River Lane

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

            For the next few weeks, I lounged around the house, chased kids, helped Claire where I could and rode Tequila as much as possible. One day I woke up, showered and quickly got dressed. I hurried down the stairs for breakfast. It was becoming a morning routine, trying to get downstairs to see Garrett before he went to his chores even though we had hardly spoken a word to each other since our last encounter.  I was nervous as I walked into the kitchen. Disappointment briefly washed over me as I realized he had come and gone already.

            I sat down at the table preparing to ask my uncle for something to keep me busy. I knew I would need something soon just to keep my thoughts straight.

            “Uncle Jared, I think you should give me some work to do.” I said it bluntly, not really in the mood to beat around the bush.

                        “You’ve already been helping out a lot with Claire and the kids Nayvee,” he told me, “Are you sure you want to start adding more jobs to your plate already?” I nodded. “If you want to, you can groom all the horses in the barn and maybe exercise a few of them, but you don’t have to do that until later.” I wasn’t settling.

            “Uncle Jared I really want some stuff to do. The whole reason that I’m here is to help you guys and I don’t see what difference it’s going to be if I start today, tomorrow or next week. I don’t have anything better to do and you might as well just put me to work.”  I was standing my ground. Better sooner than later right? He looked at me skeptically before his face relaxed and he went back to eating.

            “Wow Nayvee I almost started thinking you were a regular teenager the way you just put me in my place and then I realized that you were demanding I put you to work and not trying to get out of work." He sat for a minute and looked contemplatively into his cup of coffee before continuing. "Fine, if you want work that bad I have a project for you that will take the rest of the week at least, and will keep you busy.” As he talked he stood up from the table, put his boots on and started to walk out.

            I got up and followed him quickly, not wanting him to decide that I wasn’t serious, but having this awful feeling I already knew what this job was going to be.  

            Once in the barn, he walked over to the small supply room and proceeded to fill a bucket with things. As he handed the bucket to me, I sifted through it to see what it was. There was a dozen old rags, saddle soap, a large jug of leather oil and more. I looked up at him, hoping the disgust was clearly written on my face.

            “You’re not serious, are you?” I asked. He just laughed.

            “Very serious,” he replied, walking over to the tack room and pointing at it. “Nobody has done this in years and it needs it bad. I want you to take everything out of it and clean the whole inside first. Then clean and oil all the saddles and extra tack, and put everything wherever you think it should go, as long as it’s somewhere that we can find it again. Then just clean the rest up as best as you can. I have to go over the mountain and probably won’t be back until at least Saturday night. If you need anything then I’m sure Jack can tell you, but I’m sure you’ll be all right. If there’s something you need from the store, go ahead and get it and charge it to our account. I’ll take care if it later.”

            “Wow. I guess that’s what I get for asking for work.” I replied. He laughed and turned to walk out. Not wanting him to think he’d won this round, I continued, “You won’t even recognize this place when you get back. You’ll want to leave more often.” He just laughed and walked out to go finish his chores before he left.