Chapter Seventeen
Friday, August 29 th .
Maynooth. Northern Ontario.
Tammy arrived at her Mama’s cabin after dark and getting the big Freightliner up the steep driveway was a bit of a challenge. After three tries, she made it and congratulated herself on being a great truck driver.
She parked the big truck next to a black Jeep and smiled. “Eldon is here. I was right.”
Elated everything was going according to her latest plan, Tammy made her way to the cabin in the dark. She remembered Mama saying the key was around the back and she followed the log walls until she reached the long porch that ran the entire length of the back of the cabin.
Feeling her way along the windowsills and stretching to check the tops of the windows, the growl behind her caught her attention, but not in time.
The huge paw stuck her back like a hammer and knocked her down flat. Having the wind knocked out of her and no strength in her body, Tammy lay on the plank floor of the porch completely defenseless.
The bear growled and grabbed hold of her and there was no way she could prevent the huge beast from dragging her off.
Bobby startled awake when Cleo barked and jumped off the bed. She ran to the garden doors at the back of the cabin and scratched to get out.
“No, you don’t. I can hear growling out there and that means the bear is back. You’re staying in here with me, girl. We’re going back to bed. You can’t go out until she goes back to her cave in the morning.”
Cleo whined and lay down on the mat at the door.
Shortly after dawn, Cleo whined again to go out and Bobby dragged himself out of bed. “I’m not letting you go out there alone, girl. We don’t know for sure that we only have one bear. We might have two and that means double trouble for you.”
Bobby stuck his feet into his boots and grabbed the shotgun that came with the cabin. “Come on, we’ll go out the front door this morning, just in case.”
He opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. His mouth hung open for a minute while he stared at the amazing sight in front of him.
It was not a bear.
“Well, Cleo, would you look at that big red beauty sitting there. Miss Tammy must have taken a lesson from that last beating I laid on her. She brought me a present to make up for all of her disgusting murderous and kidnapping behavior.”
Bobby walked over to the truck and jumped up on the sidestep. He peeked in the driver’s window and took it all in.
“She’s gorgeous, Cleo. I’ll take you for a ride later, but first we’d better go look for Tammy. If she arrived in the middle of the night, that old bear might’ve got her.”
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
While Travis and Annie drank their morning coffee on the front porch, Kevin Bennett arrived with the paperwork and keys for Travis’ new property.
“Congratulations, Travis. You are now the proud owner of a beautiful spread up in Lincoln.” He handed Travis the package and shook his hand, then explained what each of the keys were for.
“Thanks for bringing it to me,” said Travis.
“You okay? You look a little more damaged than when I saw you in the office yesterday.”
“Had a little mishap on the way back to Annie’s ranch,” mumbled Travis and his hand inadvertently went to the wounds in his side.
“Sorry to hear that. You won’t be in top shape for your moving day, then.”
Travis laughed. “Definitely won’t be lifting much. I’ll have to leave that for my boys.”
Kevin left and Travis tried to get out of his comfy porch chair. “I guess we’d better get over there and wait for the moving truck.”
“You and the boys go ahead,” said Annie. “I’ll make some sandwiches and follow y’all over in a bit. I bet you don’t have any food over there.”
“Not yet, but I’ll make a list and send the boys to the store later.” Travis hollered for the boys and when they came running out of the house, he said, “Virgie, you and Harlan get the horses loaded. It’s time to get over to our new place.”
“Copy that, Dad. Virge, help me cut our horses out of the corral.”
“I’ll give you a hand,” said Lucy. The three of them ran to the corral to get started.
River Bend Ranch. Lincoln. Texas.
On the final leg of their move, Travis led the way pulling the horse trailer, with me and Virge behind him towing the Harleys behind our Jeep.
I clocked the mileage from Annie’s ranch to ours and it was exactly twenty-nine miles. Not far at all. A half-hour drive.
Driving through the fancy gate at the end of our lane felt like coming home. “We’re here, Corb. What do you think?”
“Nice ranch so far. I like the gateway. The ranch has a name—River Bend. Is there a river?”
“Yep. Haven’t seen it yet, but we have one.”
“Hope the furniture truck don’t take too long to get here. I might want a bed to sleep in tonight,” said Virge.
“If it don’t come, Dad said we’d sleep in a hotel. Either way, you’ll have a bed, Virge. You big wuss.”
Corb laughed and it might have been the first time.
Dad had the horse trailer backed up to the corral but that was as much as he could do. Even driving the truck was a new hell for him.
The horses unloaded a lot easier than they loaded at Annie’s place. Maybe they knew they were finally home. Virge gave them carrots for being so cooperative and they settled right down.
Me and Virge and Corb went into our new barn to see if the previous owners left it clean for us, and it wasn’t too bad. All the stalls were cleaned out and there were no big messes to clean up.
“Looks pretty good in here,” said Virge. “You want to pick a stall for your horse, bro?”
“Don’t think it matters, Virge. The stalls are all the same.”
“Some are closer to the tack room than others,” said Virge.
“That only matters if you’re too fuckin’ weak to carry your saddle a bit farther. That would be you and wouldn’t apply to me.”
“Shut up.” Virge came at me to punch me in the gut, and I got him first. That made Corb laugh again.
Annie and the kids came a while later and brought us sandwiches and Cokes. We were all sitting on the porch steps eating when the huge furniture truck pulled in and parked. That was when the work started for real.
“Wish I could help y’all,” said Travis, “but sadly, I can’t. My stitches will rip out. I’m happy to supervise and be the moving boss.” He laughed.
Maynooth. Northern Ontario.
Bobby took the rifle he found under the bed and made sure it was loaded before he and Cleo searched the forest for Tammy.
“If I have to take Tammy away from a bear, Cleo, it’s not gonna be easy. Truth be told, the bear might have done us a huge favor and put Tammy out of her misery.
“After our last meeting in that fishing shack, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be seeing her again, but it seems like she’s got nine lives like a cat.”
Cleo growled at the mention of a cat and Bobby laughed at her.
“That girl ain’t right in the head, Cleo, and it makes me wonder how many people she’s killed or stole from since I last saw her. And now a new Freightliner? Some poor bastard is crying over that for sure.”
Cleo’s tail wagged the whole time she ran through the woods with her nose to the ground. She tracked the bear smell more than Tammy’s scent, but it worked the same way. Find one and find both.
The dog stopped outside a cave almost half a mile from the cabin. Bobby figured the cave was at the back of someone else’s property. They’d come too far for this to be all Tammy’s mama’s land.
“We’re not going into a cave when we know there’s a bear in there, Cleo. That would be fuckin’ suicide.”
Holding onto Cleo’s collar, Bobby stuck his head in and hollered, “Tammy, are you in there?”
A loud growl came back at him from not too far inside the cave.
“We woke up the bear, Cleo. Come on, we’ve got to run for it.” Over his shoulder, Bobby hollered, “Thanks for the truck, Tammy. I truly love it, girl.”
The growl got louder, and Bobby ran faster.
River Bend Ranch. Lincoln. Texas.
By supper time, all the furniture had been unloaded and taken inside the house but none of it was in place. Just in there, piled and scattered around willy-nilly.
“We’re taking a break for beer and pizza,” said Travis, “and all we’re doing after supper is setting up the beds. Y’all have done enough work for one day.”
“Good call, Dad,” said Virge. “I could eat a large pizza all by myself, I’m so fuckin’ hungry.”
We were about as tired as we were gonna get when we finished setting up the beds and finding the quilts and the pillows. We didn’t bother with the sheets. None of us knew what box they were in. Some of the cartons weren’t labelled. That was on Virge.
Travis didn’t want Corb sleeping in the bunkhouse until there were other boys out there, so he put him in one of the twin beds in Billy’s room. At least for the next couple of months. When Billy arrived from Montana, they’d sort things out.
“Been a long day, boys, and this old man is beat. We’ll get the internet set up tomorrow and y’all will be able to get games and whatnot on the TV. Harlan will be able to use his computer and catch up on his emails.”
“Me and Virge will do the grocery shopping tomorrow, Dad. We need to find the best market around here. We’ll go see what kind of stores Lincoln Texas has to offer the new arrivals.”
“Yeah, I’ll leave that in your hands, Harlan. I won’t be moving around much for the next few days. I don’t want to be ripping out the stitches that are holding me together.”
“You think the bikers will be mad you killed some of their guys?” asked Corb. “They won’t come here, will they?”
“Might come for payback, Corb,” said Travis. “If they do come, I want you to stay inside the house. Promise me.”
“Okay. I will. I don’t know how to shoot like Virge.”
“Yeah,” said Virge. “Few people ever get to my level.”
I punched him in the gut and doubled him over.
“Soon as we get organized, I’ll teach you how to shoot and defend yourself,” said Travis. “Lessons you need to learn to survive.”
“Thanks. I wouldn’t mind learning how to shoot a gun.”
Maynooth. Northern Ontario.
When night fell and the bear left the cave to hunt, Tammy left the tiny spot between the rocks she had squeezed into. She’d hidden herself at the back of the cave and hadn’t made a sound for hours.
When the bear left to hunt for food, Tammy came out of her hiding spot and ran off into the forest.
Trying to remember which way the bear had dragged her the night before, she peered through the trees looking for a light from the cabin.
Every time she heard growling, she turned and ran the opposite way. The best part was knowing that Eldon had come looking for her and he thanked her for the truck. She heard him holler to her and wanted to answer him, but she couldn’t give herself away.
That means he still loves me. I can’t wait until we’re back together as a couple.
A horrendous growl right behind her set Tammy off running at full speed. She ran through the woods for what felt like a mile, then climbed up the side of a rocky ravine as fast as she could go.
When she reached the top, she saw the light from the cabin.
Growling and snarling and running up the steep bank on all fours, the bear was right on her heels. The truck was parked directly in her path, and she didn’t have a chance to make it as far as the cabin.
Tammy jumped up on the sidestep, slid in the passenger door and slammed it shut. She climbed into the sleeper and flopped down to catch her breath.
That was close.