Thunder Mountain Ranch (Alexandria Whitney Mystery)

by G. L. McCarthy

  Chapter 7

  As Alex lay listening to the sounds of the morning, she couldn’t help but remember what she’d told Sam about her ordeal back at Taylorwood. She wondered what her students had been told about her sudden absence. She should call Cyn and find out how things were going and if little blue was being good. She got up slowly, not because she had a lot of time, but because her muscles weren’t happy about her moving at all. She knew she was a little out of shape, but this was a lot out of shape. The hot shower helped and three ibuprofen would make it all better soon. She dressed slowly, as that seemed to be the only speed she would have until the pills took effect. She finished tying her laces and heard a knock at the door.

  “Who is it?” She was hoping it was Sam. “Trick or treat.” Sam was holding two cups of coffee and had a Lone Ranger mask on.

  “Trick or treat to you too, Kemosabe. Is that nectar of the gods for me?” Alex was very glad to see that extra cup.

  “Yes, it sure is.” Sam had several packets of sugar in one pocket and a handful of tiny half and half containers in her front shirt pocket so Alex could make it the way she liked it.

  “Thank you, thank you. You are an angel.” Smelling the fresh coffee Alex emptied three sugars and four creamers.

  “You are so thoughtful. This is exactly how I like my coffee. Most people don’t get me enough cream or sugar.” Sam was picking up where Cyn had left off.

  “You seem to function better after you’ve had a cup. That’s just my observation mind you.” Jessie had also warned Sam about Alex’s grumpiness in the morning BC before coffee.

  “That vicious rumor about me being grumpy in the morning is a total fabrication of someone’s vivid imagination.” Smiling, Alex took another big gulp.

  “I believe you may be right about that. So, are you ready for a hearty breakfast before you start a grueling day of decorating hay wagons?” Sam hoped Alex wouldn’t be done before she was able to help her.

  “You bet. Let’s go.”

  Walking to the dining hall, Alex held her coffee with both hands. It was still chilly and the heat from the cup was helping to keep her hands warm. As she walked with Sam her mind wandered back to Taylorwood and Cyn. Noticing Alex’s gaze, Sam wondered what and who was occupying her mind.

  “A penny for your thoughts?” Maybe with inflation it should have been a quarter, but Sam wondered if last night’s breakdown had put Alex off.

  “Oh, nothing special. Just wondering how they’re getting along without me back at school.” Alex wondered who Cyn was having lunch with. She’d been the only one since Cyn started teaching at Taylorwood and now she wasn’t there. She felt sad and wished Cyn could be here to enjoy this wonderful place with her but then she couldn’t spend all her free time with Sam. She would be home in ten days to pick up where she had left off. Cyn would have her lunch buddy back soon enough.

  As they walked into the dining hall several of the kids started pointing at them. Alex looked around to see what they were looking at and then realized it was Sam. She still had her Lone Ranger mask on. She tried not to laugh as she was sure Sam had forgotten to take it off. Not wanting to let anyone think she hadn’t intended to wear it, Sam kept it on all through breakfast. When Jessie spotted her she just smiled and shook her head. Alex wished she had a beaded headband so she could be Tonto. They would have been the perfect role reversal couple. Andy joined them and the three discussed the upcoming evening’s activities. Sam informed Alex that Jessie would show her where everything was as she and Andy had chores and the morning trail ride to deal with before they could come and help. Finishing off the last of their coffee Sam and Andy headed off as Jessie came to sit next to Alex.

  “Good mornin’, Darlin’. How are you doing this morning?” Jessie figured she had to be sore from all the work she had accomplished in one day.

  “Movin’ slow, but otherwise good to go.” Alex looked into her friend’s green eyes and saw the caring.

  “I know I’m five years older than I was back when we used to move D.G. into the corrals for hours at a time. But I’m not that old yet.” Smiling at her dear friend, Alex knew she was just making sure she didn’t push herself too hard.

  “That’s what I wanted to hear. If I send you back home all crippled up your friends won’t let you come out here again.” Knowing that no one told Alex what to do, she could at least limit her strenuous activities.

  “Like my friends have a say in what I do. But when I do over do it, I have no one to blame but myself and I like it that way.” Looking at Jessie, Alex knew why she had decorating duty. It didn’t take all day to decorate hay wagons, so it was Jessie’s way of getting her way in this matter and Alex loved her for it.

  “So how’s it going with Sam? I noticed you two have become a threesome at times. Is that by accident or by choice?” Jessie wondered if they were still getting along.

  “By choice, but don’t worry it isn’t a permanent arrangement. We’re just keeping a few nosey nellies guessing as to what’s going on, that’s all.” Alex didn’t want to get Andy in trouble with the other wranglers by telling Mom they were picking on him.

  “Okay, I’m sure you three can handle the situation. Let me show you where we keep the decorations.” Jessie knew when it came to handling situations, Alex seemed to be well equipped in that department.

  “Great, I’m anxious to get started. Do you and Dawson go along or stay back and hold down the fort?” Smiling, Alex saw this as one way to have the whole ranch quiet and to themselves with everybody out on the hay rides.

  “You already know the answer to that question, don’t you?” Smiling back at her, Jessie missed having her best friend around all the time. She loved Dawson deeply, but her relationship with Alex was just as special to her and one she never wanted to lose. She wondered if she could ever talk her into coming out there permanently. Maybe if she and Sam hit it off in a big way it could be a possibility and not just wishful thinking.

  Chapter 8

  The storage room had a cabinet filled with plastic pumpkins, spiders, cardboard witches, skeletons, ghosts, and a variety of webs to attach to the harnesses. Nothing too big, as Alex didn’t want anything to spook the horses. She figured the drivers would have their hands full keeping the horses calm with a wagon full of screaming kids. It only took about ninety minutes to securely fasten the decorations to the first wagon. Before she started on the second one she headed off to find Jessie and get her approval.

  As she walked towards the office that feeling came over her again someone was watching her. This time she stopped and turned around slowly looking for the set of eyes that was following her. The first sweep produced no one directly staring at her, or so it seemed. But on the second sweep she spotted an old woman standing in the doorway to the crafts room. Alex looked directly at her and was surprised when the woman waved her over. As she approached she thought the woman looked familiar, but how could she. Alex hadn’t met an old woman on her last visit. In fact, she spent all of her time with Jessie riding every minute they had together.

  When she reached the doorway the old woman took her face in her hands and smiled as she bent down and kissed Alex on the forehead. Alex felt a sudden rush of love and caring fill her as the woman’s eyes met hers.

  “I knew you would come back to me. I just didn’t think I would have to wait so long.” She brushed the hair back from Alex’s face then reached for her hand. Alex stepped up and into the little room and was now a good six inches taller than the old woman. Mesmerized by this mystical woman, Alex followed her in without question.

  “I’m sorry I can’t remember your name, but you seem so familiar to me almost like we were very close once.” This feeling was more dream like and not reality. Alex was searching her memory trying to remember when and where.

  “You were the love of my life. We were so happy together. Then you were taken from me all too soon.” The old woman pointed out an old black and white picture sitting on a shelf of a much
younger woman with a very handsome young man.

  “I don’t understand. This picture is of a man and a woman, taken a long time ago.” Alex felt comfortable with this old woman, but was totally confused by her statement.

  “You were my Ramon, and now you are.” The woman looked at Alex for a response.

  “My name is Alexandria Whitney. But please call me Alex.” Looking into the woman’s warm brown eyes she wondered just how crazy was she.

  “Alex. I like that name. Right now you are thinking I’m crazy. But I’m quite sane, I can assure you. Do you believe a soul can have many past lives?” The fact she was still there meant she was open to what the old woman had to say.

  “Yes, I believe that it can. Are you saying that I’m your late husband? I mean, I have the soul of your late husband?” She could go along with this old woman for a little while to see where this was going.

  “Yes. That is exactly what I’m saying. Does that frighten you?” She continued to look deeply into Alex’s eyes. She was sure this soul standing in front of her was her Ramon.

  “It should, but it doesn’t. I feel like I know you. But I know I’ve never met you before, of that I’m sure.” Alex wondered if this was some trick played on an unsuspecting guest, or was it true? That would certainly explain why she loved women.

  “You were on your way to see your friend, Jessie. You must go and finish what you were doing. I will be here to talk to you some more as I know you have many questions still to ask.” She continued to hold Alex’s hand as she turned her back towards the door and only let it go as Alex stepped out of the room.

  “Thank you.” Not knowing why she said that, she walked towards the office. She wanted to turn around and go back to the old woman, but knew she had a job to finish. She hoped Jessie could explain what had just happened.

  As she entered the office she had a puzzled look on her face. She turned around to look back, but the woman was gone, no longer standing in the doorway. Jessie saw the look on her face and got up from her desk to see if her friend was all right.

  “Alex, what‘s wrong?” After all that Alex had been through, Jessie was worried she may be having a delayed reaction.

  “The old woman who teaches the craft classes what is her name?” Alex realized she had never asked.

  “Alex, we don’t have an old woman working here. The craft classes are taught by a woman your age. Why?” Jessie came around from behind the counter to where Alex was standing.

  “Okay, this is a little Halloween joke, right? Have a friend dress up as an old woman and tell me I’m her dead husband reincarnated. Good one. I bought it hook, line and sinker.” Smiling to herself she could hardly wait to tell everyone back home how she had begun to buy the whole story.

  “Darlin’, I, we didn’t pull any joke on you. Are you feeling okay? Do you need to sit down?” Jessie was worried this was some post traumatic reaction.

  “Jessie, are you telling me that I just talked to a ghost? No, it can’t be. She showed me a picture of herself and her husband. The picture was very old, but I saw the picture. Come back with me and let me show it to you. You may recognize the woman. Maybe she’s just visiting your craft teacher. Come on.” Now Alex was concerned she was losing it.

  As Alex lead Jessie to the crafts room she didn’t see anyone who looked anything like the old woman hanging around. She entered the room and went to the shelf that had the picture sitting on it. She turned and handed it to Jessie. The look on Jessie’s face as she took the picture was one of total amazement.

  “This is the woman you saw?” Jessie knew the woman in the picture, but also knew she couldn’t have been there.

  “Yes, that’s her. Although she looks a lot older now. So you do know her. Good. I’m not losing it.” Alex figured she was just joking with the naïve guest.

  “Alex, this was our old crafts teacher. She died a about a year ago.” Now Jessie wondered if Alex was playing a Halloween joke on her.

  “Died. No, no, Jessie, it was her. I swear to you on Beau’s life. It was her.” Alex was beginning to freak a little bit. But she had felt so comfortable with this woman; she had to have been alive.

  “I believe you. Now take it easy.” Jessie was starting to remember more about the old woman. She was called “Abuela” by everyone who knew her. She was also somewhat of a fortune teller or psychic.

  “I believe that if anyone could come back from beyond the grave it would be her. She was very spiritual and a mystic of sorts. She told fortunes and was usually right on, although we didn’t let the guests know of her special talent. She would just work it into the conversation somehow so no one really knew she was giving them good news or a warning of something that was going to happen to them in the future. She was amazing, now that I think about it more.” As Jessie stared at the picture she saw the resemblance between Alex and the man in the photo.

  “Alex, you do look like him, you know. It’s something about the eyes.” Jessie had never really put a lot of thought into this sort of thing, but knew her grandmother did.

  “Seriously, you think so? Can I see the picture again?” Alex reached for the photo and looked at the young man standing there so proud and definitely in love with the woman beside him.

  “You know, the really weird part about this whole thing, Jess, is that I felt like I knew her the minute I looked in her eyes. There was a connection I can’t explain, but I definitely felt great love and caring coming from her.” Looking at the picture she wondered if she would ever see her again. “Can we keep this just between the two of us? I don’t want anyone else thinking I’m losing it. I mean, I don’t think I am, but you know how people talk.” Alex knew Jessie would keep this to herself, if she asked her to.

  “Absolutely, Darlin’. No one else needs to know about this. Now how is the decorating coming? Finished or just taking a break?”

  “I wanted to get your approval on what I’ve done so far.” Alex had almost forgotten what she was going to ask her.

  “Okay, let’s go take a look.” Jessie watched as Alex carefully put the picture back on the shelf. She stared at it for another couple of seconds, before turning to follow her out.

  As the two walked in silence, Jessie wrapped her arm around Alex’s arm and pulled her close. Her friend had been through a lot lately, and now this. Whatever had happened, she wondered just how much more she could take. As they approached the wagon, Jessie loved what she saw. There were fake cobwebs all along the sides, a cardboard skeleton trying to climb into the wagon, spiders crawling along the sides, and webs attached to each wheel. Small pumpkins were hanging from the back of the wagon mixed with several different varieties of ghosts. Just as she was about to ask her what she had in mind for the other wagon, the lunch bell rang.

  They headed for the dining hall and saw the morning trail ride returning, a little later than usual. Alex headed over to see if she could help Sam with turning the horses out. As she approached she was passed by the guests all talking rapidly and laughing a kind of nervous laugh as they went to get their lunch.

  “Is everything okay? Did you run into any trouble or just take a longer way around?” Alex knew the trail ride was well established and the time it took to do was about one hour, give or take five minutes.

  “Would you believe it if I told you we saw a ghost?” Sam wasn’t smiling as she was very serious and somewhat unnerved by the whole thing.

  “A ghost. What kind of ghost?” After her experience, Alex would believe anything.

  “We saw the ghost of Thunder Mountain, or at least a reasonable facsimile  or someone just out to play a Halloween joke on us.” Sam believed in the spirit world, but ghosts in broad daylight was another story.

  “How do you know it was him?” Alex pulled a saddle off one of the horses standing next to Sam.

  “Well, I guess because he’s the only ghost we have around here.” Sam hadn’t considered anyone else.

  “Okay, so you saw this ghost where exactly?” It was all hallows ev
e, but did this stuff happen every year on this day?

  “Near the base of Thunder Mountain, up the valley a ways. He was just standing there, not moving, but definitely watching us. We’d taken the group up there to show them where the hayride was going tonight so they could see it in broad daylight. That was mainly for the kids, as we wanted them to see it wasn’t all that scary. I guess what we ended up doing was showing them there is someone up there.” Sam wondered if this was something Dawson had thought up to make it seem more real to everyone.

  “So the guests don’t know the story they just saw a figure watching them.” This was getting to be a very interesting day and she still hadn’t told Sam about her close encounter of the ghostly kind.

  “Right. They just thought it was someone dressed up for Halloween. But we have a couple of guests who were here last year and they know the story. They were whispering to each other. I guess they didn’t want the others to know what was coming. But the other wranglers and myself were putting on quite the show as we knew nothing of anyone showing up for this ride.” In fact Sam didn’t want Alex to know that she and the other wranglers were a little unnerved as they did know the legend. And it wasn’t a story made up for the Halloween ride, it was a real ghost story told by generations of the locals.

  “Oh, wow. That is really creepy.” As Alex helped Sam and Andy finish getting the last of the horses unsaddled, she considered whether or not to tell her ghost story. She decided it was better saved for another day.