Chapter 6
'The Rest of the Family'
Lebonnie woke up the next morning a little after eleven o'clock. She missed her History class and wasn't planning on attending Money Management, which began in three minutes.
She yawned and stretched her arms above her head. She heard a crash and jumped to the kitchen.
Dixie had been keeping herself busy by building a leaning tower of pots on the table.
"Sorry Mommy!" She said as her eyes widened at the pots scattered all over the floor.
"Dixie Lou Smooter! What have I told you 'bout playin' with things in the kitchen?" Lebonnie said as she gathered the pots in an armful.
"I didn't mean to!" She replied defensively, tears welling up in her big brown eyes.
Lebonnie was in a surprisingly good mood today; she didn't feel like discipling her delinquent of a child. Instead, she thought of an idea.
"You wanna go she Aunt Jorjanna and Uncle Hunter?" She asked. They got out of school last week and were free for the summer.
"Yeah! And Grandma and Grandpa too?"
Lebonnie placed the pots in the cupboard. "Yeah...they should be there too."
"K."
"All right. Then go git dressed and brush yer teeth."
Lebonnie drove down the familiar dirt road. Her home before the trailer park. It was quite pretty. Pastures occupied with nursing calves and grazing horses fields of tall grass, dirt trails, and a center lake.
The house was small but cozy. Her Father Mark built it with his own hands.
She parked next to her Dads Ford and unfastened Dixie out of the car seat. The chickens pecked the ground in front of her and 'Butch' the retired hunting dog, lay fast asleep on the old front porch.
"Mama? Jorjanna?" Lebonnie called as she opened the flimsy screen door.
"Bunny!" Jorjanna called as she came running out of her room. "I haven't seen ya in a month!"
Jorjanna was a spinning image of Lebonnie. She was sixteen years old and was going to be a junior in High School next year. She had her sisters stunning green eyes and tan skin. Her hair was a darker shade of blonde and trimmed to her shoulders.
"I know! I've been busy. How've ya been?" She replied giving her a hug.
"Fine I guess. Mom and Dad are still bein' a pain in the ass."
"They still won't let ya see Ryan?" Lebonnie asked taking off her boots.
"Nope! They won't even give him a chance!" Jorjanna said leading them into the living room."It's like you and Chase all over again!"
Lebonnie collapsed on the couch next to her sister. "I remember those days. Sneakin' out of the house in the middle of the night, only to git caught by the police and drug back home."
"They're just...so goddamn annoying! Can I come live with you and Chase? Hunter won't let me move out with him."
Lebonnie laughed and lifted Dixie on her lap. "Sorry Sis. Yer gonna have to go through this alone...I had to."
Jorjanna groaned and slumped lower in the couch.
"Where's my Uncle Hunner?" Dixie asked.
"Who knows. Ever since he got his High School diploma last week, he's been gone fer days." Jorjanna replied.
"Hmm. Wonder where he went?"
"Dunno."
Mark Tyrien walked through the front door carrying two large buckets of dead trout. He had obviously been fishing and decided to gut them out in Mama's kitchen. Something she would not be pleased about if she were home.
"Hey Daddy." Lebonnie said following him into the kitchen.
"Oh hey Bunny. How's it been goin?"
"All right. Need some help?"
"Well sure!" He said happily dumping the big fish into the sink. "Did ya bring my granddaughter?"
"Yup." She replied tying back her hair. "She's in the living room with Jorjanna."
Mark cut down the belly of each fish, and passed it on to Lebonnie to be gutted.
"So how's the ranch?"
"It's a helluva lot more work with Chip and Tom gone. But, I've been managing. Got some new cattle. Nice breed, red angus."
"I saw, they're pretty. Why'd Chip and Tom leave?"
Mark paused for awhile. "Found better work somewheres else I guess."
"Do ya need any helpers? Cause Lukes always willing to do more work, and Chase ain't got nothin' else goin' on. I'm sure they'd help." Lebonnie said encouragingly.
"Nah I'm doin' all right." Mark replied a sudden bitterness in his voice.
Lebonnie gutted the last of the trout. She knew Mark could use all the help he could get, but he was just stubborn.
"Bunny," Jorjanna said coming in the kitchen. "You wanna go ride? I need to work Bronc and I'm sure Whiskey Bandit could use a gallop."
"Oh sure!" Lebonnie said excitingly. She hasn't been on a horse since she sold Breezy six months ago. "Daddy will you watch Dixie fer an hour or so? Please?"
Dixie came running in the kitchen. "Papa!" She yelled as he picked her up and tossed her in the air.
"Sure hun. Jorjanna remember to finish them chores before you come back in."
Lebonnie and Jorjanna skipped down the dirt road to the barn like they did when they were kids.
"How's that new mare?" Lebonnie asked still skipping. "What's her name again?
"We call her, The Temptress, cause she'll tease all the studs at the neighbors ranch."
"Daddy gonna breed her?"
"Nope." Jorjanna replied, slowing down to a walk. "She's got a great pedigree and was professionally trained fer a year, so Mom and Dad are just gonna sell her. With Summer Rodeo Season approaching, cowboys would be aching to own a mare like her! Makes no sense to breed her when the business is doin' so well right now."
Lebonnie grinned to herself. Jorjanna was just as crazy about horses as she was. She just prayed she wouldn't wind up pregnant and have to sell her horse before they hit big time.
"So you wanna ride Whisky Bandit right?" Jorjanna asked stopping in front of the gelding's paddock.
"Would Hunter care?" Lebonnie asked.
Jorjanna rolled her eyes. "Who cares! He's been gone and it don't look like he's comin' home anytime soon."
"All right." Lebonnie said as she grabbed the rope halter and opened the gate. "Meet ya at the lake."
Lebonnie halted at the dock of the lake. The sorrel gelding dunk his nose into the water, and splashed around.
'Home sweet home.' She thought. It felt so good to sit in the saddle again. At the lake she grew up swimming in, surrounded by the fields she grew up playing in.
"Ya beat me to it!" She heard her sister yell. Jorjanna came loping up on her rodeo horse, Bronc. "That's a first!"
Bronc was a twenty year old, palomino paint gelding. He was very flashy with his long white mane, golden color, and two blue eyes. Jorjanna put many years of work into him. Seeing the pair made her miss Breezy all the more.
"I guess I did." Lebonnie replied.
"So where we headed?" Jorjanna asked. "Ya wanna go check out the new mare?"
"Sure." Lebonnie said as she tugged the sorrel's head out of the water.
They loped off towards the big red farmhouse owned by Old Farmer Walter. The mare always spent her time along Farmer Walters fence line, 'flirting' with the stallions on the other side.
"She's another bay isn't she?" Lebonnie asked as they slowed down to a walk to look for her. "She'll be hard to find."
"Oh trust me, you'll notice her, it's hard not to."
A young gray mare trotted the fence line, she pranced and snorted. Her neck was arched and her tail swished violently. Her big brown eyes eyeing the stallions.
"See her?" Jorjanna asked.
Lebonnie saw her all right. She was breathless at the four-year-olds beauty. She watched, 'The Temptress' nip the rear of another mare that tried to steal her spotlight. She shrieked at the others to warn them not to come near, and continued her dance along the fence line.
"You guys want to sell her! What the hell are you thinking? She's amazing!"
"She's even funner to ride." Jorjanna said, gazing at the gray. "She looks sorta like Breezy huh? Except younger, and less bulky."
"You've ridden her?" Lebonnie asked still gaping at the mare.
"Yup!" Jorjanna replied proudly. "She can make the fastest rollbacks I've ever felt. She'll work fer hours and not git tired."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. She'd make a great cow-horse, great barrel horse, pole bender, team penning, and hell she'd probably do anything!"
"How much Mom and Dad plannin' to sell her for?" Lebonnie asked.
"Well, Dad bought her fer ten-thousand back in April, put some more training on her, so that'd be another thousand," Jorjanna calculated. "Shit I dunno. 'Round twelve thousand I guess."
Lebonnie felt her spirits drop. 'I can't afford a twelve thousand dollar horse!' she thought to herself. 'Would be nice though, come back into the Rodeo circuit with the most beautiful horse between my legs. Bet I'd be taken home the money every weekend.'
