September 4th 2021

Chapter 247
Our Competition With Waiting

The Spring Grand of 2032, as hosted by Sullivan Stables in Austin, Texas, was to kick off in just a few days. Competitors and their people had started to descend upon the city, and so had their horses. As far as the team at Sullivan Stables was concerned, the event had already started.

Lucas had never seen so many people at the ranch at the same time, so many horses most of all... He had seen his share of competitions here over the years, but the Grand was a whole other thing. He'd seen one of those before this one, but it had been so long ago that he could not possibly have understood the scale of it until now. Depending on the day or even the time of day, he was sometimes thrilled, and other times just deeply stressed.

"You've got this, alright?" Maya would tell him. "This is your moment to shine, Dockleberry, you're a star," she'd intone, putting her whole self into this small motivating performance, all to get him to smile or laugh. And it would work. By now, whenever something would happen to tilt him back toward the stress side, he would think of her, hear her words in his head, and it would help.

He didn't have time to lose his balance as it was. More horses meant more humans coming with them, and because they weren't part of the ranch and its resident horses, they all had to be looked over ahead of the competition. They weren't the problem, not so much as their humans, who would often times lead with such a rude and demanding attitude, wanting their horses seen to, that it challenged even the best of them to keep their composure. It didn't help that Doctor Alvarez was still down for the count. This left his temporary replacement, Lucas, and the rest of their team to cope with the load as best they could.

It wasn't all bad, not at all. For every stage parent rider they had, they also had some very eager and humble riders, too. They showed how much it meant to all of them to be here, so much so that some of them gave the impression that the results were not important, not nearly as much as competing. Sure, this was the Grand, so the stakes were higher, but this didn't negate their love of the sport.

One of Lucas' favorite encounters so far was with a young rider out of Napa named Scout Anderson. The boy was fifteen years old, and he'd arrived just the day before along with his parents, and his older sister. All four of them were meant to be competing, and Lucas had been the one to see to their respective horses upon check-in.

He had been instantly reminded of himself at that age. It was quite literally half a lifetime ago for him, and it wasn't as though they were exactly the same, but he met the boy and felt as though he understood exactly who he was. Actually, he might have been just like him, if he had taken more after his mother instead of his father. When he'd given this description to Maya, she'd paused and tried to imagine it for a moment and then she'd grinned and laughed.

Scout loved horses, obviously, but he also wanted to be a vet, so the connection went both ways. He liked hanging out with Lucas, who was more than happy to tell him about this thing and that. By the time his family had come looking for him again, so they could leave for their hotel, he was helping Lucas in his tasks.

He was back today, not to work but to practice. The schedule was tight, factoring the available space and the demand of various competitors, but they were making it work. If they didn't worry too much over potential arguments with... less patient folk... it was actually kind of nice, having so many people around, especially with how they were all obviously looking forward to coming and interacting with others. The archive had never been so busy.

"Hey, guys, what's so funny?" Lucas asked when he came across Gracie Hunter and Ethan Davis. They'd been here all morning, with their twins, to watch the people and the horses while they waited for their turn at practice. When the two non-riders saw him, they looked to one another and stopped laughing for a beat, then started again. "What?" Lucas asked, more curious than ever.

In response, Gracie took his hand and dragged him off. Ethan followed, though he looked less sure about letting Lucas in on whatever had amused them both. The reason became clear once they got there. Gracie stopped her brother-in-law and pointed.

Up ahead, Lucas first spotted Scout on his horse, Hurricane. The two of them seemed of one mind when they were together, whether the boy was riding or walking or standing alongside the animal. That much was evident as he watched them circling the training area. Someone else who had noticed the pair's skills together was Nellie Hunter. The twelve-year-old stood outside the fence, arms folded on top and head on a swivel as she followed their journey together. A few paces away, Bobby Davis was also looking on, and he looked less impressed, much less. He looked like he could have done without the shining California boy for no reason whatsoever.

"Oh..." Lucas blinked. Gracie giggled, which got Ethan snorting. In turn, this got Bobby's attention and his face changed at once, playing it cool. Nellie was completely oblivious to the presence of absolutely anyone that wasn't Scout.

"She's going to miss her time, you know?" Bobby informed the three of them when he walked over, as though he'd only been over there out of the kindness of his heart, to remind his fellow rider that she was scheduled to practice with her own horse, and he totally wasn't feeling any incomprehensible upset at seeing her being so infatuated over the older boy. Lucas knew better than to call him on this.

"Gracie, why don't you go and..." Lucas turned to the girl, and she nodded before hurrying over to her sister. Nellie had her own kind of busted reaction at getting tapped on the arm. When she saw that it was her twin, she relaxed, only to gasp and take off at a run once she'd been given the message. Gracie followed her.

"When's your time, Bobby?" Lucas asked. The boy looked at him with a vacant expression. He couldn't remember just now.

"Little over twenty minutes from now," Ethan replied for him after checking his watch. Bobby gave him a thankful nod before repeating the words as though Lucas hadn't just heard them, too.

"Alright, carry on," he nodded to them. The brothers walked off and Lucas watched them go before pulling out his phone with a chuckle.

Lucas: Confidence?

Maya: Hit me.

He recounted the encounter as briefly as he could without missing any of the important beats. He might have let it pass without saying a thing, even if he knew Maya would keep it to herself just as he asked now. But knowing how things had been in the past where her sisters were concerned, especially with the Davis brothers in the mix, he figured she needed to be read in, just in case.

Maya: I will be there in 30.

Lucas chuckled and moved up to watch Scout finish his time with Hurricane. Not two minutes later, he got another text.

Maya: Better make that an hour. Bit of a mess to clean up first.

This was sent along with a picture. By the looks of it, Marianne had somehow gotten into the pantry, and she'd also managed to take hold of the jar of peanut butter. How she'd achieved this and remained unattended long enough to then open the jar and dig out so much of the stuff, he couldn't say. All he saw was how much of it was now on her face, arms, clothing, feet, the floor... There were also the dogs, all four of them apparently dedicated to the cleaning effort already. Marianne looked in no way disturbed by all this; amused was more like it.

By the time they arrived, it had not been an hour but almost. As Maya told it, only the motivation of getting to see what was going on with her sister had gotten her to get in the car and still come once she'd cleaned the kitchen, their daughter, and the dogs. Marianne was with her and looking sort of sedate on the whole, which he guessed might have had to do with all the peanut butter she'd eaten. It was a wonder she hadn't been car sick.

"Hey there, sneaky, you got in the pantry? Again?" Lucas asked as she was passed over to him.

"I like peanut butter," Marianne informed him.

"No kidding," Maya sighed, all the while looking at all the people and the horses out and about. "We're going to have to have a serious conversation, sneak to sneak, that is not good Sheriff behavior, is it?" she tilted her head to match the angle of Marianne's head. It got her laughing and Maya could only stretch up to kiss her cheek. It was hopeless, wasn't it? "So, what did I miss?"

"Well, Nellie had her practice. She did great," Lucas reported as he led her through the busy ranch. His tone wasn't one of bragging so much as stating the truth. Nellie was as always one of their top local riders in her age group and maybe higher. "Probably a good thing she didn't notice when Scout passed by and stopped to watch for a bit."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," Maya stopped him, which did not stop Marianne from carrying on her inspection of their surroundings. "This boy she was ogling is the one you were telling me about?"

"Did I forget to mention that?" Lucas smirked. If he wasn't in the midst of holding their child, she might have smacked him for that, all in good fun of course.

"Well, I guess it makes sense," Maya breathed out instead. Lucas gave her a curious look. "My sister, and California Huckleberry? I'm just saying," she shrugged before holding up her hand. "Not that I'm suggesting that anything happen, I mean, she's twelve, he's fifteen, but you get what I'm saying."

"I do," he promised with a smile.

"Is he still here? I want to see him..."

"No, he left, but you'll get your chance before this is all over. Anyway, I think Bobby will be glad when he's gone," Lucas whispered. Maya stalled herself from laughing.

"Poor kid..." she shook her head.

"Poor kid," Marianne repeated.

"Oh, the peanut butter's gone to your head, no, no," Lucas tickled at her ears to get her laughing. With any luck, she wouldn't go repeating anything near either of the Hunter or Davis twins. "Come on, I think Bobby's still on his time right now."

They made their way through until they found what they were looking for. Outside the fence, Ethan, Gracie, and Nellie were all looking on as Bobby rode his horse. Lucas could see the way he went, and he would swear that he was working extra hard to ride the best he'd ever done, like he was trying to outshine Scout and impress Nellie. Seeing as she had no idea of any of this, and to some degree neither did Bobby, she would just shout pointers at him like she always did. Maybe it was just what Bobby actually needed, not swooning eyes, just Nellie as she always was with him.

"You know, ten years from now, that could be you," Lucas looked to Marianne. She loved to watch people riding, every time. "Would you like that?"

"Yee haw!" Marianne waved her arm around. It made all those within earshot of her laugh, her parents most of all. Maya gave her little foot a jostle.

"Well, the Sheriff has spoken."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners