I woke up Saturday morning wrapped up in my camouflage blanket back in the hay loft. I blink the grogginess out of my eyes and look around for a clue as to what happened last night. I was the first to wake up, followed by Beau not soon after.
"Well good morning sunshine." His tired voice startled me. "You ain't any prettier." I insult. He just laughs.
I go downstairs to check on the horses, starting with my pregnant mare Firestorm, then moving to Diesel, then Annie, Dexter, Juliet, Romeo, and eventually Avon.
"Hey what do you plan on doing today?" Jeff asks as I grab a banana off the kitchen counter. "I dunno. Teach them how to ride I guess." I say with a mouth full of fruit. "Just don't do anything stupid. I heard you guys coming home last night." His tone grows serious. "I don't want you getting hurt."
I go back to the barn and grab my clothes.
Back in the house, I go upstairs to the bathroom and get dressed. 10 minutes later I emerge dressed in off-white riding pants and a polo shirt, and slip on my knee high boots.
"Hey Jeff do you still have the jumps set up out in the arena?" I say walking through the kitchen. "Yeah but I took the poles off."
So that's what I'm going to do today.
I tie Diesel to the wall in the aisle while I go to the tack room.
"Where are you going?" Beau asks, still the only other one awake. "I'm going to go out to the arena to jump. Later ya'll can come down with your horses." "Where's the arena?" "Take a left right out of the barn, there's a dirt road, follow it for about 1/4 mile."
I grab Diesel's english saddle while Beau goes to the house.
"Hold still baby." I throw the saddle up on to his back and tighten the girth around him. Next I grab the breastcollar and bridle. I fasten the breastcollar on the saddle and slide the bridle up his face, opening his mouth so he'll take the bit. "Good boy."
After I put the poles back on the jumps, I climb up on to his back. "You can do it." I pat his neck and squeeze my legs. He goes in to a slow trot, until he picks up the right pace.
I count the strides in my head. "1. 2. 3. Up and over." I raise my butt off the saddle and lean forward as he goes up, then I lean back as he goes down. "Perfect."
Next we move on to a 3-foot rail, and just like last time, I pick up my butt and lean forward, then lean back and sit down again.
We continue for about an hour, doing different jumps and occasionally rearranging the poles. Not much later, I looked out the open door of the arena and saw Kate trotting up the road on Avon, followed by Beau on Dexter, and Braxton on Annie Oakley.
"Nice to see that ya'll are alive." I stop riding long enough to greet them. I now realized that it had started raining since I entered the arena. "Come inside." I motion for them to come in. "You can just leave them there." I point to where the horses are standing next to their riders, and we go in to the lounge.
"Will you teach me how to barrel race?" Kate asks when I come back from closing the arena door. "I don't see why not, but you have to help me move the jumps."
"We'll do it." Braxton shoots up out of his chair, pulling Beau up with him.
"That'd be great boys, thanks!" I sit back down in a lawn chair next to Kate.
"So what exactly went down last night?" She asks as soon as the lounge door is shut.
"Oh you know, just, a little fun." I blush. "He fucked you didn't he?" A smug look grows on her face. "I might need to run to the drug store next week..." Her jaw drops, "YOU CANT GET PREGNANT NOW, YOURE ONLY 18 AND ABOUT TO GO OFF TO THE ACADEMY!!" She yells just loud enough to earn a smack on the arm. "Would you keep it down!" I hold my hand over her mouth. "I don't want anyone else knowing that."
Just then Braxton pokes his head in the sliding glass door, "What are you yelling about?" He sounds concerned. "Nothing." I quickly say. He raises an eyebrow. "I just told her that I'm about to be an aunt. That's all." "Oh. Well alright. And congratulations by the way." He smiles and shuts the door again, going back out to help Beau.
"Thanks Kate." I get up and stand by the window to the arena. "Sorry." She follows me, hugging me from behind in her oversized green hoodie. I turn in to her tight, warm hug. "Lesbians give better hugs than straight girls." My joke causes her to tighten her grip around my abdomen.
"They haven't gotten very far. I'll be right back." I go out to my horse and open the door just wide enough for us to leave through.
"I'm sorry it's so cold and rainy today." I pat his neck and climb up on to his back. "Walk on." I squeeze my legs. With the signal from a few clicks of my tongue, Diesel and I are galloping down the road together, wind against my face, rain beating down hard.
"See if this helps at all." I take all his wet tack off and dry it. "There, now try this." I put on his western tack. It's almost like he smiles.
"Okay wait here I'll be right back." I run up the steep stairs to the loft and open my bag. I grab the first pair of jeans I could find and throw them in a pile. Next I pull out a button up plaid flannel shirt. I peel off my tight riding pants and the green polo shirt that are stuck to my body due to the rain. I even take off my underwear and bra because I am so soaked. I hang it all over the railing where the loft overlooks the barn.
I get all my clean, dry clothes on, pull on my cowboy boots and hide my messy hair with a cowboy hat. "Only this time, we're not getting wet." I say, holding a garbage bag up near Diesel's face. "Don't be scared of it." I rub it in his neck so he'll get used to it. "Good boy." I take out my pocket knife and cut a hole at the bottom of the bag, and one on each side. Then I take another bag and cut it lengthwise so it will cover the saddle.
"There we go, all nice and dry." I slide the barn door shut and struggle to mount my horse. "Maybe not the best idea, but we're dry." I laugh to myself.
We manage to make it back to the arena just as the boys are finishing with the jumps. "You got all 13 of them down that quick?" Beau points at the mess of jump poles and gates along the wall. "You're supposed to hang them up." I laugh. "Ohhh." "You're a dumb ass." Braxton looks at his friend.
Soon, the barrels are set up and everything is out of the way.
"Okay, to start off I want you to do a lap or two around the ring to warm him up a bit." I motion to the beast beneath Kate.
I ride along side her giving tips as we ride. When the warm ups are through, we go to the end of the arena.
"Watch and learn."
I spur Diesel on and we make our turn around the first two barrels. As we wrap around the final barrel, my shin knocks the barrel, nearly tipping it over, and leaving me with a nasty bruise.
"Don't pretend that didn't happen, you k ow I saw that." I ride back to Kate laughing. "I may have kicked the can, but I followed through and finished the race and that's what matters."
"You can do better than that." She giggles.
"I'd like to see you try. Just be careful." I point to the three red and white barrels spread out in the arena.
She comes back from her round looking slightly shocked. "Little more than you thought it would be?" I mock her previous tone.
"Just remember to keep your belly button even with the saddle horn, and don't turn too soon." I say as she rides up to the starting line. "Go."
----------
"The wedding is planned for August 8th." "Why so soon?"
"We want it to be soon." My uncles answer is short and blunt.
"What about all the planning?"
"Simple. Hire a wedding planner."
I shrug and go with it. Mike had been trying to keep up with me while I do my evening chores in the barn.
"I could help with that." An imaginary light bulb appears over my head.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I'm thinking....Ohh!! Clean out the barn and have it here!" I exclaim.
"You know, I like that idea. I'll run it by Amy when I get home." He says looking around.
"Put the alter here, and set up all the chairs here, have tables set up out in the yard," I walk through the barn pointing out different ideas that came to mind.
"Clear out a stall and put an open bar in it?" He points to Diesel's stall.
"I love that idea! How about hay bales as chairs?"
"How about we do what your parents did for their wedding limo?" He jokes.
I laugh, thinking back on the stories I've heard from about nineteen years when my mom and dad married. They had a flatbed trailer with hay bales on it as chairs, and a tractor driven by my dads cousin towing it through Wabasha, straight to a bar.
"I think I could arrange that."
I check my phone later, seeing that it's almost 6:00, and that I have a message from Jeff telling me to come and eat.
"So what's this thing you're planning in my barn?" Jeff asks.
"I was helping Mike with wedding plans and I thought it would be kind of cool to have it in the barn." I suggest, taking a spoonful of potatoes and gravy. "You're planning a wedding? Here?" I nod. "Go for it." He sighs. "Thank you!" I squeal.
The sun was going down over the valley as we rode out of the woods.
"It's beautiful." Kate said, stopping her horse next to mine.
Braxton rode up next to me and leaned in close, "I'd bang you on this hill." He whispers in my ear. "Braxton!" I lean away and laugh. Beau and Kate look over to us, confused.
----------
I woke up to the morning sun streaming in through the windows in the barn. The air was warm and dry.
Inside the house, Kathy was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. We each render a good morning while I make a pot of coffee. "Jeff's still not up yet if you want to shower." She looks up from the paper. "I think I'll take you up in that offer." I grab my thing from the barn and go back inside.
My shower is hot and quick. When I get out, I immediately get dressed. My outfit for the day is a black tank top, faded jeans with a belt and buckle that I had won in a previous barrel competition, a black felt cowboy hat, and tan cowboy boots.
"I thought you hated coffee?" Kathy asks as I pour myself a cup of the coffee I had put on earlier. "I actually despise coffee, but I like the caffeine that comes with it."
When I got back to the barn, Beau was the only one awake. "Hey Beau wanna have some fun?" I whisper across the loft. "I don't know what you mean by fun, but if it involves them, I'm in." He motions to Kate and Braxton, asleep on the hay bales.
"Start stacking bales around them."
We work as a team to enclose the two.
"Okay be super careful now." I help him lower the final bale on top of the hut we made them. "Don't drop it."
We step back to admire our creation. It was a cube surrounding Kate and Braxton. It even had a roof on top.
A few minutes later we heard noise coming from inside. "What the hell?" Kate's muffled voice came through. I could tell that she'd woken Braxton up.
After about ten minutes of yelling and various cuss words, Braxton's tall body finally burst through the wall. "What was that all about?" He asks.
I giggle, "It was funny."
----------
The drive home seemed shorter than usual. It was a beautiful morning for driving 130 miles in a topless Jeep- despite the wind.
I dropped everyone off at their houses, and went home myself.
It was going to be a long few weeks until graduation.
