Chapter 4

I must have shown my surprise at her statement, because Mary laughed at me, "David, I'm not making a play for you. I just want to talk about something you need to know before you hire me." I was confused; something that I was becoming used to in the last few weeks since I met the girls.

We went to Mary's room where I joined her at the small table by the bed. She turned to me, "David, I just got word that I need to take care of my two nephews. My sister will be undergoing chemo for cancer for a while and they have to go to Seattle for the treatment. I'd like to know if they could live near you on the ranch while I take care of them. They can help around the ranch a bit, since my sister and her husband run a herd on a ranch they own around Mt. Hood."

"Mary, I've got to think about this. What can you tell me about your nephews, and who would be responsible for them?"

"I'd be willing to take $20,000 a year to take care of the girls if you'll let them stay with me. Their parents will pay for their health insurance and living expenses. I promise if they're a problem I'll make arrangements for them to stay someplace else. They're good boys, so I don't think they'll be a problem."

"What will you be living in? I don't have room in my cabin for two more people."

"My brother-in-law and sister have a large camper the boys can stay in until I can get something else arranged."

"Mary, I have to think about this. Let me talk to the girls tomorrow and see how they feel about it and then I'll give you my answer."

I walked back to my room more troubled than I had believed I would be. It seemed my life was getting rapidly out of my control. I had planned on just living by myself. Before I could even get my cabin built, I had picked up two new nieces, a houskeeper and now possibly two boys. I wasn't sure if I could handle this.

When I got back to my room I lay down and thought while I smoked my pipe. The girls had already gotten me out of the habit of smoking around them in closed places. I found that I could concentrate better when I smoked though, and I needed to think. If I let Mary take care of her nephews on the ranch, I could save $20,000 a year while she did. I would have to make sure that the ranch would have enough electricity and water for two more people. This would require me to upgrade the generators and the solar cells or whatever I used to handle the required power. I really couldn't see two teenage boys living in a camper for a year so I would have to make arrangements for them to have someplace to stay when it got cold. Would the girls be better off having boys around, or would they prefer to be by themselves. I didn't think Mary would take the job if she couldn't have her nephews with her, so how would the girls feel about that?

The thoughts kept running through my mind along with others concerning money and help on the ranch. Finally I gave up and put out my pipe. I need to talk to someone about this. I laid back and quickly fell asleep.

Early the next morning Linda pounding on my door woke me up. "Uncle Dave, get up! We need to eat and get to the ranch before Mr. Blair's boys get there."

I groggily looked at the clock. It was 7 O'clock in the morning. I hate mornings. Especially when I have active people pounding on my door who wouldn't stop. "OK, I'm awake!" I think I said. I stumbled to the bathroom, where after washing my face I looked at my reflection, a heavyset man with semi-long gray hair mixed with brown who needed a shave. He had pale blue eyes looking back at me. I wondered how I got involved in all this and what was going to happen next. How was I going to handle four kids and a housekeeper?

Then I realized that I had decided that I would let Mary bring her nephews to the ranch. I didn't know what had happened. I had gone to sleep still undecided, but somehow when I woke up I had made up my mind. I needed to let Mary and the girls know. When I got out of the room, I saw Linda and Shannon standing around looking upset. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Mary told us that she's not going to be staying with us." I looked around and saw Mary putting her bags in the back of her car.

"Mary! Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She turned, "I'm sorry. I knew it was too much to ask for before I opened my mouth last night. I hope you and the girls can find someone they like."

"Wait a minute. I told you that I would give you my answer this morning. I don't see any problem with your nephews staying at the ranch, except we need to get another cabin for them. There's no way they could live in a camper for a year. I can get a one bedroom cabin out here next week, but it may take a bit longer to get the utilities set up for them."

Mary's face lit up, "Really! Thank you! I was worried about what would happen. Between having to sell the cattle they have and closing up the ranch along with everything else, I was at my wits end. Thank you!"

I turned to the girls, "Well, help Mary get her clothes back to her room, then let's eat and get out to the ranch. We have a cabin to raise."

When we got there I found two pickups with a low bed trailer behind one with a small forklift on it. Standing around looking at the cabin kit were three young men somewhere around 16 to 20 years old with Jim Blair sitting on the tailgate of the pickup without the trailer. When he saw us Jim waved at us and the three men turned around and watched as we got out of the truck. I introduced Mary to Jim, "This is Mary, she'd going to be staying here with her nephews and keeping herd on the girls for me." This earned me a stern look from Linda and a small swat from Shannon, who were looking at the young men.

Jim called the boys over and introduced them, "This is Ed, Steven and their friend Mike. Mike wanted to know if you thought you might need more help putting up the cabin."

I looked at the boys and thought that they would be able to do most of the work by themselves, while I made arrangements to have the other cabin trucked in and the utilities put in for it. 'I'm sure I could use another good worker for this. I'm having a smaller cabin brought in for Mary's nephews so I may have work for a bit more than a week."

The boys had heard enough and began to get busy discussing the best way to start. While they began working on the cabin, Jim came over and began to discuss the range fees he would have to pay for his cattle. I was in the woods here and was just listening when Mary spoke up, "How many cattle are you planning to run on the land?"

Jim looked at her, "I was thinking about a hundred head."

"You going to be moving them around or just let them free graze?"

I was lost and had no idea what they were talking about. After several other questions, Mary turned to me, "You should be getting about 10 dollars a month for the range rights per head."

Jim looked at her with a bit more respect than he had earlier shown, "Yeah that sounds about right to me too. You ranch yourself?"

"My father did. Now my brother-in-law and my sister take care of the lazy Q ranch." She turned to both of us, "They're going to sell the herd and close up the ranch until my sister is out of chemo. I figure that you can run about 300 head of cattle in addition to the hundred he is running on the land without over loading it. Think you might be interested in buying some from them? They run mostly Beefmaster and Brangus."