Chapter 29

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."R. Frost

I looked up to the rise that sheltered the view of the pool from the turnaround. Standing tall on the hilltop was my best friend, Billy Mitchell. His life as a cowboy had kept him muscled out and he was just as sharp about life as he was in Jr. High. He was hard tanned from all his days in the sun, but still I knew he was considered handsome and he never had problems rounding up women when he put his mind to it.

"Billy, good to see ya. It's been a long time." I shouted out to him. "Come on down and join us."

"What do you mean it's been a long time? You just left last week. I didn't expect to hear from you for a couple more weeks. Then I get this mysterious phone call and you wouldn't explain nothing. I high-tailed it out here as fast as I could, thinking you were in trouble. From the looks of things, maybe you are "he said with a grin. Looking up at him from the pool, I could see that the women were having an effect on him. I didn't blame him; they have the same effect on me as well.

"We need to get these ladies and Abo back to the ranch. Did you bring what I asked for.?"

"Yes, that plus I brought Jim Green to take the livestock back. I figured you wanted to ride in the Hummer and I didn't want to triple tow a livestock trailer down that access road. It's one thing to freight train them down the highway or even the FM roads, but it's a whole different kettle of fish to try and run 'em on dirt."

I told him that was an excellent idea and praised him for the umpteenth million time for his forethought on the matter. I told the family it was time to go, so everyone got out and dressed. I know Billy was wondering about the buckskin clothing they were wearing, so I said I'd explain once we got back to the ranch house. I sent him back over the hill to get Jim to get started back before we came out. He left while we finished dressing. Shortly I heard the blasting on the Hummer's horn. I knew it was all clear and we could join him. I herded the group back up over the hill and they all stopped short when they crested the rise. Liya was next to me when she pointed at the caravan and asked what that was.

"I want you all to come with me. There is nothing to be afraid of. These are machines of my time. They are here to help us. They can move faster than any fast runner. They are noisy but they run faster than the wind. We will be able to ride inside them and be safe." I put my hand on the shiny bright red Hummer. "Inside here, no wanderer can ever hurt you. He cannot get in and his spear will bounce off."

I offered up a demonstration. I had everyone stand behind me while I faced the big car at an angle. I pulled out my Blackhawk and fired at it. The armor plating I had installed did its work and the bullet ricocheted off into the desert. It did leave a scratch where the bullet hit, but I knew we had touchup paint in the toolkit and that Billy would have it fixed within 5 minutes of our arrival back home. So I divided the group into two parties and I took Miya, Liya, Shamona, Shira, Dana and Tewnia with me in the Hummer and the rest I put in the van. I showed them it was ok, demonstrating the door and then the seating. When they were all buckled in, I had Billy start up the van. There was a little commotion, but Shanana soon had them settled down. That was the major reason I put Shanana in the van. I know she will keep order there. I got my crew buckled in, with Shira right next to me. I didn't have a child's booster seat, but unless Smoky stopped me for something else, no one would ever know. I had full tint on all the windows and the special front tint as well. Plus the Smoky who usually patrolled up this way knew the car and who owned it. Sally Jamison and I had been friends since high school and she usually let me get away with a few things ... Like slipping her my salami every once and awhile. She is a big girl, standing 6 foot tall and she has a monster rack she keeps protected by a super duty Kevlar vest. It makes her look like she has a barrel chest when she's in uniform. Lying on the bed is something else again. I got hard just thinking about her. No one noticed because they were entranced looking out the windows as we drove up the road.

We pulled into the main compound around the ranch house about 2 o'clock. I had everyone get out and herded them into the house. I told Billy to put the van away and come on back up so we could talk. I'd leave the Hummer there for the time being. Billy took off with the van and I went in with my family. I had to explain that this was my home here. The ranch house proper was about 3800 square feet. I had added an outside kitchen and porches that expanded it to close to 5000 sq. ft. I kept Lisa Lightfoot and Maria Gonzalez as housekeeper and cook. The shared a two bedroom addition just off the main kitchen. I think they were lovers, but I never could catch them at it. More than once I'd seen them shut down the ranch hands that tried to date them. Lisa is Comanche, like my grandfather. She stands 5-8 barefoot and is approximately 35C-24-36. Her hair is black and her eyes brown. She is an excellent hunter and is the fastest runner I know. Maria is probably the most beautiful Mexican I know. She stands 5-2, had jet black hair and piercing black eyes. She is also round. She carried a 48E rack on her. Her round belly is about 30 inches around and her hips must also be 48. As strange as it seems, she gives me a hard on every time I look at her. I've heard the term BBW in reference to her, and she brings true meaning to the term Big Beautiful Women. And on top of all that, she is the best cook I've ever known, even in both worlds. I sorta wished I could get her to come back with me.

When I had the house built, I decided on the great room look. At one end of the house, the entire width of the house is one big room. I have a rock fireplace on the end and the rock chimney climbs the wall to the ceiling. I used natural pine logs and lumber and I really love this house. It has 12 bedrooms on first and second floors combined. I have a pantry that was the size of a regular houses master bedroom. I keep it full too. There is the most up to date equipment for video and the 60 inch flat screen is only three months old. I have over 10,000 videos to choose from if the satellite isn't showing what I want. The computer in the corner is a water-cooled overclocked AMD running at almost 6 Ghz. I have a raid tower with a dozen 2Tb drives. They are filled with video and music I managed to "capture" from Rapidshare, Megafiles, Limewire and some of those other places. It's connected via HDMI to the big screen also. I have comfortable seating for about 20 people not including the floor so everyone got to try out modern furniture. Several tried and then moved back down to the rugs on the floor. Miya fell in love with my giant 2 person Lazy Boy recliner, once I showed her how to use it. She held Liya on her lap and Shira sat on the arm next to her.