Her horse was edgy too, which didn’t help, so Tamsyn ate the last few bites in a hurry, choked and drank water while berating herself, picked up her trash and got in the saddle again. For a few minutes she sat, surveying her land stretching to the horizon where the mountains loomed and then shivered. She was all alone out here, no one to help her if anything went wrong. Patting her horse’s neck she said out loud, “You and I’ve ridden this far or farther on the ranch alone hundreds of times so why in the seven hells am I such a nervous nellie today?”
The horse shook his head to dislodge a pesky fly and whickered.
The back of her neck tingled and she put a hand to her blaster, where it sat in the beat up holster. Her handheld rode safely at her belt. She could call the ranch and have all four of her guys out here on all terrain vehicles in twenty minutes if there was a need.
Becoming even more impatient with herself and her odd mood today, she lifted the reins and signaled for Blaze to move out. Suddenly neither she nor the horse could get home soon enough and they galloped to the east as if the hounds of hell were chasing them.
More shaken than she wanted to admit, Tamsyn drew Blaze to a walk before she came into sight of the ranch house and buildings and arrived home at a decorous pace, where she found all her men hard at work, even Clemt.
Despite his bandaged arm Drake took charge of her horse, which reared and tried to dance away from him.
Tamsyn stared in astonishment. Blaze was high strung yes, but he’d never acted in such a way before. The horse refused to move when Drake tugged on the reins. Drake raised his eyebrows as he tried to keep out of the animal’s way.. “What’s gotten into him today? You let him eat comoyo weed or something?”
She knew he was teasing her but she fired up in self defense anyway. ”I wouldn’t be so careless.”
“”I’ll take him,” Rasty said, pulling a sugar cube out of his pocket, at which Blaze perked his ears and took a step in his direction. “Guess he’s just in a mood. Hey, don’t you have your monthly ranch council call about now, boss?”
“Oh shoot, you’re right, I do.” She made a futile effort at dusting herself off and headed for the house, checking over her shoulder that Blaze was okay. Rasty led him toward the barn but the horse danced as far away from Drake as he could go on the leading rein and aimed a powerful kick in the ranch hand’s direction.
Shaking her head, Tamsyn ran up the steps and into the kitchen. Everything was weird today and she was sick of it. Going to the festival yesterday had thrown all of them off their routine.
The house had been built by her ancestors when they came to claim their acreage and added onto by succeeding generations of Wendovers but she was sure the ranch office had stayed pretty much unchanged. It was at the heart of the house, beyond the living room and of course the technology had been updated many times but she used the massive old wooden desk the way her father, grandfather and great grandfather before her had done, all the way back to the ranch’s founder. It was old fashioned as hell but she liked the continuity. She rubbed her hand across the polished wood and savored the connection to her forebears.
The holo station was already blinking, signaling a waiting call and she threw herself into the padded leather desk chair, which creaked in protest, and flipped on the switch. Holos of her fellow ranch council members appeared. Despite the somewhat grandiose title, the council was merely a loose association of the ranchers in the colony’s farthest reaches. It was sponsored by the planetary government, since ranching was an important activity and their beef was a highly sought export. The Randal Four product didn’t rival the reputation of Azrigone beef yet but it was growing and connoisseurs and famous chefs were singing its praises. The grazing here on Randal Four was unique and imparted special flavor to the best cuts of beef.
Hollis Craigg, who was the government’s agent, chaired the meetings.
Tamsyn saw he hadn’t called them to order yet and relaxed a bit. She hated being late. “Where’s Merdith?”
“She didn’t join the call,” said one of the other ranchers.
“I heard they’ve been having a bit of the new flu up where she is,” another one said. “Maybe she’s sick.”
“Too early for the damn flu,” replied the first. “Hey, Hollis, the government working on a flu shot for this new bug?”
The agent looked a bit flustered to Tamsyn. Which was interesting. He was normally a placid, even bland presence at these meetings, letting the ranchers set the agenda and the discussion. He cleared his throat and said, “So far it’s nothing but rumors, nothing to worry about. There are always a few odd cold bugs around or seasonal allergies.”
He’s lying, she thought with surprise. “I’ll com Merdith after the meeting, check in on her,” she offered. This was the first time she’d heard about a new flu but If Merdith had actual cases in her area, maybe she could shed more light on the subject. Besides, Tamsyn liked Merdith, who was a crusty older woman, tough as nails and frankly what Tamsyn figured she’d be like at that age at the rate she was going.
Hollis banged his gavel on whatever table he was sitting at and the meeting began. The discussion was pretty much the usual—beef prices, new shipping regulations, updates on the recommended vitamin mix for calves, gripes, requests for Hollis to tell his superiors this regulation or that requirement was bull shit and the like. Tamsyn liked these calls, as another way of socializing with her peers, with a lot less stress and complications than attending one of Rosewater’s festivals. Some of the ranchers were even more remote than her location. At least she did have a town fairly nearby, even if it was a small hamlet. A few of the council members were in totally isolated spots hundreds of miles from colony civilization. There was a lot of empty land yet to be claimed on Randal Four.
When the session ended, as the general goodbyes were being said, Perry sent her a private message. Let me know what Merdith says, okay? I usually talk to her two or three times a week and she’s missed all my calls this week. I’m concerned.
Sure, no problem she’s probably fine. They get bad electrical storms up there which interfere with the signal,” Tamsyn replied.
“No storms reported up there for the last two weeks.” Perry signed off after giving his weather report.
Tamsyn sat back in her chair as the holo station shut down. The odd sense of unease clung to her, although not as strongly as it had out on the mesa. She put in a com call to Merdith but the request didn’t go through. She tried again and got the recorded message, in reply to which she said, “Hey, girl, checking up on you since you missed council today. Nothing important though, what else is new? Call me.”
The rest of the day went normally and by evening Tamsyn decided she’d had too much sugar in all those baked goods the day before and topping it off with feelgoods, even the limited amount she indulged probably hadn’t been a good idea. “Getting older,” she said to herself, staring in the mirror. “Can’t metabolize all the junk food as well as I used to.” Truthfully, she was still a young woman by anyone’s standards despite the crows’ feet around her eyes but ranching was hard work, especially with all the responsibility falling on her shoulders alone. The hired hands did their chores and Rasty as foreman took a portion of the burden off her shoulders by supervising the men, but all the overarching problems of the ranch were hers alone.
Impatient with where her thoughts were leading, Tamsyn went to bed and slept fitfully, plagued by bad dreams.
Next morning she made a conscious effort to be cheerful and positive as she headed downstairs to breakfast. She had to smile when she found a small wooden carving of a dancing horse atop the synthcaff maker. It was a good representation of her horse Blaze and she turned to thank Piers. “This might be your best one yet,” she said. “You really ought to try selling your carvings at the next Rosewater Fafield-sponsored festival.”
The lanky ranch hand blushed and fiddled with his fork. “Nah, I do it for fun. Occupy my hands when I ain’t working. Glad you like it, boss.”
“I’m adding it to my collection in the office for sure.” She eyed the other three men, her attention caught by Drake.
