I let Viva graze and relax. The hounds struck almost immediately, and I could hear them moving south, but to the east – towards Griffen’s side. I moved a bit that way just in case he had not been able to get into position. Away from Griffen now, I could reflect on the last few hours. He was so edgy – Grand’s admonitions of caution started to make some sense. As much as I craved him, I certainly did not want to end up with a person who was mean and angry all the time. Of course, everyone has a temper, but I didn’t want to spend my whole life walking on eggshells in fear of how he would react.
I wish he’d choose to let that anger go, but there was nothing I could do to make him. That would be up to him. I was more afraid of his fear of what he would do than of arguing with him. How strange.
Well, I’m sure the hotlines are open now. Mother has had almost a whole day to find out about him. I smiled to myself. It will be interesting to see their reaction when they find out about his father. Wonder how long that will take? What if they don’t find out? Did I want them to? That would save me a lot of trouble. How silly – I’m almost an adult. I should not be counting on my parents to tell me who I can and cannot date. Pitiful.
Viva picked up her ears as the hounds approached. I could hear Sounder – that was strange. He’s usually not a strike hound. I looked behind me following Viva’s ears, and saw a most disturbing creature, no, creatures, trot agitatedly into the field. They were black, now there was a brown one, and all of these were smaller than the first.
Hogs.
My heart pounded. From this distance it looked like a large one and about ten smaller ones. Babies maybe? Viva snorted when she picked up their scent and all looked our way. She arched her neck and raised her head giving them her full attention.
“Easy girl, steady,” I said. Her heart was drumming like mine, and she felt like she would explode. “Easy, easy, now…” I slowly pressed the button on the microphone and radioed William.
“William, this is Elliott. I am southwest of you looking at eleven hogs – a sow and babies I think. Hounds are approaching, and I’ll try to knock any off that are on their line,” I said much more bravely than I felt.
“Go after those hounds, Elliot, we can’t take any chances of them being on hogs,” William said. “You get a good look and see who they are.”
Viva was no more eager than I to approach the hogs, so we circled north of them into the woods to a spot where I thought I would be able to see their trail. Once we moved, the hogs disappeared, as eager to put distance between us as we. Sure enough, Sounder appeared with Pout, a puppy.
“Leave it! Get back to him!” I snapped and cracked my whip. The puppy looked up in surprise and followed Sounder, who sulked back the direction he came.
“Coming back to you, William. Sounder and Pout were the only ones,” I said.
“Keep an eye out for more. I don’t want the hounds tying up with any hogs. You stay well clear of ’em too, Elliott,” he said. “They shouldn’t be a problem if you give them plenty of room.”
“Yes sir,” I responded, and I meant it. But I distinctly heard him say shouldn’t. I was deeply disturbed by hogs. Something in me said keep away from them. I had heard enough tall tales about people hunting them and how vicious they could be. I did not want to find out how much truth there was in the stories.
I could see William now, in the covert. The field under Ben’s direction was coming up the road towards me and now turning towards William. Ben touched his cap to acknowledge me, and Addy waved and gave me a big grin. I nodded and smiled in response. Christopher must have escorted the wild horsewoman home, for she was nowhere in sight. More first flight members passed and then second flight. As I was admiring the lovely sight of them all against the fall colors, I heard a crash and a splashing thrashing sound from the front of first flight.
Viva and I went to see if we could help. It looked as if the earth was consuming Addy and Harley. Harley disappeared up to his withers in a bog in which he was having great difficulty escaping. The more he thrashed, the deeper he sank. Addy had rolled off his back and was holding his reins to keep his head above the mire.
“Addy, get back – let the horse work this out on his own,” Ben said. “The rest of you back up and give him some space. Tucker, please take the field and follow William. Elliott, no!” Ben said, but it was too late.
Ben had leapt to Addy’s side after passing Blazer’s reins to Christopher. He held her to keep her from rushing to Harley and getting trampled in the process. I had already thrown my reins over a branch and dived towards Harley.
“Easy boy, easy,” I said, patting his neck and calming him. For a moment, he stood – long enough for me to unbuckle his reins and standing attachment to ensure he had as much freedom as necessary to get out. Once he settled and had had a moment to catch his breath, I pulled one rein to get him to move my direction. He did and flopped onto the bank, sides heaving.
“Steady boy, easy,” I said, rubbing his ears and letting him rest. Addy had broken away from Ben and was stroking the other side of Harley’s face. “Just let him sit here a minute, he should be fine.”
“Thank you, Elliott, and Ben,” Addy said. “We need a camera now – just look at us!”
We grinned at each other through mud-plastered faces. Harley got up and splattered more muck over us covering Ben and Christopher, too.
“Ben, is everyone all right?” William asked over the radio.
“The field and staff over here are all on,” Ben said with a grin. “And their dry cleaners are going to love them.”
I heard hounds again going hard to the east – toward Griffen. William radioed to Lydia to move closer to Griffen’s position in case he needed ears in that direction. He had landowners stationed on the Levee, so there was no real concern for hound protection, just information. I swung up on Viva with some difficulty given my slippery attire and moved back into position.
Hounds were in full cry now, and my skin crawled with excitement. Viva and I moved toward the sound slowly so we would not be out of position should they turn west. I could hear Rufus, so we were on something good – hopefully no hogs this time.
“Hogs, sir,” Lydia said over the radio, “There could be a coyote running with them, but I just saw a large boar moving east.”
“Stay with the pack, Lydia,” William barked. “Knock ’em off if you think they are going to mess with that boar!”
My heart pounded – I needed to stay in position, but wanted to know what in the world was happening with the pack. And where was Griffen? What was he doing? I hoped Lydia would say, but I certainly couldn’t ask over the radio.
“Tally ho coyote – heading southwest,” Lydia said. “No – just turned east across the road – toward the boar’s line!”
Hounds were screaming soaking up the coyote’s scent and heralding their find throughout the deep swamp. The sound was glorious even though they were going the other way. From my position, I heard so much since I was near a relatively large open “lake” in the woods. Their sound floated over the water and filled my ears.
Gunshot fired due east. Silence. Griffen.
“Lydia, get over there and find out what’s happening,” William snapped. “Anyone know what’s going on with my hounds!”
“Nothing’s come out on the Levee yet, William,” one of the landowners said. “The shot was west of us.”
“Nothing southwest of you sir,” I said.
“Griffen fired the shot to get them off the boar,” Lydia said. “Two hounds injured by the boar, but not seriously.”
“Hold them up, I’m on my way,” William said.
We moved a little closer east in hopes to hear more, although it was more a gesture and something to do rather than be helpful. I let Viva drop her head to graze. Wait wait wait – most of a whipper-in’s life is waiting. The rest is madly trying to work out the puzzle at the speed of the game being chased. Quickly with coyotes, cunningly with the grays, patiently and persistently with the bobcats. A
ll presented their own challenges. With hogs thrown in, this was particularly interesting today.
William cast the hounds again – towards me this time. Stephen in the north was instructed to move west and watch the north road. I stayed put – waiting and watching. A doe with her fawns peered cautiously into the clearing, saw us, and froze. The little buck lifted his foreleg and stamped. Viva shook her head, and they bounded away fluffy flags flaunting their departure.
On again!
Hounds struck and blazed north this time – at a blistering pace. I found a north-south trail and headed toward their sound all the time staying to their west. The property’s western boundary is the Mississippi River, so I did not have to worry about traffic. I was to be there to report the chase.
“Hounds still running due north,” I said. “Can’t tell who’s in the lead yet.”
Suddenly, the sound went from their usual long, mournful tones to yips and barks. Had they bayed something? Viva and I headed straight to them. Amazingly enough, there was an old school bus in the middle of the woods – obviously deposited decades ago by a creative deer hunter to use as a stand. Hounds were clambering over each other around the rusted body baying and scratching at its base. I looped Viva’s reins over a sapling and marched forward to investigate. When I peered inside the dark shadows of the bus, a pair of pale blue eyes complete with a bared set of bright white fangs met mine.
“Tally ho to you, sir,” I said under my breath to a mottled and very puzzled and angry coyote.
“Coyote bayed in a…school bus,” I said into the radio. “He’s not happy, but unharmed so far.”
William approached soon after and blew “Gone to Ground.” He praised the pack all around and led them away from the site. Everyone cheered as the coyote bolted and escaped into the woods to be chased for another day.
“Well done, Elliott!” he said and I beamed. What a day! Lydia and Stephen were here and most all of the field, but no Griffen. We surrounded the pack and helped William gather them to road them home. Lydia was nearby, so I could not resist asking about Griffen.
“Did you see Griffen?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth. And that was all she said, but the answer was even snippier than I had expected.
“Well, where is he now do you think?” I pressed.
Lydia looked at me and sighed. “How would I know? He was pretty mad when I saw him. He’d had some words with what looked like landowners. If he lost his temper again and cost us the chance to hunt this fixture…”
“What do you mean he was mad?” I interrupted.
“Elliott, if you don’t know by now that he’s a hothead, then you’re blind, or deaf, rather,” Lydia said. “Just like William. I’ll never get why he keeps him around. He’s not that much help. He should have just ridden in the field. I think he’s trouble, personally.”
Interesting. Oh my. Bad, very bad to wake up from a dream like this one. I must be waking up now. I wonder what she means. I know what she means, better than she does. She’s more correct about him than she knows. But do I want to believe that? From her?
We were nearly back and I felt them before I could hear Jet’s hooves. Griffen and Jet were cantering toward us across a field bordering the Levee. Oh my, what a sight. I could never get enough of looking at them. He/they were magnificent. My left hand started pounding, but Grand put a stop to that.
“Looks are fleeting but tempers are forever, honey. You can’t tame a hothead. Why would you want to? Don’t make that your other half – even if you have to rip your heart to do it. It’ll heal. Don’t even go there,” she pleaded.
I caught Lydia looking at him, too. She narrowed her eyes challenging me to say something to her first. I held my tongue.
“He is quite a sight, Elliott, but what a temper,” she said. “I meant what I said earlier.”
Within minutes, we arrived back at the trailers. Lydia made it clear my help was no longer necessary, so I left her and Stephen with William and took Viva to the trailer. Griffen had disappeared again but he had already taken Panzer. Maybe he was hosing Jet’s cut or helping William with something.
“I need to talk to you, Elliott,” Ben said, and I jumped. Why does everyone keep sneaking up on me like this?
“Something happened in the woods today with Griffen,” he said as he leaned in close enough for me to feel his warmth. No reaction in my left hand – heart beating regularly – mine was, that is. “I overhead him and William.”
“Lydia said something to me already,” I said, my eyes daring him to say more.
“Elliott, Griffen’s bad news,” Ben said and he did not back up. If anything, he leaned in even closer to me – into my…space. Safe in a hardhat from him, I think, wish he would back up…what is he trying to do, bully me into liking him? He’s not acting like just a friend…again.
“I know you like him, but he’s, well, unstable. You saw what I had to do to…contain him…last night,” Ben said, speaking softly but leaning in closer with every word.
“Elliot – give me Viva. It’s time for us to leave,” Griffen said in a low, menacing voice. I could have sworn that Panzer growled, too. Is there something really wrong with him?
Ben straightened, but held his ground. He stared right back into Griffen’s face and said, “I have room in my trailer if you’re not ready to leave yet, Elliott.”
Griffen kept his eyes on Ben. Panzer definitely growled this time. I wanted to kick all three of them.
“Boys, I am quite ready to leave, thank you,” I said. “Griffen, please take Viva. Ben, I appreciate your help with Addy today and your concern.”
Griffen loaded Viva, returned Panzer to his dungeon, and got in his truck. I had already let myself in. I stared straight ahead, arms crossed. He reflected my mood and pointed his truck to the highway.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened today?” I asked trying to sound polite, but failing miserably. The question formed in my mind as a catty remark and did not have time to get filtered into anything otherwise.
“No,” he said. “It doesn’t concern you.”
“So that’s supposed to make me feel better?” I asked.
“Elliott, just drop this…please. I have a very long drive. On top of that, I leave for Argentina next week and will not be able to see you until after Christmas,” he said a little calmer, but still very much on edge.
“Sure,” I said sounding like a brat again, but not wanting to.
He picked up my hand and started brushing his fingers across my scar. Nothing was happening – I was not satisfied with his answer and still resisted his attempts at peace. Grand would be so proud.
We rode the rest of the way to the Patterson’s in silence. When we arrived, he unloaded Viva and Panzer and put Viva in her stall. Before she could nuzzle him for a treat, he had a carrot ready for her. For some reason, his kind gesture toward my horse irked me and sparked my endlessly irrational emotions.
I had a few more things to gather before I could leave for Oxford and part of me was impatient for him to leave. The other part did not want him to go before he explained his actions. Although he showed no signs of irritation or of even noticing my moods, the longer he didn’t speak, the angrier I got. He seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts and oblivious to my fuming. When we reached the doorstep he stopped.
Without a word, he gripped the back of my head and pulled me to him. His kiss was urgent, almost angry, very unsettling, and…I might add…uninvited. I barely had time to react before he stepped away. I still had not decided whether to kiss him or slap him before he stepped back…out of range.
“Drive safely,” he said. “I’ll call you tonight.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 16 - Parents
The end of the season – bittersweet moment, ready for rest and return to the otherworld – regret for no more early morning preparations for day and weekend long adventures – until next year.
It didn’t take me long to reco
ver, but I did not have fond memories of our departure. I was angry that I hadn’t been able to react in time to at least protest, much less slap some sense into Griffen. I would definitely have to remember to deal with him either over the telephone or at least at arms length. My crazy desperateforhim hormonal body was putting me at an extreme disadvantage.
I gathered my belongings and thanked Mrs. Patterson for a lovely weekend. Viva walked into the trailer and we started the drive to Oxford. My cell phone buzzed on the dashboard – Mother.
“Hi, Mother,” I said.
“Elliott, dear, your father and I are coming to Oxford tonight. Your sister is getting an award in the morning, so we thought we would make an evening of it. May we take you to dinner?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said, looking at my watch. It was only 3:00. I felt like I had been awake 24 hours after this long day. “What time and where?”
“Let’s say 7:00 at the Downtown Grill,” she said. “Will that do?”
“Perfect, see you then,” I said.
“How was the hunt?” she asked, ignoring my I’m ready to hang up signal.
“Fine,” I said. “I’m just ready for a shower.”
“You got filthy again, then, I’m sure,” she said, the smile unmistakable in her voice.
“Yes ma’am,” I said. “See you tonight.”
“Bye, then,” she said. “Love you, dear.”
“Love you, too, Mother,” I said.
I bet they know something. I’m too tired to worry about it.
I drove and let the drone of the engine soothe the edges from my thoughts. I was tired of thinking about foxhunting and him, so I changed the CD from classical music to country. There was some danger that the songs could trigger thoughts about Griffen, but for the moment, I was able to lose myself in the hopeless ballads of runaway women and cheating spouses.
As the miles fell away, I could replay our time together as if watching actors in a play. Distance and time lent perspective, and disembodied analysis was much easier. I remembered dinner, and all the lovely things he said to me. Is he just too volatile to be safe to love? Would it be smart to even try? We’ve only had one real date, but I’ve learned so much about him. Or have I? Is he really unstable like Ben said?
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