Beyond the New Horizon (Book 2): Desperate Times

by Conaway, Christine

  Hands on hips, Gina told him, “But I didn’t know her.” Then her eyes grew round when she saw what was sitting in a wooden box between Sam’s spread legs. She dropped to her knees and touched a piece of it. “Wow, is this what I think?”

  “Boom,” Sam cried out, and Gina fell back on her butt. Sam laughed as if he had made the biggest joke possible.

  She doubled her hand into a fist and punched him. He ducked backward and banged his head on the wall.

  “Ow…oh damn, that really hurts.” He rubbed his hand on the back of his head.

  “Karma,” Gina said with a grin.

  “Karma, my ass,” Sam began.

  Gina put her hand on Sam’s arm to quiet him, “Do you hear that?”

  Sam cocked his head to the side and listened. He shook his head in silence and listened some more. A grin spread across his face, and his eyes lit up, “Chickens!”

  “Chickens? As in those little things with feathers, that lay eggs?”

  “That would be them.”

  They listened some more, and Sam pointed up above their heads, “They’re in the hay loft.”

  “How do we get them down? Do they come when you call them?”

  Sam laughed, “And you’re a country girl?”

  She tapped herself for emphasis, “A horse person. There’s a big difference. We don’t keep chickens, and besides, that would be a farm girl wouldn’t it?”

  “Phfft,” Sam let air escape and shook his head. “They are one and the same. Most everybody around here keeps chickens for meat and eggs, and they are excellent for bug control.”

  “How do we catch them?”

  “Let’s leave them alone for now until we’re ready to load and go. Right now, and now that I know it’s in here, I’d like to get this dynamite away from us. I can’t believe someone would store it in the barn.”

  Gina looked around, “Well, it is dry in here, and obviously no one has disturbed it. So why not?”

  “I’m not sure. I know nothing about dynamite, but I think Andy and Dave used it for tree removal. I just can’t see either of them putting it in the barn with the animals and feed.”

  Gina shrugged, she didn’t know enough about dynamite either, other than what she’d seen on television and it always looked so simple to use back in the old westerns. You lit the fuse and threw it at whatever you wanted to blow up.

  Gina started to leave the room, “Sam, where do you think the oats came from? Is there a feed store close to here?”

  “Not so you’d call it a feed store. The oats probably came from McGruber’s. We all used to go bag our own and pay for it by the pound. It was cheaper than we could buy it from the feed stores. Why?”

  “So the oats came straight from the fields?”

  “Yeah. It made good horse feed, and some guys planted it…aw, I see where you’re going with that.”

  Sam stood up, being careful to not bump the box containing the dynamite. He looked in the barrels, “We can plant this and make our own flour.”

  “I think we need to plant wheat for flour. Oats are for oatmeal and livestock. Aren’t they?”

  He looked up, “I think you can make flour out of anything including cattails. We might have to make a trip to McGrubers some day. If I remember correctly, he sells oats, wheat, and barley. He stores it in his own silos.”

  “That’s someday. Maybe we need to move someday up a little closer to pretty soon. Having more grain options would be good.”

  “Hey, I’m for that. The first day that comes up where I have nothing to do, I’ll head his direction.”

  “Not without me you aren’t. Now, today, what are we going to do with that?” Gina pointed at the dynamite as if it was something distasteful. “Is it safe? Can it just explode on its own or what?”

  Sam laughed, “I hope so, and I sure hope not. It’s nitroglycerin so how safe can it be?”

  “Sam, stop being an ass. You know what I meant. Is it safe for us to take it with us?”

  “Nope. I don’t guess we will. I don’t know enough about it. I’ll let Andy deal with it. At least he has some experience handling the stuff. For now, I guess we can put it in the well house. It’s dry in there. We can lock the door and hopefully keep anyone from finding it.”

  They walked outside. Sam stood and looked around. The air had warmed enough to melt the layer of snow, but he pulled his coat closed and snapped it up.

  “Why is it, that everyone’s barn is so far from their houses? You would think they’d want it by the house for easy reach.”

  “I can’t speak for everyone, but my Grandpa told me he built ours far enough from the house that he could escape to it when Grandma was having a tizzy. Years later he confessed it was so a house fire couldn’t spread to the barn. Dad tore the old one down and built that hay shed in the same spot. He added the room on, probably for the same reason that Grandpa said. I kind of claimed it for my own when I came back from Afghanistan. It was just a place for me to have some privacy.”

  The ground under their feet trembled reminding them they needed to get finished and head for home. The shaking lasted for twenty or thirty seconds and settled down. It seemed as if every aftershock had dealt some kind of a change to their landscape. In fact, some of the aftershocks probably would have registered high on the Richter scale.

  “Dang, I am never going to get used to those. I can never decide whether to sit on the ground so I’m not thrown down, or prepare myself to run when a crack opens up.”

  “Hopefully, you won’t have to. At least not like these. I swear as long as I’ve lived here, I have never felt more than a tremble. These quakes or aftershocks are something entirely new.”

  Gina showed Sam what she had found in the bottom cupboard. “It looks to me like someone was a climber.”

  “That would have been Matts mother, Agnes. At one time, she had climbed every one of these peaks as well as most of the mountains in the world. She only quit when she had Matt.” Sam turned and looked out the window at the mountain peaks to the north. “Well, damn! I was going to show you the one she fell on, but it’s gone.”

  “She fell? Is that how she died?”

  Sam nodded as he studied the new mountain peaks. “That’s a long story, and there was some controversy surrounding her death. The way I understood it, was that Agnes had taken a group of novice climbers out for a day trip. Only one person actually saw her fall, but…”

  Gina interrupted him. “Let me guess, Amanda was one of the novice climbers.”

  “You should have been a detective. You guessed it, she was the only one who saw the fall. Looking back, the whole thing makes sense.”

  “Karma has a wonderful way of biting us in the butt when we least expect it. It's a shame that Matt was the one to pay the price.”

  “Hell of a price to pay. I wouldn’t wish anything that’s happened, on to anyone else.”

  “Sam, are we going back to camp today? By the time we load up, we’ll be riding in the dark if we don’t go soon.”

  “I’ve been thinking, and I thought we could go over to Jakes and see what’s there. He had some outbuildings as well as his chickens. He used to raise quality horses for most of the ranchers around here. They’ll probably all be out in the pasture, but I worry about any in the barn. If I remember right, his wife Saron had a real sweet little Appaloosa mare. It would be a shame for someone to shoot her for food or worse yet, have her starve to death in the barn.You never can tell what else they might have that we can use.”

  “That makes me so sad.” She saw him looking at her, a question on his face. “To think of all the pets and animals who will have died because there was no one to feed them. You know, the ones locked in houses or tied up in backyards. The animals who depend on us for sustenance to survive. It makes me sick when I think of all the people who don’t get home to feed their animals.”

  “I know. You can’t think about it. We can only do so much and help where we can. I was just trying to convince you to go.”


  Gina stopped and looked at Sam, frowning, “I know you were because if she were locked in the barn all this time, it would already be too late for her. But speaking of animals, I thought Carlos had a couple of Blue Heelers.”

  “I asked Andy about the dogs the first night we were there. They were both old dogs, long past the age to work cows. One of them was all crippled up, but Carlos wouldn’t think of parting with either one of them. Andy told me that Carlos said they both disappeared the first night.”

  “Isn’t that kind of strange? I mean for them to run off like that?”

  “Where else could they have gone? Unless…naw, never mind. Maybe they’ll turn up and maybe they won’t.”

  “You sure you want to go over there this late in the day?”

  “There’s no time like the present, and we’re already half way there. Better for us to get there first than to have someone else go through the place and take everything. Sure hate to think about that little mare being used for food.”

  Gina looked at Sam and shook her head. She knew he would use her love for horses as a means to get her in gear. He obviously knew her better than most people. It was exactly the right thing to say to make her want to go see if the horse was still alive and to check on the ones in the pasture.

  “How about we put the hobbles on Bess and turn Razzle loose? We’ll break open a couple of bales and leave them water.”

  Gina laughed, “Where do you guys get these names from? Razzle? Who named her that?”

  “Sherry did. Her full name is Diamonds Razzle Dazzle.” He held his hands up palm forward, “Don’t ask me. I like simple names like Clyde. Suits him and suits me.”

  “Yeah, I can see where you put a lot of thought into it. Should we go or do you want to stand around and talk some more?”

  Sam showed her one of his dimples and went to set out the water buckets. Gina put the hobbles on Bess and turned both horses free. They wouldn’t stray far from the hay.”

  They rode out side by side, Andy’s gelding, while not as tall as Sham could out walk the bigger horse. Gina had to touch the reins occasionally to remind him to slow down. For most of the ride, they rode up what used to be the shoulders of the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90, following the river. Some places the banks were as high as fifteen or more feet and other times only a foot or two. Hard black lava rock cocooned the flowing water.

  “It’s incredible how quickly the lava has cooled and solidified back into rock.” Gina laughed, “but I guess it was rock to begin with.”

  “Have you been to the lava beds in Oregon?”

  “Nope. It didn’t sound like any place we would have liked to ride in, so we discounted it early on.”

  “I’ve seen black and gray lava beds and red lava beds, I guess the color depends on the type of rock it was to start out with. John brought a few pieces back from Oregon thinking to use it in the barbecue…and boy did he get a surprise when it blew up as soon as it got hot.”

  They rode for an hour, and Sam seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, so Gina remained quiet. Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore. “How far is this place?

  Sam reined in and looked east. He seemed surprised by their surroundings. He turned and looked behind them. Frowning, “Did we pass it?”

  “We haven’t passed anything.”

  “Well, the earth didn’t just open up and swallow it whole. There used to be a barn, a house and a couple of outbuildings in addition to the chicken coops. They sat right off the frontage road.”

  “We haven’t ridden past any buildings at all. I was paying attention and would have noticed.”

  They were riding through short grass not far from the river bank. Sam stopped, turned around and rode back the way they had come. Gina followed along and stopped when he pulled up.

  Sam pointed at a gravel and dirt road that went off to the south, “I think that’s part of the driveway.” He looked around trying to find something familiar. “See, that used to be his stand he sold the eggs from.” Sam rode up to a fallen pile of burned lumber. It was very close to the edge of the river. He climbed down and picked up something from the brown grass. He held it out for Gina to see.

  She supposed that at one time it might have said eggs for sale, but now just the gs and the le were visible, the rest was nothing more than charred wood. Sam dropped the sign where he had picked it up from and led Sham off down the dirt road.

  Gina followed and studied the surrounding land. She could see where the fence simply stopped, the wire leading directly into the ground as if something had swallowed up the next post in line.

  In the distance, Gina heard a rooster crow, another answered it. There were a few trees off in the distance, but no building whatsoever. The ground between them and what looked like a small orchard defined by the trees being in short rows was full of ridges and valleys, some as much as two or three feet and others barely ripples. What drew Gina’s attention to them was that they were perpendicular to the direction the wheat stubble had been planted. It looked like something had wrinkled the field and then pulled it out flat, failing to smooth the smaller wrinkles out.

  Sam kept walking leading Sham. Gina followed along behind him, her tight rein on the gelding keeping them behind.

  Finally, Sam stopped at what looked like a circle drive. Where a house may have stood at one time, was nothing more than a huge gouge in the dirt. Extending away from both sides was a ripple in the topsoil. Off to the right, Gina could see what appeared to be a wadded up mess of chicken wire with a few posts sticking up through it.

  “It looks like it was stirred up with a pitch fork. Like someone was turning the ground and then tried to smooth it back out.”

  “How is this possible? The earth just opens up and swallows a whole farm and spits back what it doesn’t want?”

  “Anything is possible. Maybe this whole area is built with huge caverns underneath it, and it’s the luck of the draw. Some collapse and some don’t. It’s like the tectonic plates slide up and over each other and then slip back. It changes the topside by leaving scars in the upper crust. The shifting of the plates and earthquakes can rearrange whole mountain ranges. You said yourself that the mountains had all changed. I’m beginning to think we’re very lucky to be alive.”

  Sam nodded, but remained silent, Sham nudged him in the back and Sam reached out and scratched him as if he was on autopilot. The big buckskin pushed him harder as if was trying to get Sam’s attention.

  Sam looked up at Gina, “This whole thing,” he waved his arm to include everything as far as their eyes could see, “this whole thing is impossible. I know it’s happened, I can see the damage myself, but it’s difficult for me to believe.”

  He turned and faced south, his hands on his hips. He finally shook his head and pointed, “Look out there. I have a feeling that’s what’s left of his herd.”

  Gina looked and saw in the distance what appeared to be horses or cows or deer. They were too far away to see them clearly. She had no idea other than Sam had just told her about Jake raising horses. She had to assume that’s what she was looking at.

  Right then Sham raised his head and bugled. He threw his head in the air and whinnied again. In the distance, they could see the few remaining horses begin to run toward them. Several whinnied in return. Suddenly they turned in a circle and took off the other way. They looked like they were running from something.

  “Looks like something spooked them.”

  “With all that’s happened, it’s not that hard to believe. I look around, and I can’t get this inside my head. It’s all just gone. The house, the barn…how is that possible?”

  “I don’t remember what it looked like before, but I can see the results and I can certainly see the damage.” Her gelding started dancing around and throwing his head. He half reared, and Gina turned him in a circle trying to get control back. It was completely illogical behavior for the big horse. He reared again, and Gina leaned forward in her saddle. She saw Sham pull his reins from out o
f Sam’s hand and Sam stagger and fall. Then she saw the earth as it rolled by her. The ground all around them looked as if it had been turned to water immediately Gina thought of the ripples when a stone is thrown into a pool of water or waves in the ocean rushing to shore.

  Sham didn’t run off as Gina would have expected, but froze in place as if he was afraid to move. His eyes were wild and round, and he bugled loudly. He tossed his head in the air, his whole body shaking.

  Gina tried to move her horse over to take up the loose reins, but the gelding wasn’t going to move. He blew air out of his nose as if trying to clear it. His body vibrated as badly as Sam’s gelding.

  The tremor stopped as quickly as it had started. Sam lay on his back, staring up at her. “Is that it do you think? I’m trying to decide if I want to get up or stay down here for the next round.”

  Gina saw the trees in the distance shaking and thought the ripple had passed under them. She climbed down from the horses back and ran her hand down his neck trying to soothe him. The way all four feet were planted, he wasn’t going anywhere.

  “What the heck is this horse’s name? I’m tired of calling him, boy. Do you know it?”

  Sam looked at her and laughed softly, “Horse.”

  “Horace?” Gina frowned. “Who would name a horse Horace?”

  “Not Horace…Horse. Just plain Horse, you know, like a horse with no name.”

  “Oh.” Was all Gina could think of to say. “That’s really sad.”

  She walked back to the gelding, “I’m not calling you Horse. How would you like Mack instead?” He nuzzled her as if he understood and approved.

  “So, are you going to sit there the rest of the day or are we going to see about getting those horses or at least see if any of the chickens survived?”

  The horses are okay for now. They have the grass or what's left of it, and they’re smart enough to find water.

  Right then, as if they had heard themselves being talked about, a rooster crowed. From somewhere else close another one answered.