Chapter 10

Oh, the wayward wind is a restless wind
A restless wind that yearns to wander...

I’d just come back from tending Red and Blue, and had taken a seat in a rocking chair on their front porch when I heard horses coming into the barnyard. I’d never taken the time to sit in a rocking chair before and I was still just a rocking when I looked around to see two riders step down from their horses and walk them over to the water trough. They took their saddles off and tied the horses next to Red and Blue.

Both of them turned to walk toward me and I stood up with my hat in my hand.

Both had a gun strapped on their hip. Both wore big hats – just about the same as my new hat. They were dressed alike, wearing sun-bleached-gray shirts and faded denim britches like I wear since Polk told me what to buy. Their boots were covered in dust and dried cow shit. They walked slowly side by side right toward where I stood. I’d never known anyone who wore spurs, but both have spurs on their boots. I heard them jingling when they stepped up onto the porch. They didn’t use the steps, they just stepped right upon the porch from the ground and stood before me. Neither one saying a word as they looked me up and down.

“Hi, I’m Joss Wayward and I came here to see about hiring on as a ranch hand,” I spoke, sticking my hand out to the one on my right.

He pulled on the fingers of his leather glove one at a time until he held the glove in his left hand as we shook.

“Hi, I’m Jonnie.”

This is a girl! I didn’t know what to say as she took my hand and shook it.

“Hi, Joss. I’m Jamie. Have you talked to Momma yet?” The other one said as she stepped up and shook my hand. Both of them are girls

Lord Have Mercy ... Polk said his daughter had two little girls. They’re not little girls anymore!

“Hi ... Uh ... Y’all. I just got here and talked to Miss Ruby for a bit. She’s gone inside to get her husband. She said he’d want to talk to me about the job.”

“Ruby Peters is our Momma ... Our Daddy is Merle Peters ... How old are you anyway?”

“I turned fourteen about a month ago.”

“Jonnie’s fifteen. I’m sixteen. Just sit back down in that rocker, we’ll go help Momma get Daddy out here. Daddy will hire you, Joss. You’re as big as a full grown man already and besides, you’ve got nice manners and a friendly smile.”

“You ever worked on a ranch before, Joss?” Jonnie asked me before she followed her sister to the door.

“Yes’sum I worked on a horse ranch back in Topeka for a while. I worked cattle in a stockyard over in Sedalia for a while when I first started working by the day as a hired hand. Your Grandpa Polk sent me here to talk to your daddy and momma about me hiring on as a ranch hand.”

“Sit right down there in that rocker and rest a minute. You’ll do...

“Won’t he, Jamie?”

“Yeah ... he’ll do just fine...

“You’ll do just fine as our hired hand, Joss Wayward.”

They pulled their hats off and both of them were grinning at each other when they went inside the house. I sure hope they’re right, and I get hired on here. They’re both good-looking girls, like their momma. I didn’t even know they were girls until they took their hats off and spoke. Both have long yellow hair braids as long as my arm, which they had coiled up under their hats until they took them off.

They’re not as big under their shirts as their momma, though.

I reckon I need to stop thinking about how any of these Peters womenfolk look. Polk trusted me enough to send me out here to get a job as a hired hand with his only daughter and her family. I need to respect Polk and his kin as long as I’m here. I sure do hope they hire me though. I’d like to know all I can about ranching and working cattle by the time I save enough to build a spread of my own ... like this one.

Besides that, from what I’ve seen so far, there’s not any hired hands here except for Jonnie and Jamie. Well, maybe Miss Ruby too, but she was wearing a dress. She did wear boots under her dress. Boots just like the ones I’m wearing. This family really impresses me. They sure do have a nice spread here too. If I ever do have a spread of my own, I’d like to pattern it after The Double K and The Windy Ridge Ranch, taking some of each of them to build what I want.

I heard the screen door open and looked around to see Miss Ruby backing out. She was wearing a pair of faded blue denim britches that didn’t have a wrinkle in them from her waist down past her knees, they were so tight.

Lord Have Mercy!

She’s wearing the same sort of sun-faded shirt her daughters were wearing. Her bosom really is noticeable now. I mean, Barbara McIntyre or Alina Pilatta either one don’t have shit on Miss Ruby Peters. She’s such a tall, slim built woman too and that makes her bosom look even more prominent.

I was shocked to see Mr. Merle in a wooden, straight-back wheeled-chair. Miss Ruby was pulling him backward through the doorway. Jamie and Jonnie were following with some pillows and a blanket.

“Joss, I want you to meet my husband, Merle Peters...

“Merle, this is the young man we were telling you about. Meet Joss Edmon Wayward, he’s out of Sedalia, Missouri, and Daddy sent him to us.”

Miss Ruby stopped his wheeled-chair right in front of me when I stood up. I reached down to shake his hand and he raised his left hand. His right hand was curled up and twisted, laying across his lap, on top of a blanket.

“Mr. Merle. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. I have just been admiring your fine spread here. I would really like to hire on with you.”

“Joss, sit down so I don’t have to look up to you as we talk. I read Polk’s letter he wrote to Ruby, telling us all about you. You can stop fretting about a job already. As soon as Ruby told me you were here, how big you were, about your good manners, your handsome looks and that Polk had sent you here – you had the job. Then I read the letter from Polk and I knew he and I were both right.”

“Thank you, Mr. Merle. You’ll never regret hiring me. I learn fast and I work hard.”

“I read all about that in Polk’s letter. But you’ll be more than a hired hand here, Joss. You’re about to take on the responsibility of protecting my wife and daughters too. As you can see, I am wheeled-chair bound and will be the rest of my life. One of your chores will be to load me in the buggy and escort me over the ranch once each week, weather allowing. You’ll be responsible for helping my women bathe me at the creek twice a week. We have a lift and swing boom down there that my wife and daughters erected. I’ll expect you to help them improve upon that apparatus, as it is not very stable or trustworthy the way it stands...

“I see you wear a gun, I need to ask if you’re familiar with firearms and if there ever did come a time for you to defend my family, would you use deadly force if necessary to make sure none of them are harmed?”

“Polk taught me to handle my pistol and shoot a rifle. I have enough bullets to take lots more practice shots so I can be as good as I need to be. I can assure you, Sir, if there ever comes a time when you, your wife or daughters are threatened, I will use any and all means in my power to prevent harm of any kind from coming to your family.”

“Joss, you’re quite the man at fourteen years. You are exactly what Polk described to Ruby in his letter. I’m sure you read that letter he wrote, while on your trip out here...”

“Oh No Sir... That was a private letter to your wife. No way was I going to read a private letter written to either of you.”

“Joss, when Merle asked me if I thought you may have read all the things Daddy wrote about you in the letter, I told him, without a doubt, NO ... In the short talk I had with you, I knew my Daddy was right. You are the very man to make The Windy Ridge Ranch prosper again...

“Now...

“ ... If you’ll help me roll Merle down that ramp, we’ll show you how we load and unload him in and out of the buggy so we can take him for a ride. Jamie, Jonnie and I will saddle up and ride along with you and Merle. We’ll stay ahead of you, leading the way, so you and Merle can have a private talk as we show you the ranch operation.”

I grabbed the handles on the back of his wheeled-chair and eased him slowly down the ramp backwards.

“Joss, you’re going to spoil me. My women usually let me come sailing down that ramp as they try to either stop me, guide me, or stay the hell out of the path of this run-a-way.”

Out at the barn nearest the house, there was a hay lift that comes down from a heavy wooden beam extending out from the very peak of the barn roof. There was a block and tackle at the top and there was a rope sling at the bottom. Jonnie and Jamie each jumped in and attached the rope sling onto Mr. Merle’s wheeled-chair so we could lift him, chair and all.

I looked up to see Miss Ruby come out of the barn door driving a fancy buggy, pulled by a high stepping buggy-horse. She pulled right past where Mr. Merle was.

“Come help us, Joss,” Jonnie told me as she and Jamie grabbed the rope in their gloved hands and began pulling their daddy up.

I grabbed the rope and started pulling, and the next thing I knew, the sisters were right up against me on either side. They were pulling on the rope as we reached and stretched, while pulling Mr. Merle straight up. Once we had him high enough, Miss Ruby backed the buggy under him. Jonnie and Jamie may not have intended to, but they sure gave me a good rubbing up and down on my body with their arms, bosoms, and butts as we pulled. I found out real quick, these girls had their bosoms bound tight when I met them earlier. They’re wearing thick shirts to hide the fact that they’re both blessed with an inheritance that could only come from the bosom of their momma. When they stand up straight, there isn’t a wrinkle in the front of their shirts from their necks to their gunbelts.

After Miss Ruby backed the buggy in place, we lowered Mr. Merle onto the front.

Half the front buggy seat had been cut away and a place made for his wheeled-chair to fit down into slots cut into the floorboards of the buggy. Then they showed me how to use the leather straps to lace over the wheels and keep him from rocking back and forth.

“Joss, would you mind if I rode that Red Roan stud of yours? I’d love to ride him if you think he’d let me. Daddy said in his letter that you and that horse have become partners with each other,” Miss Ruby asked as Jamie and Jonnie went over to saddle their horses.

“If you’ll stay with the buggy horse, I’ll saddle him for you. Then have a talk with him before you mount up.”

“Do you really talk to your horse, Joss?” Mr. Merle asked.

“Yes Sir, I do. He may not know everything I’m saying, but it sure does calm him down if I talk to him.”

“Ruby, drive this buggy over there, I have to see and hear this with my own eyes and ears.”

I was saddling Red when she drove the buggy up beside us. I walked around to stand in front of Red as they watched.

“Red, we’re going to take a ride over this new ranch where we’ll be working for a while. Miss Ruby wants to ride you and I want you to show your best manners with her. Jamie and Jonnie are both riding mares and I want you to be very respectful of them and their horses too. If you mind your manners, they may have a girl horse or two for you to fall in love with on this big ranch.”