Page 22 of Bales and Brawn

“I get that. Also, your mower is impressive,” I can’t help saying. With its high cab and wide cutters, it looks like something from another world.

“You think so?” He looks genuinely surprised.

“I like big machines. It’s why I wanted to be a truck driver, behind the wheel of a big rig. there’s something about the size and power of them.”

“Yeah, with nothing to do but spend hours driving.” He agrees, and I guess spending hours in the field is like miles on the road.

I glance over at him and he’s looking at me strangely. Maybe because for once we have something in common. Then he goes and ruins it.

“But of course, you can go wherever you want. You have the freedom to get up and leave.” His voice holds a hint of judgement.

“Yeah. I guess so,” I agree, and he falls silent for a minute. I hope he’s not going to get all stiff and closed off from me again.

“How many states have you seen?” he asks, surprising me again.

“Around thirty, I guess. At least, it was the last time I counted.”

“I’ve never been out of Cali,” he says.

“What? Never?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

“Everything I need is right here. I have no need to leave,” he says tightly.

“You know you don’t have to leave permanently. You can come back. But can’t you go sightseeing or on holiday?”

“I don’t have time for holidays,” he replies in a flat voice, and I don’t know what to say to that. I can only feel sorry that he doesn’t seem to have experienced much life out of the valley.

Again we fall into silence. It’s not as cloying as before, but I don’t know how to break it. Or even if I should. We’ve probably talked more this morning than we have in the last three weeks.

“Have you seen Mount Rushmore?” he says suddenly.

“Yeah.”

“I’d quite like to see that,” he says wistfully.

“I hope you do one day,” I reply truthfully. I hope he manages to get the chance to live a little. He asks me a few questions about some of the places I’ve seen as we ride along, and talk becomes easier for us. We don’t stop for lunch. Instead, Zane passes me a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of water as we reach the foothills of the mountain range. We ride down a small canyon and up the other side. It’s steep, and the horses slip a little on the loose stones. Zane’s right that wagons would never have made it this far.

“This used to be a creek bed, but it dried up years ago. That’s why it’s important to maintain the well,” Zane explains.

The rocks get bigger, and instead of all the scrub there are pockets of wooded areas. I can almost imagine the mountain lions and bears Nova joked about. I hope he was joking anyway. We round a small headland and I can see a river in the distance. Next to it, nestled at the base of a rocky cliff face, is a small wooden cabin.

“That’s it,” Zane says, gesturing toward the building. It’s like every remote cabin I’ve seen in the movies. Small and squat with a covered porch running along the whole front of it. Beyond, I can see another wooden building, which Zane leads us toward. He stops and jumps down from Blackwing.

“Be careful, you might find your legs are wobbly for a while after being in the saddle for so long,” he warns, as I inelegantly climb down from Bonnie. He’s not wrong, and I hold onto her saddle for a minute while my legs solidify from the jelly they’ve become. Once they feel normal again, I shake them to ease the stiffness that’s starting to take over.

“I’m gonna be all kinds of sore tomorrow, aren’t I?” I ask as I lead Bonnie into the building, which turns out to be a barn.

“Probably,” he says with a slight chuckle.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” He doesn’t answer but gives me a smirk over the top of his saddle.

We unsaddle the horses and unload the saddle bags and tools, then he shows me to a small well just outside the barn and shows me how to pump water for the horses.

“Is this what we’ve come all the way for?” I eye the very unimpressive well. I’m seriously underwhelmed.

“No, the other one is beyond the cabin, closer to the river.”

Once the horses have had their fill of water, we leave them with some feed and carry the saddlebags over to the cabin. Zane opens the door, and apart from a layer of dust and slightly stale air from not being used, it doesn’t look too bad.