***Four Hours Later, in New Mexico***
"Grandpa Doug!" Jonny said excitedly, rushing towards his estranged grandfather.
"Heya, squirt! Haven't seen you since you were about yea tall." He gestured several inches lower, at approximately Jonny's chest. "Race, you're welcome to come back to the ranch to rest a little while before flying back to Maine."
"Thanks Doug, but I need to head back to the Compound, I'm taking Hadji to India tomorrow morning, albeit at a lot friendlier of an hour than his flight over." Race grimaced.
Jonny bowed his head, "Well, that was dad's idea, not mine."
"Funny, I thought geniuses were supposed to be smart." Doug exclaimed, shaking his head, "Well, I guess you'll be wanting breakfast before I put you to work."
"Thanks, but there's really no need, I ate on my flight over."
"You think a bag of peanuts is enough to hold you over for a long day of work? Suit yer self."
Race noted the abrasiveness of Doug's personality. 'Benton what have you done.' He rolled his eyes clearing his head, "Jonny, I'll help you load your bags into Doug's. truck or helicopter today?"
"I brought the truck, airport security's a bitch."
Race nodded, sympathetic to Doug's cause. "Ok, so where are you parked?"
"This isn't exactly a busy airport Race, and it's not exactly at the height of today's rush. I parked right up front."
Race nodded, "That makes it all the more easy for my job." He walked over to the baggage claim and took two of Jonny's three suitcases and tossed Jonny the duffel bag.
"Are you visiting or moving in boy?" Doug teased.
"Eh, I learned my packing style from two of the most traveled men in Maine, my dad "Pack everything and your sink" and Race "Oh, and don't forget your first aid kit and your water supply." How could I ever get away with less than four bags?"
"Ever hear of the carry-on business man?" Doug quirked his eyebrow, "In one suitcase, one change of clothes, some extra socks and underwear, a book and travel sized everything galore." He rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I have travel sized detergent, and toothpaste, and mouth wash, and floss. and let's see. hair gel. lotion. pepper spray- for my 'breath'. and what else."
"Never mind. How is that bighead teaching you to survive? All you needed back in my day was the clothes you wore maybe some extra socks and underwear, if you were damn lucky, a book of matches and a can of beans and some jerky. Hell, if you wore glasses you didn't need the matches."
Jonny cringed, "Heh, I've done survival week with Race, grandpa, I have no problem lugging the extra pounds of luxury here and there."
"Really. I might take you up on that if I run out of gas. Besides, I have most of that crap at the ranch. You don't need all that junk, well, when I send you back we'll see how much you learned."
***At the Ranch***
"Grandpa were you serious about the 'walking to get gas with all your luxuries' bit?" Jonny asked naively.
"Course not, Jonny. That was an act, it'll make Race tell yer dad yer going through a hell worse then military school, naw, you'll be working on the ranch, but I'm not going to try to keep a healthy teenager cramped in the ranch with a bunch of old fogies. If yer mom taught me anything it's that THAT is impossible, 'sides I want you to have fun. Sure I told the egghead I wa'nt going to take you out in town 'cept to run errands, but, face it, I was blatantly lying cuz I don't give a hoot for his 'parenting techniques' back in my day, when people actually KNEW how to parent instead of read some psychology books, if we wanted to punish someone we gave them extra chores, not ship them to relatives so they resented kin." Doug shook his fist. "No, we knew something called respect, and had an idea about family unity."
Jonny nodded, "Grandpa, I really did miss seeing you." He hugged the older man.
"I missed you too Jonny."
***Dusk, New Mexico***
"Jonny, your hay barrels are too big, they're too difficult to transfer, ya need to bail out some hay, make them 20 pounds lighter. And when you're done there wash up, we'll grab dinner and you can head off to bed."
"Yes sir." Jonny said enthusiastically. "What's for dinner?"
"Well, I was thinking of showing you how I make my 9 Alarm Chili."
"You mean 7 don't you?"
"I add the Chili Peppers and Anaheim Peppers in twice." He smiled, "But don't tell anyone or I'll make you eat one plain."
Jonny gulped, but his mouth watered.
"Well, we might have to have that tomorrah, I'm out of the Super Chili Peppers. We can pick those up in the town's market when we go to watch Triassic Love. It's my favorite movie, you know."
Jonny shuttered internally, "Wow, that's great. and what book is this story based on?" Jonny smiled as he asked, 'So I can find and kill said author.'
"Oh, it's not BASED from a book, it was a movie script intended to be the fifth movie in the TP series."
"Ah, I see." Jonny nodded to concede, 'you win THIS ROUND Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! Michael Crichton, you're going down!' Jonny walked into the large ranch-styled house and b-lined it towards the bathroom. "So, then what should we have for dinner?"
"A real American Man's dinner." Doug said.
***At the Dinner Table at Grandpa Doug's***
"Macaroni and Cheese!" He said enthusiastically as he sloshed down a big heaping bowl of toxic, artery clogging cheese and noodle.
Jonny face faulted, "I really don't see how that's a 'man's' dish Grandpa."
"Nonsense! Try it, then you'll see."
'I am so very afraid. Hey! If I get food poisoning dad would have no choice but bring me back home.' Jonny took a massive pile of noodle and goo onto his spoon and swung it down his mouth shouting all the while, "Down the hatch!" He gulped to swallow.
He then proceeded to choke violently as the taste reached his pallet. "What in the hell is WRONG with this.?" Jonny swore vehemently as he reached for some milk to wash down the foul, tart taste. "Grandpa, didn't you follow the directions on the box?!"
"Nope. And THAT'S what makes it an American Man's dish."
"What, the food poisoning?"
"More or less, but mostly if you EVER make that for an American woman, you will NEVER have to cook again. Learn wisely, Tabasco sauce, three parts, two whole lemons,"
Jonny's stomach wrenched as the older man went on.
"Black olives, just under ripe, three week old cheddar cheese, extra sharp, cheese spray from the can, and lastly spinach noodles."
"And you made me EAT that? Why didn't you just ask me to cook. knowing what my bowels are going to soon realize, I'd have been MORE THAN HAPPY to make a Jonny Quest Special Meatloaf instead of endure that foul slop."
"Aw, you're just saying that to be nice."
Jonny's face contorted. "Nothing ABOUT that statement was nice. Gaw! My cooking's better than YOURS! .Hmm, that could come in handy, hey Grandpa, can I bring back some of this crap. erm 'food' with me so I can give it to Jessie with your regards?"
"Let me think about that. No. I'll let you bring back the 9 Alarm Chili though. So long as you NEVER reveal what's in it, even if they're allergic." The white-haired man notified.
Jonny smirked, "That's fine. I think I could go to jail for that, though."
"Only if you open up a restaurant." He nodded solemnly.
"Why do I feel like I should be concerned?"
"Don't you worry about that." He paused, "Well, I reckon we should head off to get some shut eye."
"Sure thing Grandpa, if my body allows me any peace." Jonny walked towards the guest room, remembering it vividly though years had past.
***The Next Morning***
Jonny grabbed his stomach, "Woah, I can't BELIEVE how well I slept after eating that. bio-hazardous blue-plate special."
Grandpa Doug stood in his cowboy boots, black silk button-up shirt and khaki jeans. "Mornin' Jonny, time to get your hands dirty."
Jonny smiled, getting up and walking towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. "Wha awe we wo'king awn today?" He said between scrubbing, the toothbrush dangling from his mouth.
The elderly man smiled, "I'm going to show you how to vaccinate cattle, then maybe, if you aren't tired and get done a couple of hours before dinner, I'll let you take Manx out for a ride. That's my newest Philly, she's pretty fast and I'd like to train her for round-ups. Just so I have some extra horse-power when we let the cattle graze." He explained.
Jonny's eyes grew, "Are you. serious?" His toothbrush fell from his mouth moments after 'you' and 'take Manx out' were mentioned in a conjoined phrase. "That. that would be GREAT!" Jonny said, running back to his room to finish getting ready for the day.
"Want a real-man's omelet Jonny?" Doug asked.
Jonny grabbed his stomach nervously, "No thanks, Grandpa, I'll cook my own breakfast, really. no trouble."
Doug laughed he actually did make a pretty mean omelet, with three types of peppers of course.
Jonny stomach gurgled as he made his way into the kitchen. He smelled the fluffy, spicy eggs with the bottle of Tabasco sitting promisingly at the corner of the counter. His mouth watered, but then he recalled, 'Spicy in the morning is a BAD combination.' thinking to himself about the time he accidentally added chili pepper to his eggs instead of black pepper. and the bottle cap fell off. He shivered his tonsils never did fully grow back after that.
***Half an Hour Later, 7:45 AM***
Jonny slid on a soft-tan colored suede cowboy hat that had a black chord tying around its brim. He tucked the front of the hat down in the stereotypical cowboy move. A smirk crossed his lips. "Yeeee-haw!" Jonny yelped. Doug cocked him a stare and chuckled.
"That's not how it's done, Jonny." He said with a smirk, he tipped back his hat, only to throw it in the air seconds later letting out a cry that echoed to the far-off mountains, "Yeeeeeeeeeeeee-oow-haaa!" He bellowed, he caught his hat mid-air and slid it back on with his fingers pushing his hair back into their position, pretending the commotion had actually ruffled his snow-colored well-groomed, shiny hair. He took out a crude contraption from the shed by the barn. "Jonny, why don't you close down the holding pin, then sit down on the post near where it opens up a little."
Jonny looked around quickly, spotting the gates he imagined his grandfather meant to close. They closed into a completely contained box, save for an opening that was railed for 12 feet going into the pin. He sat at the middle of the post.
Doug smiled; it came so naturally to the boy how to ranch it brought a proud tear to the disciplined man's eye. He quickly tucked it away and walked up to the boy, "Hey, Jonny, now this is reeeaaaal important, when you vaccinate them, make SURE you tag their ear, and only go one at a time, also it's best to vaccinate them at the neck and make sure you pull the trigger completely, it reloads and you don't want a stag only getting a half-dosage, it won't work unless it's a full dosage."
Jonny listened intensely then he nodded, "I understand. This will be fun, how many cows do you have in your herd?"
"Only about 700 bovine."
Jonny's jaw dropped. He quickly snapped his jaw shut.
"Just be glad it's right after slaughter-season, you could have drawn the luck of having to vaccine all 2200 of the herd."
Again, Jonny's jaw dropped, this time slower to recover. "W-why would you have that much cattle?"
"Every time you have a burger at those burger-barn places, the ones that claim to buy American meat, where do you think they get that meat from? And they serve more than one burger to one boy a day, week or however long it takes for you to go back, when the cafeteria has meatloaf, by law it has to have a certain percentage of Grade A meat, it adds up."
***490 Bovine Vaccines Later***
"Jonny, lunch will be in another 2 hours, think you can finish up by then?"
Jonny calculated, every twenty cows he had to reload, that took 2 minutes, and his arms were getting sore, "I think so, but it will be pretty close."
Doug nodded, "Aren't you glad you got up early?" He smirked.
Jonny rolled his eyes and gestured the 'But of COURSE how could this be ANYTHING but entertainment' look. Doug chortled.
***Lunch***
Jonny came inside the ranch, his arms hung down past his hips, tired of being held up all day, prompting the cattle to come to him so he could inject it. "So, grandpa, what's for lunch? I'm starved."
"I figured you should see first hand what your hard work is making, I butchered a cow four days ago, want the T-Bone?"
Jonny's stomach churned, "I think I'm officially a vegetarian now, Grandpa. at least a not-a-cow-atarian. Am I going to able to eat anything here ever again?" He joked.
Doug smiled, "Well, tonight we'll make some chili, but you do realize that has ground beef in it."
"But I also realize that ground beef is in my dad's vegetarian sausage." Jonny smirked.
Doug laughed, "Figgers that Green Peace." he cut himself off from cursing out Dr. Quest in front of his son, "Hippy" he moderated, "Would be a vegetarian. No respect for the days when people hunt-and-gathered. It's not American." He teased.
Jonny took his turn to laugh, "He eats meat, he just eats vegetarian sausage, he says he likes to make sure he gets a balanced diet and that too much red meat if bad for your cholesterol."
Doug couldn't resist a short, "Pansy" at Dr. Quest's expense. "You eat meat, don't you?"
Jonny smirked, "Yeah. Like every chance I get, I never get to have an extra-greasy cheeseburger at home or when dad's around, so, whenever I get the chance to hang out with my friends I choke down three of those things to let my system catch up to everyone else's. That, and I don't know if you've ever HAD re-hydrated goulash but I can guarantee you that you'd only make that mistake once. Dad rations THAT crap like WATER when we travel though."
***Ten Minutes Before Dusk***
Jonny brushed out Manx's long mane, he slid the saddle onto her back and buckled it down, just as Grandpa Doug had demonstrated on Steel, his prize stud. Jonny smiled happily, finally, he actually got to DO something, not just watch as the adults did it. Granted he normally would mimic the adults on his own once they were out of the area, but the fact that his grandfather trusted him enough to actually do it first hand and on a new horse?! Honored barely described it, he almost felt like someone was proud of him and believed in his abilities.
Jonny thought to himself, 'Really. do I really feel that neglected at home? That dad and Race aren't PROUD of me. that they don't trust me.' Jonny thought back at a glance at how Dr. Quest had screamed at him for 'Always messing the computers up.' He shuttered, 'So maybe I do feel that way.'
As if reading Jonny's mind and expressions, Doug smiled at his grandson, "You're doing great. How often did you say you snuck around doing this back in Maine?"
Jonny blushed, "Really, I don't do it that often, you make me out like I'm a punk." Jonny said, smiling softly, almost embarrassed.
"Not a punk, more like a natural." Doug corrected the boy.
Jonny's small smile grew into a radiant lop-sided grin almost stretching to his ears. Jonny mounted the Philly and began walking her back to the pasture from the stable. Doug guided the new found Philly towards the stable with Steel's muzzle, making sure the horse veered towards the right direction. Jonny dismounted as he reached the grassy area.
Doug closed the gate that encompassed the 3 acres of grazing land. "I say we catch Triassic Love, pick up some peppers for dinner and head home, after that you can bring Manx back into the stable and give her a good brush-down. Sound good?"
Jonny nodded vigorously, "Sounds GREAT!"
(Status _ Part Two: Last Supper _ Completed.)
"Grandpa Doug!" Jonny said excitedly, rushing towards his estranged grandfather.
"Heya, squirt! Haven't seen you since you were about yea tall." He gestured several inches lower, at approximately Jonny's chest. "Race, you're welcome to come back to the ranch to rest a little while before flying back to Maine."
"Thanks Doug, but I need to head back to the Compound, I'm taking Hadji to India tomorrow morning, albeit at a lot friendlier of an hour than his flight over." Race grimaced.
Jonny bowed his head, "Well, that was dad's idea, not mine."
"Funny, I thought geniuses were supposed to be smart." Doug exclaimed, shaking his head, "Well, I guess you'll be wanting breakfast before I put you to work."
"Thanks, but there's really no need, I ate on my flight over."
"You think a bag of peanuts is enough to hold you over for a long day of work? Suit yer self."
Race noted the abrasiveness of Doug's personality. 'Benton what have you done.' He rolled his eyes clearing his head, "Jonny, I'll help you load your bags into Doug's. truck or helicopter today?"
"I brought the truck, airport security's a bitch."
Race nodded, sympathetic to Doug's cause. "Ok, so where are you parked?"
"This isn't exactly a busy airport Race, and it's not exactly at the height of today's rush. I parked right up front."
Race nodded, "That makes it all the more easy for my job." He walked over to the baggage claim and took two of Jonny's three suitcases and tossed Jonny the duffel bag.
"Are you visiting or moving in boy?" Doug teased.
"Eh, I learned my packing style from two of the most traveled men in Maine, my dad "Pack everything and your sink" and Race "Oh, and don't forget your first aid kit and your water supply." How could I ever get away with less than four bags?"
"Ever hear of the carry-on business man?" Doug quirked his eyebrow, "In one suitcase, one change of clothes, some extra socks and underwear, a book and travel sized everything galore." He rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I have travel sized detergent, and toothpaste, and mouth wash, and floss. and let's see. hair gel. lotion. pepper spray- for my 'breath'. and what else."
"Never mind. How is that bighead teaching you to survive? All you needed back in my day was the clothes you wore maybe some extra socks and underwear, if you were damn lucky, a book of matches and a can of beans and some jerky. Hell, if you wore glasses you didn't need the matches."
Jonny cringed, "Heh, I've done survival week with Race, grandpa, I have no problem lugging the extra pounds of luxury here and there."
"Really. I might take you up on that if I run out of gas. Besides, I have most of that crap at the ranch. You don't need all that junk, well, when I send you back we'll see how much you learned."
***At the Ranch***
"Grandpa were you serious about the 'walking to get gas with all your luxuries' bit?" Jonny asked naively.
"Course not, Jonny. That was an act, it'll make Race tell yer dad yer going through a hell worse then military school, naw, you'll be working on the ranch, but I'm not going to try to keep a healthy teenager cramped in the ranch with a bunch of old fogies. If yer mom taught me anything it's that THAT is impossible, 'sides I want you to have fun. Sure I told the egghead I wa'nt going to take you out in town 'cept to run errands, but, face it, I was blatantly lying cuz I don't give a hoot for his 'parenting techniques' back in my day, when people actually KNEW how to parent instead of read some psychology books, if we wanted to punish someone we gave them extra chores, not ship them to relatives so they resented kin." Doug shook his fist. "No, we knew something called respect, and had an idea about family unity."
Jonny nodded, "Grandpa, I really did miss seeing you." He hugged the older man.
"I missed you too Jonny."
***Dusk, New Mexico***
"Jonny, your hay barrels are too big, they're too difficult to transfer, ya need to bail out some hay, make them 20 pounds lighter. And when you're done there wash up, we'll grab dinner and you can head off to bed."
"Yes sir." Jonny said enthusiastically. "What's for dinner?"
"Well, I was thinking of showing you how I make my 9 Alarm Chili."
"You mean 7 don't you?"
"I add the Chili Peppers and Anaheim Peppers in twice." He smiled, "But don't tell anyone or I'll make you eat one plain."
Jonny gulped, but his mouth watered.
"Well, we might have to have that tomorrah, I'm out of the Super Chili Peppers. We can pick those up in the town's market when we go to watch Triassic Love. It's my favorite movie, you know."
Jonny shuttered internally, "Wow, that's great. and what book is this story based on?" Jonny smiled as he asked, 'So I can find and kill said author.'
"Oh, it's not BASED from a book, it was a movie script intended to be the fifth movie in the TP series."
"Ah, I see." Jonny nodded to concede, 'you win THIS ROUND Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! Michael Crichton, you're going down!' Jonny walked into the large ranch-styled house and b-lined it towards the bathroom. "So, then what should we have for dinner?"
"A real American Man's dinner." Doug said.
***At the Dinner Table at Grandpa Doug's***
"Macaroni and Cheese!" He said enthusiastically as he sloshed down a big heaping bowl of toxic, artery clogging cheese and noodle.
Jonny face faulted, "I really don't see how that's a 'man's' dish Grandpa."
"Nonsense! Try it, then you'll see."
'I am so very afraid. Hey! If I get food poisoning dad would have no choice but bring me back home.' Jonny took a massive pile of noodle and goo onto his spoon and swung it down his mouth shouting all the while, "Down the hatch!" He gulped to swallow.
He then proceeded to choke violently as the taste reached his pallet. "What in the hell is WRONG with this.?" Jonny swore vehemently as he reached for some milk to wash down the foul, tart taste. "Grandpa, didn't you follow the directions on the box?!"
"Nope. And THAT'S what makes it an American Man's dish."
"What, the food poisoning?"
"More or less, but mostly if you EVER make that for an American woman, you will NEVER have to cook again. Learn wisely, Tabasco sauce, three parts, two whole lemons,"
Jonny's stomach wrenched as the older man went on.
"Black olives, just under ripe, three week old cheddar cheese, extra sharp, cheese spray from the can, and lastly spinach noodles."
"And you made me EAT that? Why didn't you just ask me to cook. knowing what my bowels are going to soon realize, I'd have been MORE THAN HAPPY to make a Jonny Quest Special Meatloaf instead of endure that foul slop."
"Aw, you're just saying that to be nice."
Jonny's face contorted. "Nothing ABOUT that statement was nice. Gaw! My cooking's better than YOURS! .Hmm, that could come in handy, hey Grandpa, can I bring back some of this crap. erm 'food' with me so I can give it to Jessie with your regards?"
"Let me think about that. No. I'll let you bring back the 9 Alarm Chili though. So long as you NEVER reveal what's in it, even if they're allergic." The white-haired man notified.
Jonny smirked, "That's fine. I think I could go to jail for that, though."
"Only if you open up a restaurant." He nodded solemnly.
"Why do I feel like I should be concerned?"
"Don't you worry about that." He paused, "Well, I reckon we should head off to get some shut eye."
"Sure thing Grandpa, if my body allows me any peace." Jonny walked towards the guest room, remembering it vividly though years had past.
***The Next Morning***
Jonny grabbed his stomach, "Woah, I can't BELIEVE how well I slept after eating that. bio-hazardous blue-plate special."
Grandpa Doug stood in his cowboy boots, black silk button-up shirt and khaki jeans. "Mornin' Jonny, time to get your hands dirty."
Jonny smiled, getting up and walking towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. "Wha awe we wo'king awn today?" He said between scrubbing, the toothbrush dangling from his mouth.
The elderly man smiled, "I'm going to show you how to vaccinate cattle, then maybe, if you aren't tired and get done a couple of hours before dinner, I'll let you take Manx out for a ride. That's my newest Philly, she's pretty fast and I'd like to train her for round-ups. Just so I have some extra horse-power when we let the cattle graze." He explained.
Jonny's eyes grew, "Are you. serious?" His toothbrush fell from his mouth moments after 'you' and 'take Manx out' were mentioned in a conjoined phrase. "That. that would be GREAT!" Jonny said, running back to his room to finish getting ready for the day.
"Want a real-man's omelet Jonny?" Doug asked.
Jonny grabbed his stomach nervously, "No thanks, Grandpa, I'll cook my own breakfast, really. no trouble."
Doug laughed he actually did make a pretty mean omelet, with three types of peppers of course.
Jonny stomach gurgled as he made his way into the kitchen. He smelled the fluffy, spicy eggs with the bottle of Tabasco sitting promisingly at the corner of the counter. His mouth watered, but then he recalled, 'Spicy in the morning is a BAD combination.' thinking to himself about the time he accidentally added chili pepper to his eggs instead of black pepper. and the bottle cap fell off. He shivered his tonsils never did fully grow back after that.
***Half an Hour Later, 7:45 AM***
Jonny slid on a soft-tan colored suede cowboy hat that had a black chord tying around its brim. He tucked the front of the hat down in the stereotypical cowboy move. A smirk crossed his lips. "Yeeee-haw!" Jonny yelped. Doug cocked him a stare and chuckled.
"That's not how it's done, Jonny." He said with a smirk, he tipped back his hat, only to throw it in the air seconds later letting out a cry that echoed to the far-off mountains, "Yeeeeeeeeeeeee-oow-haaa!" He bellowed, he caught his hat mid-air and slid it back on with his fingers pushing his hair back into their position, pretending the commotion had actually ruffled his snow-colored well-groomed, shiny hair. He took out a crude contraption from the shed by the barn. "Jonny, why don't you close down the holding pin, then sit down on the post near where it opens up a little."
Jonny looked around quickly, spotting the gates he imagined his grandfather meant to close. They closed into a completely contained box, save for an opening that was railed for 12 feet going into the pin. He sat at the middle of the post.
Doug smiled; it came so naturally to the boy how to ranch it brought a proud tear to the disciplined man's eye. He quickly tucked it away and walked up to the boy, "Hey, Jonny, now this is reeeaaaal important, when you vaccinate them, make SURE you tag their ear, and only go one at a time, also it's best to vaccinate them at the neck and make sure you pull the trigger completely, it reloads and you don't want a stag only getting a half-dosage, it won't work unless it's a full dosage."
Jonny listened intensely then he nodded, "I understand. This will be fun, how many cows do you have in your herd?"
"Only about 700 bovine."
Jonny's jaw dropped. He quickly snapped his jaw shut.
"Just be glad it's right after slaughter-season, you could have drawn the luck of having to vaccine all 2200 of the herd."
Again, Jonny's jaw dropped, this time slower to recover. "W-why would you have that much cattle?"
"Every time you have a burger at those burger-barn places, the ones that claim to buy American meat, where do you think they get that meat from? And they serve more than one burger to one boy a day, week or however long it takes for you to go back, when the cafeteria has meatloaf, by law it has to have a certain percentage of Grade A meat, it adds up."
***490 Bovine Vaccines Later***
"Jonny, lunch will be in another 2 hours, think you can finish up by then?"
Jonny calculated, every twenty cows he had to reload, that took 2 minutes, and his arms were getting sore, "I think so, but it will be pretty close."
Doug nodded, "Aren't you glad you got up early?" He smirked.
Jonny rolled his eyes and gestured the 'But of COURSE how could this be ANYTHING but entertainment' look. Doug chortled.
***Lunch***
Jonny came inside the ranch, his arms hung down past his hips, tired of being held up all day, prompting the cattle to come to him so he could inject it. "So, grandpa, what's for lunch? I'm starved."
"I figured you should see first hand what your hard work is making, I butchered a cow four days ago, want the T-Bone?"
Jonny's stomach churned, "I think I'm officially a vegetarian now, Grandpa. at least a not-a-cow-atarian. Am I going to able to eat anything here ever again?" He joked.
Doug smiled, "Well, tonight we'll make some chili, but you do realize that has ground beef in it."
"But I also realize that ground beef is in my dad's vegetarian sausage." Jonny smirked.
Doug laughed, "Figgers that Green Peace." he cut himself off from cursing out Dr. Quest in front of his son, "Hippy" he moderated, "Would be a vegetarian. No respect for the days when people hunt-and-gathered. It's not American." He teased.
Jonny took his turn to laugh, "He eats meat, he just eats vegetarian sausage, he says he likes to make sure he gets a balanced diet and that too much red meat if bad for your cholesterol."
Doug couldn't resist a short, "Pansy" at Dr. Quest's expense. "You eat meat, don't you?"
Jonny smirked, "Yeah. Like every chance I get, I never get to have an extra-greasy cheeseburger at home or when dad's around, so, whenever I get the chance to hang out with my friends I choke down three of those things to let my system catch up to everyone else's. That, and I don't know if you've ever HAD re-hydrated goulash but I can guarantee you that you'd only make that mistake once. Dad rations THAT crap like WATER when we travel though."
***Ten Minutes Before Dusk***
Jonny brushed out Manx's long mane, he slid the saddle onto her back and buckled it down, just as Grandpa Doug had demonstrated on Steel, his prize stud. Jonny smiled happily, finally, he actually got to DO something, not just watch as the adults did it. Granted he normally would mimic the adults on his own once they were out of the area, but the fact that his grandfather trusted him enough to actually do it first hand and on a new horse?! Honored barely described it, he almost felt like someone was proud of him and believed in his abilities.
Jonny thought to himself, 'Really. do I really feel that neglected at home? That dad and Race aren't PROUD of me. that they don't trust me.' Jonny thought back at a glance at how Dr. Quest had screamed at him for 'Always messing the computers up.' He shuttered, 'So maybe I do feel that way.'
As if reading Jonny's mind and expressions, Doug smiled at his grandson, "You're doing great. How often did you say you snuck around doing this back in Maine?"
Jonny blushed, "Really, I don't do it that often, you make me out like I'm a punk." Jonny said, smiling softly, almost embarrassed.
"Not a punk, more like a natural." Doug corrected the boy.
Jonny's small smile grew into a radiant lop-sided grin almost stretching to his ears. Jonny mounted the Philly and began walking her back to the pasture from the stable. Doug guided the new found Philly towards the stable with Steel's muzzle, making sure the horse veered towards the right direction. Jonny dismounted as he reached the grassy area.
Doug closed the gate that encompassed the 3 acres of grazing land. "I say we catch Triassic Love, pick up some peppers for dinner and head home, after that you can bring Manx back into the stable and give her a good brush-down. Sound good?"
Jonny nodded vigorously, "Sounds GREAT!"
(Status _ Part Two: Last Supper _ Completed.)