Texan Home- Innocence

Prolouge

In Henderson, Texas the weather was foggy and grey, no sunlight had passed the huge clouds in the sky since 6 am. Owner of the Gramm Ranch, Charlie Gramm, was just bringing out his favorite horse, Thunder. An all-black mustang with a slight scar on the side of his right eye from a tree that had fallen by him when he was just a foal; the scar never disappeared but the poor thing was lucky that it had only missed him by that much or he would’ve lost his sight in that eye completely. Charlie brushed the horse while his eyes peered from the side of Thunder to see his twelve year old daughter, Elizabeth Honey Gramm, playing in the yard with her best friend, eighteen year old Hank King Thomas III. Elizabeth and Hank were both home schooled, keeping the two close despite the big age difference. They had both grown up on ranches all their life so taking care of horses became second nature to them. Hank was more of a hunter and it bothered Elizabeth. Elizabeth was in tune with nature, she loved animals. She was already far more advanced in her studies than any of the other students in Henderson that were attending public schools. Hank wasn’t so interested in his studies; in fact he spent most of his life trying to figure out what he wanted to do, hunting and taking care of the ranch seemed to be the only thing he was good at. Elizabeth chased a small rabbit in the yard in fun while Hank tried to aim at it with his arrow. He let go of the arrow allowing it to fly forward and it hit the rabbit in the leg. Hank let out a deep hearty laugh and said, 

“I caught it! You better go tell pops I’ve got dinner.” 

Elizabeth looked back at him with tears of anger stinging her eyes, as quickly as Hank’s laughter came it fell; the look of pain on Elizabeth’s face made him feel guilty but he didn’t understand why he felt guilty. 

“You’re such a brute!” She screamed. 

Hank was shocked by the outburst of his younger friend and walked over as he spoke, 

“What’s the big deal it’s just a stupid rabbit.”  

“It’s not just a stupid rabbit! 

 You’ve injured him, he did nothing to harm you and you hurt him.” Elizabeth said. 

She was furious with him, Hank wrapped his arm around Elizabeth in a confused manner. Just touching her made him feel awkward, he felt like she was the fragile rabbit, something he could break if he wasn’t careful. She was something to be treasured though, a child prodigy and the only daughter to Charlie Gramm. The Spanish blood in her made her dark brown eyes and dark brown hair seem a little more exotic but the African- American blood in her made her a little fiery in her attitude especially when she felt she was wronged. Hank moved his arm from around her after a while, it was just too uncomfortable to hold her so he picked up the injured rabbit instead and gently held the poor thing in his hands in front of her. 

“Why do you care so much about this thing?” Hank asked confused. 

“I like rabbit’s, okay; they’re my favorite animal.” Elizabeth said with that fiery tone. 

Elizabeth crossed her arms with the remnants of her tears on the edge of her eyes; she turned her head from him and refused to look back at him. Because Hank didn’t like it when she was mad at him, Hank said, 

“Look I’ll take him to the vet maybe he can fix him up a bit and then we can send him on his way. I promise I won’t kill another rabbit in front of you again.” 

Elizabeth, still turned away from him, said, 

“Fine but I get to let him go after the vet heals him.” 

“What you don’t trust me?” Hank said with a smug tone. 

“No.” Elizabeth said bluntly and walked off. 

Charlie had watched the whole ordeal happen while he finished up grooming and feeding Thunder. He called out to Elizabeth, 

“Honey, saddle up, we’re going to ride out before your mother gets up okay.” 

He said using her middle name which was her preferred name to be called.  

“Okay daddy!” She called back.  

She headed for the stables to saddle up her horse, Hank walked up to Charlie with the rabbit still in his hands. He looked towards the stables confused still and then turned to Charlie. 

“Why does she like these things so much?” Hank asked. 

Charlie laughed and said, 

“She has Rosa’s spirit and love for animals’ maybe that’s why but you’d better keep your promise and get that poor thing to the vet or she’ll never forgive you.” 

“She’d forgive me.” He stated plainly. 

“You think so?” 

“She might be mad at me for a while but she’d forgive me. I’m her best friend, she couldn’t live without me.“ He looked down at the rabbit, 

“I still think it would be good for dinner.” 

“Don’t let her hear you say that.” Charlie warned with another chuckle.  

Honey rode out of the stables on her horse, Glenn; he was an all brown mustang with a long beautiful mane. Hank looked at her but Honey turned her head away from him angry at him still. 

“Well I’d better get going, gotta get this thing to the vet.” 

Charlie sent him off with good wishes and told him to watch the roads, the fog was still heavy and he wanted to be very careful when he drove until it thinned out a little more. Hank promised to drive slowly and went off. Honey watched as he walked off headed towards his home which was about a mile and a half long walk so that he could get to his car. Honey sighed and Charlie hopped onto Thunder.  

“You ready to go Honey?” he said affectionately. 

“Yeah I’m ready.”  She said with a big bright smile on her face. 

Charlie headed off first then Honey followed and they disappeared into the fog.