VALLEY DWELLER WRITERS (written by myself and 'schoolmarm'-another big valley writer on another site)
Nick Barkley stared at their long time foreman, McCall. Had the man gone mad or was Nick just losing his hearing; not that he'd admit it if he was mind you. "WHAT did you say? WHO is on our land?"
McCall was getting exasperated. He'd only repeated the story three times now. "I told you; a bunch of women have set up tables and chairs up in the North Pasture. They have piles and piles of paper and pencils. They're talking crazy. Seriously, they're arguing about who gets to at least court Jarrod, Heath or you. I'd hide Gene though; they keep on saying how sad it is that he died so young." Oops, McCall realized he'd forgotten to include that last one as Nick's eyes widened and he exploded.
"I'm gonna go and find out what the hell is goin' on! You get back to the ranch and tell Jarrod what's happening," he climbed on his horse, "And for goodness sake tell Gene to stay in the house until I come back and tell him it's safe!"
McCall didn't argue as he mounted his own horse and headed straight for the Barkley home. He hoped Jarrod would actually be home; he was afraid of the scene that might take place if he wasn't.
Riding his horse hard Nick soon arrived at the North Pasture. Sure enough there were more women than he could shake a fist at. The noise level was impossible; if he thought he was losing his hearing before he knew he would now. Storming up to the closest table Nick bellowed, "Pray tell me just the blazes are you doing here! This is my ranch and you need to get off, now!" He wanted to say more than blazes but, after all, crazy or not, they were women.
"Do you hear something?" a blonde haired lady at the end of the table spoke to the women at the table.
"No," another woman said, "But then again, muse left me days ago," she looked at the woman next to her, "Do you hear anything?"
Before she could answer a young lady walked up to the group and, looking straight at Nick, replied, "Ah, Don't worry. It's just Nick bellowing again. Told you he wouldn't appreciate us all camping out here writing."
"I don't! This is my ranch!" Nick exploded, "And why are they acting as if they can't hear or see me?"
Before she could answer the blonde hair woman looked up and smiled, "Looks like Jarrod's coming. Sis, did Nick send for him or did you? I know you have a hang up for both those guys."
"Nobody sent for ..." Nick started his rantings again only to have the young lady turn on him and bark, "You have got to learn to behave yourself, Nick! Trish here will never listen if you don't!"
By the time Jarrod dismounted his horse the noise level had at least gone down, but their 'crazy talk' hadn't. "What is going on here?" Jarrod smiled politely and spoke to the woman called 'Sis'.
"I told you last night my friends and I were going to be here, Jarrod but, apparently Nick didn't get the message."
Jarrod's eyebrows went up, "You can see and hear Nick? Since when?"
That got a raised eyebrow from his brother. Had Jarrod gone and lost it too?
"No, but Anna there was just talking to him. Personally, I think she has the hots for him."
Has the what? Nick was confused; which only made him more upset. "Jarrod what is goin' on! Who are these women and what are they doing here?"
Jarrod simply smiled and pointed to Coco, "I suggest you just get on your horse and ride brother. Stick around long enough and you'll find yourself with a wife."
A wife! A look of horror appeared on Nick's face. He didn't know what Jarrod was talking about, but he wasn't going to stick around and find out either. Soon he was pushing his horse hard to get back home.
"He's still getting a wife you know that, don't you?" the young lady asked as Jarrod mounted his horse.
"Oh, I'm sure one of you women will do just that. Is there anything else I can do for you?" he smiled at the group.
"Yea," another young lady lifted up her head, "Tell Elizabeth hi."
"It's not Elizabeth..." another woman started to speak only to find Jarrod laughing and mounting his horse, "I'll tell you what. I'll tell whoever I find in my den hello." Might as well; he hadn't had a dull moment in years thanks to these women. And, long as Nick didn't discover it was he who kept letting the women onto their land, ee figured he's have years more entertainment coming.
As he rode, hell bent for leather back to the ranch, Nick heard Heath calling him. As Nick stopped Heath rode up and demanded to know what was going on. "I hear there are a bunch of crazy women in the North Pasture sitting at a table and writing. Who are they? Where did they come from? One of the men says they call themselves Valley Dwellers." Nick cringed and answered, "This is our Valley; I don't remember any ranches around here with that many women. Jarrod seems to know them, but he's not helping. It's worse than you think, Heath. Jarrod says if we stick around they will marry us. They think Gene is dead, so he has to hide in the house until they leave. Any ideas what we should do about this?"
Heath thought carefully, shook his head, and responded, "There's only one thing we can do, Nick. We have to go back to the house, get Gene and hide him in the back of the wagon. We have to drive to Stockton immediately and catch the first train to San Francisco. We'll get Audra to let us know when it's safe to return. In the meantime, since Jarrod seems to know them, he can run the ranch and figure out how to get them to leave. I guarantee he will when he gets tired of hurting those lily white hands mending fences all the time."
With that the two brothers raced back to the house and in no time they had Gene in the back of the wagon and were off to live it up in San Francisco and try to forget all the crazy women writers in the North Pasture.