The first thing that happens when I wake up is me falling off the bed when I hear roosters screaming. No, that's not just in movies. Those damn roosters scream loud as hell. I groan as I hit the floor and roll over. After examining my elbows and knees I stand up and stretch. Well that's one way to start the day off. I follow the noise of pots and pans into the kitchen, where Mark is watching the news from the kitchen table with a coffee mug in his hands and Bailey is eating cereal.
"You look like you just fell out of bed." She claims with a mouthful of cereal.
"That's because I did little miss I-know-everything." I confirm in a croaky morning voice.
"Well that explains why you're so grouchy." She remarks.
"Cool it you two." Mark chimes in, Not
Taking his eyes off the T.V.
"Yes sir." I replied politely, sitting down. I make a mental note that Mark is no someone who tolerate bickering.
"Did you sleep well Gunner?" Mark asks me. It seems half genuine, and half for the sake of conversation.
"I slept alright." Lies. Blatant lies.
"That's good. I take it that Bailey gave you the tour of the property yesterday?"
"Yeah she did. It's really nice. Lots of trees. Real one's too, not just random sticks planted in the ground like the one's in the city." I commented.
"Well I'm glad you like it." He replies she stands up and rinses put his coffee mug. "Now that you know the place a little, I figured we could go ahead and put you to work. Nothing to hard yet, just some easy stuff. Since you're not used to the heat and all." Bailey smirks at me.
"Wait, hold on. I'm going to work? I mean, I don't want to be lazy and worthless, I just didn't know I was going to work." I stutter slightly.
"Well yeah. Did you think this ranch took care of itself? Someone's gotta put in some effort." He informs me. "Bailey'll show you the ropes. I've got to go fix some of the fences on the east side."
I silently groan. As much as I had enjoyed last nights adventure, Bailey sounds like a lot to handle for a whole day.
"Can't wait." Bailey replied, flashing me a smile.
"You two will be polishing the tack. I don't want to see or hear about any funny business in there. Work efficiently and you'll be done in no time. Get it done." He says as he puts his hat on and walks outside.
"Of course he picks the boring-est possible job there is to do." She complains as she stands up to put the cereal bowl in the sink.
"It's most boring, not boring-est." I correct her as I start walking back to my room to get dressed.
"Whatever." I hear her mumble. "Aren't you going to eat something?"
"I'm not hungry." I reply without looking behind me.
•••
By the time we got out to the barn and into the tack room (whatever that meant), the sun had risen high in the sky, and I was already starting to feel the heat of the day.
Bailey was already sitting on a bail of hay, waiting for me. "Well it took you long enough," She remarks with a smirk.
"Yeah yeah. So what exactly is it that we're supposed to be doing again?"
"Polishing tack. Follow me and I'll show you," She instructs me as she walks to a small room with saddles and bridles lining the walls. The room is dimly lit and it smells strongly like leather. The flashing of metal catches my eye. I walk closer to it and see that it's a belt buckle, several of them actually. At least thirteen or so.
"Hey Bailey, what are these from?" I ask.
She looks up from what she was doing and walks over to look. "Those are belt buckles Mark won at some rodeos. Bull Dogging, Broncs, Team Roping, he was kind of a rodeo legend. These are just the big rodeos he won at, he's got plenty more stashed away in a drawer somewhere I'm sure," She tells me, with pure admiration in her voice.
"Well why'd he stop?" I ask curiously. "I mean if he was so good at it, wouldn't he still be doing it now? He's not really that old."
"He had an accident in a Bronc Riding event. The horse threw him pretty hard into the gate, he was almost killed."
"Damn," is all I can say. Pulling my attention away from the buckles, I look at Bailey. "Should we get started?"
"Yeah, probably." She pulls a bucket of Real Cowboy Saddle Polish from a self and sets it down in between two chairs. "Grab a bridle and a rag and start cleaning." She says as she sits in one of the chairs and rubs the rag on the bridle.
It takes us hours to complete the task, and since there's no A/C in the barn, it pretty much felt like hell. I wipe sweat from my forehead and lean back. "Done," I sigh.
"Oh thank god. You know, it gets worse every time I do it. At least this time I didn't have to do it myself." She laughs.
"Glad I could be of some use," I reply with a small smile.
"You did get a lot of work done, considering the fact that you're such a city boy and probably never worked a day in your life," She teases me.
"Actually, I worked at my mom's coffee shop for about six years. So yeah, I've worked a little." It takes me a moment to realize I had said worked. I don't feel like I've gotten to the point where I've accepted it, so why do I act like I do?
Bailey's silent for a moment, as if for once in her life she doesn't have a response.
"Um... I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything, but if you needed to talk about anything, I'm a pretty good listener. And I just wanted to say that I'm real sorry about what happened to your mom, I know how it feels to lose someone," She says, looking me straight in the eyes the entire time. I'm pretty sure that's the first tike she's mentioned anything about it. I also hadn't noticed that there's some blue in her emerald green eyes.
"Thanks, But I think right now the best thing is for me to stay busy. I still haven't really come to terms with it yet," I reply quietly. "Thanks anyway though."
She shakes her head and perks up again. "That was way to serious for me," she laughs.
"Yeah, me too. Hey, is there anything you guys do to cool off around here? Like a neighborhood pool or something?" I realize how stupid that must've sounded he moment I said it.
"There's no neighborhood pool here. There's not even a neighborhood. We're quite literally, in the middle of nowhere," She laughs.
"Oh...right," I laugh awkwardly and scratch the back of my neck. "But is there like a lake or something?"
She grins at me playfully. "I was hoping you'd ask that. Follow me," She says as she disappears.
Here we go again.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••
A/N:
So I've kinda been on hiatus for a while, but I'm hoping to be able to write a little more.
Please vote and comment!
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Finding Home
Fiksi Remaja"When life tries to take things from you, dig your heels in the ground and hold on as hard as hell." Gunner Lynston is a perfectly happy teenager. He lives in Chicago with his loving mother, his life is in the city. He's at the best school he can be...
