by C. T. Raye
“I don’t know if I even want to look out there. Our house could be gone, or our barn. Everything could be gone.” Mom said worriedly.
“There is only one way to do this, and that is to just do it.” Dad said, as he pushed the cellar doors open and looked out.
Me and Spud followed close behind him and when we looked out it was a sight to be seen. The house was still standing, and the barn. There was some siding missing from here and there and there was trees blown over and laying everywhere.
Betsy had somehow gotten out of the barn and was out in the open pasture and having breakfast. The minute she seen us, she began to bellow and came running towards us. I guess the storm had frightened her and she wanted some attention.
“Tom, help me look the house over to make sure that it is structurally strong and then I am going to drive out and see if I can give someone else a hand.” He said.
We checked the outside of the house from top to bottom to find no major damage. Then dad told me to check the attic and any place that an animal could hide. Because the windows were open some varmint could have found shelter in the house. I checked everywhere in the house that I would have thought an animal would hide.
As I cleared each bedroom I would shut the windows and doors so I would not be chasing something around the house into rooms I already checked. I found nothing but did see traces of birds, squirrels, and the evidence of a coon.
He had made a disaster of the kitchen and there was food strewn all over the kitchen. He had made sure that he was the honored guest of our house. I was tip toeing around the piles in the kitchen when I noticed that there was a tail sticking out of one of the upper cabinet doors. It was fluffy and it was a ringed tail.
I seen it and Spud was too busy cleaning some of the food off the floor. I eased up to the cabinet door and tried to think of what to do next. I could just open it and let Spud get after him. That would be too easy. Not really thinking I reached up and grabbed the tail and pushed the cabinet door shut with the other hand. I should have thought longer.
The noise coming from the other side of the cabinet was ferocious. The coon was hissing, growling and just about every other noise imaginable. What was bad I had it by the tail and as soon as I let go of the cabinet door it would come out after me! Spud was going crazy by then and he was jumping up on the counter and trying to bite the coon’s tail. I was doing all I could to hold on to the goofy thing when Spud jumped and hit me knocking me off balance. I had to think quickly now and as I fell the cabinet door came open. I flung the coon as hard as I could towards the living room.
I hit the floor and watched the coon hit the floor on all fours and go racing through the house. The only problem was that I had shut all doors and windows so it could not get out of the house. I jumped up and ran in the living room to see Mr. Coon try to jump and go through a window that I had closed. He failed and was soon followed by Spud who knocked himself a little silly. Spud sat down for a minute and fell over backwards.
I then ran into the living room and was headed towards the front door when Mr. Coon saw me and took off towards me hissing and growling. I turned and ran back into the kitchen and jumped up on the counter. The coon ran into the kitchen and was coming after me.
Spud snapped out of the daze and came a running after the coon. He came around the corner at fifty miles per hour. He seen the coon and put the brakes on, but he couldn’t stop on the slick floor and smashed right into the back of the coon. The coon then jumped up on the counter with me trying to get away from Spud.
I left the counter with him and ran into the living room and opened the front door.
I turned to see Spud high tailing it out of the kitchen with a coon on his tracks. He had his tail tucked between his legs and as he went by the door he bumped it and it shut. He ran straight for me I turned and began to run around the room from this goofy coon. He was ever more mad. I finally got to the door and flung it open and Mr. Coon ran outside.
Chapter Five – Sticky Situation
I stopped and sat on the floor. I had sweat pouring down my face and was worn out. I looked at spud who was panting heavily and he cocked his head at me and gave me a goofy look.
I noticed that he had a shine to the hair on his back and down one leg. He had noticed this and started to lick his back leg. Whatever it was he liked it and soon fell over trying to get it off his leg and back. I reached up to wipe my head. I was sweating badly and it was running down my neck and face. I reached up to wipe my forehead and felt something sticky on my hand. I smelt my hand and then put my hand to my mouth.
Honey! Somewhere in the midst of all my running and jumping on counters I had busted a container of honey and it was all over my head. I tried to wipe it off of my head and couldn’t. There was a huge glob stuck right in the middle of my hair.
I stood up and walked over to kitchen sink. There was no reason to try because I knew the power was out. I tried anyway but nothing came out.
Spud had walked over and was licking my hand and he got that one pretty clean. I gave him the other hand and he got it clean too. I thought for a minute and got down on my knees and put my head down. After about five minutes my head was clean as a whistle. It was just a little sticky, but not worse than that stuff mom puts on it when we go to church.
I looked over the kitchen it was a wreck and I knew mom would think the coon did all the damage. This in a way is true because if he would have never been in here, we would have never had this problem.
I gave Spud a few more minutes to finish cleaning the honey off my head, arms, and hands and then we went outside and started towards the barn.
By the looks of things the barn was in pretty good shape. It had a few pieces of siding missing and the gate was off its hinges. That was probably due to Betsy and her wanting out so bad.
I made the decision that the barn was safe to enter and that all was well. I entered and found all was intact and safe. A few small repairs and it would be in good repair.
The chicken coop was still holding chickens, besides the fact that the chickens were short a few feathers. All seemed to be good here at home, but I kept thinking about the other people. You know that with all the trees down it would be a miracle if nobody suffered great damage.
I thought of Pete and his family and how his dad had been working to build a ranch. They were new to all of this and coming from the city it was different and they were making it and all seemed to go well for them.
“Tom, are you ok?” I heard mom yell.
“Yes ma’am.” I yelled as I ran toward the cellar.
I ran to where she was standing at the opening of the cellar.
“What is all over you? You look like you have taken a bath in dog slobber and honey!” She said laughing.
“Long story, but it involves a dog, a coon, and a container of honey.” I told her.
“What?” She asked.
“Long story for a later date.” I said as I changed the subject.
“House needs a good cleaning and there are no more varmints in the house. The barn looks good besides a few repairs and the chicken coop is still holding chickens.” I said as I watched her expressions.
“I am guessing that the coon you mentioned was in the house?” She asked.
“Yes ma’am.” I stopped there she didn’t need any more information than what was required.
She looked at Spud and seen the glistening on his back. She turned to me
“How did he get honey on his back?”
“It could have been when he was running through the kitchen.” I said as I scratched my toe in the dirt.
“Did all this take place in the kitchen?”
“No because the coon had to go out the front door.”
“So you just opened the front door and he went out?”
“Not exactly I couldn’t get the door open because I was trying to run away from the coon. After I threw him across the floor, he ran and jumped through the window or tried.” I should have never told her I threw th
e coon.
“What do you mean by tried?”
“The window was shut.” I said and I really wanted dad to come rescue me from this scene or she would get the whole ordeal out of me.
“Did I hear you correctly? You threw the coon across the floor!”
“Yes ma’am.” I gulped. This was not looking good.
“Take me to the house I would like to take a look.”
“Yes ma’am.” I said as I turned to go towards the house. With dad here it would not be too bad of a deal. Because, he would just laugh it off. Mom was different she wouldn’t just laugh. The house being a wreck was the first problem, but the second problem was her having to clean up the mess. We were almost to the house and that is when I heard the old truck come around the corner. I was saved.
Chapter Six – Safe and Sound
He pulled up in front of the house and stepped out of the truck.
“That was a wasted trip. I could not get very far because of all the trees. I guess I will have to take one of the horses out in a few minutes.” He walked towards the house and looked at me.
“Was there any damage inside the house?”
“Found a coon in one of the cabinets and there was probably more by the look of things. He was trapped.” I said.
“I bet that poor critter was terrified.”
I did not tell him this, but he would never know how terrified.
He walked up to the house and looked in the front door. He frowned as he looked at the mess. He walked into the house and came out about five minutes later.
“Yea they got into the honey and that is one sticky situation.”
He did not know how sticky.
“Yea and I was just about to find out how the honey got everywhere when you drove up.” Mom spoke up as she looked at me and then Spud.
“Coon’s they can tear anything apart. They could tear up a rock if they thought it had food inside. You shouldn’t have to worry about them again.” He said this as he walked around the end of the house.
“Tom are you coming with me?”
“Yes sir.” I said and very quickly followed him. I wanted to get as far away from mom as possible.
I followed dad towards the barn and he looked it over real good for flaws.
“Looks like it is in good shape besides some siding and I think Betsy just broke down the gate because she was scared.”
I had done my assessment of the house and barn, but I knew that dad would do his own. Although, he came to the same conclusion as myself it did not matter. He was the type he needed to do it himself. That is why he checked the house and barn again. I did not know why he asked me to do it if he was going to do it all over again himself. Oh, well.
We walked into the pasture that was connected to the barn and started to look for the horses. We did not see hide or hair of them and the fences were down where the trees had fell across them. I could see that what was left of my time off was going to be repairing fences. Even though they would not let me go swimming and playing with the other guys because of my fall. I knew all that was forgotten when duty calls, and by the looks of things it was calling so loud it hurt my head.
“Looks like we will have to wait until later to go look and see if everyone is ok. I would like to get the house where we could stay there tonight. After last night I do not want to be in the cellar one more night.” Dad said as he ran his hand through his hair.
I knew with the trees across the dirt road we could not drive and the horses being out of the pasture. We did not have a way of going. I could walk and go check on them. I walked to school every day but it was just a short distance and to walk towards town was another story entirely.
The school was just a community school and so it was out in the country. We were a good thirty minutes drive from town. I thought for a minute and decided that I would just wait until later when the horses came back. They would probably come back close to dark looking for us and the feed dad always put out for them.
We had walked around the corner of the house and we seen two horses coming down the road towards the house. They were not our horses because they were being ridden by two people.
They came down the long drive and rode up to us. As soon as I recognized the smaller rider I began to smile. It was chicken-hearted Pete and his dad.
They both dismounted and exchanged greetings. They said how they were happy that everyone was safe and that we had no major losses.
“As far as I can tell everyone this side of town was fortunate and did not have too much damage. Except for shingles, siding, and fences being down, we have been blessed.” George said.
Dad and George were talking back and forth about how that they would have enough fire wood for two years and how that they would be busy for a long while, with clearing roads and repairing fences.
Pete walked over to me and the first thing to come out of his mouth was, “I was so scared last night I just knew that thing was going to tear us right up out of the ground.”
I laughed to myself and replied. “I slept through most of the storm and I really don’t remember much of what happened.”
“You slept? How in the world could you sleep through something so viscous?”
“Like I do any other night and I just closed my eyes.” I replied.
“How did Spud do with the thunder?” He chuckled as he asked.
“You know how he hates the thunder. So I stayed by him most of the night.” I then told him about the long night and how that dad had gotten the bruise across his forehead. I told him about the coon incident and how that I had avoided being interrogated by mom.
He laughed so hard that he was crying and when I finished he was out of breath.
“I can see why you were not scared. You had too much going on to be scared.” He said trying to catch his breath.
“Pete, we better get going.” His dad said as he got back into the saddle.
“I will keep a lookout for your horses. If you need anything come a walking.” He turned and began to ride off.
“See you later.” Pete said as he bounced off.
“Bye, I will catch up with you later.” I said, as we waved at them.
“Tom, how would you like it if your uncle came and helped us around the ranch? I think we will need the help.” He said.
“Really, you mean it.”
“Yes, and me and your mom have already asked him anyway. He is going to move out to the ranch. He said he had to tie up some loose ends where he was living and would be here as soon as possible.
“Yippee, it is jerky time.” I yelled as loud as I could.
Uncle Clyde could make the best jerky you ever tasted and he was known for his famous jerky. Everyone even started calling him Jerky for short, but that was not totally because of his famous jerky. It was also because he was so slow. I guess because jerky takes a long time to cure and smoke.
I heard dad laughing and turned to see the sight that is going to finish this story.
Chapter Seven – Betsy in the Cellar
We had been busy since the storm was over and had forgotten that Betsy was free. Mom was cleaning the house, and me and dad were not paying much attention. We knew that she would not go far.
She had made her way to the cellar steps and was getting brave. I don’t know why she wanted to go down into the cellar. Maybe mom had something in there that she could smell.
She would ease down onto the first step and then back out as if she were frightened. Finally, she got the courage and was on the first step and then she started down following the same pattern.
Dad was laughing at this and shaking his head. I know one thing, she was not going to start going into the cellar with us. It was crowded enough with the four of us.
Then Betsy shook her horns and ran down the steps into the cellar. I looked at dad and he had a worried look and we started to run toward her. We then seen her come backing back up the steps and we stopped and watched. She got almost to the top and she took off back dow
n into the cellar. Then here she came back out again.
“Dad, I think she has gone crazy.” I said.
Then we heard the barking. I looked at dad and started laughing. She had chased Spud down into the cellar and he could not get out and she had him cornered.
Dad was laughing and we looked toward the house and Mom was on the front porch laughing. He had finally met his match and got himself cornered.
I watched as she started coming back up the cellar and she bellowed. She was backing out at high speed and something had changed this time. She came out and she had Spud clinched on the end of her nose. She was bellowing, shaking, and throwing her head. Old Spud held on until he felt was the right time to let go. He let go and slid across the ground and never stopped. He had his fill of being mouse, in this cat and mouse game.
Betsy was recovering from her recent sniffer damage when Spud hit her right in the side of the head. He latched on to an ear and there they went bucking, again. This time when he let go he sailed a few feet before he landed on the ground.
He turned and barked at Betsy and she bellowed and ran. That was great besides the fact that she ran right down into the cellar. She did not stop at the first room, no sir. She squeezed herself into the second room of the cellar.
Dad fell on the ground and was crying with laughter. He should have thought about what it was going to take to get her out and he would have quit laughing.
Spud stopped on the top step of the cellar and stared down into the cellar growling. He then turned and looked at me wagging his tail. That is when I hit him and we went rolling across the ground. What a dog.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed this book!
Below is the first chapter of
SPUD Book 3 - Blizzard
Chapter One – Uncle Clyde (A.K.A. Jerky)