Red River Valley

《Chapter 6:》

Penelope woke up the next morning around five-thirty, it was still dark as usual when she awoke for chores. Laying in bed she could hear a pattering of rain against the opened window. With a low groan, the sleep deprived girl got out of bed and closed the window before stepping into her bathroom.

When she flicked on the light her eyes felt fuzzy as they adjusted from the dark to light. Cupping a handful of water from the faucet, she splashed the cool water on her face; she felt a little more awake now.

She looked down at herself. The cut on her leg was healing quickly, it was no longer an angry red but rather a mild pink of scarred tissue.

Back in her room she changed into her chore clothes, an old t-shirt and jeans, she then made her way downstairs where a pot of steaming coffee sat in a pot. Her father sat at the dinning room table, a mug in hand and newspaper in the other.

"Morning," Penelope greeted grabbing her own mug and filling it. She joined her father at the table.

"Morning," he set the paper down turning it to show Penelope. "Calves are selling for a good price, I think we might have to sell a few to hold us over till we sell the steers in the fall,"

Penelope pulled the paper closer looking at the latest auction results, angus calves were selling for around five-hundred a head. That was a lot for a calf just a week or two of age.

She slid the paper back to him. "Yeah, I don't think it'd be a bad idea to sell just a few, it'll be nice to have a little extra cash until fall,"

They sat in silence for a minute, Penelope sipping her hot, black drink while Decon skimmed the paper.

Green eyes looked to her father.

"Dad," she started. Decon looked up from paper. "How come you didn't tell me about Joise being a vet,"

He set the paper down again taking a sip of his coffee. "I honestly thought you already knew,"

Penelope looked away and then back down to her abandoned mug on the table.

An entourage of heavy footsteps came down the stairs. James walked into the kitchen grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl, he made a show of tossing it up in the air a bit before wiping it of on his shirt.

"Nice of you to finally get up," Decon applauded sarcastically.

James just scoffed before slipping on his boots by the door before heading out to start checking the cattle.

Penelope looked out the screen door and saw Jed's truck was gone.

"What happened to Jed's truck?" She asked still looking outside.

"He came by real early this morning and got it, not before stopping to tell me that you're a pompous ass though," her father said putting away his cup in the sink. He sounded amused by Jed's comment.

Penelope drew her lips into a tight line, at least he didn't seem too mad about it. The last time she pissed him off she was rudely awoken by him throwing a handful of pop-its into her bed. That was not a very fun way to wake up.

Slipping on her boots she followed after her younger brother, he had school in a few hours so he would help for a short while before leaving. Penelope and Decon would complete the rest of the days work before getting ready for that business meeting in the afternoon; well, it wasn't so much a business meeting, it was going to be pretty informal, just a small get together at a steakhouse with the Machados. They would be talking business though at the supper, Mac was planning on buying a few more head of cattle from them in the fall so they were going to discuss the future sale.