"So what exactly is this place… Heartland?" Amy asked as they began to wind down the driveway, her eyes lowering from the sign hanging above gate to take in the small herd of horses grazing along the side of the road in the afternoon sun.
"It's a rehabilitation center for horses and people," Ty replied, glancing in her direction and just waiting for her to make some snide comment, but instead she looked at him with a little bit of interest.
"People? Like drug rehab or something." Great. Not only was she a thousand miles from home, and any sort of civilization, now she was going to have to live on a farm with a bunch of druggies.
"Not exactly, though some of them were convicted for drugs. We have a contract with the correctional facility up in Calgary," Ty began to explain.
Oh, convicted felons. Even better. Amy shifted in her seat again, starting to feel really cramped. She needed to get out and move around. And, more importantly, pee. Her mistake for not going at the bus station.
"They bring about twenty guys down every day to work the ranch, some of them even work with the horses." Ty gestured to the transport van that was currently parked in front of the Quonset hut being unloaded for the day.
"So what are the horses here for then?" Amy asked, her eyes taking in a roan and a grey that were dozing in one of the corrals behind a wooden round pen.
"Help. We take in rescue animals from kill shelters and abusive homes. Places people left them to die because they couldn't take care of them or… no longer wanted them. We work with them to regain their trust in humans and hopefully adopt them out again to a new home. We also have a mustang gentling program where we gather a few that have been rounded up to be relocated or culled and break them to be ridden instead of killed." Ty had a lot of pride and passion for what they did at Heartland and it was obvious in the way he talked about his home. Amy noticed it, though she wasn't totally convinced this place was for real.
"And what if you can't help them? The horses. What happens to them?" Why she found herself asking so many questions about a place she didn't want to be, she had no idea; except if she was going to be living there, she might as well know where it was she was living.
"We keep them until we can," was Ty's short response, which made Amy curious as to just how many horses they had that weren't able to be cured or sent to new homes.
"Aren't you afraid those men will try to hop on a horse and run? Or… kill you or something?" Being from Vancouver, Amy saw her share of people getting stabbed or beaten to a pulp in dark alleys. The idea of them running amok with access to heavy machinery, tools that could be used as weapons, and a four-legged getaway vehicle didn't sound completely sane.
Ty chuckled, swinging around the cul-de-sac in front of the farmhouse to park next to his grandfather's tan and gold Chevy. "You just can't think that way. These guys are here to try and better themselves. Not having any trust or faith in them gives them no reason to do better if people just expect them to do harm. But that aside, my grandfather is a lot more frightening than they are and a pretty good shot. We've learned to have a mutual respect for each other, which goes a long way. They aren't all serial killers or rapists and the ones that are wouldn't be here if they posed a real threat. There's a whole screening process they go through," he assured her , sensing her slight unease. "They're here to work. They don't bother being sociable if they don't have to be." Most of them, anyway. Some were a bit more people-oriented and crude than others, but virtually harmless if you didn't take their jokes seriously. But, Amy would find that out soon enough.
"So, do they get like reduced sentences or something for good behavior?" Maybe she could, too. No phone calls or emails home begging to come back for a few weeks might get her back in the city. If she made like she was appreciative of her time at Heartland and that she was grateful for what her father did for her, maybe then she'd get to go home before the baby came.
Ty shook his head, easing the truck to a stop in front of the house. "Not usually. Their sentence is what it is and needs to be carried out whether they succeed in this program or not. It's volunteer, but not everyone who wants in gets in. There's a process and a training course involved before any of them can even touch a horse. The ones that have yet to complete the course, or don't do well in it, work around other parts of the ranch while those that do have their own project horse. It's their responsibility to figure the animal out and work with them until they're ready to be adopted out." Turning the key, he shut off the truck and leaned back in the seat, looking over at Amy who was watching the guys through the side mirror check in and disperse to begin their duties. "A lot of them end up working in the horse business when they get out. Or get into ranching."
She had to admit the place caught her interest upon learning its real purpose. It was different than anything she'd ever heard of before, but that didn't make her want to be here any more than she didn't want to be. "Sounds like a lot more work and effort to get through the time they could spend lounging around doing nothing."
Ty gave her a hard look. "Most of them want something to do to pass the time, and to get outside once in a while rather than sit in a concrete cell and stare at colorless walls all day, every day. After a while they actually begin to miss going to work every day, and here putting in a hard days work makes them feel good about themselves again." Ty reached for the door handle and gave it a shove open. "But don't take my word for it. If you can look past your prejudices you can talk to them and see for yourself." He climbed out and went around to pull Amy's suitcase out of the back, leaving her to stare at the empty space next to her feeling like a child that was just taught a lesson about morals. But that didn't make her feel any more inclined to get buddy-buddy with convicts and when she got out of the truck herself, remained close on Ty's heels as she took her duffel bag and followed him up to the house where an old grey dog was lounging in front of the door.
"Scoot, Lobo," Ty nudged the animal with his foot to get him to get up and shift sideways to let them pass. Amy smiled at the canine that began to sniff at her with interest. Dogs she could do. Horses, well, them she wasn't so sure about.
"Hello, fella," Leaning down Amy introduced herself to Lobo, letting him sniff her some more and giving him a rub between the ears to assure him that she was a friendly human. But the interaction was short-lived when Ty yanked open the screen door and shuffled Amy's suitcases inside. Catching the open door before it could swing closed Amy stood back and glanced down at the dog. "After you." He looked up at her curiously a moment then back into the house before squeezing between her legs and the door to go inside.
Ty had stopped just inside the kitchen to deposit her things, but left no time for her to get a good look around or say anything before he was frowning at the dog. "No, Lobo. Out." Ty's voice was stern, almost harsh, as he pointed toward the door and began to herd the poor animal back outside. "Rule Number One: The dog stays outside." He spoke to Amy in a way she did not appreciate, scolding her like a child.
Amy scowled at him as she stepped out of the way and watched him grab Lobo by the scruff of his neck and all but toss him out onto the porch, closing the door securely behind him. "It's like a hundred degrees outside. He looks too old to be left out in that heat." She felt sorry for the dog, wondering if Ty treated the horses and the people that worked with them as badly.
"There's plenty of shade and water. He'll be fine. My grandfather never allowed animals in the house before, we're not about to start now." It was just the way things had always been since Ty was a child. He never stopped to consider the fact that an outsider would disagree or see things differently, but before Amy arrived no one ever cared.
"Are there any other rules I should be aware of? No visitors after hours? Lights out at ten? Do you disconnect the phone lines and turn off the internet then, too?" Amy dropped her bag on the floor with the rest of them, looking around the surprisingly homey little farmhouse.
Ty rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "This isn't a concentration camp. Though we do go to bed early around here and the only internet we have is in the barn office and it's dial-up. I hope you weren't expecting five-star accommodations and free Wi-Fi."
Amy scoffed. "Hardly. I'm surprised you actually have indoor plumbing."
"Well there's an outhouse around back if you wanted a more rustic experience. I'd be careful going at night, though. Never know what you'll run into," Ty warned, once again picking up her suitcases and beginning to walk through the living room down the hall toward the bedrooms, leaving Amy to gape at him with a somewhat startled expression before trailing behind him.
"What kind of creatures, exactly, are we talking about?" She was from the city and where she lived the worst you could run into was a rat, or maybe a cockroach. Obviously it was different out there in the wild west but she hadn't looked beyond the typical ranch animals.
Ty shrugged as he stopped in front of a door and shouldered it open. "You name it,we've probably got it. Skunks, raccoons, badgers, grizzlies, coyotes, some wolves, not to mention the various species of poisonous insects."
"Snakes?" She was almost afraid to ask. The tone of her voice made Ty smirk.
"Some. Most aren't poisonous, though." He nodded into the room. "This one's yours. I've got to get back to work. Go ahead and do… whatever it is you need to do. Someone will be around if you need us." And then he walked away.
Amy stood in the hall and watched him leave, waiting until she heard the screen door bang closed, dousing the house into silence. She was left utterly alone and it was as she stood there in this unfamiliar place, expected to just settle in without so much as a welcome, that it began to really sink in just how alone she was. She knew no one here and the one creature she saw as a possible source of comfort was banished from being inside where she just wanted to hole up until this nightmare was over. She wanted to crawl into bed, pull the covers over her head and pretend she was home. After relieving her full and pressurized bladder, that was exactly what she did.
Author's Notes: I am being very tentative with the details surrounding the inmate program as I know very little about it and am still conducting some research. So just bear with me on that.