So there we were, fifty feet below the road in scorching heat, trying to fix what we could on the horse before we tried to haul him up. He had been tranquilized so his injuries that needed immediate attention could be taken care of, but there was still a matter of getting him out of the mess he’d fallen into. The only way we could do it was to get a big sling around him, and pull him up towards the trail and then up to the road.
His rear leg was broken and we had temporarily stabilized it. He had tried to get himself out of the mess several times, which is why we had to administer something to calm him down. That feistiness in him alone clearly showed us that he had a fighting spirit to him. Besides the open gashes that were most likely from hitting some of the sticks and branches on the way down, the broken leg was the only thing holding him back.
Well, that and the horrendous climb upward.
“I hear Dave,” Jack said.
I could hear the truck approaching as well and nodded my head.
Jack stood and looked up the hill, waiting for Dave to appear at the edge of the road. When he did, Jack said, “Whatcha got for us?”
“If you can manage to sling him, we’ll take care of the rest!”
“We’ve got a harry mess down here to work in!” Jack shouted back, turning toward me.
Half of me was immersed in shrubbery at the moment, even though we’d cut back as much as we could to get at Born To Be Wild. But he seemed to have gradually slid a few more feet down the hill since we first started working on him, and that had pushed me even deeper into the underbrush.
I glanced up at Dave and saw that he not only had Heath with him, but he also had Ben. I wasn’t sure what to think about that and Austin’s advice to stay away from him seemed to echo in my head.
However, we had a job to do, and even though Dave and Heath were probably both capable of helping us out, I decided to go for the younger brawn.
“Can you send Ben down here to help us sling him?” I hollered up at them.
They all looked at each other and agreed, so while Ben carefully made his way down the hill—not even sliding on his butt and grabbing what he could like Jack and I had done—I finished up the last few stitches in the horse’s side and tried to bandage it the best I could. I wasn’t able to wrap him at the time since we couldn’t even get under the horse, so I hoped it would do for the time being.
I was sweating profusely, as was Jack. His face and arms were also dirty, and I could only imagine that I looked the same. Thankfully we were in a lot of shade, but the heat seemed to be stagnant within the woods we were in and I was dying for some moving air. We’d both already guzzled down a few bottles of water during the hour we’d been down there, but I was about ready for another one, just to dump over my head.
“What do you want me to do?” Ben asked me while Jack was waiting for Dave to toss down the equipment.
“Well, you’re gonna have to lift a horse a bit off the ground,” I told him. “You feeling manly today?”
He smiled with a shrug. “Sure, why not.” Then he seemed to recognize me from a couple of nights ago. “Hey, you’re Austin’s girlfriend, right?”
Jack joined me with the sling so I just replied, “Yep,” and focused on what we were about to do.
“Here, start at the shoulders,” Jack instructed me. “Ben, help me with the rest on this end.”
So the three of us worked at getting the sling around the horse’s mid-section. It was a struggle trying to inch it under the twelve hundred pound animal, especially while we still seemed to be getting deeper into all the wooded undergrowth. I found myself almost trapped against some of it halfway through our progress, and Ben offered me his hand so I could be pulled out of it. He pulled me forward so I could step over the horse, and the first thing I thought about was Austin grabbing my hand before I could shake Ben’s the other night. But I guess Austin’s wishes for me to stay away from Ben were no longer relevant at the moment, and there was nothing I could do about that.
“Give it a try so we can test it out!” Jack yelled to Dave. “Very slow, though!”
A few seconds later the truck’s engine roared to life, and then a few seconds after that, the ropes and the sling began to slowly tighten. Born To Be Wild inched up the hill just a little, and after he’d traveled another foot, Jack hollered, “Okay, hang on!”
Heath made a motion to Dave and the truck stopped. “We’re gonna hook it up to the tractor now, okay?” Heath said. “We got a few more guys on the way to take care of the rest, so you guys can come up now!”
The owner of the horse, Greg, and two other people were still up on the road observing. Greg barely offered to help with much, but I was surprised he hadn’t just left us there on our own. Jack didn’t have anything good to say about the man. He’d done work for him before and Jack didn’t really care for the guy. While we were stitching up Born To Be Wild, Jack joked about making Greg sign a contract to keep the horse before we actually got him up in one piece, and when Dave arrived, he actually had him write one up really quick for Greg to sign.
“Okay,” Jack said with a deep breath, looking at me. “Now we just gotta figure out how to get back up, huh?”
“Oh, where’s your sense of adventure, Jack?” I asked, starting to pack up the rest of our medical equipment. “You want a piggy-back ride?”
He laughed. “Maybe.”
“Heads up,” Dave said, tossing a rope down.
“See?” I smiled at Jack, slinging one of the packs over my shoulder and handing him the other one. “They know how to take care of you.”
“Ladies first,” he motioned. “I’ll stand down here to catch you if you fall.”
“Ha, if I fall, you fall,” I said, grabbing the rope. “There’s no way my momentum wouldn’t knock you down, too.”
He shrugged casually. “I have to take risks everyday.”
“Right,” I smirked.
“Here, grip it like this,” Ben said next to me out of the blue. He put his hands on the rope to show me and added, “Your feet might slide, but your hands won’t let go.”
I briefly glanced at him and nodded my head, changing the grip on the rope. He was standing up like he was ready to just walk up the hill on his own, and it kind of made me feel like I was able to do that, too. But I could tell that Ben probably had a lot more experience with this type of thing than I did, so I decided to just stick with the easiest way out.
I was about to start my trek up the hill when I heard Jack swear. I turned back to see what was the matter and he was quickly scurrying to our right while he braced himself against the steep ground with his hands. The horse was coming to, and I could tell it might start freaking out any second. We had been worried about that, especially with how long it had taken to get the help we needed.
I think I swore too, and I dropped the rope to move along the hill like Jack had. He was rummaging through his med pack so he could settle the horse before he completely flipped out and hindered our efforts (or killed us all).
“I don’t have it!” he yelled to me.
I was already taking off my pack and I almost fell backwards in my hurry, but thankfully Ben was right behind me and kept me up. He slid to his knees in the process but as he stood he said, “What do you want me to do?”
“Jack!” Dave yelled from above. “We don’t have it ready!”
“Just a minute!”
“Here, get this to Jack,” I told Ben, handing him the medical bag.
He took it right away and swiftly made it the fifteen feet across to him. I didn’t have time to be impressed by his agility because I still needed to climb sideways to help Jack. I slid to my knees just before I got there, and Ben reached his hand down to pull me up.
“Here,” I said to Jack, holding out my hand to take the syringe.
“No, I got this. He could flail at any second and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Jack, I—”
“Don’t argue,” he said, climbing a few feet up so he was close
r to the horse’s head. But at that second the horse did flail, and his front legs and head jolted up in an attempt to get up on his own. As Jack moved out of the way, it took him off balance and he fell to his chest and slid a few feet down. He swore again, and as he got to his knees, he was searching the ground for something.
“He dropped it,” I said, mainly to myself. I scurried upward to look for the syringe, and I dropped to my hands and knees to search through the brush with him.
“Damn it,” Jack growled.
“What happened?” Dave shouted from above. “That damn thing is gonna break this rope! Let’s hook up a second one!”
Born To Be Wild was still struggling, and for the first time I was glad that he did have a broken rear leg. That alone was the only thing preventing him from getting up entirely.
“Here it is!” Ben said, producing the syringe.
“Gimme it,” Jack said, holding out his hand.
“Give it to me, I’m closer,” I said. Luckily I was close enough to Ben that I could take it from him, and since I was closer to Born To Be Wild as well, I scooted along on my knees to his head so I could get at his neck.
“Easy, boy,” I said quietly.
He did stop moving for a few seconds, so while I rubbed his face as he panted heavily, I reach over to his neck at the same time. I was at his nose, almost above his head, just so I could steer clear of his legs, but I couldn’t quite get to the base of his neck in the position I was in. I had to stand to reach over him, and after I found a way to balance myself, I finally got a good stab right into his neck muscle.
He hadn’t acted out with the first dose we’d given him, but it did take a while for it to work. He was a feisty thing, so I wasn’t surprised when he wanted to fight it the second time around. I had a choice to either remain at his head to keep him calm or just leave him be until the drug took effect.
I chose the latter. I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of a panicking horse before he finally conked out. I was taking my first step away from him when I loud bang sounded from the road above us—a tailgate slamming shut, maybe—and it not only made me jumped, but the horse spooked as well. I thought I was clear of his hooves, but he must have flailed up toward me, and he nailed me right in the back of the thigh, taking my legs out from under me. I think I fell to my back with my head facing down hill because all I remember was seeing parts of the sky through the trees. But my legs must have flipped over me because my face was in the ground when Ben got to me.
“Are you okay?” he asked, dropping to his knees next to me.
“Nova!” I heard Dave from above.
I lifted my head up, mainly to make sure the horse was still okay, and I was surprised to find that I was probably twenty feet further down the hill.
“Nova, you okay?” Jack hollered. He was trying to come down the hill, but I pulled myself to my knees to show him I was all right.
“I’m fine,” I said, waving him away. “Stay there.”
He stopped where he was and watched me for a moment, and Ben pulled a few sticks and leaves out of my hair.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked with a tiny smile.
“Uh, yeah, I think so.” I brushed myself off a little, knowing that I was hurting somewhere, but I wasn’t sure where.
“You usually do your own stunts?”
I kind of laughed and shook my head. “Only by choice. That wasn’t by choice.”
“It looked really cool, though.”
“Well thank goodness for that.”
“It’s too bad no one was filming it.”
“Yeah, that is too bad.”
He chuckled at my dry humor and added, “It would’ve definitely made the top of the You Tube charts.”
“That’s such a bummer. Maybe we could recreate it and you could do the stunts. I would be happy to film it for you.”
I proceeded to make my climb up the mountain, so Ben hiked with me, holding me up by my arm. I didn’t object to his help because I was still shaken up from my heels over head tumble into the ravine.
“Not a bad idea,” he answered. “But I think it was cooler because it was you. Watching a girl endo down a hill like that is a little more entertaining.”
“Nice, glad you’re amused.”
“I’m just kidding,” he smiled. Then he appeared more somber and added, “It was actually kind of scary. I’m glad you’re okay.”
I didn’t reply to that, but he did seem sincere. When we got to Jack, thankfully the horse was calm, more help had arrived, and our job was over with. Ben continued to help me up the hill, even carrying both of the medical bags. I was never so relieved like I was when we were finally standing on solid, flat ground, and I was able to drink nearly a gallon of water. It was so hot out, and all the men around me, including Dave and Heath, were drenched with sweat.
I did stick around to watch the horse be pulled up to the road. I sat on Dave’s tailgate in the shade, glad that it was all over. While they were laying the horse into a cattle trailer, Ben made his way over and sat down next to me.
“You feeling okay?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Meh, I’ve had better days.”
He smiled and joked, “Nah, better days than this?”
“Yeah, maybe a little.”
He took my wrist and held up my arm to see my elbow. “Maybe you need to clean that up?”
“Yeah, probably,” I said.
I slid off of the tailgate so I could pour some water over my arm to wash off the blood that had dried all over it. Ben watched in silence, and then handed me a piece of gauze to blot it dry. It was mainly a scrape, so I wasn’t going to bother putting a bandage over it, but he got a large one from the first aid kit anyway, even applying some antibiotic cream to it before he handed it over.
“Thanks,” I replied, sticking it over my arm.
We were both quiet again as I returned to the tailgate, and because it was so hot out, and just applying first aid to myself caused me to break another sweat, I had to guzzle some more water.
“So they call you Nova,” Ben finally stated. “Is that really your name, or just a nickname?”
I cast him a side-glance, unsure if I was being made fun of. But his face held no expression as he waited for my answer.
“Yes, that’s really my name.”
“Hmm, I like it. It’s different.”
I only nodded as I watched the men ahead of us. Jack was finishing up some final things with Born To Be Wild and I knew I should probably be over there to help too, but he had insisted that I just take it easy for the time being. I hardly argued with him because of how sore I already felt.
“So you seem pretty wary of me,” Ben said, breaking my thoughts. “I assume that has to do with Austin, right?”
I looked at him watching me, but I didn’t reply right away. Instead I took a moment to think about who Ben Tomlinson really was, and after spending time with him in the midst of an emergency, I didn’t feel like I could have any ill feelings towards him.
“Yes, Austin has suggested that I not be around you.”
He slightly nodded, not surprised.
“Maybe you can explain to me why,” I added.
He raised an eyebrow while he paused for a few seconds. “He didn’t tell you why?”
“Not really. I haven’t pressed him about it yet, but maybe you can fill me in instead.”
He studied me for a few seconds, and I almost felt intimidated by his dark brown eyes seeming to bore through me. But then he barely shrugged, as if to show that it was nothing he had any control over.
“What happened between you guys?” I asked. “I mean…neither one of you can talk about it?”
“We used to be best friends, and now we’re not. There’s not much to say about it.”
“Sure there is. What was it that changed everything?”
“I don’t think there was any one thing.”
“Then what started it?”
He shrugged. “I guess…the fact
that Austin was a good kid and I wasn’t. I mean isn’t that what you’ve heard about me?”
“Maybe.”
“Then why is it such a surprise that we’re no longer friends?”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re just using the ‘I was a bad kid’ excuse as a way to mask something else?”
“What?” he chuckled. “Are you shrinking me right now?”
“Your parents love you. It’s pretty obvious. For some reason you’ve chosen to completely alienate yourself from them. Your mom is one of the sweetest ladies I know and I can tell that she’s heartbroken over—”
“Don’t bring my parents into this,” he said, shaking his head. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“I know that they only want a relationship with you and you’ve denied them that.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not? You move to where? –North Dakota? — And barely keep in touch with them. All they want is to have their son in their lives.”
“All they want is a son that isn’t a screw up. I’m not him, so they’re wasting their concern.”
“You don’t have a say in what people think of you. Why can’t you just give them a chance?”
“You know nothing about my life,” he said in a low voice.
I could tell he was upset, and I probably did cross the line, so I didn’t respond. We sat in silence for almost a minute, watching the guys load up their equipment.
Finally Ben took a deep breath and said, “Sometimes it’s hard to come full circle. I left town four years ago, ready to leave everything behind and start over. You know what? It’s harder than it seems. I couldn’t do it. And now here I am, back on the ranch again, facing the same demons I did before. And I’ll be the first to admit that running away from your problems doesn’t do a damn ounce of good. Nothing has been overcome; nothing has gotten any better. It’s just the way it is.”
I had to disregard Austin’s advice at that point. Here I was, already talking to Ben, having spent almost two hours of the day with him, and I felt like I had to go with my instincts instead. I understood that Ben had probably made some mistakes in his life, but who hasn’t? I also understood that those mistakes, and his past with the Gaines family, might also be out of my league to identify with. But I did feel like I needed to understand why Austin felt the way he did about Ben, and whether or not it was just my curiosity or the fact that I cared about all parties involved, I really needed some answers.
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