Ranch Hands (4 page)

The waitress had to work very hard to keep a straight face, but she wrote everything down carefully and repeated it back to Stevie.

“Is that right?” she asked.

“Perfect,” Stevie said.

“Yes, I definitely have seen you before,” the woman
said. “I may forget a face, but I
never
forget an order, especially the kind you like. Ugh!”

With that, she left the girls alone. Lisa and Carole were trying unsuccessfully to stifle their giggles. Stevie didn’t seem to understand what the fuss was about. That made Lisa and Carole laugh even harder.

It was a bittersweet Saddle Club meeting, and Lisa was both sad and relieved when it was over. For one thing, she didn’t want to stop being with her friends, swapping tales, talking about horses, and just hanging out. For another, though, it was hard being with them when she knew that, as of the next morning, she wouldn’t be seeing them for so long. Good-byes were hard—especially when they had to last for four long weeks.

Stevie’s mother picked the girls up at the mall and dropped them off at their homes, Carole first, then Lisa. As Lisa walked toward her front door, she didn’t think she could stand to hear the word good-bye one more time.

She shifted her package to her other arm, recalling as she did that it was filled with foreign words and phrases. The very next day she would be on her way to Europe. She knew that it was the trip of a lifetime—and there was a part of her that was excited about it. But there was also a part of her that was sad about it. And another part that was very frightened. Europe was very far away and very different from America.

S
TEVIE LOOKED OUT
the rear window of her parents’ station wagon as they drove toward the airport. She was lying on top of three duffel bags, and Carole lay next to her. Stevie was glad she’d packed so many clothes since her duffel bag was nice and soft. Carole’s, on the other hand, had riding boots prominently bulging.

Stevie’s father and Colonel Hanson were in the front seat. Stevie’s younger brother, Michael, sat between them. Stevie’s mother and her other two brothers were in the rear seat. Stevie thought it took an awful lot of people to say good-bye to two girls.

“Lisa was here day before yesterday,” Carole said, interrupting Stevie’s thoughts.

“And now she’s in Paris,” Stevie said. “I wish she were here, don’t you?”

“Of course, but I bet she’ll have fun on her trip, anyway.”

“More fun than we’ll have?”

“No way. But fun, anyway,” Carole replied.

Stevie knew Carole was right. Lisa wasn’t thrilled about her vacation, but how bad could it be, going to France, England, and Italy? The
only
thing missing was horses. And friends.

“You’ve got a funny look on your face,” Carole said. “Do you wish we were flying to Paris instead of Wyoming?”

“For a second I did,” Stevie answered truthfully. “It would be a wonderful trip.”

“So will ours,” Carole promised.

“Right. And you know what I really love about what we’re going to do? It’s the fact that Eli and Jeannie are counting on us to be helpers, not just campers. We’ll be like counselors.”

“Sure, we’ll be teaching the other kids things about horses and riding.”

“And they’ll do what we tell them to do,” Stevie added.

From the seat in front of them, Mrs. Lake started laughing. Stevie asked her what she was laughing about.

“It’s about those kids who will do what you tell them to do,” she said. “They’ll probably be as good at
that as you are!” She was teasing, and Stevie knew it, but it made her stop and think.

“Of course they will,” Carole said. “It’s because what we’ll be telling them will be about horses, and they’re going to want to learn, just the way we always do.”

Carole’s father turned around from the front seat. “Does that mean you always do what Max tells you?”

“Always,” Stevie assured him.

Carole was glad Max wasn’t there to hear that. He might have had something to say on the subject. She glanced at Stevie, and Stevie glanced at her. The joke was shared with the glance.

Kate and her father met the carload of Hansons and Lakes at the small terminal that served private airplanes. It took a while to sort out bags and stow them on the plane that would take them Westward. It took even longer to hug and say good-bye and for the parents to remind the girls that they were supposed to be good and helpful and to ride carefully.

“If she tells me to brush my teeth every night, I’m going to growl,” Stevie whispered to Carole.

“Don’t bother. She will. My father already did.”

Stevie’s mother came over for one final hug. “Michael just told me he might actually miss you,” she said. Stevie smiled. That was a pretty big compliment from the person she usually referred to as her “bratty younger brother.” She gave Michael a final hug.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth,” he whispered. She knew then that he’d overheard her remark to Carole. She did the only logical thing. She growled in his ear. But she also gave him an extra hug, too. Maybe she would miss him as well.

Finally, the last bag was stowed, the last seat taken, the last seat belt fastened. They were off.

Although it was a long flight, the girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Since Frank Devine was busy at the controls, it gave the girls an unlimited opportunity to have a Saddle Club meeting. Although Kate lived far away and they only got to see her occasionally, she was officially an out-of-town member of The Saddle Club. She was as horse crazy as they were.

Thousands of feet above the Allegheny Mountains, they talked about Pine Hollow. Crossing the Mississippi, the subject was Starlight’s training. Over the plains states, talk turned to the Bar None, the Devines’ dude ranch. Stevie wanted an update on her favorite horse, Stewball. Kate assured her that Stewball was as ornery, stubborn, and brilliant as ever. He was the best cow horse Stevie had ever seen and could cut cattle out of a bunch or round up a maverick without much help at all from his rider. As they neared the Rockies, Stevie and Carole asked Kate more about High Meadow. It turned out she didn’t have much more information than they did. She did tell them that there would be fifteen campers besides
themselves and that they would be running the ranch like a working ranch. This wasn’t a glamorous camp or dude ranch. It was fashioned after the self-sufficient farms and cattle ranches that existed in the West when it was first settled.

“We’ll be growing our own food, animal and vegetable. It’s a serious work camp,” Kate said.

“Sounds like serious fun to me,” Stevie said.

“Me, too,” Carole agreed. “But does ‘self-sufficient’ mean like no running water?”

“Of course not,” Kate said. “It’s a modern setup. Water
and
electricity. Heat, too, though I think we’ll want to use the big stone fireplace, which Eli told me about, on those cool summer nights in the Rockies.”

That did it for Stevie. She couldn’t wait. It was just too exciting, and she knew it was going to be wonderful. She’d have all these wonderful new experiences,
and
she’d have the outstanding opportunity to tell some kids what to do and have them do it. It was going to be the greatest summer of her life.

“I can’t wait,” Carole said, as if she’d been reading or at least sharing Stevie’s thoughts.

“Well, fortunately, you won’t have to,” said Frank from the pilot’s seat. “Because we’re just about there.”

The girls looked out the window and saw what appeared to be a wall of mountains in the distance. They were jagged and craggy and snowcapped and simply
spectacular. They seemed to the girls to be an invitation to adventure.

The plane descended smoothly, and within a few minutes they had landed. Jeannie was there to greet them. She invited Frank to drive with them to High Meadow, but when she said it was just a two-hour drive, he said he thought he’d better get on back to the Bar None. He’d only stay on the ground long enough to grab a bite to eat and refuel. He helped load the duffel bags into the pickup truck, gave Kate a hug, and whispered some final admonitions in her ear, and they were off. Later Kate admitted that he’d told her to be good and to brush her teeth every night.

“Parents,” Stevie said with a sigh that conveyed a great deal to all of the girls.

“They’re supposed to say that kind of thing,” Jeannie said, defending the older generation. “Otherwise you wouldn’t know for sure they were parents.”

“Right,” Stevie said. “But I promise you when I get to be a parent, I’ll
never
say that kind of thing. At least not in public. And besides, what is this? Now that you’re an old married lady, you’re turning into a parent-type?”

Jeannie smiled. “I don’t think so,” she said. “It’s just that now that Eli and I have fifteen young kids in our care, it makes you more aware of responsibilities.”

Carole could tell that she meant it. That made her
all the happier that she and her friend were there to help.

“Don’t worry, Jeannie,” Carole said. “The Saddle Club is here to help, and when we put our minds to it, we can do anything.”

“Definitely,” Stevie added. “For instance, I don’t think Eli ever would have noticed you and you guys never would have gotten married if it weren’t for us, right?”

Jeannie glanced at her. “Don’t take away all of my illusions,” she said. “I like to think I had something to do with it.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Stevie allowed. “But I think we had something to do with it, too.”

Jeannie agreed because she knew it was true, but she made them promise not to tell Eli. He had never known their part in getting the two of them together. They agreed to keep the secret.

The talk turned then to High Meadow as the girls pumped Jeannie about what they’d be doing. Everything sounded wonderful to the girls, but Jeannie kept saying how much work it was. The third time she used the word responsibility, Stevie got a little concerned.

“What’s the big deal here?” she asked. “It’s just a camp, right?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘just’ if I were you,” Jeannie said. “It’s a lot of work.”

“Well, that’s what we’re here for,” Carole reminded Stevie as well as herself.

Jeannie looked at her passengers and smiled. “Yes, and I’m glad you are. You’ll find this quite a challenge.”

“I love challenges,” Stevie said. “Especially when they have to do with horses. Look, between us, we’ve got probably more than thirty years of riding and horse care experience. We can do anything you need us to do. And I’ve got a lot of experience working with younger kids, like my brother Michael, so that part will be a breeze.”

“And I know how to organize groups,” Carole said. “I haven’t lived with a Marine Corps colonel all these years without picking up a thing or two.”

“Ditto on that for me,” Kate said. “Plus, I know a lot about ranching from the Bar None.”

“Looks to me like your troubles are over,” Stevie said.

“Looks to
me
like yours have just begun!” Jeannie countered. But even in the fading daylight, the girls could tell she was smiling. They knew they’d made her feel better, and that made them feel better, too.

Finally, as the last of the sun dropped behind the mountains, the truck turned into the long twisting drive of High Meadow. Jeannie drove them straight to their bunkhouse, a small cabin with two sets of bunk beds, shelves for clothes, a modest but working bathroom,
and a small potbellied stove. It looked a lot like the cabin they stayed in at the Bar None, and that made it feel like home.

“It’s getting late now,” Jeannie said. “We pretty much live by the sun here, so you might as well just unpack and go to bed. Eli left a snack for you if you’re hungry. We’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“Okay,” the girls agreed.

Jeannie smiled. “All the campers can’t wait to meet you. They’ve heard so much about you.” With that she pulled the door closed and left them.

Stevie couldn’t help feeling a bit smug as she emptied her overloaded duffel. The campers probably would be impressed with how much the three of them knew about horses.

The snack turned out to be graham crackers and milk. The girls were hungry for it, and it tasted good. Normally, the three of them would have found lots of things to talk about, but a long day of doing nothing but traveling and talking had made them very tired. The lights were out in the main house and in the nearby bunkhouses, which the girls presumed held the fifteen campers. Very quickly, they pulled on their pajamas and climbed into their own beds. Kate switched the lights off.

Tired as she was, Stevie couldn’t sleep. She lay in bed, acutely aware of the darkness. At home there were streetlights and even the glow of the city and its
surrounding suburbs that seemed to fill the night sky. Here in the mountains, hours from the nearest city—even from the nearest town—there was no urban glow, no streetlights. Just stars and the moon.

After a while, Stevie’s eyes became accustomed to the darkness, and she found she could see around the bunkhouse. There was plenty of room, since the bunkhouse was meant for four, not three. Stevie liked the cheerful roundness of the potbellied stove. It felt welcoming, even when not lit. She could see the bunk above her, where Carole was sleeping soundly, and from across the room she could hear Kate’s gentle breathing in the top bunk. Beneath that was the empty bed, the one that by all rights belonged to Lisa.