Coast To Coast: The Darkest Hour

Chapter 19: Remember

19: Remember

After Midnight had met most of the people, he retreated back outside. He sat on the lawn, glad to be away from all the people.   Jania sat down next to him.

“Didn’t like all those people?” She asked.

“Not really, there’s a few dozen too many.”

“I agree with you there, but I guess there are enough cows on the range, that they all need to be here to help find all the cows.”

“Yeah, it was like this every year when I was a kid.”

“Hey, Mid,” Jania started quietly.

“What?” Midnight asked.

“I remember… Before I was called Jania…”

“You remember?” Midnight turned in surprise to her, “Then you remember… Wayne and…”

“Yeah,” Jania replied, “I use to be Kate.”

“I’m sorry I got you almost killed,” Midnight said quietly.

“It’s okay; I’m still alive, after all.”

“Come and get it while it’s hot!” Rose yelled out the door.

DC ran for the door, tail wagging; only to get told he wasn’t the one Rose had been calling.  Midnight started to get up, “I’m glad you remember…”

Jania smiled and tripped him, “You’re staying right here.”

“Why?” Midnight asked from the ground, “They’re going to eat without us.”

“I have a question first,” Jania touched Midnight’s nose with her index finger.

“Okay, what is it?”

“How did you tear the blue and white car up?”

“The scuffs on the sides were from the other street racers trying to bump me off, and well, I was almost to the end, when Razor shot a few bullet holes in the windshield. After that, somehow I got lost, and ended up racing a train.”

Jania giggled, “Sounds like you had a lot of fun.”

“Not really. Right after that so called fun, I ended up in Jake’s lair.”

“True, but you still won.”

“Most of the winnings went to Jay and Wayne.”

Jania laughed, and lay down next to Midnight, putting her head against his chest, “Even though I once was Kate, I think I’ll stick with Jania.”

Midnight smiled, “You know, you can call me Jack.”

“Nah, I think Mid suits you just fine. I told you I’d probably be calling you that forever.”

“Yeah you did,” Midnight said, “I’m going to go eat. You can’t stop a hungry person from going to the place the food is.”

“Race you there,” Jania said, getting up and taking off towards the house.

“No fair, you had a head start,” Midnight called after her. He got up and jogged to the house, “So you got me moving faster this time, but I didn’t agree to race…”

Jania just grinned and headed to the table, where everyone else was just sitting down.

After they ate, Midnight headed to bed soon after John’s boys’ did. He was tired, and wanted to get a few extra hours of sleep in.  The next morning, they would saddle up and head out to find the cattle grazing on the mountainside.