Cowgirl Up ✔️

Chapter One

-&- Bailey -&-

"Woahhhhh let me down eaaaaaaasy, let me down eaaaaasyyyyy before you gooo."
I sang along with Sheppard as I trudged up the dusty driveway, toward where I'd parked the blue El Falcon beneath the shady branches of a huge, old Gum Tree.
My taste in music is interesting to say the least!
Anything from Lee Kernaghan, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Garth Brooks and Sunny Cowgirls to Pink, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Sheppard and Blink 182 (they're just a few I can think of off the top of my head).
But hey, I have something to listen to for every and any mood.
The afternoon sun bore down on me and my skin was already icky with sweat.
But I've lived it all my life so I'm used to it.
The school bus had dropped me off some five minutes ago at the gateway.
For the last time.
I've just finished year eleven and I'm not going back for year twelve.
I'm seventeen and nobody can make me.
Mum can try and 'educate me otherwise', but she's a hypocrite if she tries to force my hand.
She left school at sixteen to work and compete with her horses....
And then when she was seventeen she fell pregnant with me.
I love my Mum, but she can't try to change her past through me.
My blood, heart and soul belong outdoors with animals and school doesn't help me with that.
The Agricultural class our school offer's, is about the only one I got top marks in.
Well, I averaged an A for English and Art as well I guess...
But that's bedsides the point.
School and I just need to part ways now.
A dogs' bark made me look up from the worn, dusty driveway I was walking.
"Hey guys!"
I greeted the three Kelpie's and two American Staffy's who were bounding toward me.
Hewey, Dewey and Lewey are the Kelpie's, Hewey's Black and Tan and eight years old, Dewey is Brown and Tan and six years old and Lewey is Red and Tan and four years old.
Buzz and Woody are the Staffy's, Buzz is dark brown and white and built like a brick shit house and Woody is a more neutral brown and white and also built like a brick shit house.
We have all five as family dogs but also working dogs.
The Kelpies' job is herding and also protecting the farm and family.
The Staffys' job is Pig hunting and also protecting the farm and the family.
Yes we unfortunately do have to eliminate the wild Pigs that come through, because they make a downright mess, breaking fences and often attacking small animals.
Since we've had pigging dogs the problem has been significantly smaller.
I won't lie, sometimes I wince when I see a pig taken down and have his throat ripped out.
But when you live with it, you deal with it.
Pigs can destroy our Sheep and even Calves.
"Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello."
I patted each dog in turn, rumpling his ears.
They gathered around me, jogging along as I continued my way up to the dark blue sedan which was parked beneath the Gum Tree.
"C'mon guys!"
I called to the dogs.
Remarkably, they all decided to pile into the back seat of the car.
Well, Buzz soon found himself comfortably sitting in the passenger seat, ready to ride shotgun.
I dumped my school backpack onto the floor, seeing as Buzz doesn't have long legs like a human and started the old car by the key that was sitting already in the ignition.
I put the automatic gear stick into Drive and headed for the house.
Huge and made out of brick and stone, the main house had been standing since before my Grandfather was born.
The outside was weather worn, with window frames and glass sometimes needing replacing, along with the roof tiles.
But altogether the place had stood through just about whatever Mother Nature and the barren Aussie environment decided to throw at her.
The entire building was in total, two stories high, containing a back section where Grandma and Grandpa's huge bedroom plus ensuite and small private lounge was located.
Mum and her husband, my 'step father' Paul also had a Master Bedroom, with ensuite attached.
Their daughter's Hazel and Lily's shared bedroom was down from theirs, spacious and easily fitting the five and four year olds.
Across from Hazel and Lily, was the seven year old twins Izac and Jace's also shared bedroom, if anything slightly larger than the girls'.
Next was the shared bathroom which the kids and I mainly used, followed by a linen closet and the laundry, then my bedroom.
Quite large in size, my double bed, desk for 'homework' and my wardrobe, tall boy and CD player, all fit quite nicely.
Just down the hall from my bedroom was the 'Office' where Grandpa, Uncle Lukas and my Mum often spent time sorting out the paperwork side of running a Station as large as our's.
Beyond all that, outside of that hallway was the huge kitchen with spacious benches for cooking and preparation.
Over the years the appliances have been modified, now stainless steel and 'up with the times'.
The kitchen was Grandma's space and she took great pride in it with its warm yellow walls and polished wood furnishings.
Beyond the kitchen was the dining room, where Grandma, Grandpa, Mum, Paul, the kids and myself sat when we were having a 'personal meal'.
Out the back of the kitchen was the 'out dining room', where meals were offered to the hired hands on working days.
Way up the front of the house, past the dining room, on the right side of the hall if you used the super rare to use very front door, was the lounge room.
With peach coloured walls and photo frames of generations of the family, large leather couches and recliners surrounded the polished wooden coffee table and faced the large Plasma TV.
I walked through the creaky old garden gate and up the stone path to the back door, the way anybody knows to enter our house.
We know a stranger has arrived if they try and use the front door.
Time to dump my school stuff and then get out in the sunshine!