by Lisa Prysock
Logan stood up in surprise and spotted a trail of baby rabbits on the floor as one hopped onto a chair across from his desk, a very expensive genuine leather chair. The larger rabbit on his desk froze when he stood. He quickly scooped the rabbit up and tucked it under his arm, then strode out into the foyer. He turned left to find Jill, Mrs. Wright, or someone—anyone who might know why a family of rabbits was hopping around in his office. Why was he the last one to know about things on his ranch?
He took a few steps down from the spacious foyer area into the sunken living room and discovered a very tall goose sticking its neck up even further to peer at him. Behind the goose, a llama hovered in the distance, blinking at him. This time, Logan was the one who froze. The goose honked at him loudly and flapped his wings with a wide wingspan. What on earth?
“Jill!” Logan bellowed. However, no one answered, and he doubted she could hear him unless she was somewhere on the first floor. “Mrs. Wright!” She didn’t answer either, and his hollering had only aggravated the goose, as it honked more loudly at him. The goose likely considered him to have invaded its space. He didn’t know why a goose was inside the living room, but he intended to find out—if he could get past the feathered foe.
He took a cautious step forward, and the goose honked again and moved a step forward. He stepped to the right toward the staircase, and the goose stepped to the right, effectively blocking his path. Logan had to outsmart the goose. He looked at the sofa a little further to his right. Clearly, he wasn’t going to be able to step forward with the goose playing a game of block with him. He pulled the rabbit a little closer under his arm as the enemy observed him and honked again for good measure. Logan tilted his chin, and quickly spun right and made a running leap onto the sofa. The rabbit wiggled under his arm to let him know he wasn’t happy about that last move, but now he was only the length of the sofa and a few more feet away from the base of the staircase. Okay, maybe five feet more.
The goose advanced to the sofa, flapping its wings and honking aggressively. He’d been pretty good at the long jump in high school, and he was now standing on top of the sofa, so he had height working in his favor. He pulled the now frisky rabbit in close again, tightening his hold, and ran across the seat cushions on the sofa, his cowboy boots sinking more than he’d hoped with each step. The goose matched his distance from on the floor, honking. When he stopped at the other end of the sofa, the goose pecked at the tips of his boots.
“Shoo!” he hollered as loud as he could. The goose only honked again, but it did step back about an inch.
He stepped up onto the sofa arm, and bending his knees, took a flying leap through the air, yelling “Yeehawww” as he did. Logan landed at the foot of the staircase in the hallway surrounding the sunken living room, his boots skidding to the first step. He hurried up the staircase, the goose on his heels, only to come face-to-face with three baby goats scattered across the top two steps, blocking his escape. He was twenty feet from his own living room door in their private quarters. “Jill!” He hollered again.
Aunt Meredith opened the double doors leading into his living room. “Logan, is that you? Hush, you’ll wake the baby.”
“YOU BOUGHT A PETTING zoo?” Logan stared at Jill as if she’d lost her mind as he attempted to herd the baby goats through the kitchen. He’d finally managed to make it inside their private living quarters and called his wife on Aunt Meredith’s cell, since he’d left his in the office. She’d been out on the ranch looking for the three culprits who’d let the animals out of the cages. He found the kids on the deck, and she returned to the main house shortly thereafter. It had taken all five of them to round up the animals.
“Honey, do you have any idea how much we pay these traveling ones to bring their critters out here and spend a week or a few days with our guests?” Jill planted her hands on her hips from the French doors leading out onto the side deck.
“I’m a little afraid to ask, but how much did you spend?” He held two baby bunnies, one in each hand, and managed to effectively block a goat from turning around and leaping over his cowboy boot back toward the living room when he stuck one leg out.
“It was a steal at three-hundred dollars.” Jill opened the French doors and the goats ran out onto the deck. Savannah and Riley began herding them toward a cage.
“Is something wrong with the animals? That’s extraordinarily low.” Logan hurried through the doors she held open. “Which cage for the bunnies?”
“This one, Dad,” Micah grinned, holding one of the cages open.
“Someone round up those goats, please.” Logan shoved the rabbits in the cage and then withdrew his hands quickly. Micah shut the door and smiled up at him. He turned around to help with the goats and they were gone. “Oh, I see you have the goats where they belong, kids. Good job.”
“Nothing is wrong with the animals.” Jill picked up a baby chicken and handed it to Riley. “Thanks, Riley. Just put it in the portable coop and close the door so it can’t escape.”
Riley laughed and giggled all the way to the coop, her chubby little hands wrapped around the baby chick.
Logan looked sternly at his youngest two. “Savannah and Micah, Riley is our guest, but you two know better than to leave cage doors open for any animals.”
“We’re sorry, Dad.” Savannah looked up at Logan with the most innocent, sweet look. How could he be angry with any of them?
“Yeah, we’re sorry. We won’t let it happen again,” Micah assured him.
“I think that was the last animal from inside the house.” Logan relaxed a little. He stepped over toward Jill and sighed. “So as you were saying, the man selling the zoo sold his couple of acres and a house in the country to go live in an apartment somewhere in Cheyenne.”
“Yep. He’s retired now and they won’t let him house the animals in the city in an apartment complex. However, in addition to the cages for each animal, well except for the zebra, the pony, the cow, the donkey, and the horse, which are all tied to the hitching post by the barns at present, he left us all the extra food for each animal, too. He had some fenced in areas and a barn for all of them on his property before it sold.”
Logan laughed and spit out the bottled water he was drinking. “There’s a zebra?”
Jill shrugged. “Yeah, it’s really sweet.”
“So tell me again why you decided to put all the cages on our deck?” Logan ran a hand through his hair. He was starting to get a little exasperated.
“Well, a couple of reasons, really.” Jill stepped around in front of him to block his view of the children leaning down to talk to something which began to bristle inside one of the larger cages. “First of all, I wanted to think of the right spot to keep the zoo. Secondly, we have to begin caring for them immediately. I thought this would give us a chance to look them over and get to know the animals and their needs before we move them, but I forgot about the dance tonight which we usually have on the deck.”
He leaned his head over to see what the children were doing. He didn’t want them getting bit by one of these animals, especially Riley. The last thing they needed was a liability issue with the state of Wyoming. The animal in the cage began to shake a little and shimmer until some colorful feathers began to fan out from its body. “Is that a peacock?”
Jill nodded. “It is.”
“What else do we have?” Logan looked around at the other cages, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
“Well, let’s see now. In addition to the larger animals I mentioned, there’s a giant tortoise, an alpaca, a duck family, some piglets, a potbelly pig, a guinea pig, the chickens, a turkey, a couple of baby deer, the rabbits, the llama, the three geese, the baby lambs and two sheep, two peacocks, two billy goats, and the baby goats.”
“Hmm, seems like a really nice petting zoo, if they are well-cared for and contained properly. That goose can be hostile.” Logan calmed some as he surveyed the situation. At least the cages were in excellent condition. “Well, what are we going to do? We�
�ve got to move them before Corky and Mrs. Wright return to start dinner and the country western band sets up for tonight. And who’s going to take care of all of these animals?”
“I thought it would be good for the kids to have some more chores, including taking care of the petting zoo animals. Oh, and the two part-time kitchen helpers for Mrs. Wright have been asking for more hours. I spoke to them, and they’re willing to take turns helping with the zoo, but we’ll need all the help with it we can get. As far as moving the zoo off the deck,” Jill paused from looking around at the animals and peered up at him, “where do you think we should put the zoo? I don’t have a preference as long as it isn’t too far from the main house so the children can tend it. I’m more worried about my mom being on the back of a motorcycle with some Bruce Willis dude trying to chase down the guy who stole her money and passport in Paris.”
“Say what?” Logan turned to her and placed his hands comfortingly around each of her shoulders. She was talking a mile a minute. “Slow down, honey. Let’s start at the beginning.”
Chapter 15
“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson.
TRISHA FINISHED ADDING some eyeshadow to her eyelids and began applying an eyebrow pencil to her brows, seated at the vanity near the window where the morning sunlight made it easier to prepare for the day ahead. She heard her sister stirring and a glance in the mirror revealed Anastasia yawning from behind her. “Ah, you’re awake. Finally a chance to chat with you.”
“Morning.” Anastasia sat up, but she sank back into the pillows, her eyes remaining barely open.
“Morning. How was the drive?” Trisha finished one brow and carefully began the other.
“It was fabulous. We put the top down part of the way and sang songs under the stars. How was your drive and the movie?” Anastasia mumbled as she talked, but she was beginning to sound a little more chipper.
“We stopped for dinner at a great fondue restaurant on the way. It was really romantic.” Trisha smiled, remembering how Landon had been a perfect gentleman. He’d paid for the meal and opened her car door. “The movie was wonderful. We started watching the movie series based on the Janette Oke books, Love Comes Softly. Heartwarming, pioneer stuff.”
“That’s one of my absolutely favorite, favorite movies of all time. So he’s the one who brought the flowers that are in the vase by the front door?” Anastasia’s eyes grew wide and she smiled. Trisha could see that much from the mirror when she finished her brows and reached for a little shimmery, pink blush for her cheeks.
“Yes, he gave me the flowers when he picked me up in his pick-up truck.” Now she only needed a little lip gloss.
“Well, how do you like Landon?” Her sister sat straight up, waiting for an answer.
Trisha stood up and twirled around on her bare feet until she reached her shoes, the skirt to her fuchsia summer dress flaring out as she spun around. “I’m absolutely, completely, almost, madly in love.”
“How can you be absolutely, completely, almost madly in love?” Anastasia giggled.
“I don’t know,” she laughed. “I just am. I mean, we’re still getting to know each other.” Then she stopped twirling and tilted her chin slightly, bending down to retrieve her options in footwear for the day from the shoes she’d placed on the floor of the closet. She held up a pair of cowboy boots in one hand and sandals in another. She had her reservations about Landon not being a believer, but Anastasia and the rest of her family would eat her alive if they thought she’d even consider someone with little to no faith at all in Jesus. Hadn’t she always been the one to warn her little sister to steer clear of men who didn’t have an obvious, strong belief in the living God? She decided it was best to keep quiet and give him a little more time.
Anyhow, she had a feeling way down deep in her heart of hearts that he was going to come around to finding the truth and peace her family knew. He simply needed a little more time, as did their relationship. Everything was still so new and they were at the very beginning of things. He seemed as though he was sorting things out, on the very edge or brink of discovering eternal salvation. He’d been through enough turmoil in recent years to make anyone wonder about their faith commitment. His father had been killed instantly in a tractor accident and his wife had walked out on him, running off with some other fella. Then, before any of it could be resolved, she’d been hit by a drunk driver and passed away. All he had left was his mother, an aunt in Texas, and a cousin.
“So you really like him?” Anastasia prodded.
“Well, we’re still learning about each other. He’s the strong, silent type. We’re taking it slow and enjoying the process, one day at a time.”
She finally decided to wear her fuchsia strappy sandals and did her best to hide behind a contented, pasted on smile. In truth, she felt more than a little ambivalence. “I’m still praying about him, about us, but for now, I feel completely awestruck.” She tried her best to put it all into words as she sat down on the vanity bench to slip into her shoes.
“Well, guard your heart, Trish. I’m glad to hear you’re taking it slow.” This time, her baby sister was giving her the good advice.
“Will do. So what about Jed? Are you two in love?” Trisha chuckled as she pinned back some of her hair at the crown in a barrette.
“No, we’re just friends.” Anastasia yawned. “I am so sleepy this morning.”
Trisha stood up to check her appearance from head to toe in the long, oval mirror in the corner near the vanity. “Just friends, huh? He seems super nice. I recommend you all go canoeing somewhere today, maybe up to Leigh Lake, or even a little further to Jackson Lake? Maybe take in some hiking? Leigh Lake even has a little beach. Great fishing, too. I’m probably going to be working late. I was thinking tomorrow we could go on one of those half-day wildlife safari excursions? Maybe Jennifer and Curtis would want to bring the kids along and join us on the safari. Perhaps we could have a cookout for dinner before we have to get on the road. I think the kids would love it.”
“Okay, I’ll see if the guys agree. They might like fishing and canoeing. I’ll text you later. I’m going back to sleep for a couple of hours. Then I’m going to have my devotions and breakfast. You look nice in fuchsia pink, by the way. It’s your color. Looks great with your brown hair and blue eyes.” Anastasia yawned again and sank back into her pillows. “I guess Landon is letting you drive his truck to work. That sounds kinda serious to me, a guy letting you drive his truck somewhere.”
Trish held up the keys and dangled them, a coy grin on her face. “I suppose so.” Nothing could dampen her mood. Landon was the nicest guy she’d ever known. He was confident, highly successful, compassionate, and far beyond good looking. He was truly handsome. He just needed a life changing encounter to ignite his faith and a lot of tender loving care. “Have a nice time today. Get some rest. I’ll see ya later.”
IN ANASTASIA’S OPINION, canoeing at Leigh Lake in Teton National Park turned out to be a fantastic experience for them after a delicious breakfast and a brief introduction to her other sister’s rambunctious, fun-loving family. Since Jennifer had to drive the kids to their swim lessons, flag football, and tap dancing lessons, she and her husband, Curtis, had a full day ahead with the kids. However, they looked forward to the idea of church and a wildlife safari excursion followed by a cookout on Sunday. Happy to hear of their idea to go canoeing, Anastasia’s brother-in-law outfitted them with fishing gear and pointed them in the direction of a canoe rental and bait shop. Everyone agreed to meet up later for dinner and movies.
The lake, situated north of Jackson by less than an hour’s drive, turned out to be a serene basin nestled among pristine mountains. Formed by glaciers which had melted from the Grand Teton Mountains surrounding them in nearly every direction, the lake was a hidden gem.
Anastasia sat in the middle of the canoe, Landon and Jed on either end. When they found a spot they liked, they wasted
no time applying spinner baits and salmon eggs before casting their lines into the deep lake. Leigh Lake contained plenty of trout, and the guys had talked of little else since leaving the driveway leading to the little barn-shaped house tucked behind her sister’s home.
She cast her line out somewhere between theirs, and applied plenty of sunblock on her arms, the tip of her nose, knees, and legs since she was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, tank top, and khaki shorts. “Jed, you don’t mind keeping an eye on my line while I read, do you?” She admired their enthusiasm, but her absolute favorite thing to do on a boat was reading a good book while basking in the sunshine.
Jed eyed her fishing line out in the water and then the book in her hands. She braced herself for heckling from him and Landon, but was pleasantly surprised when he simply replied, “Gotcha covered.”
A little while later, he reached over and nudged her. “Look over there, guys.” She and Landon looked toward the sandy beach where he pointed, delighted to see a beautiful deer staring back at them, partially emerged from the tree line.
Anastasia was able to snap a few photos of the deer without making any noise, and even happier to capture photos of Jed catching the first fish, a five pound trout about twenty inches long. Landon caught the next one a little while later, a huge grin on his face.
“Trish is going to love these.” She snapped a few more photos of Landon holding up his prize. Then she texted one of the photos to her sister with the words, having a great time, hoping it would go through. She wasn’t sure about the cell phone service in the area. Miraculously, the text went through.