Chapter 1: Charlotte Arrives

Mark

No matter what you see on television, life on a cattle ranch is not glamorous. It’s dirty, smelly, and involves a lot of hard work. Sometimes it’s just downright disgusting, like it was at that exact moment. I was standing in a barn stall, behind a cow, with most of my arm shoved up inside through her vagina. No, it wasn’t like that, you perverts. The cow was in labor, and the calf was breech. My hand was currently gripping its back legs, and I was desperately trying to turn it.

The cow moaned as she strained. I felt her muscles tensing as she pushed with all her might. I could feel the calf moving, its tiny hooves slipping through my fingers as I tried to guide it into the correct position. Sweat dripped down my face, mixing with the dirt and grime that seemed to be a constant companion on the ranch. The smell of manure and hay filled my nostrils, but I barely noticed it anymore. Today was just another day in my life; the life of a ranch hand.

Finally, with a last, powerful push, I felt the calf move into the correct position. The cow gave a low, mournful bellow, and the calf slipped out, covered in a slick, bloody membrane. I quickly grabbed the little thing, turning it so its head was down, and gave it a sharp smack on the back. The calf gave out a weak cry, and I let out a sigh of relief. It was alive.

I placed the newborn on the straw, where it lay trembling, its legs splaying out in a comical manner. The cow turned her head, her big brown eyes meeting mine for a moment before she nudged her newborn with her nose. I smiled, watching as the mother and child bonded in that first, precious moment of life.

“Not bad for your first time,” said Jim from just outside the stall, where he was leaning on the top rail of the gate. “We only get a handful of breech every year, and we probably lose about a third of them by the time we figure out there’s a problem.” He was chewing on a piece of hay sticking out of his mouth.

I nodded at him as I used my arm up near the elbow to push my cowboy hat back so I could wipe my forehead with my sleeve. A little over a week ago, I assisted him with a breech where the calf came out dead. That was a significant loss to the ranch, potentially thousands of dollars. It was also a real gut punch to fight that hard to save a newborn and fail.

Unfortunately, the work wasn’t over yet. I reached for the afterbirth, a thick, slimy mass that hung from the cow’s body. With a grunt, I pulled it away, the remnants of the placenta falling to the ground in a wet, squelching heap. I was covered in it, the sticky substance clinging to my clothes, my arms, my face. It was disgusting, but it was a necessary part of the process. The cow needed to be cleaned up, and the calf needed to be checked over to ensure it was healthy.

As I worked, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction. I had saved a life just now and would get to watch this calf grow. This was what I lived for out here, the cycle of life and death, the hard work and the rewards. It sure as Hell wasn’t glamorous, but it was real. As I stood there, covered in afterbirth, I knew I wouldn’t have it any other way. That was life on a cattle ranch, and it was now my life. My time growing up in Nashville and the year in the Army seemed like distant memories now, even though I had only been out here about a little over four months now.

After I scooped up all the mess into a barrel, I hauled it out of the stall while watching the new calf latch on and start suckling off the mama cow’s teat. He had a rough start, but I think he’s going to be alright. Hopefully he’ll grow up and do a lot of breeding for the ranch, much like I was currently doing myself.

I smiled as I thought back on the last sixteen weeks of living out here. Carrie, my younger sister, was now pregnant with our first child. On her small frame, her baby bump was just starting to show, now in her second trimester. If I thought our sex life was good before, her getting pregnant had kicked it into overdrive. She was ravenous for orgasms, and I was so tired my first few weeks out here I’d had to rely on Lila to take some of the pressure off me.

Lila was the young aunt of my best friend Jake, who owned 51% of this ranch and had brought me on as a potential partner after an injury ended my military career. Technically, she lived in the cottage behind the main house, but she’d spent every night so far in the bed with me and Carrie. The bed where the three of us had fucked so much I thought they were going to kill me from pure exhaustion.