by Susan Harper
“This is just awful,” Pauline moaned. “This is not going to be good for my back.”
“No, I can’t imagine so,” Kendell said as the three of them began aimlessly walking around the airport, trying to come up with a plan.
They tried using their phones to look up what sort of local attractions were still open, but it seemed that there was nothing. Everyone was gearing up for the storm, closing themselves in and boarding up their windows. “This is insane,” Jesse complained as they passed one of the airport restaurants that had a line out the door.
“So, we’re pretty much stranded here at the airport for who knows how long with no place to sleep and no food,” Kendell said. “Great. This is just great.”
“I agree,” Pauline said. “We seem to be in quite a predicament here, ladies.”
“Pardon me,” a friendly, Texan voice called behind them.
They spun around to see an old, well-built man in a flannel shirt, blue jeans, and boots. He had a long, graying beard and appeared to be chewing tobacco--something Kendell was fairly certain he wasn’t supposed to be doing in an airport, just like how Pauline was probably not supposed to have her dog with her either. Next to him was a woman near Kendell and Jesse’s age. She too was in jeans and a flannel shirt, and she looked to be related to the older man.
“Oh, hello,” Pauline said and smiled at them.
“We couldn’t help but overhear,” the old man said. “You ladies stuck?”
“Afraid so,” Jesse said. “We were headed to Peru, but all the flights in and out are on a wait that doesn’t seem to have much of an end game. And all the hotels in the area are booked up because they’ve been taking in so many locals whose homes have already flooded.”
“That’s quite a shame,” the old man said. “The floods have been going on for about a week now, and they say tonight’s storm is only going to make things worse. I imagine there is a chance the airport will lose power tonight too.”
“Well, that’s just great,” Jesse mumbled.
“I’m not one to leave some out-of-towners, particularly a group of ladies such as yourselves, stranded,” he said. “If you ladies are interested, my daughter and I are headed to our ranch. We live just a few miles outside of Dallas.”
“Why, that is awfully kind of you,” Pauline said. “What is the name of our rescuer?”
He smiled and put his hand out. “Edward Carson,” he said and shook Pauline’s hand. “Local rancher. This is my daughter Mary. She’s been out of town visiting some old friends of hers. Thankfully, she managed to get a flight in before the storms really picked up.”
Mr. Carson shook hands with each of them. The man seemed friendly enough. Kendell wasn’t sure how she felt about staying with a complete stranger, but it certainly sounded like a better option than staying at the airport when a hurricane was making its way up the Florida coast with the promise of extreme flooding in the area.
“Is your ranch going to be hit by the storm, do you think?” Kendell asked.
“It could,” Mr. Carson said. “We have a storm shelter, though, and my kids convinced me to buy a small boat to go to the lake when they were younger. Still got the hunk of junk in my barn. If it gets as bad as they say it’s going to, a man with a boat is a good person to befriend.” The old man laughed. “It’s up to you ladies, but we are leaving now before the storm hits.”
The three women exchanged nervous glances. “My ma makes an amazing supper,” Mary said. “I bet you all could use a decent meal. I saw that line at the restaurant.”
Kendell felt her stomach growl. Food did sound good. “We have a spare bed, a couch, and a cot,” the old man said. “But I’m not going to force you if you’d rather sleep on the floor here at the airport.”
“No, I think we would love to take up that offer of yours,” Pauline said, smiling. “Such a gentleman!”
Kendell and Jesse nodded in agreement. Favors from strangers were not exactly the New Yorker way, but Pauline was a little more familiar with the workings of South. She seemed confident she was reading the man well and had decided he was trustworthy. They headed outside, and Mr. Carson insisted on Mary waiting with the ladies at the curb while he ran and got his vehicle since it was raining so heavily.
Kendell smiled. She had never been in the South, but so far, she was certainly enjoying the famous chivalry’s-not-dead attitude she had heard about. The man pulled up in a beat-up old truck under the cover at the front of the hotel. He stepped out of his truck, soaking wet with a grin on his face. He opened the tailgate and smiled at Mary.
“I’m in the back, I know,” Mary said with a laugh as Mr. Carson invited Pauline to sit in the passenger’s seat.
Jesse cringed a bit, but Kendell laughed and pushed her friend toward the back of the truck. They, along with their bags, sat with Mary. Mary opened a toolbox in the truck bed and pulled out a tarp; the three younger ladies huddled together under the tarp as Mr. Carson pulled away from the airport.
The rain was already hitting them pretty hard, and the tarp did very little to shield them as the back of the truck started to fill with water. “So, where are all of you from?” Mary asked.
“Well, Kendell and I are from New York,” Jesse said. “We’re both flight attendants who foolishly thought we could actually take a vacation.”
Mary laughed. “Oh, I know how that is. This was my first time off the ranch in months.”
“Your dad said you were visiting a friend?” Kendell asked, feeling herself be jerked around a bit as they pulled onto a back road that would lead them out of the city.
“Yes,” Mary said. “An old friend from high school moved to Atlanta for work. I haven’t seen her in years.”
“That’s fun,” Kendell. “Our friend Pauline up there, she’s from Georgia.”
“A beautiful state,” Mary said. “Have you ever been?”
“Not outside of the airport,” Kendell said. “But, maybe one day.”
They continued down several old, worn-out roads. Kendell didn’t dare look out from under the tarp to enjoy the scenery. The rain was hitting them hard. She just hoped wherever they were going, they could manage to avoid some of the storm.
3
From what little Kendell saw during their sprint inside the homestead, the Carson family ranch was an enormous piece of property with a vast amount of cattle. In addition to ranching, there was also a pigpen up near the homestead and a chicken coop that, during their run, Mary said was their personal supply and not something they sold at market. The storm was already starting to pick up, but thankfully, the homestead still had power as they entered. Kendell could feel the heating system working, and she was relieved to see a large fireplace already going. It was very cozy, and she was feeling quite relieved that they had bumped into the kind Texan. There was a lot of noise inside the Carson home; there were several people working hard in the kitchen, and wonderful smells tickled Kendell’s nostrils and caused a slight pinch in her stomach. She hadn’t realized she was this hungry. Dinner had not been served on the flight, just a bag of peanuts.
“Hope we got enough to eat for three more,” Mr. Carson said as he removed his soaked hat and shoes at the door, placing his hat and coat on a large coat rack and depositing his boots on a mat. The rest followed suit, removing their shoes and anything that would soak the floors such as socks. Pauline removed a lightweight jacket that was now positively soaked. Poor Dot shivered as Pauline fetched her out of her little carrier, so Pauline held the little drenched thing tight in her arms.
They entered the enormous kitchen, and the old man came up to a woman his age and gave her a peck on the cheek. “You pick up some stragglers, Edward?” the woman asked.
“They’re out-of-towners. Got stuck at the airport,” Mr. Carson said.
“Probably a good thing you grabbed them,” the woman, whom Kendell assumed to be Mrs. Carson, said. “Just saw on the news they’re evacuating the Dallas airport because it’s starting to flood too.”
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p; “Yikes,” he said, then smiled in their direction. “Good thing you folks decided to come with me after all, huh?” He placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “This here is Cindy, my wife of nearly forty years.” Mr. Carson pointed at another older woman working in the kitchen with his wife. “And this is Mrs. Johnson. She and her husband and son own the ranch adjacent to ours. Whenever there’s a serious chance of flood, they have to drive their cattle onto our land. Their ranch sits pretty low ground, and they always wind up staying here with us until the floods recede.”
“That’s awfully kind of you,” Kendell said, smiling. She was really astounded and pleased with the generosity of this family.
“Oh, it’s not all that kind,” Mr. Carson said. “In exchange, when the weather’s too hot and my bits of creek dry up, we got to send our cattle to take up some of their plentiful water sources. We help each other out around here.”
Suddenly, they heard what sounded like shouting. It was the voice of two women coming from the back porch. “Please tell me they ain’t still here,” Mr. Carson moaned to his wife.
“Who?” Kendell asked curiously.
“Laurie and Monica,” Mr. Carson said. His wife nodded and rolled her eyes. Mr. Carson explained. “Laurie is our son’s ex-girlfriend. She came by earlier today to get some stuff she left here at the house.”
“And Monica?” Pauline asked.
Mr. Carson laughed. “A girl he knows from back in high school who has been hanging around a bit. Laurie showed up and saw her here, and the two of them have been bickering since I left to go pick Mary up this morning.”
“I always liked Monica,” Mary said. “Have her and Junior started dating since I’ve been gone or something?”
“Oh, you know your brother ain’t interested in Monica,” Mrs. Carson said. “But that ain’t stopping that pretty girl from hanging around trying to get her heart broke. Just so long as Laurie gets out of here before the storm gets too bad, but she’s taking her sweet time packing up her things just to irritate Monica and Junior.”
“Speaking of, where is Junior?” Mr. Carson asked, plopping down at the kitchen table.
“He and Mr. Johnson and his boy are out driving both herds up to the rocky planes to keep them safe from the storm,” Mrs. Carson explained. “They decided they couldn’t wait for you to get back with Mary because the roads started to flood.”
“Yeah, I noticed that on the way in,” Mr. Carson said and looked toward Kendell and her group. “I hope you ladies don’t mind if you wind up getting stuck here for a day or two. They’re saying these floods are going to be pretty bad.”
“We’re just grateful to have shelter,” Kendell said.
“Mary, why don’t you get these ladies some dry clothes to wear?” Mr. Carson suggested. “And you too. You’re soaking wet.”
“Will do, Dad,” Mary said and waved them on. “Come on upstairs, and I’ll see what I can find you.”
Kendell, Pauline, and Jesse followed Mary upstairs, where she showed them the bathroom and gathered towels so they could each take a warm shower. She also found them some dry clothes that were a little more fitting for their age. The women took turns showering, and Kendell was relieved to be granted the opportunity to use a hair dryer as well.
All four eventually returned downstairs where dinner was being set out by Mrs. Carson and Mrs. Johnson just as the front door opened, and the gentleman who had been in the middle of a cattle drive arrived home. The three men were covered in mud, and Kendell suspected they were going to need to clean up as well. “No way!” Mrs. Carson cried as they attempted to make their way inside. “Out! Out!” she said, shooing them back onto the porch while she went and fetched them dry clothes.
The men changed outside and left their muddy clothes on the porch. All three washed up a bit in the kitchen before sitting down to eat. Kendell smiled at the men. The first she assumed was Mr. Johnson, an older gentleman similar to Mr. Carson, because he sat down by the Mrs. and gave her a peck on the cheek, telling her dinner smelled great. The other two were her age, one of which she quickly picked out as Mr. Carson’s son because he looked like Mary, so the other, by default, Kendell assumed was the Johnsons’ son.
“Who are our guests?” Junior asked, smiling.
“Son, this is Pauline, Kendell, and Jesse,” Mr. Carson said. “They were trapped at the airport, so I invited them to stay.”
“A pleasure,” Junior said, and Kendell could see Jesse gushing slightly. Junior was a very handsome man, Kendell had to admit. He looked like he should be standing outside an Abercrombie and Fitch store rather than working a ranch.
“This is Mr. Johnson, the neighbor I mentioned,” Mr. Carson said, and the older man nodded politely. “And this is his son, Brenton. You all got the cattle to the caves?”
“Sure did,” Mr. Johnson said, then added teasingly, “No thanks to you.”
“Hey, Dad had to come pick me up from the airport,” Mary said.
“That’s the story he’s telling, isn’t it?” Mr. Johnson said, and the men laughed.
They heard shouting coming from the porch again, and Junior stiffened. “Is Laurie still here?”
“Go invite your girlfriends to dinner, Junior,” Brenton said, and Junior elbowed his friend in annoyance.
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” Mrs. Carson said. “Those girls are probably hungry, and maybe they’ll shut up with a little food in their mouths.” A few people laughed at the comment.
Junior reluctantly stood and walked toward the door leading to the porch. He raised his voice ever-so-slightly to get the women’s attention, then he led them inside. “Did you get all your stuff packed, Laurie?” Junior asked the woman with the fake red hair.
She crossed her arms. “Yeah,” she said. “And thanks for the dinner invite, but I think I’m going to just go.”
“Honey, you ain’t going to make it off the property in this storm,” Mr. Johnson said. “The road’s already flooded. You’re stuck here like the rest of us.”
Laurie looked horrified. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“You’re staying here,” Junior said. “Sorry, Laurie.”
“Great,” she moaned and made her way over to the table. She took a deep breath. “Thank you for inviting me to join you for dinner, Mrs. Carson.”
“Of course, Laurie,” Mrs. Carson said. “You and Junior may be broken up, but I ain’t about to let you starve.”
“Thanks,” she said under her breath.
Monica was close by Junior, all smiles as she talked to him and seemingly followed him around like a lost puppy dog. Kendell smiled slightly to herself in amusement. Junior seemed very uninterested in either of the women. He sat down, and of course Monica sat beside him. Junior suddenly whistled, and Kendell heard the pitter patter of little feet. She glanced over her shoulder to see that a large, black and white dog with graying fur had been asleep on the coach. Junior threw some food on a plate that he put under the table.
“Aww, what a cute dog!” Jesse exclaimed.
“Yeah, that’s Bo,” Junior said. “Been around here almost as long as I have.”
Dot, who was by Pauline’s feet, noticed Bo. Bo noticed Dot. Neither seemed to worry too much about the other while there was food on the table.
“Now,” Mr. Carson said, smiling in Kendell and Jesse’s direction. “I don’t know how you folks do supper up in New York, but here in Texas, we pray first.”
Kendell nodded and smiled as everyone took one another’s hands and bowed their heads. “Holy and gracious Father, we thank you for this meal. We ask you to bless the hands that prepared it. We pray over this storm that you will keep your people safe from harm, and we thank you for the company we have this evening. We pray over this food. May you bless it for nourishment of our bodies. In Jesus’s name, and all his people said…”
“Amen,” the group said, releasing one another’s hands before excitedly digging into the dinner Mrs. Carson and Mrs. Johnson had prepared for them.
4
Kendell felt absolutely full only halfway through supper. The Carsons and the Johnsons most certainly knew how to cook a hearty meal. There was a whole goose sitting on that table that acted as the main course. There was also freshly made mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, squash casserole, steamed broccoli and carrots, and that was just the beginning. Kendell felt that every time she started to clear some room on her plate, another dish would be passed in her direction and someone would plop a spoonful of something down on her plate for her.
And, of course, every last bit of it was delicious. Once everyone had had their fill, Mrs. Carson shooed the men upstairs to get cleaned up. With the exception of her husband, they were all still pretty filthy from chasing the cattle to safety. She sent her husband away as well, telling him to change into some dryer clothes as he had not hurried off with Kendell and the others when they had first arrived but had instead remained to help the women in the kitchen. So, it was just the ladies left downstairs for a while to do cleanup duty.
After Pauline helped moved all the dishes off the table and onto the kitchen counter, Mrs. Carson sent the older woman to go sit by the fire. Pauline insisted, but Mrs. Carson insisted harder. “Sweet girl,” Pauline said, making her way over to the fire where she put her feet up. Both Bo and Dot decided to curl up in the big chair with her, much to the old woman’s delight.
Kendell and Monica helped Mrs. Carson dump what few leftovers they had into some Tupperware containers for later while Jesse and Laurie helped Mary with the dishes. Mrs. Johnson too was sent off by Mrs. Carson to go put her feet up as the woman had been on her feet since arriving at the ranch, helping prepare supper. Soon, the kitchen was completely spotless, and all the women settled down in the living room either on the floor or squished together on the sofa. One by one, the men trickled downstairs after having showered and changed.
When Junior came downstairs, he had with him a few board games, and Bo jumped up and ran to sit by him on the floor. “Aww, I lost my seat warmer,” Pauline teased, and Junior laughed from the floor.