The Ranch Hand Pays Allie A Visit

The wind was hot and the sun was beating down on his face, but he liked working at the Double D. He had worked there for years and had seen owners come and go. But he had loved old Bill. He was a good guy and easy to work for. He sure did miss his old friend. He hadn't met the new owner yet, but he could see that she was young and didn't know much about ranching. It looked like she was making new friends, though. From what he had seen most of them were older folks. Well, except for the young guy; Josh. He seemed to come and go. For quite some time he had been watching and thought that the ranch was being used for a dumping grounds for unwanted animals. People that did that made him sick. He needed to talk to the sheriff. He had started to walk over to Maxine's cabin when he saw the sheriff's patrol car sitting there, but he overheard them laughing and talking about their wedding plans. He decided to wait until the sheriff went back into town. He'd go see him when he was in his office. He was busy getting hay ready for the horses out in the pasture when he heard his little boy yell. "Hey, Dad! Can you use some help?" Oh how he loved that little boy. "Sure, come on over and lend me a hand. Does your mom know you are out here?" His young son grinned and said, "Yeah, she's over there in the car making sure you saw me." They waved to her and got to work.

After an hour or so the ranch hand grinned at his son and said, "Are you thirsty yet? It's mighty hot out here. Let's go back to the bunk house and get a cold drink and maybe a snack. How does that sound?" His son happily agreed, but on the way back he saw a cat in the weeds by a stump the hands used to split wood. "Hey Dad, look! Where did that kitty come from? I didn't think the Double D had any cats."

" I don't know, son. I've been seeing a lot of animals around here lately. Let's see if she is hungry and thirsty. It's a hot day. I'm sure she'd appreciate a cool drink of water." He stooped over to pick it up and it hissed at him and ran away. "Just what I figured. Its starving and scared to death. This has to stop." Your mom should be coming back for you shortly. I will go up to the main house and talk to the new owner. Her name is Allie. I'm sure she will know who to call to put a stop to this."

                                                                     ***********

Allie was in the kitchen leafing through the magazine where she had seen the ad for the C.E.A.D.E.R. ranch. She needed to call them and see what to do about all the animals that were apparently being dumped on her ranch. She looked up and saw one of the ranch hands about to knock on her door. "Hey there, come on in. What's up?"

"Hi, Miss Allie. I really need to talk to you about all these stray animals we've been seeing out here."

"Great. Come on in. I've been worried about that too. I've got all kinds of animals on the ranch I've never seen before. I've got cats, dogs, puppies, even geese! What is going on do you think?"

"Well, I think the word is out that no one is living here since Bill died and this is a good place to dump animals. Evidently they think that no one will find out. It's a shame. I just can't hardly stand it. Even my little boy noticed it and said something about it this morning. I was going to tell the sheriff, but he's busy making wedding plans with Maxine. I didn't want to bother him just now so I thought I'd come to see you about it."

"I'm so glad you did. Yes the sheriff and Maxine are two happy people that's for sure. Come on in. Let's look at this piece about this rescue ranch up north. It seems like to me that they might be able to help us. The article reads like they are more horse rescue and large animals. They also give riding lessons and provide some therapy horses etc. I don't see anything about small animals like dogs and cats. What do you have there?"

Lance had been looking at the ads in the newspaper while Allie was reading the C.E.D.A.R piece in the magazine. "Look, Miss Allie. There is even a piece in the newspaper about people dumping animals just not here but this whole area. They are having a meeting about it next week. Maybe we should go. What do you think? I know my wife would like to go. Maybe we can get this nipped in the bud and get this ranch back to where it used to be. This place used to be buzzing with people and beautiful horses, not scared and starving cats and dogs."

Allie agreed to go to the meeting and said she knew others that might want to go. "So did you know my Uncle Bill?" You did? What was he like? I'd love to hear some stories about him." She was listening to every word about the man that she had inherited her ranch from and didn't see the little donkey eating her daffodils.

Or the starving and thirsty cat in her back yard. Carrie Belle was lost and scared. How she missed her lady human. Even though it was so very hot she shivered. She never should have gone outside without her lady. It was her own fault that she was lost. "Oh dear, what do I do now? I thought there might be some water here, but there is not a drop. I need help soon, but I'm too scared to let anyone near me."

Carrie Belle could hear a soft voice telling her that she would be alright and that no one was going to hurt her, but she was so tired she just needed to rest. Was that water on her tongue? Maybe if she tried really hard she could purr...