"It's broken," Jay said as the girl cried holding her arm, "We need to get her to a hospital."
"We'll pay for the medical bill," Kay said once she calmed the horse down.
"Kay," her uncle said.
"Hey, she got hurt on MY ranch. It's the least I can do," she told her uncle.
"I can go with her to the hospital and tell her parents what happened and what you're willing to do."
That night, Kay sat around a fire she built out by an open field. Whenever something bothered her, she always went to this spot to just think and wonder. There was another spot she always went to when bad things have happened. It was past the woods where Bandit ran to earlier that day with that other horse. She went to that spot when she heard the news about her father's death. She sighed and looked at the fire.
"Hi, sweetie," her uncle said sitting beside her on the log she was sitting on, "The girl's parents want to thank you for paying for the hospital bill. But, they won't take it. They were really nice about it. Neither were mad. It turns out that the girl wasn't even suppose to be on the field trip."
Kay nodded as she continued to stare at the fire. "Who was that boy you were with earlier?"
"He's a friend of Hank's. Hank brought him here today so he could talk to me about working here until he goes back to school. I'm letting him work."
"What about his pay?"
"He doesn't want to get paid. All he said is that he wanted to work on a farm once again. He use to live on a farm and he truly missed it. I guess that letting him work here was enough."
"Are you going to give him money anyway?" her uncle asked.
"Yeah. No one on this farm works without getting paid at least $40 a week."
"My brother raised you well," he told her. "Kay, there's something you need to know about your father."
"I don't want to talk about him," she said getting up, "He's dead, okay? I can't bring him back! I wish I could because I need him right now!" Jay got up and wrapped his arms around his niece as she cried. "I wish my mother liked me," she whispered.
"Hey, hey," he said pulling away but keeping his hands on her arms, "She left because she thought she was in love with that creep. Within two weeks, she called your father begging him to take her back because she made a big mistake. Her leaving had nothing to do with you, sweetie. It's a good thing that she left your father. When she left, he was happy. Then, you came into the picture and here you are."
"Here I am crying my eyes out because I have no parents! No one cares about me anymore! I'm always being lied to! I hate life! I hate it!"
"Sweetie, calm down," Jay said, "No one is lying to you."
"You lied to me, Uncle Jay!" she screamed at him, "I know exactly what happened to my father! He wasn't away on business. He was in that war!" After finishing the sentence, she ran off towards her house. Jay knew that he messed up majorly.
Bradin arrived at the ranch the following day with Hank. As they approached the stables, they saw a horse come out with Kay riding it into the woods.
"Oh, shit," Hank said. He began running towards the stables where he saw Jay standing around with the other workers. "What's going?" he asked as he and Bradin approached them all.
"We don't know," Jay said, "We just got here and saw her riding off into the woods. I don't know if we should go after her or not."
"You're her uncle," Hank said.
"She found out that I lied to her about her father," Jay said, "She won't talk to me."
"I'll go," Bradin volunteered.
"Young man," Jay began, "You don't know your way around these woods."
"I'll just follow the trails. She told me about them yesterday. Maybe she needs someone her own age to talk to her."
Hank looked over at Jay and at Bradin. "Let him go. He's right. She needs someone near her own age. She can't be talked to like a little child by all of these adults."
Jay gave Bradin a horse and Bradin rode the horse deep into the woods. He stayed on the path until he came to an open field. There, he saw Bandit near some logs in the grass. He rode his horse up to Bandit and got off. He looked around for Kay and didn't see anyone. He hardly knew her and was very worried about her. All he knew is that she lost her father and had a very nice personality. He stood there for a few minutes until he heard what sounded like many horses running from something. Out of nowhere, he saw Kay run up to Bandit.
"Kay, are you okay?" he asked.
She climbed up on Bandit and rode him towards the horses.
"Kay!" he yelled. He hopped onto his horse and followed her deeper into the open field.
