Chapter 4: The Meeting

The Meeting

As the ride to the ranch was coming to an end Stan got Angie's attention and said, "Angie, it's just two more miles to the house."

The panic Angie felt at the Café had returned in force. What would Scott say? What should she say to him? Angie was still deep in thought when the pickup began to slow to a stop. Stan eased up to the last of the seven push gates and stopped.

Angie, who had been in her own little world since Silvia and she had made their pit stop, looked at Stan and asked, "Do you need me to open the gate?"

"No. It's a push gate just like the six others we've gone through," Stan laughed and wondered where her mind had been for the last twenty three miles. "A push gate is a gate that's designed to open by pushing it open with a pickup. They're made so that they close on their own."

"We just had regular gates and cattle guards on my Dad's ranch." Angie replied, "Why do you use them here?"

Stan put the truck into first gear and floored it, the truck accelerated through the gate. It swung all the way open then held still just for a brief second or two. "The sheep and goats don't respect the cattle guards all that much," Stan replied.

Angie turned in her seat to watch the gate close and was shocked as the gate, made from two inch steel pipe, swung back and forth with more than enough force to crush a car. "Guess it wouldn't pay to stop in the wrong place. Huh?"

"Nope it wouldn't." Stan said "Do you see that steel t-post this side of the gate?"

"Yea there was another one on the other side" Angie answered "What are they for?"

"That marks the point where the gate swings. If you stop inside of those posts your car will get scratched," Stan said, repeating the joke he made every year when he brought hunters into the ranch.

"Scratched!" Angie exclaimed "Totalled would be more like it." Only then did Angie realise that Stan had sucked her in on another of his jokes. She smiled as she thought about how fast she had been accepted. She wondered if it would stay that way if Scott didn't like her.

"There it is." Stan's voice brought her back to the real world.

From the top of the hill you could see the ranch headquarters laid out in the valley in front of them. There were huge cottonwood trees lining the creek that wound through a lush green meadow. Out in the meadow horses, mules, and a few cows were grazing. The road wound down the hill then disappeared under the canopy of oaks and pecans. After the desert scenery on the drive to the ranch, the view of the meadow and all the trees seemed out of place. At the far end of the valley Angie could see several buildings. The ranch house, a large adobe building was mostly hidden by the trees. From the point they were at on the road all that could be seen was the sun reflecting off the solar panels on the roof. Off to the east were several small sheds. Sitting even further back were two small houses separated from each other by fifty or sixty yards. The barn sat almost 300 yards north of those two houses. It was two stories tall; adobe with a sheet metal roof. There were pens and sheds off to the side. But the thing that had Angie's attention right now was the light reflecting off the two lakes as it passed through the oak and pecan trees.

There were so many trees Angie couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Is that water over there?" she pointed.

"Those are ponds. There are three of them that are fed by the springs back behind the house. They are all crystal clear; we go snorkelling in them when it's warm." Stan explained.

"Oh wow!" Angie was so excited now she could hardly contain herself, "Is that an observatory?" she pointed to the white dome that had just come into view. The contrast of the white dome against the green shades of the trees made the dome jump out of the scenery. Memories of the many nights Angie and her father spent looking at the stars came flooding back.

Silvia was laughing at Angie's excitement; she looked like a kid on Christmas day. "Scott just put that in last year. He was tired of lugging his telescope to the top of that hill."

Stan chimed in, "It's over nineteen feet wide, he ended up buying another telescope."

"What kind of telescope is it?" Angie asked.

"All I know is that it's about sixteen inches in diameter and everything about it is computerized," Stan told her.

"But didn't you tell me that there is no phone and no electricity?"

"There's not but he put in some solar panels and batteries to take care of the computer and the telescope." Stan laughed. They drove down the road and out of the bright sunlight and into the shade as the road wandered underneath the canopy of the trees. "Look over there." Stan pointed towards the three whitetail does grazing beneath the trees. "Watch up here on the left Angie. There are usually some turkeys out in that clearing."

Today the turkeys were nowhere in sight, instead six javelinas, small pig-like creatures native to West Texas, rooted under the big oak at the edge of the clearing. "This place is so beautiful," Angie exclaimed, "It's really is an oasis isn't it?" Angie couldn't get over the change in the landscape, after miles and miles of desert. Suddenly, over a hill and into a valley of trees where there was lush green grass, and running water.

Stan drove the last half mile to the ranch house. Scott's two dogs met them. The dogs knew Stan's pickup and rather than barking, they followed his truck wagging their tails.

As they got out of the truck Angie knew that if this wasn't the moment of truth then it soon would be. All the doubt, worry and wondering would soon be over, one way or the other. As they walked up on to the wrap around porch, Stan and Silvia held up and let Angie walk up to the door alone. Angie stepped up to the wood framed screen door, and then turned to look at Stan and Silvia.

Stan smiled, "Well, go ahead. Knock."

Angie knocked. As she waited with her heart in her throat, she examined the woodwork on the screen door. It almost seemed out of place, the ornate Victorian trim of the door on the white stucco of the adobe house.

Scott heard the knock on the door. Since he hadn't heard the dogs barking that meant that Stan and, no doubt, Silvia were here. The last thing he wanted was company. He wanted to be left alone.

Angie knocked again then bucking up her courage another notch she knocked again even harder.

Scott had had enough, "Go away!" he shouted "Leave me alone." All alone, Scott thought — that's all I'll ever be is alone.

Angie had been unsure when she first knocked on the screen door, but hearing the hurt in Scott's voice had assured her. "Why Scott?" Angie called through the screen door, "Why should I leave you alone?"

Scott froze; his heart rate doubling in an instant. When he had heard the first two words he thought it was Silvia. The second time she spoke, though, jarred him. "That wasn't Silvia!" Scott said quietly to himself. He wanted to ask who it was, at the same time he knew who it was. But how? Why?

Angie wasn't sure why it was taking so long for him to answer. "Scott," she called again, "Why should I leave you alone? Tell me, I want to know."

Scott got off the bed, his clothes wrinkled from sleeping in them for the last hour. He turned the corner from the hallway to where he could see the front door. The sight that met him stopped him dead in his tracks. His heart was pounding, his mouth suddenly dry. He didn't know what to say and wasn't sure he could have said it if he knew. He was well read, with a college education and there he was standing in a cold sweat, struck absolutely dumb. He stood there staring at her through the screen door afraid to move then just as suddenly afraid not to. He took the last few steps to the door and pushed it open.