A little unsure about the ranch stuff. I hope I didn't write it totally wrong.
If so, I apologize. I just wanted to write some love story with cowboy hats and boots.
Magina tried to open his eyes. He thought it got more difficult to get up from week to week. He felt more tired every day and he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up.
Stop. He admonished himself. Negative thoughts wasted too much energy he could as well put into something useful. Like getting out of bed to start with the chores.
He dragged himself into the kitchen, trying to pull his pants and a well-worn shirt on while walking. He almost stumbled, grimaced and stopped to button the pants. Next was the coffee. It would take a few minutes until it was ready. There wasn't much Magina was able to do while still half asleep but sitting around and waiting was no option.
As soon as he stepped out of the door and onto the porch of his house, his five dogs raced towards him, circling around his legs until he almost stumbled again. He petted every one shortly, which was enough for the beasts to give him some room to breathe. And to keep walking.
The first check of the day were the chickens. Not only because it was easy to feed them (possible even half asleep), but because Magina needed their eggs to get a breakfast ready.
The house already smelled of coffee and Magina took a deep breath, followed by a satisfied sigh. He downed the first cup while he scrambled the eggs, then he took a second with him outside. It was still mostly dark, but there was so much to do alone on a ranch that he couldn't wait until the sun was up.
A bark had him looking up, but it was only some rabbit on the field. It was gone faster than one of the dogs was able to chase it.
Every day had the same pattern for Magina. His animals needed feeding and care, they had to be checked. Then, with the first rays of sunlight hitting the earth at his feet, he saddled a horse and rode out to look after his cattle. He had put his hat on and had grabbed whatever he might need on the way. He checked the fences and tried to get a feeling for the weather the coming days. He fetched some water for his garden so he didn't have to use drinking water for that.
It was very important to have a garden for several reasons: first, because Magina didn't have time to go shopping in the next village, since it was more than an hour by car away. And second, because he didn't have the money to buy food. And, well, third, because he didn't want to meet anyone, didn't want to have to talk to others.
Since the day his whole family had died, he had distanced himself more and more from the world outside the ranch. He hadn't wanted to see everyone looking at him with pity in their eyes, or worse, calculation. He was fine on his own and he didn't need anyone. At least most of the time.
Three of the dogs accompanied him today, one always staying close while the others raced over the countryside. They met again at the river crossing the ranch land, where Magina frowned at the sinking water level. It was about time they got some rain here. It was still okay as it was but the river was lower than usual at this time of the year. He'd have to see if the side arm still had water and maybe relocate his cattle. That was always the worst. Relocating cattle. Alone, with only five dogs. Of course the dogs were the best trained beasts he knew and they were a huge help, but still.
Magina had to jump from one place to the other without pause. Not like a normal jump. It was something he could do, bridge a space of land with something like a jump. One second he was here and the next he was there. He didn't have to see where he was going and could even jump through obstacles, though he could only span so much space with one jump. It was like a special skill he had been born with and it made some things easier. In the past he had wondered if it was magic, but it didn't feel like magic. Just, like a special skill.
When he relocated the cattle, he used this skill because he had to keep an eye on all sides of the herd at all times. It was exhausting. And he could do the jumping, or blinking as he called it, not endlessly and not together with a horse. So he was on foot during the whole time while permanently changing his position. On these days he got to bed earlier and hated himself for it because that meant he had left some chores open that day.
Lucky him, there was still enough water in the creek. At least for another few days. He had to take it into consideration, though, that he would have to relocate the cattle in about a week, at the latest, if it didn't rain.
During the next hour, Magina observed the cattle. He checked on some of them directly but all in all they seemed to be doing fine. With a relieved sigh he turned away from them and continued along the fence. This was the most work, right after the cattle: keeping the fence intact. There was just so much and it was just so very important. But here everything was fine, too. This was almost too good to believe, a day without a cattle incident or a fence repairing.
It meant he'd have some extra time for his garden and the other animals. And his truck. He had to try if it still started and drove. At the coming weekend was a market combined with some festivities in town and he had to sell some of his cattle. He needed stuff from the market as well and since he only very seldom went into town, his truck would be full when he drove back home. He hated these trips, hated all the people. Especially when there was some festival going on, but he knew that this was the best time to sell and buy. He'd just keep his head low and try not to draw any attention.
The incident with his family had been a long time ago and the looks he got were less and less frequent. One day it would all be forgotten. At least by the others. It wasn't as if Magina could forget about it any time.
He hoped he wouldn't bump into one of the Sunstriders in town. It got more difficult from year to year to let them live, to ignore them, to walk past them as if nothing was amiss. They were the ones that could control the weather to some extent, could create soulless creatures made of fire and could even make fire rain from the sky. They were the ones responsible for all that had happened so many years ago. They had never been found guilty, but Magina hadn't wanted to talk about the events, then. It had all been too much and he had been too young. The few things he had told had been waved off as imaginations from a child. But he knew better. He had been there. He knew what he had seen.
Stop. Magina forced himself to take a deep breath and to push these thoughts aside. They were useless, just made him angry and he didn't have time for anger. He didn't have energy for anger! He had to concentrate on his work, when he made mistakes it would take him longer and he couldn't afford that.
With some vegetables from the garden he went inside the house and pulled a pan out of a cupboard. He chopped the vegetables, took some meat and fried it all together. Some potatoes, too. It was the same almost every day, except that he used different things from the garden. But it was fast to cook and it had the ingredients his body needed. When there was enough time he made bread, but usually there was not time. There were more important things to do than cooking.
He ate outside so he could pet his dogs in the meantime. There was one chair on the porch and a very small table, just large enough to hold one plate and a glass with water.
Next was the truck. Better to do that while the sun was up so he could see what he was doing should repairs be needed. It started running smoothly but when Magina took a look under the hood he saw that it had too little oil. And when he tried to drive a round he found that the gas pedal wasn't working properly. It seemed to be the only problem and he was able to fix it relatively fast. He kept the truck running for a while to see if something else came up but when he drove another round an hour later everything was working as it should.
Since today had been relatively quiet, the roof of the barn needed a check-up. During the last rain, water had dribbled inside on two or three places and it had to be fixed. Two bottles of water drained and with the sun slowly setting, Magina climbed down from the roof. He put the tools away before penning chickens for the night. He fed them, including the dogs and the horses, then got himself supper. He watered the garden (no use doing that during the day) and found he had to get more water from the river. He debated about saddling the horse or not, but then he just used his skill to jump, or rather blink, forward to get to the river and back fast. He had to make two trips and though it had gotten colder by now, sweat ran down his face and arms and his shirt clung to his body. Sticky.
A shower would be nice but that would consume too much water. So Magina just went back to the river a third time. He took his clothes off and waded into the cold. He washed himself, then his clothes and only but his hat and boots back on as he went back to the house. Next to the porch was a washing line from where he took a shirt and pants after he had hung the wet clothes in his hands. It was always the same because Magina only owned three pairs of clothes and one pair was for special occasions. Considering the state of the shirt he had just pulled from the line, he'd have to buy at least one new at the weekend in town.
Inside he wrote that on the list lying on a table. As best as he could, that was. He had received some lessons in writing and reading and math, but it had been a long time ago and he had always been less interested in this stuff than in learning all the other things that one needed to manage a ranch. So his writing skills weren't the best. His math had gotten better, out of necessity he supposed.
After a last round through the barn and stables (naked except boots and hat, because there was no one around anyway), Magina went to bed. It had been an astonishingly calm day but the following ones were filled with activity.
Magina was glad he had repaired the truck and the roof of the barn because he wouldn't have had time to do so before the weekend. He decided to relocate the cattle sooner rather than later because it didn't look like it would rain during the coming days. And he didn't want to run the creek dry. It was as exhausting as always and Magina dragged his arse back home when it was already dark. He hadn't watered the garden and the chickens were still outside. He was sweaty and so dirty everything he was wearing had the same dust-brown colour. As had his skin.
Horses, chickens, dogs, garden, a quick dip into the river, clothes and then he desperately needed something to eat before he fell into bed.
The next day wasn't much better, because some of the cattle had decided they didn't like the new place and had wandered off. Great.
By Saturday, Magina felt like he had been on his feet nonstop for a year. He was bone-deep tired. And he had to get into town today. He could as well go on Sunday, but there would be even more people milling around and he wanted to avoid that. At least everything was back to normal today and on his round over the ranch nothing seemed to be amiss.
Magina packed what he needed for a day in town. The two cows he wanted to take with him for selling came into the trailer and some of the chickens on the truck bed. He'd try to sell more and have the seller come and pick up the cattle. He didn't have anything to get more than two cows into town and he really didn't want to wrangle them there.
Two of the dogs would accompany him. He felt better with them as company.
A last check in the small mirror in his bedroom. Magina had put his best clothes on, which meant he had pants without holes and a shirt that wasn't transparent from constant use. He had cleaned his boots and had pulled his two colts out of the drawer. Normally he didn't need them and therefore didn't wear them, but it was different in town. He didn't want to use them there but it was a show. A show of strength or something. He also took two knives with him, more weapons than tools.
He pulled his hat a little lower on his forehead, trying to conceal the purple marks, or tattoos, on his skin. They were too eye-catching. Satisfied with his appearance, he got into the truck. At his whistle, the dogs raced towards him. Two jumped in and he petted the other three. "Good pets."
As he closed the door, the dogs stayed back and watched him drive away. If it didn't get too late, at least one would be sitting at the same spot when he got back. They took turns, waiting for him. He smiled a little at that.
The town was utter chaos. Too many cars, too many people and too many animals. Magina almost cursed as he manoeuvred through the streets. He already hated this day.
In the end, it wasn't that bad. He had his cattle sold within an hour and had several promises for the following days of people wanting to come over and buy some more. The chickens were even less of a problem. It seemed the good care Magina gave his animals was showing.
Only one hour! Which meant he had lots of time to get all the stuff on his list. He moved through the crowd, his eyes on the ground, hat pulled deep into his face. Only very few people looked at him and only a handful seemed to know who he was. To say Magina was relieved was an understatement. But it had been many years and the strange incident on the farm this far away from town probably had been forgotten by now. At least by most people and definitely by the younger ones. Why should they care about something that had happened when they had been kids?
Another plus was that Magina saw not a single Sunstrider. The town was big enough and with that many people around it wasn't that likely to run into one of them.
It took Magina some time to find everything he needed, especially since he had to walk several times because he couldn't carry that much and had to load it on the truck before going back. One of his dogs stayed with the truck, the other followed him. He loved them, they were so very loyal and they were his only friends.
With everything finished, and only half of the day over, Magina decided to take a walk over the place. He didn't really have time but just once in a while he needed to breathe, to take a few minutes off while not thinking about the ranch and the work he had to do. He felt comfortable today because no one paid any attention to him. He was just some guy on a market. It was nice.
There was a lot to see. Other ranchers sold their cattle and Magina inspected some of them because he was curious about the animals. Were they healthier than his? Bigger? Fatter? He was absolutely satisfied with his after he had taken a look at some of the cows. He was doing fine.
Magina didn't talk. Only when he sold, because he had to, but now there was no reason. When someone asked him a question he shook his head or pointed or whatever. It wasn't even that uncommon to be short with words so he didn't get more than one odd look about this behaviour.
Where the market ended, the festival began. Magina stopped, debating whether he should continue or not. Since he had some money left he decided to buy a nice meal. He thought he had earned it. While eating, he continued, careful not to bump into anyone, until he saw a bronc rodeo taking place. He leaned against a pole a little away but still near enough for him to be able to see everything. Rodeo was something Magina had never been good at but watching it was fun. Some of the persons were really spectacular and some were lying on the ground after only a few seconds. It was difficult, he knew that, and he had respect for everyone who tried their luck here. Especially in front of so many people, all cheering and laughing.
When a horse jumped, not very horse-like, more similar to a goat or something, it looked so funny, Magina laughed softly. It had been a good idea to stay a while longer. This was nice, the food was delicious and he could almost feel how minute after minute not only his body relaxed more and more, but his mind as well. He was still tired but he wasn't as tense as before. He enjoyed himself.
The next participator walked into the ring. The man was tall, maybe taller than all the others and his posture was so full of confidence, Magina thought he could almost feel it where he was standing. This was going to be interesting. He pushed away from the pole and walked closer, shifting through people until he was at the fence of the rodeo circuit. Everything about the man was different than any cowboy Magina had ever seen. The first thing was his long blond hair. He had it partly pulled back into a ponytail high on his head, but only the hair that could blow in his face during the rodeo. The remaining fell over his back down to below his shoulder blades. He was clad almost completely in white, accentuated with gold. His pants had a purple stripe on each side down his leg and it had fringes all in gold. His boots were rimmed with gold, as was his vest. He wore a purple long-sleeved shirt underneath that was skin-tight and covered half of his hands, only leaving the fingers free. He had no hat on, which would've been impossible with the ponytail anyway. He looked out of this world, too proper, too polished. But confident.
He ignored everyone as he walked to the wooden enclosure with his horse. Before he mounted, he looked at the crowd once. It was the first time Magina saw his face and he was stunned. The man was beautiful. Breath-taking, heart-stopping beautiful. The man's gaze swept over all the people and for a split second, their eyes met. Magina thought the man held his gaze a moment longer, thought it lingered when it hadn't done so with anyone else. But as he turned away, Magina wasn't sure.
The rodeo was unbelievable. The horse was white, too, perfectly groomed so its fur shone in the sunlight. Mount and rider looked spectacular as they burst out of the enclosure, all white, hair and mane flying alike. Eight seconds weren't that much, at least not for the ones watching. When on a bucking horse, they seemed like eternity. The man's face held a frown of concentration but his posture was good. The horse jumped and flipped but the rider sat firm.
Magina stared in silent amazement as the crowd around him cheered.
Before the man left the circuit, his eyes flickered to Magina for a second. Coincidence, maybe.
The next participants were by far not as good as the man in white and so Magina made room at the fence for someone else. He had stayed far too long and he had to get back to the ranch.
This night, he dreamed about the beautiful man from the rodeo. It had been a long time since he had dreamed about anything pleasant and though he had a hard-on when he woke up, he had a smile on his face. He had never considered himself to be gay but he found it not very disturbing. It didn't matter anyway, alone on a ranch. Who should care what he dreamed about? Definitely not the cattle or the dogs.
Maybe it wasn't as astonishing as it should've been, since Magina had never thought about having a girlfriend or a wife or children. Sure, he had never thought about having a boyfriend, either, but then it was something rarely pondered out here.
