The Boy From Oklahoma

Travis

Briefly edited. 

   It surprises me that Sarah's having her nieces and nephew stay for the summer, but I don't question the boss. I smile and tip my hat to the girl who looks to be maybe a year younger than me. 

   I glance to my right to see Shorty checkin' Alana out. I stifle my laugh and turn my attention to the girl. She looks cute enough with her long black hair pulled back at the top of her head. Her blue eyes seem to know what I'm thinkin' as they find my own and gaze into them. I let my lips quirk up into a small smile. 

   "Travis, I want you to show Alana around for the day and start teachin' her what to do because she'll be doin' it soon enough on her own. Caleb, I want you to take Kade around and do the same. I'll take Bailey with me and show her around," Sarah says. 

   "Sure thing boss," Caleb says, gesturin' for Kade to follow him. I let my eyes follow the boy, knowin' he's nothin' but trouble. 

   "Wait, you mean I actually have to go in there and be around dirty animals? Gross," Alana says. I turn to look at her, my eyebrows pullin' together at the disrespect in her voice. 

   "Yes you do, and you're gonna have to do it every day without complaint, or I'll find more for you to do," Sarah tells her. Alana rolls her eyes and folds her arms over her chest. I glance away from her and start walkin' towards the barn. I can hear her soft footsteps followin' me from behind. 

   I walk into the barn and pause, turnin' around to wait for her. She comes up next to me with her arms still crossed, glancin' at the walls. "Here we have the barn. Now, we've already done most of the hard work this mornin', but we do have daily work to do. In the mornin', I make sure all the horses are fed and watered. Then we just do the odd jobs that Miss Sarah tells us to do. We break for lunch around noon, then we get back to work. We don't have a set time of hours we work. If we get everythin' done, we can leave early, but if we miss a day, we gotta make up what we miss."

   I glance over at her and take in her appearance. Her arms are still crossed over her chest and she's lookin' around the barn with a disgusted look. "It smells in here," she says. 

   I chuckle and shrug my shoulders slightly. "Well, it's a barn. It's not supposed to smell good." 

   "Is this all you have to show me?" she asks. 

   "This is where you'll be spendin' most of your time from now on. Anyway, we best get back to Miss Sarah so I can let her know how it went," I tell her. We walk back out of the barn and head toward the house. I can see Sarah sittin' in a rockin' chair on the porch with Kentucky lyin' at her feet. 

   "Hey there Boss, I showed Alana around the barn. I've a mind to get workin' on the rest of my duties for the day, so I wanted to bring her back to you," I say. Sarah looks up at me, a small smirk on her face. She leans back in her chair and rests her arms on her thighs. 

   "Travis, I'm gonna need you to take Alana on as your partner. She's gonna need someone to show her what needs to be done 'round here every day and I ain't got time for that. So, I'd appreciate it if you'd do that for me," Sarah says.

   "Sure thing Boss," I say. 

   "Hold up," Alana says. I turn to see her hip juttin' out as she places her hand on it. My eyebrows raise at her rudeness. "There is no way I'm going to be walking around with him all day and getting my brand new shoes dirty."

   "I wouldn't expect you to wear somethin' like that to the barn," Sarah says, looking her up and down. I then let my eyes travel over her clothes, noticin' that they must be pretty expensive. "I have some clothes of mine you can borrow."