Caleb: A Western tale, circa 1880's

Chapter Eleven

Caitlin Slocum was the last of four generations to own Infinity Ranch. Jack and Amy Slocum had handed the reins to Charlie and Susan, who in turn had given way to Tom and Kathleen. All too soon, Tom and Kathleen had passed the care and stewardship of all the secrets that were Infinity Ranch over to their adopted daughter, Kitty.

In all, Kitty's home was a tidy place. Behind the garden, the smokehouse contained a fair number of cheeses that she'd made, though there was plenty of room for the hog she'd butcher come autumn. Behind the farmstead, nearly three thousand acres of wilderness stretched out, home to some five hundred head of cattle, along with a small herd of buffalo and the usual wildlife.

Anyone riding up for the first time would think the ranch a mere farm, for fences protected garden and long row-crops from mischievous pets and stray cattle alike. Various farm animals grazed over what open ground the garden and crops didn't take up. Such was unusual on a ranch, the sowing of so many different crops aside from the kitchen garden and the variety of animals housed in the barn, but Kitty's grandmother had been a farm girl at heart and had endeavored to plant as many different crops as she deemed necessary for the proper running of the household.

"The ranch is like life that way," Kitty's grandfather used to say. "It's a giant circle, the farm and the ranch, us and 'the boys', you and I, life and death. One cannot survive without the other."

Danny's wife, Summer, came back the following morning with Danny's own clothing and weapons. Danny spent quite a bit of time exclaiming over his knife, wondering how she'd found it. Summer only shrugged, appearing pleased by the attention, none the less. She had also brought back a horse for her husband to ride home, one that Kitty approved of. Danny professed to be merely grateful that it wasn't Stumpy Legs and rode home with his wife perched behind him. Caleb watched them leave until the trees hid the horse from view.

"We're going up there tomorrow," Kitty pointed out from behind him, making Caleb jump. "Sorry," she apologized when he turned around. "You usually hear me coming."

"Just thinking, I guess," he shrugged. "What do you need me to do today, Boss Lady?"

Kitty shook her head. "Well, there's never a lack of things to do," she pointed out, "but I can't think of anything truly pressing about now."

"Wood needs to be cut before winter," he suggested, "unless you plan to burn buffalo chips."

His suggestion made Kitty laugh. "I don't dare," she told him merrily. "The folks on the ridge need them all."

"Then we'll need to be cutting a load of logs," he decided with a grin.

"Can't do that without a full team; guess I'll need to be headed to town soon in order to replace Jim and Dobbin." Kitty bit her lip, obviously worrying.

"We can wait on the wood," Caleb told her. "No use rushing off to town unless you have to. Those harnesses need some repair and I'm sure I can find something to keep busy with in the barn." Deliberately, Caleb kept quiet about his project, wanting to surprise her.

"And I need to clean the office and recovery," Kitty said quietly. "Would you mind bringing water first? You haul a lot more at a time than I do."

Caleb grinned at her subtle compliment and grabbed her water pails. "Sure, Boss."

When Caleb returned, he poured one pail into the water reservoir on the stove and the other into a kettle she used for heating water on laundry days, sat the kettle on the stove top and stoked the fire before heading out to refill the empty pails. After he'd finished carrying water, Caleb paused for a moment at the wellhead, surveying the yard.