Adam woke to find himself laying on the ground.
His head pounded like an off beat drum and he felt a tightness around his
temples. With a groan he raised a hand to massage them lightly to ease the
tension.
Adam got up from the floor and turned his head to look in the
mirror half expecting to see the image of the girl in it again.
The mirror
was cracked, spiderwebs of cracks were splintering off in all directions. All he
saw in the mirror was his reflection, slightly distorted because of the cracks
on the mirror. There was a long narrow cut on his cheek. As he raised his right
hand to gently touch it he saw there were several cuts on his knuckles and on
the back of his hand.
He walked down the stairs to the kitchen, his brow furrowed as he mulled over his thoughts.
He nodded hello to the Thompsons and sat down at the table pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Morning," he said taking a sip of coffee.
"Good morning Adam," Bud Thompson replied chewing his scrambled eggs.
"What happened to your hand and face?" Mary Thompson asked.
Adam liked Mary Thompson. She was a kind, plump motherly woman with sparkling brown eyes and a serious face that hid a great sense of humor. She fussed over him like a mother hen always insisting that he had to have another helping of food to "put some meat on your bones." Adam liked the attention. He had begun to think of Mary as almost a mother to him.
"I just cut myself, that's all." He replied draining his cup of coffee with a gulp.
He got up from the table and walked over toward the back door, grabbing an apple on the way.
Bud watched Adam go out the door his eyes worried.
"Do you think he remembers anything?" Mary asked voicing his exact thoughts.
" I don't know. The doctor said it would be next to impossible. But who knows." Bud answered.
"He has been acting a bit strange lately though," Mary murmured.
"There's nothing we can do," Bud took another bite of scrambled eggs, ending the conversation.
Adam walked toward the small little barn that housed the three ranch horses. As he opened the door soft nickers and whinnies greeted him. He went over to his favorite horse, Friska. Friska was a coppery chestnut half Quarter Horse mix. She has a white blaze and two white front feet. Her short mane had some wood shavings in it, evidence that she had rolled during the night.
"Hey girl," Adam said softly opening the stall door to let himself in.
Friska nickered softly stepping toward him to nose at his pocket.
With a grin Adam pulled the apple out of his pocket and fed it to Friska. As she ate her apple, he got out her grooming tools. He hummed softly as he groomed her falling into a happy half daze that only work could induce.
After grooming Friska he mucked out her stall and replaced the soiled wood shavings with new clean fresh ones. He did the same to the other two horses, Rascal and Lady.
Rascal was a black and white paint horse with a white face and one blue eye. His clownish appearance suited him. He was a spunky and fast horse with a ground eating canter that was as smooth as silk. Lady was a pretty gray mare with a black mane and tail and black stockings on her legs. She was a sweetheart with a heart of gold and amazing 'cow sense.'
Finishing quickly he tacked up Friska and tied a saddle bag containing wire, clippers and his a thermos of coffee in case he got thirsty. There had been a big storm last night and he was worried that some of the fences might have fallen down in the strong winds last night.
He urged Friska in to a canter away from the barn.
His suspicions about the fences were right. He slowed Friska down to a walk and then finally stopped her in front of a section of the fence. The hard winds the night before had completely knocked it down. The boards lay haphazardly on the ground. Luckily there were no cattle in this section of the ranch so he didn't have to worry about finding any and bringing them back to the ranch.
Adam dismounted Friska letting the reins drop onto the ground. Friska was trained to "ground tie" so he didn't have to worry about her running away. He pulled out the tools he would need to fix the fence and got to work.
Adam straightened after pounding the last fence post into the ground and wiring it up. He wiped some sweat off his brow and stretched to relieve his cramped muscles. Friska was grazing on the grass nearby, she had barely moved five feet. Adam strode over to her. As he approached her, she raised her head from the ground and looked at him with perked eyes. He gently rubbed her muzzle and then opened the saddlebags and took out his sandwich and thermos of coffee.
Adam sat down on the grass and started eating. The sandwich was ham and cheese his favorite and had just the right amount of mayonnaise and cheese to make it taste good without making it too bland. Adam smiled Mary was an expert cook and could make almost anything taste good. He drowned the last bite of ham and cheese with a gulp of coffee that was still hot.
After eating he put his garbage into the saddlebags. It was a warm and sunny day with just the right hint of breeze. A picture perfect day, as Mary would have called it. Adam laid down on the grass. He smothered a yawn with the back of his hand. He was slightly tired, working on the fence all morning had made him sleepy. He closed his eyes, soon the warmth of the sun and warm breeze lulled him into sleep.
It was that girl again.
She was looking at him with those brown eyes of hers, so full of sadness that it made Adam's heart wrench. A tear fell down her cheek, then another and another until she was weeping, murmuring over and over again ,"I'm so sorry, please forgive me."
Suddenly a man appeared next to her. He was about Adam's height with brown hair and was a bit unshaven but not unattractively so. His eyes stared into Adam's with a sort of mocking challenge in them. As Adam watched he wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her to him, holding her against his chest. All the while he kept staring at Adam with that look of mocking challenge in his eyes.
Adam felt resentment and anger building inside of him. He met the man's gaze with his own, his eyes glacier cold. The man smiled, as if amused. Then he and the girl disappeared
Adam awoke with a jerk. The sun was just starting to set in the sky. Everything was tinted with the shades of twilight. He got up from the grass and mounted Friska. He turned her in the direction of the ranch and urged her into a gallop. Tears caused by the wind streamed down his cheeks. All the while he kept seeing the girl's sorrowful eyes and the man's mocking ones over and over in his mind.
