By the time that Steve and I had gotten all of my belongings transported to his friend's car, it was about eight thirty. My luggage was put in the backseat of the car (it was a real clunker, worse then mine) and I was squished between Steve and his friend in the front seat.

I gave Steve the directions to Uncle Dean and Aunt Linda's house once again and we were off.

Slowly but surely we got there and pulled up in front of the house, I'd never seen it before and it definitely didn't look like something that Uncle Dean would live in. I then remembered that he finally had finished his teaching degree for biology and that he probably made a lot of money.

The farm house was large and brown with a splintering wooden fence by the sides. The driveway was dirt, as was the small path that led to the back of the house where there was lots of land and a horse ring. And I knew all too well that where there's a horse ring, there's bound to be horses, especially when my cousin, Shannon, is around.

The old house with the splintering fence contrasted nicely with the late sunset that came with the long summer days. I knew then that I could get used to this city. The days were long, the nights were short, but I had a feeling that they could be wild.

Steve began to pull my luggage out of his friend's car and I quickly hopped out to help him. By the time we made it to the fourth bag, Shannon came running out of the front door at top speed and threw her arms around me tightly.

"Jeanie! It's so great to see you! We've all been worried sick! What happened?"

"My car broke down and I couldn't get a ride until eight. I tried to call but there was no answer."

"That's alright. You got dinner for tonight right?"

"Well, you see..."

"Say no more, I'll just walk into the city in a little while. Anyway, I'll see you inside, I don't want to burn my cake. Do you want me to send Daddy out to help you?"

"No, no. I think I'll manage."

"Alright, well I'll see you inside!" Shannon then proceeded to run inside just as fast as she had ran out.

Steve then lugged the largest bag out of the backseat and shut the door with a slam.

"That's the last one," he said.

"Thank you so much for your help," I said shaking my head. "And I'll pay you back some day for the Pepsi, probably when I pick up my car."

"You don't have to pay me but, um, it'll probably be ready by Saturday or Sunday. I'll call when it is. You left your number at the shop right?"

"Yeah, I did. Well, Shannon's number I guess, but you know what I mean."

"Alright."

"Well, it was very nice to meet you Steve," I paused, he looked around awkwardly. "I'll see you later on this week."

Steve started to get into the car and I ran around to the driver's side of the car to speak with the driver.

"I don't know your name but thank you for going out of your way to drop me off."

"No problem, I wasn't doin' anything anyway."

I smiled at them and as they backed out I waved good bye.

It took me three trips to get all of my bags into the house. Each bag seemed heavier than the one before it and my hands kind of hurt from heavy hockey bag my brother gave me for my things.

Once I was in the house with all my bags I got a chance to look around I noticed that in the couple of months that Uncle Dean, Aunt Linda and Shannon had lived here, they had made it completely their own. The front hall was a long stretch of wooden base boards, yellow walls, green carpeting and rows upon rows of pictures in hand made and decorated frames. On the left side, there were two doors and on the right there were three.

As I shut the door behind me, a head popped out of one of the doors, "Jeanie! How is my favorite niece?" My Uncle Dean started to walk towards me.

"I'm good, Uncle Dean. How are you?"

"I'm just peachy, Jeanie Bobeanie. Was your drive down here okay? Did you have any trouble at the border or anything like that?" Uncle Dean gave me a hug and I returned it with one arm.

"No trouble at the border, but uh, my car kind of broke down in the middle of town today."

"As Shannon was telling me," said Uncle Dean. "What happened to it?"

"The transmission fell out."

"Oh. That's why there's no dinner?"

I nodded glumly, thinking of the little money I had left.

"That's all right, you can re-earn any money you spent on it here." Uncle Dean said. "Well, I'll take a few bags and show you to your room."

Uncle Dean led me to the second door on the right which actually turned out to be a flight of stairs. At the top there were two doors, Uncle Dean opened the door to reveal a large, rectangular room with plenty of space and colorful walls. The most stunning part of the room, however, was the large picture window that was looking to the north.

I immediately ran over to it and looked out. I noticed that if you climbed out you could sit on the roof of the farm house and watch the stars.

"Shannon had this room all picked out as yours before you were even set to move in. She painted it herself. Her bedroom is the door on the left, and if you go through this door over here," Uncle Dean said pointing at a wooden door opposite from my bed, "You end up in Shannon's room."

I nodded still looking around the room. "Well I guess I'll start unpacking and what not. Do you have any extra picture frames and a hammer and nails?"

"Yes, I'll get Linda to bring you some. She knows where that stuff is, not me."

"Thank you, Uncle Dean, really. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Yes, well I figured that I had to pay my brother back somehow." With that he left.

I looked at all the luggage and I suddenly felt bad for leaving Steve to pull out the last three bags from the car while I spoke with Shannon, they happened to be the heaviest ones of all seven.

I opened up the largest bag and started to unpack.

"Jeanie, I want to show you something," said Shannon as she opened the grand window in my room. "The stars are a lot prettier out here."

She pulled me out of the window and onto the roof where you could see the stables and all the horses inside sleeping and the forest at the edge of our piece of land.

"Prettier then up north?" I asked.

"No."

"The stars in the city weren't this nice."

"I know." Shannon then sighed. "I met some boys on my way to get dinner who said they knew you, care to elaborate?"

"Were either of them really pretty or had crooked teeth?"

"Yeah, that's them, they were with their friends too. I remember one was named Ponyboy, and then the pretty one was-"

"Sodapop."

"Yeah, and there this blond guy who got kicks out of showing off an unloaded gun thinking it would frighten me. I laughed in his face, but he wants to board his horse here, so I won't complain." Shannon rambled on.

"Goodness, Shannon, he had a gun? What is with these southerners? There's probably something in the water down here."

"An unloaded gun." Shannon corrected. "What a joke. Is that supposed to be menacing or something?"

"Yes! You're just insane, that's all."

"Anyway, his name's Dallas. I forget the names of the other one though. I just remember the unusual ones and the potential client."

"Dallas?" I gulped remembering how uneasy the blond hoodlum had me made feel. "You laughed in his face? The boy at the gas station today, Steve, told me about him, he said that a girl like me should stay away from him."

"Steve, that's the one with the deformed nose and the crooked teeth!"

"Shannon!"

"What, it's just the truth!" She then paused. "I don't know, Dallas seemed nice enough, he's just another guy who just needs to be talked to. And you have to remember that we are very different people, Jeanie. And that guy, he only said a girl like you should stay away from him." She smiled.

"I don't know, Shannon, he makes me really uncomfortable."

"Well don't worry about it, he might not even show up tomorrow. One of the boys mentioned it's actually someone else's horse, he just rides it and it needs a place to stay."

"Alright, but don't expect me to be at the stables tomorrow."

There was no reply, though. Shannon had fallen asleep.