The Daydream Cabin

by Brown, Carolyn

  “Yes, I am. Unless we’re hauling hay as a group or doing something else where all nine of you are concerned, this is your afternoon job,” Jayden answered.

  “Why would you do that to me? I’ll sunburn, and you won’t even let me have my good lotion to prevent ashy skin,” she moaned.

  “You got three DUIs. Horses and donkeys might be your mode of transportation for the next five years if you get another citation. Do you want your mommy or daddy to drive you to college each morning? Think of walking the animals as your trip to the gym each day,” Jayden answered.

  Carmella giggled. “Ashy skin for Ashlyn. Seems appropriate.”

  Jayden turned her focus to Carmella. “Did y’all even read your individual jobs for each afternoon?”

  Tiffany raised one shoulder. “I didn’t have time to read all that crap.”

  “Me either. I figured we’d be doing crafts or talking to therapists about our bad habits,” Carmella answered.

  “This is a working farm,” Henry said. “You will be working at one chore or another every day you are here. You are not at a country club.”

  “Daddy paid good money for me to come here rather than going to juvie. Believe me, I know how much it costs for us to be here. Daddy told me in a loud voice about a gazillion times. He even said if I get sent home that I have to get a job and pay every cent back to him. Y’all should treat us better than this. We should have counseling lessons in air-conditioned rooms and not have to work like we’re in prison.” Tiffany yawned.

  “Honey, we don’t run a fancy spa. We teach responsibility and accountability through hard work and counseling. Ashlyn, since you know a little about horses, you can show these other two how to lead old Dynamite here out to the corral. It’s right through that door over there.”

  “Why’s he called Dynamite?” Tiffany asked.

  “Because he was a rodeo bronc before he was retired from that business,” Henry answered. “We’ve tamed him down and he’s not nearly as feisty as he was back in his prime. The paint is Thunder. He was runner-up in a lot of quarter horse races and used for stud services when he was young, but when he got old, he had to be put out to pasture. Demon is the roan over there. That old boy was a lady’s riding horse. When she died, her children didn’t want him, and he was on the way to the glue factory when we adopted him. The donkeys are Elvis and Sam, but they will be going back to the pasture this morning. I wanted y’all to meet them before we took them out of the barn. Since this will be your job a day or two each week, you’ll get to know all of the horses better.”

  Ashlyn cautiously opened the stall door and frowned. “What do I lead him with?”

  “All you have to do is snap the lead rope to his bridle.” Henry took the rope from a nail on the top rail and showed her how to get the job done. “Pay attention, girls, because I’m leaving, and I won’t be here when you do this next time around.” He handed the rope to Ashlyn, who tugged on it, but Dynamite didn’t budge.

  “What am I doing wrong?” she asked.

  “Make friends with him. He likes to be asked to leave his stall every morning, not just yanked around,” Henry answered. “Don’t you ever pet your horse or talk to him before or after you ride?”

  “No . . .” She paused and then said, “No, sir.”

  That’s what I did wrong with Gramps’s old mule, Molly, Jayden thought. I should have made friends with her instead of being scared out of my four-year-old mind.

  “Well, you best learn. Dynamite likes a little love, and after you walk him, he’ll need to be brushed before he goes back in the stall. You other girls can get the lead ropes on your horses and get them all out in the pasture so they can have a little sunshine this morning. Be sure to take the ropes off before you come back inside to shovel out their stalls and put fresh straw down. Scoop shovels are over there by the wheelbarrows. Elijah needs me to bring him gas for the tractor, so y’all are on your own.”

  Jayden found an old metal folding chair, popped it open, and sat down at the end of the stalls to keep an eye on the girls. Carmella squared her shoulders, opened a door, and picked up a lead rope.

  “Ashlyn, please help me. I’m scared,” she admitted.

  “Why would I help you? You made fun of me, remember?” Ashlyn stepped up close to Dynamite and rubbed his neck and then cautiously ran her hands over his back. “You’re a pretty boy, yes, you are. Did you buck a lot of cowboys off into the dirt? I wish you could tell me stories about your rodeos.”

  Carmella took a deep breath and fastened the lead rope to Demon. Her hands shook as she reached out to touch the horse on the nose.

  Tiffany lowered her head and stared at Thunder for a long time before she snapped the rope to his halter. “I’ll talk to you, but I’m not going to be your friend.”

  “So, you’re going to let one of the girls in another cabin be his favorite friend?” Jayden asked her. “I wonder if any of them will be as scared as y’all are. When they talk about doing this job at mealtimes, are y’all going to let them get ahead of you? Do you think they’ll do a better job of cleaning the stalls?”

  Ashlyn gave her the old stink eye. “Our team can outdo any of those other cabins in anything we do.”

  “Talk is cheap,” Jayden said. “Prove it.”

  Ashlyn didn’t even have to tug on the lead rope a second time. When she started forward, Dynamite followed her like a puppy. “Good boy,” she said. “We’ll show those other girls who you love. I’ll bring you apples or carrots if you’ll be my friend.”

  Jayden bit back a smile. A little friendly competition was good for the soul. She looked over at Carmella to find her leading Demon out of the stall, and then Tiffany followed right behind her.

  “We did it!” Ashlyn announced when they returned.

  “Did you remember to bring their lead ropes back?” Jayden asked.

  All three held them up for her to see, then hung them on the appropriate nails.

  “Good for you,” Jayden said. “Now the donkeys.”

  “There’s only two of them and three of us,” Tiffany said. “Can I start shoveling shi—I mean crap . . . instead of taking one of the donkeys to the corral?”

  “Something tells me that it’ll take more than a little sweet-talking to get those critters to the corral,” Jayden answered. “Try the first one before you make plans to grab those shovels.”

  Tiffany popped her hands on her hips. “What makes you a donkey expert?”

  “My grandfather was a farmer. He kept a donkey in the pasture to keep the coyotes away from his calves,” Jayden answered.

  “What’s coyotes got to do with baby cows?” Carmella asked.

  “They kill and eat them, but donkeys are their enemies, so it’s wise to have one around. They’re a little more temperamental than horses, though,” Jayden answered, “and they kick, so I wouldn’t get behind one.”

  “You’re shi—” Carmella stopped short of saying a word that would get her in trouble. “You’re jokin’, right? Did you ever see a coyote eat a baby calf?”

  “No, but I saw a miniature donkey that Gramps called Waylon stomp the crap out of a coyote, and then Gramps hung its dead carcass on the barbed wire fence,” Jayden answered.

  “That’s gross,” Tiffany said. “Why would he do that?”

  “To show the other coyotes what they’d get if they went after one of his calves,” Jayden replied. She had forgotten all about that experience until that moment. She had been so angry with that coyote for trying to kill a calf that she didn’t care if Waylon killed it. When she told Skyler about it later that day, her sister had put her hands over her ears and made la-la-la noises to keep from hearing any more. That was one of the few times that she felt like she could do something that Skyler couldn’t.

  “Will you help us, Ashlyn?” Tiffany’s voice quivered a little.

  “I barely got my horse out to the corral. I don’t know jack crap about donkeys,” Ashlyn whispered. “This is going to have to be a joint effort. Jayden,
do we pet them or just snap the lead rope on and hope they follow?”

  “Trial and error would be my guess,” Jayden answered.

  “Okay, Tiffany, you open the gate. Carmella, you grab the lead rope and snap it on, and then hand it to me,” Ashlyn said.

  At least they were working as a team, even if it was just getting a rope on a spotted donkey named Elvis. In one fell swoop they each did their job, and the donkey had a rope on his halter. He took a step out of the stall, nudged her with his head, and when Ashlyn reached up to pet him, he licked her hand.

  “Looks like you made one friend here,” Jayden laughed.

  Elvis shook his head and started for the door, dragging his lead rope the whole way. Ashlyn ran ahead of him and quickly unhooked the rope about the time that Henry came back into the barn.

  “I came to get the donkeys and put them back out in the pasture,” he said. “Elijah just saw a pack of coyotes roaming, so it’s time for Elvis and Sam to earn their living.” He opened Sam’s stall and the donkey came right out. Henry removed the bridle and the animal followed him to the stock trailer and climbed inside. He gave a shrill whistle that would rival the siren that went off several times a day, and Elvis bolted through the door and got into the trailer, too.

  “They ain’t nothing but a couple of pets,” Henry chuckled. “Y’all have fun with the cleaning now. See you at dinnertime.”

  “I guess that means I only have to walk the three horses this afternoon, then?” Ashlyn asked.

  “Looks like it,” Jayden told her. “Things change by the minute on a farm, but every single day you aren’t needed somewhere else, that’s your job.”

  “What’s mine?” Carmella eyed one of the three wheelbarrows. “Where do we put the stuff that we scoop up out of the stalls?”

  “You’ll probably find a big pile at the end of the barn,” Jayden answered. “And it won’t smell good, so get ready for it.”

  “Are you going to help us?” Tiffany asked.

  “I’m supervising,” Jayden answered.

  “What’s my job after dinner?” Carmella reached for the handles of the wheelbarrow and then jumped backward so fast that she almost fell. “There’s a spider in that thing. I hate spiders.”

  “Seems like y’all hate lots of things,” Jayden said. “You loved picking up things that didn’t belong to you, so this afternoon you will begin a collection of bugs, insects, lizards, or whatever else you can find out here in this desert place.”

  “I can’t do that,” Carmella argued. “Ashlyn is going to be walking horses, and that just leaves me to make sure Tiffany don’t puke up her dinner.”

  “She’s going with you,” Jayden told her. “Since she likes taking pictures that she shouldn’t, she will be drawing a picture each day of a weed, a bug, or even the mountains off in the distance. Y’all can go with Ashlyn when she walks the horses and look for bugs, cactus plants, or anything else you can pick up, and Tiffany can draw. And no stick figures. All of your pictures will be displayed in the dining room so everyone can see them, so think about that when you’re drawing the spiders or butterflies.”

  “What do I draw with?” Tiffany asked. “And do I really have to walk that mile again in the hot sun?”

  “Looks like it,” Jayden told her. “You will find a sketch pad in the cabin. Be sure to sharpen several pencils before you leave. And there’s a box to use for your critters, Carmella, along with a book on insects for this area so you don’t pick up a poisonous one.”

  “I’m not touching a spider,” Carmella declared.

  “Then don’t forget to take a pair of disposable plastic gloves with you. They’re in the kitchen,” Jayden told her.

  Tiffany picked up a shovel and killed the spider. “I hate mice. You owe me now. If there’s a mouse in here or in our cabin, you have to get rid of it.”

  “Snakes are what give me the willies,” Ashlyn admitted as she checked around the second wheelbarrow before she rolled it down the center aisle and into the last stall. “Y’all take care of those things, and I’ll help with the spiders and mice.”

  Carmella threw all three shovels into her wheelbarrow and rolled them toward the stalls. “Is this going to be like hypnosis? Every time I see something that I want to shoplift, will I think of the smell of crap and urine?”

  “Probably so,” Tiffany answered.

  Jayden felt like giving herself a gold star. Her girls might still fuss and argue, but, by golly, they were at least going to kill spiders, snakes, and mice for each other. That was another step in the right direction. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face when she realized that she’d thought of them as her girls, and this was just the first official day of camp. They might not be lifelong friends at the end of eight weeks, but maybe they would at least learn the value of teamwork.

  Like you never did with your sister, her mother’s voice popped into her head.

  That’s not all on me, Jayden argued.

  There was something about Jayden’s steely blue eyes that Elijah couldn’t get away from, no matter what. For the first time since he’d left the air force, he had thought about telling her how it felt when he had to fly the helicopter out to get his buddies’ dead bodies after the explosion—how he had felt so guilty because he had to fuel the chopper before he left.

  He pulled out his chair and took a seat beside her at the dinner table at noon. “I’ve been checkin’ on all the girls this morning. They’ve all done a good job considering this is their first day. The stalls look good. Think Ashlyn will be able to walk the horses this afternoon without supervision?”

  “I intend to go with them today,” Jayden said. “Would you pass the butter? I’m wishing there were days when we had kitchen duty with the girls. I like to cook and have a whole collection of cookbooks, but it’s no fun to make food for just one person.”

  Elijah handed her the bowl with the individual containers of butter. “That’s another difference between you and Skyler. I remember her saying that she hated to cook, and the reason the girls don’t have kitchen duty is that Mary is selfish with her kitchen, and she’s afraid they might do something stupid to get even with the other girls.”

  “I told you before, Skyler and I are as different as daylight and dark.” Jayden slathered butter on her hot roll and bit into it, and then changed the subject away from her sister. “I love good bread, and this rates right up there at number one in my book, Miz Mary.”

  “That’s quite a compliment from someone who likes to cook.” Mary smiled across the table at her. “When we retire, Elijah is going to be hiring someone to man the kitchen. You should put in your résumé.”

  Jayden shook her head while she chewed. When she’d swallowed the bite, she said, “Thanks, but no, thanks.”

  “This desert way of life ain’t for me, either.” Novalene reached for the butter bowl. “I love coming here for eight weeks, but then I’m ready to go home to Nocona, up in North Texas, where there’s green trees and lots of grass.”

  “Those pretty lawns have to be mowed.” Henry chuckled.

  “I live in an apartment complex, so I don’t have to mow,” Jayden said.

  Her voice was like a good, smooth Kentucky bourbon with just a touch of honey and was so soothing to Elijah’s ears that he could have listened to her read the dictionary.

  “Have you always lived in an apartment?” He focused on Jayden’s eyes. He could imagine those thick lashes fluttering shut just before he kissed her. He jerked his head away and stared at his food. The woman was leaving in a few weeks. No use wanting something that wasn’t available.

  “Ever since I got out of college,” she finally answered. “How about you? Did you live in the barracks or did you have a place off base?”

  “Barracks until I moved in here,” he answered, “but we sure had to do our share of keeping the lawns all groomed and looking nice, at least when we were stateside. When we were out there in the sandbox, we didn’t have the luxury of grass.” He paused and chuckle
d. “But that’s not entirely true.”

  Henry pushed his plate back with a grin. “Elijah had been over there six months. We asked him what he wanted for Christmas. We figured he’d ask for Mary’s fudge or her famous gingerbread, but oh, no, he wanted dirt from home and grass seed.”

  Elijah could feel the three women staring at him, but he just smiled and finished off his lemonade.

  Henry went on. “So that’s what we sent him. He bought a plastic container long enough and wide enough to put his feet in and then dumped all that dirt we had sent him from out near Mary’s garden into the container, sowed that grass seed, and kept it watered. When it was about three inches tall, he sunk his feet down into that green grass and wiggled his toes in it.”

  “As Paul Harvey used to say, ‘And now you know the rest of the story,’” Elijah said. “I didn’t buy a beer for the rest of my tour. Anyone who wanted to feel my grass on their feet paid me with a beer or a candy bar. I had lots and lots of takers.”

  “I didn’t know they let y’all have beer over there,” Novalene said.

  “Nonalcoholic might taste like crap, but it beats no beer at all,” Elijah told her.

  Jayden leaned over and nudged him on the shoulder. “But not by much.”

  He cut his eyes around at her. “Honey, that desert over there makes this place seem like a five-star resort, so even an icy-cold, watered-down beer with no alcohol will wash the sand grit out from between your teeth.”

  “Sweet tea or lemonade will do the same,” Novalene argued.

  “I’ll tell y’all a story about the desert,” Jayden said. “Mama and I drove to California once in the middle of July. Skyler had decided she wanted to be an actress. We couldn’t afford for all of us to fly out there, so Skyler got the plane ticket, and Mama and I drove to Hollywood to help her get set up in a new apartment. By midsummer Skyler had changed her mind when the producers or whatever powers that be didn’t roll out the red carpet for her. But anyway, we knew we couldn’t drink and drive, so we bought a case of beer with no alcohol and put it down in a cooler full of ice. Y’all ever made that drive?”