff too if you can teach me.”

“Well, I’ll talk to Mr. Duncan about having you tag around with me. I don’t think he’ll have a problem with it.”

That had pretty much been what had eventually let to her and Jamie and their explosive meeting. Mr. Duncan told her father that he didn’t see any problem with her learning the ropes. For a couple of weeks she followed along behind him. She watched as horses were fed and groomed, fences were mended, cattle rounded up and checked. She found that, not only did she enjoy having that time with her father and seeing him in a whole different way, but she was enjoying all the things she was learning and doing. The hard physical labor that in the past she would have thought no way would she do she found some how therapeutic and enjoyable.

The first couple of weeks she shadowed her father Jamie had been gone. She wasn’t actually sure where he was she just knew she hadn’t seen him anywhere on the ranch during the long days of work. It was a surprise then, while she was grooming Horse, that he came into the barn and upon spotting her in the stall brushing Horse immediately started shouting at her. Somehow she had imagined that if he caught her grooming his horse he would be more than grateful and be full of praise and accolades. What she got was a tongue lashing.

“What in the hell do you think you are doing?” his sudden shout from behind her startled not only her but Horse also who startled and threw his head to the side so quickly that when it hit her in the side it threw her backwards into the side of the stall and down onto her tush. Jamie was in the stall quicker than she would have though humanly possible. “See! You have no damn right to be here! It’s dangerous! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“It was quite perfectly safe until your idiot behind came screaming in here and startled the horse! Of all the stupid things to do to a person!”

“I wouldn’t have had to shout if you were in your house where you belong! What in the hell are you doing down here anyways! This is no place for a girl!”

A girl! What did he think she was 12. Her father had spent hours these last couple of weeks teaching her all she needed to know about grooming and caring for the horses. She had been in the stall daily with Horse caring for him, cleaning his stall, walking him out and letting him run in the field. “For your information I have your father’s permission to be in here! I have been helping my father for a couple weeks now learning the ropes!”

“Ha! Like you could learn what you need in a couple weeks! I’ve seen you moping around here and giving your father all kinds of grief these last couple of months! You aren’t anything but a spoiled rotton brat who will make nothing of herself! You’ll be living off daddy till the day he dies!”

“You’re one to talk! I wasn’t the one born with a silver spoon in my mouth on more land than any one human should be allowed to own!” That sent him over the edge and the look in his eyes actually scared her a bit but it was at that time that her father stepped in.

“What in the hell is going on?” He looked at her then Jamie.

“Your idiot little daughter about got her self killed in here with my horse! Keep her to hell away from MY horse.” he turned and stomped out of the barn. Her father turned towards her. “What happened?”

“To be honest, Dad, I really don’t know. I was in there grooming Horse like I have for the last few days and he was perfectly fine until Jamie came rushing in here shouting. It startled the horse and he moved and I fell. No big deal but Jamie seems to think he is better then everyone else and no one is good enough to deal with HIS horse. Heck he isn’t even imaginative enough to give his horse a real name!”

“From now on I’ll take care of Jamie’s horse if he’s home. I’m sure he is up t here right now giving his father an ear full. Why don’t you head on back up to the house and cool off, I wouldn’t mind some fresh sweet tea when I get done here in a couple of hours.” Her father’s smile eased her tensions and calmed her temper quite a bit but she still to this day had no idea why Jamie had acted the way he had.

From then on she was no longer allowed to work with her father. The call came that night to the house after dinner. Mr. Duncan told her father that her working with him and not being on the payroll was a liability he couldn’t take on. He did, however, offer funds towards her college if she was interested in going.

She had went to bed that night thinking that Jamie must hate and loathe her more than anything if he talked his dad into paying to get her to leave. She had never had anyone dislike her so much in her life and cried herself to sleep that night but woke with a stiff backbone and the goal of telling Mr. James Duncan Jr. a thing or two before the day was out!

She found Jamie in the barn a little after seven that morning. He was in the stall with Horse. She wasn’t as insensitive as him as to startle the horse or him. On the way to the barn her temper had cooled and she had decided to try her best to go about talking to Jamie with courtesy. Her mother always told her you could catch more flies with honey or some such saying.

“Jamie. I’d like to talk to you.”

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“Yes. We do! Are you trying to ruin my life? Your father said I can’t work with my dad anymore! I was enjoying working with the animals and learning here”

“Working on a ranch is no place for a girl. You won’t learn anything here.”

“A girl! I’m a woman! Women can do anything a man can do you ... you... you..... ahhhh”

“You can’t even finish a damn sentence! Call me what’s on the tip of your tongue..”

“No! I’m not going to stoop as low as you! I am going to go talk to your father. I have been doing a good job taking care of the horses these last couple of weeks and just because you live in the damn stone age doesn’t mean it’s not time to pull you out of it!”

As she turned to walk out of the barn Jamie came out of the stall and grabbed her by the arm. He didn’t hurt her as he did so but she could have swore electricity was shooting up her arm!

“The only place for a woman on a ranch is in the damn house cooking and decorating! You need to go find you a cowboy that wants a wife and stay that route because that is the only chance you have. You turned down my dad’s offer at college so if you don’t find you a man you’ll be living in a cardboard box someday if something happens to your father!!”

His statement was ridiculous and both of them knew it. It was the last time she saw Jamie. She had went to the house, called his father and took him up on his offer of money for college. She had, however, made one stipulation. He was not to tell Jamie. He agreed and helped her set things in motion. She could not wait to see the look on Jamie’s face when he saw her for the interview. Not only had her looks changed after all this time, loosing the chunky teenage figure she had, but she had majored in Equine Studies, Horse Management and also had a degree in Farm and Ranch Management. She had decided right of the bat if she had a full ride to college she was going to take every advantage of it. Not only for her benefit but to show Mr. James Duncan Jr. that a woman could find other things to do on a ranch besides clean up after a man! She told herself all these years she was proving a point to herself but it was beginning to become clear to even her that proving a point to Mr. James Duncan Jr. might just be even more important.

Ally looked at her watch. She sun was sinking lower in the sky. She had been walking just over an hour. When she turned and looked behind her she could no longer see her car. Since it had been so many years since she had been at the ranch she really wasn’t quite sure how much further of a walk she actually had. Her guess of two hours when she started off was starting to look like it might be WAY off because there wasn’t even a hint of a ranch house in site. She began to wonder what would happen when it got dark. She hadn’t even thought to grab her flashlight from the car and she knew just how dark it could be out here if there was no moon.

She remembered there were several line shacks her father had taken her too one day making sure they were supplied with necessities but since she had made the trip to them only once and only four out of God only knew how many on the large ranch she had no idea where they were at. Right now here only hope would be that Jamie had thought to send someone looking for her when she was a no show at the interview. After all, she was pretty sure he didn’t realize who she was when he agreed to interview her. He had said nothing of a personal nature when he called her and he knew her by Ally, not Alyssa and Ally tended to be a nick name for Allison, not Alyssa.

Another couple of hours passed. Ally sipped her water slowly and was thankful it was September as it wasn’t 100 degrees in the shade. She had stopped several times to just take a break and cool off. She had to be getting close she thought but the worry of darkness was starting to become a reality. When she started off walking she had seriously thought that it wouldn’t be long until someone came along and gave her a ride but she hadn’t seen any sign of life whatsoever. What worried her the most was the fact that she had noticed there were no tracks on the road from previous trucks or cars. This was the route her and her father and other ranch hands had always taken to and from town but the fact that it seemed deserted now was beginning to worry her. Of course, there were explanations... if it had rained last night and no one had traveled the road today there would be no evidence of yesterday’s traffic.

She put the scared thoughts out of her mind and decided to focus on the fact that her feet were killing her. She hadn’t chosen to wear stilettos but the heels she had chose, although only an inch or so high, were not made for walking down gravel roads. The fact that the road was gravel made the option of removing her shoes and going barefoot, no option what so ever. Her unruly wavy hair that she had tamed back into a very business-like bun was sprouting all over in the heat and she knew she had long since wiped away her make up while wiping the sweat from her face. As her old college room mate would tell her “you are a hot mess.” Only this time... hot had a whole different meaning.

Lost in her thoughts Ally hadn’t even noticed a horse coming up across the field beside her and when it snorted it actually startled her enough to make her jump. She recognized him immediately. Horse. Much older now, allowed to roam the pastures she guessed, instead of working. She knew, upon seeing him, that she must be getting close to the ranch as the fields the pastured horses roamed weren’t that far out.

She walked over to the barbed-wire fence. “Well hello there Horse. It’s good to see you my friend. I’m sure you don’t remember me at all since we had such a short time together.” He shook his head side to side as if answering her...she reached out to run her hand down his forehead. He didn’t back away at all. “You wouldn’t want to give me a ride to the barn would you Horse?” As soon as it was out of her mouth she almost laughed. Like she was dressed to ride a horse. With the tight A-line skirt meant to accentuate the fact that she no longer had teen chub straddling a horse bareback was an impossibility.

After standing and petting horse and pondering her options she decided riding horse in was her best one. She looked around again to make sure she still saw no signs of life. She hiked her skirt up to her waist. Now, to get through the barbed-wire with out hurting herself. This proved to be a challenge. At one point she actually cursed the hired hands for keeping the fence in such good shape as the barbed-wire was so taunt it was impossible to pull apart to make enough room to slip through. Her only choices was up and over and risk a fall and catching her leg on a barb and a bad cut that could prove fatal if in the right spot or on her belly and underneath and the main risk... she show up hours late, half dressed and dirty for her job interview. Underneath it was.

She did well until she went to get up on the other side. Her left shoulder hadn’t quite cleared the wire as she had thought and a bard got her on the back of her arm. She knew immediately that the fabric of her blouse wasn’t the only thing that had tore. She reached back to find her arm bleeding quite badly. It wasn’t anything life threatening but she was really going to be a site when she got to the Flying D.

She put the strap to her brief case over her head to wear it like a messenger bag. She patted Horse on his side and said “come on boy... lets find me a stump or a rock or something that I can climb on so I can get up on you.” She stuck to walking the fence line. Horse followed along behind her like a lost puppy dog vying for attention. She waked about fifteen minutes until she spied a tree off in the distance that had fallen over. Thank God, she thought, she didn’t know how much longer she could walk in this field with heals on. If walking on the gravel road had been difficult walking in the field should be considered an Olympic sport!

She cut across to where the large tree had fallen, her trusty horse right behind her. She positioned him where she needed him. She took another look around...still no signs of life. She hiked her skirt up once again. Climbed up onto the tree and over onto horse. He didn’t move a muscle. She patted him and told him what a wonderful creature he was. She tied her blazer around her waist from the front to give her some semblance of modesty gave Horse a little heel kick and told him to take her “home”.

Welcome!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Driver) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:07:00 +0000

First post should be up later today.

The idea of this blog is for those who love to write and read to have some fun.

To get things started I will write and post a chapter. Who ever is chosen next will author the next chapter. Who knows what twists and turns that author will add. Might be difficult for author number three to do chapter number three... you get the idea!

There is a tab at the top just under the header that says RULES. You can see complete rules and how to play along there.

Please leave a comment below if you have suggestion or ideas! I would love to hear from you!

-- Julie

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Story 1 -- Chapter 1

Welcome!