<photo by author>

Wild Horse

previous chapter:  Tears of Migus

She had slept most of the trip, but as usual she woke up in time to see the big red barn that had been turned into a country square dance club called Brangus Bob’s Bullhouse. Even though this young white haired girl never listened to country or blue grass music, she did love going with her grandma on Saturday nights to this place. It was a sure bet that they would be there this weekend.

Now that they passed the big red barn, she knew they were a bit less than ten miles left till they were going through the gate at grandma’s place. Grandma and grandpa used to raise horses, but they had sold them along with over half the land years ago. Lori barely remembered those horses. They were sold about the time she started walking. Back just before grandpa died. It was good that grandma had plenty of pictures of Lori and her family riding them.

Grandma now only had two dogs, five cats, lots of chickens and a garden on the five acres she still had. All along the front fence were so many different colors of roses, that the place had been nicknamed years ago by the locals as the Rose Ranch.

It wasn’t long after passing the Bullhouse that the van slowed down to make a turn onto the road going to Grandma’s. Lori’s mom exclaimed, “Oh! Look!” They had all seen it and were excited to see that the road that had been gravel for all their lives, was now covered in fresh asphalt. Now there would be no chance of getting stuck out here when it rained. This also meant that dad wouldn’t have to drive as slow as he usually did down this road. Still out of habit mom said, “Watch your speed, hon.” He chuckled at that and she gave him her usual ‘your in trouble’ tease look.

Excited impatience began to come over Lori. She could see the same on her brothers face as he tried to peer further down the road than someone in the back seat could see. He was almost on the verge of unbuckling his seat belt and scooting up to look between their parents, but he knew that would get him grounded. Their parents were very serious about them keeping their belts on while the van was moving.