Wanted: Sharpshooter

by Florence Witkop

CHAPTER 10

 

  Two hours later, showered and wearing a clean pair of jeans, I grabbed a bowl of cold cereal because Carlos and Max had already eaten, Max having had no sleep at all. His door had been open when I passed it after rising. The bed was untouched.

  I headed for the indoor arena, determined to do my part. I passed the open door and saw an outside world that was soaked and muddy, but the rain was lessening and looked like it would end soon.

  The horses were skittish. They pranced and side-stepped and generally didn't want to settle down to the lunge line but eventually every horse got at least a semblance of exercise. Not that going in circles in an indoor arena could take the place of miles of trail riding, but it would have to do until Max shot the cougar or chased it away. Which I was confident would happen as soon as the rain ended.

  When I put the last horse back in its stall and pushed the arena door open, Carlos was waiting. I looked around. "Where's Max?"

  "Went after that SOB puma."

  I stepped through the door into an outside where a few rays of sunshine were beginning, gleaming off wet leaves, fence rails, buildings, everything. But there were still clouds in the sky. Carlos' eyes met mine. "More rain coming."

  "What if Max is caught in the rain?" Would that give the cougar an advantage?

  "Don't worry about Max. He won't go far."

  "Why not?"

  "No tracks in this mud, nothing to follow, so unless the puma is close by and easy to find, Max won't get it today."

  It was already noon so I brought a sandwich onto the porch and was half-way done when Max came walking out of the forest. I wanted to rush to him and drown him in questions but I waited for him to come to us. When he did, his words were terse. "It was better than I expected. The trees are so thick that there were places where I found tracks."

  "Is it gone?" That was all I wanted to know.

  "Couldn't tell for sure but I don't think so. There were tracks both coming and going but the ones leaving petered out in that abandoned farm. It rained so hard there in the open field that any tracks are gone. I looked for an hour but couldn't pick them up so I can't tell if it left or is still there."

  "At the farm?"

  "Or it could have circled back and with this mud, I'd not be able to tell."

  I dropped with a thud to the swing. "So what now? I have to either exercise these horses or call the owners to come and get them. Which will not bode well for the future of Green Forest Stables."

  "You can always get more horses."

  "Green Forest hasn't been around long and, even now, when we're finally becoming known, there's doubt in the horse community about the validity of a stable in the middle of the wilderness. The cougar could mean the end of this business if word gets around." I finished a sandwich that had turned to sawdust and looked towards the wall of trees beyond the grassy lawn but my thoughts went beyond the grass and into trees that could easily hide a large cat.

  Something moved. I held my breath and swore. "It's there!"

  Max followed my look and chuckled. "You're looking at a doe and fawn, which is sure proof that the cat's nowhere near because no momma deer would bring her baby around if there's a cougar in the area." Relief turned me into a limp noodle. "But we should stay awake tonight in case it comes back."

  "How will we know if it does?"

  "I don't know that much about cougars." I shook my head that I couldn't help him. "Maybe the Warden knows. It's his job to know such things. I suggest you ask him."

  Carlos spoke up. "We're getting low on groceries. What say you head to Montrose, Maggie, and see what you can find out?"

  "It's summer. He's busy."

  "He's got to check into the office some time."

  "My dad used to head for town on Wednesdays because that's the day most business is conducted."

  "Then that's the day the Warden will be in his office."

  "Tomorrow's Wednesday. Tomorrow I'll head for town."

  Max leaned against the stable wall and pulled his hat low over his forehead. "If we don't have a cougar rug before then." His stance said we might.

  The rest of the day was spent giving each horse as much exercise as possible given the small space available indoors. Carlos also used the time to teach Max about horses and there wasn't room for three people to work at one time, so I watched.

  After a few preliminary instructions, Carlos used the lunge line to exercise one horse while Max led another in a trot around the edge of the indoor rink. The first horse following Max was a piebald, Chance, who had a tendency to shy at every obstacle, even footprints in the dust. Chance had put his owner on the ground more times than he cared to count so they’d decided a few lessons at Green Forest were in order. Max was doing a surprisingly good job of gently coaxing Chance out of his fears. The horse moved nicely beside him, no shying, no stopping that I could see. Which meant that the feeling of security that Max exuded extended to animals as well as people. He had a future with animals if he wanted.

  And it was clear that he was a fast learner. If we got through this cougar scare unscathed and he decided to stick around, maybe Carlos could finally consider the retirement he'd been putting off for more years then he should have. And, with a bona fide employee, I could practice becoming a considerate, pleasant, kind, loving employer. And as that thought popped unbidden into my head, I blushed and left the arena before either of them could catch sight of my red face.