I've been a bad, bad writer, haven't I? Heh, well, I've been having a beta reader go over my old chapters and I didn't want to post anything 'til I had a new chapter to go with it. Special thanks to that beta reader, however, she went on vacation and, if you guys want more story (Sarah does…she's done everything but threaten me bodily harm), I think I should advertise for another 'til my first comes back. So, if you'd like the job, please e-mail me and put "beta reader" or something similar in the subject line so I don't delete it by accident. Some of the things that happen in this chapter really happened. Johnny getting kicked, the Indian Dance, and the old man at Colorado Café, to name a few.
          Reviews: DMFAN: Sorry you had to wait so long. ^^;;
                          I e-mailed you before: Amanda'll probably be showing up soon. Chapter Five, maybe. Don't worry. I will be bringing her in.
                          J0: Yeah, Amanda's coming. Just a matter of time.
                          cayenta: I've been desperately trying not to date the story, but if I had to pick I'd say the summer of 2003.

Chapter Four: It Starts

"…so, since he was a wee bit drunk – "

"Oh, no…"

" – he goes and trips over his feet and smacks his face into the tree stump."

Lisa, Mark, Steve, and Jesse were returning from the trail ride and Lisa was telling a story about what had happened at her first night ride, a birthday party for a 10-year-old girl named Danielle: the birthday girl and another, Alyssa, had specifically requested for Kevin to do an Indian Dance, as he had been a member of a Native American dance team, plus it was one of the most hilarious things ever.

"I'm not drunk enough yet!" he had protested at the time. After he'd had two (give or take) more Coronas, he did fulfill the request and did, indeed, trip and whack his face on a tree stump. In fact, the mark from it was still visible. Lisa told the story to everyone she could, always trying to get within earshot of Kevin himself, mostly because she knew it drove him crazy, which was why she did it in the first place.

The guys exchanged looks as if they were not sure how Lisa could find such an immature, irresponsible display amusing.

She sighed and looked over her shoulder at her friends' concerned faces. "Hey, it's not like he does it all the time or even to excess. Only occasionally, right, Kev?" She glanced up to the hayloft.

"Yeah," he replied. "Danielle was lucky it was her birthday, though."

"And you'll do it at mine, right?"

"No!"

Lisa laughed. "You know I love you, Kevin."

"Aww," said a voice from across the way.

She turned and reined Diego to a stop. "Hi, John."

"Lisa, Lisa!" John, co-owner of the stables, was in the workshop across from the barn. In front of him was a hollow box made of wood.

"Johnny, Johnny!" She paused and looked at the wooden box. "Okay, I give up. What is it?"

"It's a cage for you," he replied. "Keep you under control. Kevin said you were getting too wild."

Lisa rolled her eyes and deadpanned a laugh. She heard the cowboy in the hayloft chuckle.

"It's a new feeder for the hack pen," said John. "You give up. Never give up."

She just shook her head and led her guys to the hay wagon. "Hop off. Once I tie up my horse, I'll help you down and get them."

"I'm thirsty," said Diego.

"Sure, bud." Lisa led him to the water trough and shouted, "Trail's in!"

"No, Bob, seriously, go play in traffic!" From out of the barn walked a tall, mustached man and a young, skinny girl. The girl looked genuinely annoyed. They both headed for Lisa's group.

"Morning, Bob. Hi, Sarah," said Lisa and introduced her friends.

"How was your ride?" asked Bob, immediately heading for the closest rider, which happened to be Jesse. He began instructing the young man on how to dismount, correcting him when he did the slightest thing wrong. Lisa and Sarah helped down Mark and Steve, respectively, and tried to tune him out, as Bob in full lecture-mode was a near-impossible thing to interrupt.

As Sarah brought Sancho over to the trough, Lisa asked her, in low tones, "What are you telling him to go play in traffic for now?"

" 'Cuz he's being an ass," was her answer.

"What else is new?"

Bob was not well liked among the stable crew. He had a story for everything and, if not a story, a lecture. Almost everyone couldn't stand the man. Steve had inadvertently walked behind one of the horses and he was now lecturing both he and Jesse on safety procedures. Granted, it was an important thing to know, but it was also mostly common sense that didn't need a twenty-minute-long speech to learn.

Lisa brought Diego to the hitching post and hurried to rescue her guys.

"Hey, Lis?" Kevin's voice floated over to her.

"Hey, Kev?" she responded in the same tone and glanced to the hayloft.

"Could you give me a hand up here?"

She was in the barn and climbing up the ladder before anyone could mention the fact that it was her day off. "Jess, want to help? Mark, you and Steve can go find Kathy."

Eager to escape Bob's self-important ramblings, the guys scattered like buckshot to do her bidding.

Lisa grinned. "Yay," she said in a goofy kind of voice. "I get to frolic in the hay with both my favorite cowboy and my favorite doctor."

Jesse blushed adorably while Kevin, having heard the "favorite cowboy" line many times before, just smiled.

As Lisa, Kevin, and Jesse cut open bales of hay and filled the bunker, Mark and Steve headed for the wooden ramp where Kathy was standing, talking on the phone. They politely waited for her to finish.

Hanging up the phone, she asked, "What's up, guys?"

"Lisa was telling us about the night rides," said Mark.

"Yes," said Kathy and explained about the two-hour trail in the dark, then the hayride to and from the picnic area in the woods afterward. "We have a DJ and all-you-can-eat barbeque."

"Is there one tonight?" Steve asked.

Kathy nodded. "You guys want to join in?"

"Yes!" The answer came from Lisa, who was still in the hayloft, yet listening in on the conversation.

"There's you answer," Mark said, chuckling.

Kathy smiled. "All right. Come inside and sign up."

"I get second dance, Kevin," said Lisa, throwing another flake, or section, of hay into the bunker. "Or, maybe first. We can show Jesse how to two-step. Yeah?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Okay, Jess?"

Though not thrilled he wouldn't be getting first dance with his girl, the prospect of learning a new dance made up for it. "Sure," he said.

"Oh," said Lisa, "and you gotta twirl me, Kevin."

A mischievous glint lit up his brown eyes. "What, the old man didn't twirl you enough?"

WHOOSH! A flake of hay flew past his head as Lisa chucked it at him and fell neatly into the bunker.

Kevin laughed, but Jesse was confused. "What's he talking about?"

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Just something that happened at a dance club one Sunday."

Still laughing, Kevin explained. "I took 'er to the Colorado Café with Kim and this old man comes and drags 'er onto the dance floor. He comes up to me and says, 'She's doin' good!'."

Jesse started to laugh. "Mark'll be jealous, Lisa. You always told him no when he asked to dance with you."

She gave him a dirty look and cut open another bale of hay. Kevin, however, was not finished yet. "I bet he just wanted to bump hips with ya."

"Kevin…" she began in a warning tone.

 "What? You tease me about the Indian Dance."

"You're lucky I like you, you know that?"

Kevin, trying unsuccessfully to hide his laughter, just cut open a bale of hay and flung the knife down as he usually did to get the tip stuck in the hay, just to annoy Lisa because doing that made her nervous. She backed away every time.

"I won't hit ya," he said.

"Not intentionally."

Jesse just shook his head at their banter. He could tell they were good friends.

They resumed filling the bunker. Down below, near the entrance on the other end of the barn, Bob was instructing someone on what the next order of business was.

Bob, shut up, was the thought of the victim. It sounded like Sarah.

Dude, Bob, I heard you the first time! Shut the hell up!

Yep, definitely Sarah.

The unmistakable brushing sound of hay bales being dragged over the wooden hayloft floor echoed through the barn. No one thought much of it, for it was the normal sound of the barn.

WHAM!

A bale of hay fell from the loft to the ground, the binding twine splitting open and hay being strewn all over the floor.

"Hey!" Bob shouted and the three in the loft jumped at how angry he sounded. The bale had missed him by mere inches. "You guys up there watch what you're doing!"

Lisa, Kevin, and Jesse walked to the bridge between the lofts and looked down on Bob and Sarah. "What'd we do?" asked Lisa, annoyed.

"A bale nearly flattened Bob," said Sarah, sounding amused.

"And you think we did it?" Jesse asked.

"How?" Kevin said, also annoyed. "There's a wall of hay between us. I wasn't even in that part of the loft today."

"Hell," Lisa said, "only someone probably Sarah's size could squeeze in there, now."

"I didn't do it!" Sarah protested.

"I didn't say you did."

John came through the doors, leading his horse, Snorty. "What happened here?" he asked.

Bob glared as Kevin, Lisa, and Jesse went back to the bunker. "Just a little accident," he said, then proceeded to clean up the mess by handing Sarah a rake. "Here, kiddo."

She gave him a smoldering look, a series of vicious thoughts running through her mind, and though Lisa could hear them, she didn't give them much thought. Everyone who came in contact with Bob had an I'm going to kill him thought now and again. She, herself, most definitely did.

John put Snorty in a stall, then left everyone in the barn to their own devices. The horse, however, protested loudly about being shut in. He banged on the door with his hoof, walked around in circles, and whinnied loudly. Lisa didn't need to understand animals to know that he wasn't happy.

Bob had started talking to Sarah again, but she and the three in the loft tuned him out. Instead, Lisa focused on another voice.

"Okay, just bring your horses to the hay wagon and we'll help you off."

It was Kim, a pretty young woman riding in with a trail. She was riding a chestnut horse she had dubbed "Sexy".

"Hi, Kim!" Lisa called as she passed the loft.

"Hi, Lisa!" she responded.

"Hey, Kevin," said another voice, this one male. "I'm going for lunch. Do you want anything?"

The three in the loft looked through a window to see a man in denim standing below them. Lisa waved. "Hi, Jim!"

"Hey, Lisa," he replied. "I thought you were off today."

"I am…sort of. We were kind of escaping Bob. This is Jesse, and Mark and Steve were headed for Kathy the last I saw 'em. They're my friends from California."

"Nice meeting you," said Jim. "Kev, lunch?"

"No, I'm good. But Kim just came in, so you better check with her."

Jim nodded and started to walk away, but Lisa stopped him. "Wait, Jim. Here." She walked to the bridge, scrunched up some money and tossed it down to him. "Get me my usual, will you? Jess, want anything?"

"Where's he going?"

"A deli."

"Well, uh…they have burgers?" At Lisa's nod, he placed his order for a cheeseburger and a side of fries.

"Jim," said Lisa, "there's enough there for Mark and Steve, if they want anything. Mark's tall with white hair and a mustache and Steve's got dark hair."

"Yeah, I saw 'em. Okay, I'll be back in a bit." With that, Jim left.

Lisa checked her watch. "It's not noon, yet. Why're you eating so early?"

"I think she has some big group coming," said Kevin.

"Oh."

The bunker didn't take long to fill with three of them working, so when they were done, they headed down to take it back where it belonged.

Kevin and Jesse climbed down the ladder first. Even with all her abilities, the thing made Lisa nervous because it was angled slightly the wrong way, so she always had someone go down before her to cushion the landing should she fall.

Slowly, she climbed down. When she reached the second-to-last rung, Kevin crept quietly up behind her and tickled her sides, resulting in making her squeak and clinging to the ladder. Jesse laughed.

"Oh, hah, hah," she muttered. "Kevin, get over here, I'm gonna jump down on you. I'm serious. Come here and catch me."

He did and set her down on her feet after she jumped from the ladder into his arms. She and Jesse then followed Kevin into the barn to the tractor and bunker. He hopped into the driver's seat and told Jesse to climb on the bar on the back of the tractor as Lisa clambered up next to the seat, holding onto the side handle with one hand and the back of the seat with another. Lisa always rode up front with Kevin when she could.

The three of them took the bunker back to C Pen, and when they headed back in order to pick up one of the hack pen bunkers, they noticed Jim's truck was in the parking lot, meaning he was back with lunch. Kevin parked the tractor by the barn doors and he, Lisa, and Jesse headed for the office.

Inside the barn, Bob and Sarah were still cleaning the mess on the floor and Bob was still talking.

WHAM!

Another bale fell from the loft, but this one didn't break open.

Lisa pointed. "You can't blame that on us. We weren't even up there!"

Jesse gave Lisa an odd look, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Kevin did, too. Neither of them knew it, but they were both thinking the same thing. Lisa's mind filled with their accusatory thoughts of using her powers, but she ignored them for now.

Kevin headed for his car while Lisa and Jesse entered the office. Jim was sitting with Kayleigh, a girl with long brown hair, Kim, and Carrie, a girl with short blonde hair. Kathy was sitting at her desk with Mark and Steve signing up for the night ride.

"Hi, Kayl," said Lisa. "Hi, Carrie. Hello, again, Kim." She gestured to the pair at Kathy's desk. "That's Mark and Steve, if you haven't met 'em already. And this is Jesse," she said, taking his arm. She turned to Mark and Steve. "All set up for the night ride?"

Mark nodded. "Yup."

"What was that racket outside?" asked Kathy.

"Falling hay bales," said Lisa, leading Jesse over to the table where bags from the Newfoundland Deli sat. She picked out Jesse's burger and fries, as well as her usual of a roast beef sandwich on a roll and a Code Red Mountain Dew. Steve came over and took out the things he and his father had ordered.

"Nearly hit Bob," Jesse added. "He and Sarah are cleaning it up."

Kathy looked both annoyed and concerned. Kevin came through the front door carrying his own lunch, and she cast her blue-eyed gaze on him, as if accusing him of the deed. "You were the last one in the hayloft."

Guessing as to what she was talking about, Kevin was quick to defend himself. "Not there, Kathy. You can't get to that part of the loft yet."

"He's right," said Lisa. "There's no way he could fit in the small space that's up there."

Since no one got hurt, Kathy just gave Kevin a warning to be more careful, despite his protests that he had nothing to do with it, and turned her attention to a magazine. Lisa and Kevin exchanged glances, and he simply shook his head. Jesse looked sidelong at him, but he didn't want to say anything with so many people around. He joined the two of them on the couch in front of Kathy's desk, as the places at the table were all taken. Mark and Steve stood beside them by the window.

" 'Snapple Real Fact Number Ten'," said Kayleigh, reading from the cap, " 'Mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas'."

"Bob been bitten lately?" Lisa asked, then added for the benefit of her LA friends, "He has specific times set aside a day for a banana." She shook her head.

Bob and Sarah then entered the office, John following behind. Snorty's noises became louder, and Kathy put down her magazine with an annoyed sigh.

"John, do something with that horse," she said.

"I'll ride him, don't worry about it."

As Snorty's protests continued, Kathy finally stood up and exited the office. There was a loud whinny, then silence, and she came back minutes later.

"Now he's quiet." She sat down and returned to her magazine.

Curious, John went to the barn to find out what she'd done. He returned carrying a plastic bag. "She had it weaved through the bars of the stall. He was staring at it, stock still." John crinkled the bag. "It's time to break this horse to plastic." He exited again, and in no time Snorty was whinnying and pounding the stall once more.

"Was he scared of the bag?" asked Jesse.

Bob, ever eager to hear his own voice, started to speak. "There is no plastic where Snorty comes from. He's never seen it before." He paused to register the disbelief on Lisa's friends' faces. "Yes, unbelievable, but true. We get our horses direct from auctions in Texas and Mexico. Most aren't used to things like plastic bags."

"Or plastic ponchos," added Lisa. "Queso, one of our Mexican horses, spooked every time mine got near him, so I couldn't wear it around him."

Bob continued. "Anything they're not used to, they're cautious of. That's why they have to be broken to things. It's part of training them. Snorty's reaction to the bag is him saying, 'I don't want to be eaten'. He doesn't know the bag's not alive."

There was a loud bang and a cry of pain; John staggered back inside, holding his leg.

"John, what happened?" asked Kathy.

"He kicked me." On his leg was a horseshoe-shaped patch of dirt.

There was a chorus of "John, are you all right?" While he assured everyone that he was, Kathy still sent him home.

Things were tranquil right then and there, but they were going to get even more interesting.

End part four.