My Brother Says I'm Dangerous

(27)

Hey guys!!

I would like to thank KyleeCoates for helping me with the info in this chapter. She helped me make it very realistic, as I knew nothing about a branding. She lives in Montana on a ranch, and helped me a lot!!! 

Her story is also really cool too, you should check it out!!

Thanks xx

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Branding day.

The day everybody has been waiting for. I wonder how it will go. I don't think it can get much better. It started with a four am wake up call.

"I swear these pots are clean." I grumble, scrubbing big gumbo pots in the outside sink.

"They might be clean, but they aren't Emily clean." David laughs, dumping handfuls of spoons in the water. "She's stressed, just go with it."

"Fine." I laugh with him. "What time does everybody get here?"

"About six." He says. "Everyone who just watches might come later though." I nod, drying off the last pot.

Everybody who lives on the ranch is here, workers and all, loading their trucks full of supplies. Some people will spend the entire day just driving their trucks back and forth. 

"These can go." I say. "They're clean." Charlie gratefully takes the pots, and puts them in his truck. Why empty pots? I guess I'll find it later. I head back into the kitchen, to find Emily wrapping the last of her pies. Lots of the women from town have already arrived, sorting through food. The smell of chilli and beans is overwhelming. 

"Have you got the ingredients for your special recipe Dotty?" ViVi, Jamie's mother asks, kneading some dough.

"Of course." The elderly Native American woman chuckles, peeling potatoes at the table. "We just need to wait for the most important one." 

"What's her recipe?" I ask Hunter quietly. He smirks, and brushes off my question. 

"You'll see." He laughs. Dotty observes the room over the tip of her glasses, frowning. 

"Where is Maddison Charlie?"She asks. "She always helps me with the potatoes." 

"She's at work." He sighs.

"You always close the shop on branding day ViVi!" She says, shocked.

"Mr Dennings thought we should keep it open." She purses her lips. "Maddy gets off her shift at twelve."

"Nobody will be in town today." She grumbles. "I promise, if he didn't own my nursing home, I would tell him where to go."

"Wouldn't we all?" Emily laughs, lightening the mood. "Any food that doesn't need to be warm, we should take over now." 

"I will take my potatoes to the fire." Dotty says. "I won't cook on that stove Emily, it needs smoke for flavour."

"You're the boss." Isaac laughs, picking up her large bin of potatoes, leading Dotty to his truck.

"Are you ready to wrestle Ev?" Hunter laughs, as we get into his car.

"Wrestle what?" 

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Ok so I was wrong. Branding day is huge.

We get the corral, and people have already arrived. Inside the corral, are all the horses, tack already on, people getting them ready. 

Above the corral, in the field, is practically the whole town. On one side, are rows and rows of tables, filled with pots and dishes, full of food. There are tons of coolers and eskys, filled with drinks. Some families have already found spots there, settling in for the day.

On the other side of the field, is a big dusty clearing, where someone has roped off, not allowing anyone to run around in there. I can see the herd of cows, just beyond the corral, ready to go. There's so many, are we going to get through all of them?

"Can you grab that cord Ev?" Isaac asks. I grab the cord, helping Isaac plug in the speaker, eventually playing some loud country music, resulting in loud cheers from the crowd forming. 

"Now it's a Branding." Hunter grins. 

"Hey guys." We turn to see Dave come up to us, dressed like a real cowboy. "Which horse is your Dad using to humiliate me with this year?" 

"He's giving you Patches." Charlie snickers.

"Dammit." He groans. We watch, as he treks down into the corral, and stand next to his horse, which is practically half size. 

I'll admit it. This cowboy get up is hot. All of the men are dressed ready to ride, including Jackson, Charlie, Hunter and Isaac. They're wearing button up shirts, right up to their necks, with tight fitting chaps. They have spurs on their boots, and look so cool. They all have different cowboy hats on, and I can tell all the girls are swooning.

We keep setting things up, until finally, it's seven, and Keith calls for all riders to get up onto their horses. Everybody is here now, including the large Dennings family.

They arrived in their fancy sleek black cars together, dressed up to the nines. All of the boys wear nice jeans, and a button up collared shirt, with expensive shoes. Noah is wearing a brown leather cowboy hat, which looks to clean to be worn.

Gregory Dennings is still in his expensive designer suit, even though it's  a million degrees today, accompanied by his wife, dressed in a tight black dress, with heels. Who wears heels to a ranch? People have set up tables and chairs for them in the shade, and they sit, watching everybody work.

Keith leads the way, and I watch, as I watch about ten or so people on horses round up these cows. How do they do it. They hustle them into the corral, making it look so easy. There must be hundreds of cattle, but they all obediently move where they are led. Hunter quickly herds up the stragglers, closing the gate behind him. 

A couple people jump off their horses, and start to separate the cows from the calves, which I learned recently are just baby cows. I can feel my heart racing, aren't they afraid of getting hurt?

Suddenly, I realise that isn't a problem, as Keith, still on his horse, ropes a calfs back legs so fast I don't even see it happen. He pulls tight, making it secure, and then him and Dave drag the calf out of the corral and into the roped off clearing, where about thirty people are ready, in two lines. 

They stop, leaving the calf at the front of the lines. The first person from each line runs forward, who happen to be David and Jamie. They grab the rope, and use the calfs tail to flip the calf onto it's side. The two of them work together quickly,  to sit on the animal so that it can barely move at all, pinning it's neck and legs. Jamie practically has his foot up it's ass. 

As soon as the calf is wrestled, someone runs over and shoots a syringe into the calfs shoulder.

"What's that for?" I ask Alison, who is watching with me on the sidelines.

"They can't feel the pain now." She explains.

While the calf is still, people move quickly. A tag is pierced into it's ear, the blood quickly wiped away. Someone else quickly grabs a big, hot branding iron, which has been sitting in the fire. They quickly press it into the calves skin, on it's back thigh. I think it's the symbol for the ranch or something. 

"And it's branded." Alison smiles. "Done."

"Wow." I say, in awe. It all happened so fast. The cow is quickly let go, although they keep hold of the rope, and is dragged into the clearing, where they were before they were herded into the corral. 

While this was going on, the people on the horses, were rounded more calves up, placing them in the line, multiple cows being branded at a time. 

Wow.