The other Dutton

mom's gone

Age 6

"Come on Kayce!" I yelled as we raced to the barn. I was just about to win when my 5 minuite older twin ran by me. I glared at him.

"Darn it. I had it." Kayce turned and smiled at me.
"Don't be a sore loser." Kayce said with a laugh. I stuck my tongue out at him. He did the same thing back at me. I could hear my mom laugh at us.

My mom was beautiful. She had green eyes that priced into your soul. She had platinum blonde hair that sat in a low pony tail so that her hat could sit on her head. She was one the best horse women that I had ever seen. She was the only woman on the ranch besides Beth and me, so I didn't have anybody to compare her to. But that didn't matter.

"Come on, Kayce and Carly. We got your horses saddled for you." "Thanks, mom." I went over and hugged her. She hugged me back and handed me the reins to my little paint horse named Spur. She handed Kayce his reins to his palamino. Beth was already sitting on a horse. I got on Spur. I watched as my mom got on her black horse.

"Ready?"

"Ready." Both me and Kayce called out. Mom and Beth went first as me and Kayce followed after them. As we headed toward the field, we passed the pens. Today, they were branding the calfs. In the pen was Lee, Jamie, dad, and the wranglers.

"Bye Lee!" I called out to him as I waved to him. He lifted his head and waved back.

"Bye bug! Have fun!" As we passed, I waved at all the other boys. We went through a field. Beth was jumpy. She never loved horse. I didn't know why she didn't, but she didn't. I don't know why mom made her come. Maybe to spend time with us. But I wasn't sure and wasn't about to ask either.

"Watch, mom." Me and Kayce raced around. I loved it when my horse galloped. I loved how the wind blew in my hair. Kayce unlachted the gate, and me and him went through. That's when everything went wrong. Mom went through the gate. Beth was coming through the gate to when her horse spooked. Witch made my mom's horse spook. I could only watch as the horse tipped over into my mom.

I threw myself out of the saddle. So did Kayce. I watched as all 3 horses ran away. I ran over to my mom. Kayce got on the other side.

"Beth, go get your dad. It's your fault fix it." I held my mom's hand as I watched Beth get on her horse and ride back the way that we came. Tears streamed down my face. Mom's breaths were labored. "If this is the last thing I see, it will be my two angels." She said as she stroked both mine and Kayce's cheeks.

"Mom, don't leave yet." I said. Her hand went limp in mine, and she stopped breathing. I couldn't help but cry and sob.
Kayce came over to me and gathered me in a hug. I hugged him back.

"Kayce, what are we going to do?!" The sun was beginning to set. We would freeze if somebody didn't find us.

"Beth went to go get help. We are going to be ok." He said, pulling me tighter to me. The darkness came too soon. Here we still were. I sat shivering with my mom's cold limp hand in mine. Coyotes were crying all around us. I held on to Kayce's one hand tighter.
I heard something walking towards us. It wasn't human or horse.

"Coyotes." Kayce let go of my hand and dug into his pocket and brought out a pocket knife. He flipped the blade open. "We're going to scream on 3 to try and scare them away. Ok?"

"Ok."

"1 2 3." On three, we both screamed. All of a sudden, a light was turned on us. I looked up to see my dad. Lee jumped off his horse and came over to me. He picked me up. Jamie did the same to Kayce.

"Bug, are you ok?" He asked as I dug my face into his shirt.

"Is Beth ok?"

"She'll be ok. Don't worry."