Chapter 28Staten Kirkland
Chapter 28
Cloudy Day Birthday
February 1992
Staten Kirkland
A t five o’clock Staten picked up his keys on his way out of the Double K’s headquarters. He had less than an hour to get ready for a birthday party that he didn’t want. Oh, he was excited that it was his birthday, but having a dinner was old-fashioned.
Granny had invited friends from all the other ranches. She even hired the town’s only three-piece band to play. People would stand around for an hour, eat, and then talk for a while about ranching before going home.
The only good thing about having a party was Amalah. She would be on her way back to Crossroads and planned to stay the night at the ranch. Of course, Granny had reminded him twice that if Amalah was sleeping in his room in the cottage, then he would be staying in the big house.
Granny promised she’d wake Amalah at seven the next morning so Staten could eat breakfast with her before heading off to work. Twenty-year-olds might be spending the night together in college, but Granny wasn’t going to make alone time any easier for them.
Halfway to his truck, Staten heard the office phone ring.
He thought about ignoring it, but he found himself turning around and heading back into headquarters. Glancing at the caller ID, he saw that it was Amalah.
Staten answered but all he heard was crying. It took a few minutes to understand what she was saying. She was not coming. She was sorry.
He picked out a few words. A wreck turning out of the parking lot on campus. Not bad but it would be two days before the right fender could get fixed. Amalah was not hurt but she was too upset to drive back to town alone. No, she couldn’t find someone who could drive her somewhere a hundred miles away.
Staten’s ears were ringing. He couldn’t understand much besides the fact that Amalah was okay, but she was not coming home. “I wish I was with you. I wish there was something I could do to help.”
“I wish you were, too, but I’m really okay. I just hate missing your twentieth birthday. I wanted to be there for you.” The crying got softer. “I love you, Staten.”
“I know. I love you too. You’ll catch the next sixty or seventy birthdays. I guess one’s not so bad.” He sighed, trying to shake the gloom rolling over him. “The only reason I agreed to the dinner was because you would be sitting next to me.”
The party hadn’t even started yet and he was already dreading it. But he’d do what everyone expected of him like he always did. He’d show up with a smile and make the rounds, thanking everyone for showing up.
“I know,” she whispered. “I swear, I’ll make it up with the next one and the next, and the next.”
Everything she said explained why she couldn’t come. Why she’d stopped looking for a ride. He heard her. He was listening, but the words didn’t make sense.
Why couldn’t Amalah borrow a car or rent one? Didn’t she understand that this was the birthday he’d been waiting for? He wanted to be a man. No. He was a man. He was running the ranch. Slowly restarting college. Working for his future. And he wanted his girl to be with him.
All his life he wanted to be a good man like his grandpa. Work hard. Be fair. Love his Amalah all his life.
But all he could think about right now was quitting. There was nothing he wanted more than his girl. If he couldn’t have her, what was it all for?
In a rough voice he managed to say, “It’s okay. Go to the dorm and get some sleep. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
After he hung up, an anger rolled over him. He slammed the phone back onto the desk and turned toward the office entrance, ready to run. Staten made it one step through the door and crashed into a tall, thin ranch hand carrying a five-foot board on his shoulder.
Both men tumbled down the steps and collided with a huge pot full of dried-up dirt and dead ivy. Dirt clumps flew several feet up as the men lost the fight. After rolling, Staten and the cowhand called Duke Evans were spread out on the rocks.
The lanky cowboy grunted as he raised to one elbow. “You alive, Boss?”
“Nope, I think I’m dead on my birthday. Since the dead can’t talk, you’ll have to tell Granny.”
Duke sat up, slapping blood off his face and inspecting his elbow. He ignored several other cuts. “We better get you cleaned up, Boss. You’re leaking in several places. And I hear you’ve got a party to be at.”
“Right.” Staten staggered to his feet, aching in places he didn’t know could hurt. “Let’s get to the bunkhouse. Jake will clean us up and give us enough whiskey to keep us smiling.”
Staten hurt so bad, he almost howled like a coyote. Duke was wincing as he stood. They helped one another to the bunkhouse. Hobbling like a pair of old men who’d had too much to drink.
Thirty minutes later both men were half drunk and smiling.
Staten was still hurting but a numbness was starting to settle in. He laughed with his men as they stood around teasing him. His left ear didn’t seem to want to stop bleeding. A few of the ranch hands voted to cut the ear off. He was one of them now. He’d drunk enough to think about removing it. Others voted to brand it.
He’d done some crazy things on the ranch before, but he guessed that cutting off his own ear would make Granny mad. The thought of Tabitha Kirkland cussing mad was enough to veto both plans.
Staten took another sip of whiskey and began to feel better. He had no idea what the party would be like, but he knew it couldn’t be as great as the bunkhouse.
Fifteen minutes later, all the men were cleaned up and someone had grabbed Staten’s suit from the cottage. Staten showered and dressed, then looked in the mirror. He’d gained at least fifteen pounds of pure muscle since returning to the ranch, and his slacks and black blazer were a bit snug now. But that wasn’t the problem. All his men had on clean work clothes. Staten stood out like a sore thumb.
He turned to Jake. The foreman always had a solution to everything. “I need something else to wear.”
The old cowboy smiled. “Yes, sir.” He turned to the ranch hands gathered around behind them. “Boys, the boss needs something to wear. Take out your best.”
Staten began taking his suit off. “No, no. Nothing fancy. Some clean work clothes will do.”
He didn’t care about dressing up for the party. He belonged with his men and he wanted to look like it.
As he buttoned the blue plaid shirt, he yelled, “Grab those drinks, boys. We’re all going to my birthday party.”
Five minutes later, Staten’s ear bandaged, twenty men marched behind the boss to the big house. The cowhands. The men who worked on the ranch. The ones who stuck with him from dawn till dusk. Staten’s friends.
At the first step on the porch, Staten tripped, nearly falling into the post. Duke’s hand steadied him.
“I’ve got you, Boss. But you might want to take it slow from now on.”
“Thanks,” Staten whispered.
Granny met him at the door and lifted her hand and gestured at his bandaged ear. “What happened to you?”
Staten leaned down and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Nothing, Granny. I’m just fine.”
“You sure smell like it.” She threw a hard stare at Jake and then spoke over her shoulder to the woman working at the stove. “Add some water to the gravy and cut more ham, please.”
She turned back to the men standing around Staten like a group of bodyguards. “I expect you all to be on your best behavior.”
Staten smiled. “Don’t worry so much.”
He was twenty. From this day on, he’d be a man! When trouble came, he’d handle it straight on.