by A. J. Wells
After an early breakfast, I meet Maria at the office and we start painting. Then we have to break for lunch and let the stripes dry. Two hours later we come back the paint’s dry, but it’s not cured enough to re-tape so we can paint the other stripes. Steve and Bob show up with Penny and Shay and with fans. We turn them on and go to look at the site of the new park.
Only the roads are cleared, but we walk around the area. Bob and Steve are making notes on a pad for recommendations. They take out waders so they can cross the creek to check on the other side. We sit and toss rocks into the water ‘til they get back. They come back saying the place will be beautiful with spring flowers with no up keep necessary, if the clearing is done right. They’re going to recommend a landscaper get involved so that the good flowers and bushes are saved. There’s a lotta of cactus, too. It’ll be very colorful. They don’t know how they missed this as kids. They were all over the area playing Cowboys and Indians. Well, we need to check on the paint so we leave.
We stop at the hardware store to check the time for the paint to cure before we can put tape on it so we can paint the other stripes. They sell us some tape that will do the job on new, dry paint. We do back to finish the work. When we’re through, we go to the “Barn” for supper and meet Mom and Dad and Miss Lili and Glen.
“Thought we’d find ya here. What’d ya think about the new park area? We just came from there and think it’ll be nice.” Miss Lili rarely beats around the bush, preferring to walk right through it, figuratively speaking, of course.
The only pause in the conversation about the park at dinner is when we order or we have our mouths full. Everyone likes the ideas that are explored there and the diners around us get in on the conversation, too. Soon we have a town meeting going on. The Mayor and his family are there for dinner and soon the word has spread ‘til there’s standing room only. Everyone loves the idea and has some suggestions. A playground for the kids is mentioned, but we’re not sure there’s room for it on the stretch of creek that’s being considered, but it’ll be looked into. Soon the Mayor tells everyone to put the suggestions into the box and where it’s located, so the “Barn” can close. We’ve been here a long time.
Steve and I go back to the clinic and I show him around. He likes the new paint. We take the tape off the walls and move the furniture back into the room. We let the boarders out and watch them.
Steve comes over to put his arms around me. “Yolanda went into the nursing home today. Penny will be sleeping in the room next to ours ‘til her mother’s better. Miss Lili and Glen want us to sign as alternates so they and we have guardianship of Penny. If we don’t she’ll go to a foster home. What do ya think?”
I’m quiet for a few minutes, “I guess we don’t have much choice. I don’t want to see Penny put in a foster home. She’s already too mature for her age. She needs some time to be a kid. I would like to see her put in a pre-school, just to see what she needs in terms of education.”
Steve nods, turns me and kisses me. “What are ya doing New Year’s Eve?”
“I hope to be spending it with someone I love, why?”
“You love me,” he says grinning. “Will ya spend it with me?”
“A little sure of yourself, aren’t ya? But I thought you’d never ask.” We put the dogs away and go home.
Penny doesn’t sleep well. So I spend most of the night in her room. The next morning we talk to Miss Lili about the nursing home. Miss Lili says they’ll go see Yolanda today, but because she’s so far away they can’t take Penny there everyday, but they’ll go twice a week. Penny’s upset, but she understands. She can call everyday if she wants to, Miss Lili says and she feels better.
When Penny goes upstairs, I tell Miss Lili I’d like Penny to go to a pre-school for an evaluation and to learn anything she doesn’t know. Maybe, she’ll get away from being her mother’s keeper, a bit. Miss Lili looks at me like I don’t understand Penny’s situation. “Miss Lili, she’s four years old. She can shop, cook, clean and nurse her mother. She can tell ya what her mother would like better than she can tell ya what she would like. It’s time things lightened up on her and she became a kid again, don’t ya think?” Miss Lili nods.
The men come in and Miss Lili tells them she and Glen are taking Penny to see her mother and the other things that we’ve discussed. They all nod and believe it’s a good course of action. Penny comes down ready to go, but Glen has to change clothes then they’re gone.
I ask where Maria is and Bob says she’s at the “station” letting the dogs out. I leave to join her and the guys follow. We decide we’ll go riding and be back by five. The guys want to spend time with their horses.
Mom and Dad are glad to see us. Dad has some work to do in the pasture so we talk Mom into riding out with us. The ride is nice, but when Dad has work to do, it’s not a leisurely ride. The men finish repairing the hole in the fence and we, women, get the stray cattle back on the right side of it.
Shay loves herding the cattle back where they belong. He’s hollering and whipping his hat over his head. He’s riding with Maria, who’s dodging the hat and holding the horse from taking off from Shay’s kicking. Bob comes over to take the big, little, cowboy with him. Bob’s going a little fast, but he’s hanging onto Shay and Shay’s loving it. Maria’s having a heart attack, but knows Shay’s safe. The rest of us are working the herd, too. Mom’s almost as bad as Shay is. Mom hollers at Dad, there’s a calf in a ravine and can’t get out, she’s goin’ after it.
I go with her to cover her. We’re herding the calf out when the howling starts right on our heels. The rest of them hear the howling and come running. Shay’s handed off to Maria and told to stay with the herd and keep them in check if she can. They’re getting skittish from the howls. Bob doesn’t go into the ravine, staying where he can see Maria. Mom and I don’t leave the calf, but we can’t get off to get the calf onto a horse to get outta there either. Dad and Steve come at us in full gallop and past us. They’re swinging their ropes to scatter the coyotes. We still can’t get off our horses to get the calf. I lean over Izzie’s side to drop my rope loop over the calf’s head to hurry it up and lead it out. Dad and Steve are in danger and we need to get outta here, the ravine is too narrow to move in. I notice Bob watching from the edge and holler at him to “catch.” I throw him the rope so he can get the calf out and we can ride faster and, hopefully, away from the coyotes. Bob catches the rope and starts hauling the calf up the side while Mom and I kick our horses up to full gallop. We’re out by the time Bob gets the calf to the top. He’s off his horse to get the calf across his saddle, because the calf couldn’t breathe, the rope had tightened around its neck during the trip up the side of the ditch. Bob’s back on his horse in record time and he hollers to get outta there. He doesn’t leave ‘til Dad and Steve are outta the ravine.
Mom and I have already joined Maria to help her control the herd. We look to see Dad and Steve shoot outta the ditch, coyotes right behind them. Mom and I kick the herd up and run them into the fenced area, Maria and Shay staying with us. Bob’s riding across the pack of coyotes, whipping the end of my rope through them. Steve and Dad turn and do the same to give us time to get further away.
We hear yelps, growls and howls behind us and once we’re inside the fence, we turn. I grab Maria’s rope and Mom has hers ready. I tell Maria go to the middle of the herd and stay with them. Mom and I go back to help whip the coyotes back. When we have them running the other way we stand and watch. You can’t turn and run or they’ll be back on ya.
Bob takes the calf to the herd and puts it down. We join him and Maria. Dad says the coyotes aren’t gonna take the whipping lightly. When we leave here we need to ride hard for the house to be safe. Bob takes Shay and we herd the cattle closer to the house. When we leave the herd we ride hard and fast, Maria, Bob and Shay at the front and ropes ready. We hear growls and bushes rustling as we ride, but no attacks.
We get home and Dad stops at the house first, to get his rifles and pist
ols. If the coyotes followed us home, he wants to be prepared. He hands me, Mom and Steve a rifle, he and Bob have his pistols. Maria and Shay are sent to my house and we have to rest a few minutes before we can tend the horses.
Brad, Dad’s foreman, comes running out with a rifle. “I heard you comin’. The howlin’ was too close for comfort. Y’all okay?”
“Haven’t had a chance to find out. We’re gonna have to call a hunt. The pack was about twenty strong this time. The cattle aren’t safe and neither is a human. A calf was being stalked and when Lucy went after it they objected. We had to fight them in a draw to get Lucy and Sher out.”
We start looking each other over. Steve, Dad and Bob have tears in their jeans around their boots. Mom and I have tears, too, but we aren’t wearing boots. We pull the pant leg up to find a few scratches. We go in to clean them up and put alcohol on them. We don’t mention them to the guys yet. They’re busy watching for coyotes and talking about the hunt. After half an hour we decide we can disarm and go about our business. As we come out of the barn we hear a snarl and Dad turns to shoot a coyote. There’s another one coming around my house. Steve gets it and Bob gets one coming down the side of the barn. Dad runs back into the barn he’s shutting the doors and windows on it. We hear a shot in the barn and Brad goes running in to see Dad dragging a coyote out of a stall. Bob runs for my house to check on Maria and Shay. A coyote meets him on the porch and Bob shoots it and darts in the door.
As we walk passed my house I see another one at the side of it and shoot it. Mom and I are walking toward her back door watching as we go. Mom shoots one coming from her garden by the barn. We make it inside, but don’t go very far because Steve is still in the open waiting for Dad and Brad. Mom yells, “To your right.” Steve gets the one that was sneaking around the barn from Mom’s garden. Dad and Brad come out of the barn and the three of them walk back to back to the house.
Once inside, Dad starts calling neighbors to arrange the hunt. In the next two hours we have ten trucks and horse trailers in the yard. We managed to get Maria, Shay and Bob over from my house. We’ve had dinner and now we’re making coffee as quickly as we can. Mom’s packing coffee, coffee pot, jerky and water into bags to throw over the back of a horse for the hunt.
We hear the horses in the horse trailers acting up and the guys go out the door slowly and shoot any eyes they spot. The coyotes are scouting the horse trailers. They move toward the trailers shooting when they need to. A horse starts squealing and kicking in a trailer. A coyote has gotten into it and is attacking the horse. Steve’s closest so he shoots the coyote as soon as he can get a clear shot. I know the sound, and grab the first aid kit in the house, but when I tried to get out the door, Mom and Maria stop me. A few more shots and the horses calm down.
When the men come back in they seem to think the hunt isn’t necessary. But they’ll wait here ‘til morning, then ride out. It’s dark and too dangerous to go out tonight. We leave the men to decide what they want to do.
Maria, Shay and I go up to bed, Maria in the guest room and me in my room. Shay’s been great about the siege. He was playing with Princess most of the time. When Princess wanted out, Mom put down a puppy pad for her. Steve joins me a little later.
Twice during the night the men were roused to go out to protect the horses. They decided then that at day break they would start out, hoping to get the pack finished off before they get too far away. Mom wakes me and Maria to help with breakfast, before the men go out hunting.
We hear sporadic gun fire for four hours then nothing. The men don’t come back ‘til lunch. The count was thirty five dead coyotes. Steve takes me out to the horse that was attacked by the coyote and I take a look at it. It has a few deep bites and scratches. I take a look at the coyote, checking its mouth and its build. Its ribs are apparent. The hunting must not be good enough to support a pack that big. I’m hoping it’s not diseased, but I can’t tell ‘til I get it to the clinic. I can run some tests, but I have to send it off to Waco to check for Rabies. In the mean time, I need to treat the horse for infection.
I find the horse’s owner and have it moved to the barn for treatment. I keep a lotta medicines in the tack room. Steve and Jim, the horse’s owner, help me keep the horse calm while I clean the wounds and salve them. That’s about all I can do. I give Jim the tube of salve and tell him to keep it clean. Riding is out of the question ‘til the wound is healed. I give the horse an antibiotic, to be safe. The horse can be left in the barn for now. I’ll want to check it and maybe take some blood before he takes it home.
We go back to the house and I take Princess out on a leash, Steve and a rifle with us. Suddenly, Princess growls and her hackles go up. I don’t see anything and she looking toward a coyote body. Then the body moves, “Steve, it’s not dead.” Steve shoots it again and we go in. Dad, Brad, Bob and Steve go out checking the bodies again and we hear a few shots. After a nap and lunch the men decide to go out again.
They’re gone ‘til about six. They didn’t find anything fresh or any coyotes willing to show their fangs. They’re going to call it a day, but if the coyotes show up again we’re to call and they’ll come back to finish it off, New Year’s Eve or not. They all load up and leave.
Steve calls Miss Lili to tell her we’ll be home tomorrow and why. We don’t want to leave Mom and Dad alone with the coyotes acting the way they are. Miss Lili understands and wishes all a Happy New Year and invites us all to dinner tomorrow.
The night is quiet and we sleep well. In the morning, after breakfast, we go out to bury the coyotes. Dad gets out his back hoe and digs the hole a mile from the house. He doesn’t want to jeopardize the well water. The guys help him get the bodies there and fill in the hole.
While they’re doing that Maria and I go to my place to get a shower and clean clothes. Steve goes over for the same reason. Bob has to wait ‘til they get home for that luxury. Maria and I are close enough in size I could offer her a change. Mom gives Shay a tee shirt to wear while she washes his clothes and Maria gives him a bath. Steve brought over a shirt for Bob so Maria and Shay could ride home in the same truck.
Steve and I go to the “layover” to find Miss Lili and Glen taking care of the guests and the kennel. We step in to finish the job. Miss Lili wants to see the clinic now it’s painted and decides she likes it. When they hadn’t seen or heard from us they’d taken care of the guests last night, too. I thank her and Glen, but she says she’s a partner in this so she doesn’t need thanks.
The other three went to Maria’s for a change of clothes and Bob got a shower. Then we all meet at Miss Lili’s. Mom and Dad are a few minutes behind us. Dad wanted to check the horses before he left and he wants to be home before dark. They apologize to Miss Lili because they brought Princess with them this time. Miss Lili looks at the brood of dogs, laughs and says one more won’t make a difference.
We, women, help Miss Lili with dinner, but Miss Lili insists we sit so she can hear the stories of the coyote siege. She doesn’t want to be left out.
We have dinner and announce our wedding dates. Everybody’s happy about the dates and figure if we work full time on them we can be ready. And now the real stress begins.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
ith friends