Kentucky Home

Chapter 2

Cash

I stand here as the dust swirls around me as she leaves. I can't figure out what just happened. Obviously she was lost, but she didn't have to be such a bitch about it.

I mean, who gets lost, ends up at a strangers house, and treats them like it's their fault they can't listen to directions. City girls... that's who.

I can't stand people like that. The kind of people who think they're in charge and everybody else is below them. The kind of people with a college degree...and clean clothes who think they're more intelligent and together.

I'd have a college degree if I didn't have more important responsibilities such as taking care of my ten year old sister, the feed store, and this ranch. I've got my hands full. It may not be a degree and living well off in the big city, but damn it I've got it together, too, or that's what I keep telling myself.

As soon as I start believing it, finances come out upside down at the store, I've planted one acre less than I needed to turn a profit, and my baby sister starts asking about feminine stuff. I can handle the other stuff, but girl stuff is out of the question.

Those are the days that I wish my parents were still here. I basically have to be a dad when I still need mine. I guess I've had time to get used to it a bit. In the four years they've been gone, I've kept a six old alive who is now a happy, healthy ten year old. She might be a bit spoiled, too! She never has to do the outside chores like I did growing up. She likes to do laundry and clean the floors, and I'm thankful for that because those are the two dirtiest things around here.

She's had to grow up fast. We both have, but I'm not gonna let her choose me or this ranch over going to college or living out her dream. I've suffered enough from losing our parents, I'm not going to let her feel any of that. I was twelve when she was born. I never wanted a sister. I always begged for a brother.

I wanted someone to run around chasing cattle and tear up the fields on our dirt bikes. I got in trouble so much for that. I half way did it for attention. My dad loved me and he was good to me, but he was always so focused on the ranch and store. I understand all that now, but it was early mornings and late nights. I never got tucked in by him or had bedtime stories read to me. That was all from mom. She did a great job; she was the best, but she never told stories about monsters or cowboys.

"Cash? Are you going to come in for dinner? It's getting cold." Breaking me from my thoughts, Cady sounds like my mother used to when I wouldn't come in from playing the first three times she called for me.

"Yeah. Imma coming." I say as I whistle to Bo making sure he's following me inside.

Cady and I cook together every night. It's the most normalcy we've managed to maintain. I'm not a great cook, and she's just a kid but together we've learned to make some decent meals. Tonight we just have hamburgers.

We finish cleaning up the dishes and put them away. Cady runs upstairs to get ready for bed and finish homework. I grab a beer from the fridge, walk out onto the porch, and sit on the old porch swing that has white paint chipping off of it.

The frogs are croaking and the crickets are chirping. It's a serene sound. The sound is almost hypnotic. The kind of hypnosis that reels my thoughts in.

I watch the darkness for the spontaneous green lights that pop up everywhere. When Cady was little we'd try to catch them, and when we did I'd take the light off and put it on her finger. It's what my grandmother taught me. We'd wear them like rings until the light died out.

We'd be so wore out from playing outside all night and day we'd practically fall over in our beds and wake up when the rooster crowed without even changing our clothes. Momma hated that. The dirt from our clothes would get all over our freshly washed bedding. She'd be so mad, but yet she wouldn't wake us up to change.