Isla del Cielo
Chapter 1
1849
"Where is that boy? I'm gonna tan his hide good when I find him! Why didn't you keep a closer eye on him?"
"Tom, I don't know, I've been busy with Nick, he's been fussy all morning and when I looked for Jarrod for lunch he was gone, that's all I know!"
Jarrod Barkley was six years old and knew better, but that horse was there saddled and waiting for what seemed like all morning (even if it was less than half an hour) and he couldn't resist. Nick was crying and it was getting too much to listen to, and nobody was taking that horse out, so…
He was tall for his age but still nowhere near tall enough to climb into a saddle on a full grown horse without help. Fortunately – or unfortunately – he knew how to hoist himself up on a fence and was in the saddle before anybody saw him do it. He knew to kick the horse to make it go, and he was gone before anyone knew it.
He even knew where he wanted to go – up to that tempting pass in the mountains that he could see out his bedroom window. What he didn't know was how far away it was, but once he was committed to doing something, he would not be dissuaded. Jarrod was a true Barkley male, even if he was only six.
He followed the road that looked like it would take him up there. The big horse he was on almost seemed to know that there was a little boy, a young thing, on his back. The horse was being careful, not protesting the kicks he was getting too high up on his sides and not at his belly. The horse was careful not to travel too fast even if Jarrod kicked him to move faster. The horse followed the road he knew – he had been up here before with his regular rider, one of the hands who liked to fish up here on his day off.
When they came to the lake, the horse slowed down, and Jarrod let it. He might have been only six, but he could have his breath taken away already, and what he saw before him – the lake, the mountains, the trees – took his breath away. He had never seen a place so beautiful in his life. The reflections in the water, the huge sky, the sun sparkling diamonds off the ripples a group of ducks a few dozen feet away were making.
Wow, Jarrod thought.
He went down to the edge of the water, and a frog jumped into the water from the shore, startling him. The ducks began to swim away from him.
I wonder what would happen if I went swimming, Jarrod thought.
His father had taught him how to swim, but he had always been there to grab him if he got tired. Now there was no one here to grab him. Even at the age of six Jarrod had some sense. I better not, he thought.
Instead, he walked along the edge of the lake. He heard the ducks quack and stopped to watch them suddenly take flight, splashing the water and lifting up into the blue sky, flying away. Two other frogs jumped into the water as he approached.
I want to catch me a frog, Jarrod thought.
He was never fast enough to do it. The frogs were all jumping in before he could get anywhere near them. There were flowers within reach, though, pretty yellow ones in small clumps here and there, ones he hadn't seen before. He started to reach for one but jumped when a snake suddenly slithered away in front of him. The snake startled him.
It doesn't have a rattle. Maybe it wouldn't hurt me, Jarrod thought.
He tried to get it but he never reached it, and he never saw another one. He did see some tracks in the mud, tracks he didn't recognize. He knew what horse's tracks looked like, and dogs because they were always around the yard, but he had never seen these before. A large pad with four smaller pads that looked like toes. The tracks were quite large, bigger than the biggest dog tracks he'd seen.
Uh-oh, Jarrod thought, that's really big, and he went back to where he had left his horse. The horse hadn't moved far and was just grazing on a tree. Jarrod grabbed the reins and hoisted himself up onto a tree limb. The tree had lots of white flowers that got into his hair and he climbed up into the saddle without knowing some white petals were stuck in his dark hair.
He went home then, ashamed a little bit that the big animal tracks had sent him off. He made a six-year-old's solemn oath that he would go back up there to that lake again someday.
Jarrod rode into the stable yard and waiting for him, hands on hips, frowning and scowling and looking like he was ready to spit, was his father. Jarrod pulled the horse to a stop.
"Get down out of there," his father said plainly, sternly.
Jarrod slid out of the saddle to the ground. He didn't say anything.
Tom Barkley said to the stable hand, "Take care of this horse. You," he said to Jarrod and grabbed his arm. "You come with me."
"I just – " Jarrod started and got no farther.
"I don't care what you 'just,'" his father said and dragged him to the far side of the barn. "You know better than to take a full grown horse out by yourself. And where did you go? Your hair is full of flowers! Your mother is worried sick and she already has her hands full with your brother and you go and pull a stunt like this."
His father stopped him beside the barn. "I only – " Jarrod started.
He got no farther.
Ow, Jarrod kept to himself when he took the licking his father gave him. Several hard whacks with his hand left Jarrod's backside hurting but he didn't cry. He just took it in silence and didn't say anything at all.
"You get inside and go to your room," his father said. "You won't be getting any dinner tonight."
Jarrod did as he was told without a word. Once in his room he let himself admit that he probably shouldn't have gone off alone. He probably deserved the spanking and he didn't like going without dinner, but it was worth it. He stood at his window that looked up into the mountain pass, and in his mind's eye he saw the lake, the mountains, the deep blue sky, the ducks, the flowers. It was the most beautiful place he'd ever seen, and now it was his.
His own secret place he'd never tell anyone about. Maybe he wouldn't go up there again until he was older, but he would go up there again, and again and again and again. In the meantime, the picture was inside him, and even if he hurt and he was hungry, he smiled.