Divine Mortals (3 page)

The thought of school made me nervous, I could already imagine the hordes of students who would stare at me, the new girl. I’d never had to start a new school before and I was guessing that starting again for senior year would be the worst, I knew all too well how clicky girl groups could be.

Lowering myself into the faded white hammock I switched on some old rock and turned the volume up in an attempt to drown out any further thoughts of school.

I gazed across the yard, a number of cattle were milling around impatiently, held captive behind high wooden fences in a holding pen. The stable doors were hanging open and the horses were once more grazing in the paddock beyond. I wondered again which of these were mine, the thought of owning a horse made my stomach turn in a violent case of butterflies.

I must have dozed because next thing I knew I was being woken by Pops gentle shaking.

“Ava,” his voice was soft, his eyes gentle as he tried not to startle me.

“Mmmmm,” I opened my eyes feeling more than a little embarrassed at having drifted off so soon after getting up.

“I’ve asked Robert to bring Beaut in for you, do you want to meet him?”

“Ah…sure?” My voice came out sounding a little too high, nausea swept instantly through me, my palms turned clammy. I stood, removing my earphones and stuffing my iPod into the pocket of my shorts. The day was already sweltering, I could see heat waves rippling off of the iron roof of the machinery shed.

Pop strode ahead of me, the lope of a fit man used to years of working the land, I almost had to jog to keep up with him. Skipping down the stairs away from the sanctuary of the porch I pulled my hair from its ponytail, shaking it loose as I went, I was starting to get a headache.

Pop had already reached one of the high sided pens and was peering between the rails waiting patiently for me to catch up.

Beaut stood in the center of the pen happily munching on a pile of hay, his coat was a deep glistening black, he was both absolutely stunning and completely terrifying. It was easy to forget just how big horses were and I felt a prick of fear as I took him in. I swallowed this down, fear wouldn’t hurt me, it might actually make for a welcome distraction, a new emotion to keep the others I currently had at bay.

“What do you think?” Pop asked, turning a large smile my way.

“He’s beautiful,” I admitted, at least I could give my honest feelings about that, “Let me guess, Beaut? As in Black Beauty, not real original Pop.”

He laughed.

“No we aren’t really about the imagination here, more practicality, your Nan came up with that when he was born, we were just going to call him Blacky.”

“Really? Well in that case Beaut is one hundred times better”.

A loud bang came from the shed behind us, Pop turned to look.

“Come and meet the hands Ava,” he gestured to me, “it looks like all three of them are in at the moment.”

I turned back towards the pen that held Beaut and then again towards Pop, who without waiting to hear my reply, was already on his way towards the noises in the shed. I followed reluctantly, I wasn’t really ready to start meeting new people just yet, but it didn’t seem possible to get out of it with Pop almost at the shed already and the alternative being a few hundred pounds of horse flesh.

“Ava this is Jed,” Grandpop motioned to the first man who was sweating over the tractor he worked on.

“He manages these other two.” Pop continued, gesturing vaguely to the other two men in the shed.

“Hello.” I mumbled, sounding shy even to my own ears. I had never been very good at meeting new people.

“Nice to meet you honey,” he tipped his hat, I suppressed a smile, I thought that only happened in western movies.

Jed had a kind face, it was lined and tanned to a deep brown, hard baked and leathery looking. I guessed him to be in his late forties, he was tall and wiry, the veins standing out on his arms in the heat. He looked like the kind of guy who had been working outside his entire life.

“Perfect timing,” he smiled, continuing, “We need a new musterer.”

“Oh,” I returned his smile, “You may be waiting a while then, I can’t ride.”

Jed feigned shock at this and another voice spoke up from the other side of the tractor.

“Are you sure she’s your granddaughter then Fred?”

“And that’s Shaun,” Pop gestured towards the second man who was now chuckling at his own joke, I smiled towards him, giving him a small wave.

“Hey,”

“Hi,” Shaun smiled broadly, he was not much younger than Jed, and obviously a man of humor, deep laugh lines surrounded his mouth and eyes. Like Jed he was weathered and leathery, although Shaun was slightly overweight. While Jed and Shaun shared the same skin they obviously didn’t share the same diet.

“Nice to meet you.” I murmured,

“You too.” He echoed, his eyes were as kind as his voice and I couldn’t help but instantly like this happy round man.

“So you’ll be needing some riding lessons then?” he continued, giving me a wink.

“Ahhh…” I laughed, “We’ll see, perhaps I’d do better with a motorbike.”

Shaun boomed out a laugh, rolling his eyes at me, no doubt wondering what use a city chick could possibly be on a farm.

“And over there loading the trailer is Robert.” Pop interrupted, pointing in the direction of his third employee before turning to talk to Jed, leaving it to me to make conversation. I glanced for the first time at the third man and found myself staring.

He was completely different from the other two, to start with he had to be no more than twenty.

The first thing that caught me was his eyes, such a deep brown as to seem almost bottomless. His face was smooth and bronzed from the sun, his mouth full and curved, nearly too large for his face but somehow still fitting. His blonde hair swept back from his forehead in a way that foretold of a morning spent pushing it from his eyes in the heat.

He was tall, a little over six feet I guessed, his shirt and jeans although dirty from a morning outside complimented what looked to be a very athletic figure.

“Hey,” I said simply, finally gathering sense enough to speak and again sounding far too shy. I gave him a smile unable to tear my eyes from those dark pools of amber.

Robert looked up briefly, his eyes seemed to widen slightly, his whole posture freezing momentarily as he met my gaze. But this wide eyed look changed again almost instantly, replaced by total indifference.

“Hi.” he replied brusquely before turning his back and showing an exaggerated interest in the tools on the bench before him.

I stood stupidly for a moment, shocked at how rude he was being.

Grandpop seemed oblivious to this snub, he was still chatting animatedly with Jed, waving his hands about feed levels or something of the like. I felt my cheeks start to burn, I was still facing Robert who was acting as though I wasn’t there.

I stood, stunned, for a moment longer and then turned on my heel and strode back towards the house, leaving Grandpop to talk farming and Robert to go to hell.

F
rom the porch I could see Nan in her vegetable garden. I called a quick greeting and carried on into the dim hallway, rushing down it without looking at the walls, towards the kitchen. I was just about to grab some milk from the fridge when the phone rang.

It felt a little strange answering it, this didn’t yet feel like home, but there was no one else inside and so I picked it up on the third ring.

“Hello Ava speaking,”

“Oh Hi,” The voice on the other end was bubbly and excited, “You’re just the person I’m after,”

“I am?” I was a little confused, I didn’t know anyone here yet, except of course the three farm hands I had just met.

“Yeah, Norma called my Mom a couple of days ago and told her you were moving down from Chicago, she asked if I’d mind showing you around the thriving metropolis of Huntington,” she paused, snorting a little at her own sarcasm before continuing,

“I’m warning you though, you’ll be lucky to stay awake through it, we’re definitely nowhere near on scale with Chicago.”

Whoever this was she was a talker.

“I’m Sally by the way,” she cut in again, answering my unspoken question.

“Well ah,” I wasn’t sure what to say, it wasn’t every day a complete stranger called and offered to be your official tour guide. My gut reaction was to say thanks but no thanks. I didn’t know if I was ready to tackle the whole social aspect of meeting new friends.

My new personal mantra picked now to chime in,

You will be okay
, darn subconscious.

“Ah, sure…?” I spoke quietly, sounding anything but.

“Great.” Sally on the other hand sounded excited, I wondered briefly how much her mother was paying her to do this.

“I’ll pick you up around three and take you into town, maybe we can grab a juice at the diner.”

“Yeah that sounds good…” I hoped I sounded more enthusiastic then I felt.

“Great I’ll see you this afternoon then.” the phone went dead, Sally was already gone.

I sighed, so Nan had been meddling already, but I couldn’t be angry, she was only doing what she thought would make things easier for me. I guess it couldn’t hurt to make a friend here.

I was sitting outside a little later, sending a text message to Julia, when a beat up old red Mini Cooper come between the stable and the shed.

Flicking my phone into my bag I took a deep breath.

“Time to meet the locals.” I muttered.

Sally swung out of the car, she was tall and very pretty with long blonde hair and a lean athletic figure, I was starting to wonder if all the young people here were some sort of super race where only the attractive thrived and the plain were tossed out, ha, not long till I would be deported then, the thought was strangely appealing.

I stood, meaning to go and greet her, but her attention was caught by something off to her left, a smile instantly lit her tanned face and she seemed to carry herself a little more elegantly as she danced towards the cattle pens, my eyes moved in the direction she was heading.

Robert was herding a number of large irritated looking red cattle into the far side of the pen. I hung back, watching from the porch, a little amused at the way Sally was ‘casually’ stepping onto the bottom rail of the pen so that she could look over towards Robert.

“Hi Rob,” her pretty sing song voice traveled easily on such a still afternoon.

I craned my neck until I could see Robert between the rails, I was guessing he wouldn’t ignore Sally, not many guys would.

Robert looked up, he hadn’t noticed her arrive, or he had pretended not to.

“Oh Hi.” his tone was a little reluctant but not rude, a step up from my greeting.

“I haven’t seen you around much?” Sally was trying to keep it friendly and casual, but she didn’t completely succeed in hiding the desperation in her voice. I wondered if she knew before coming that Robert worked here and if so I guessed coming to meet me had probably more than appealed to her, perhaps her mother hadn’t had to pay her after all.

“I’ve been busy here.” His answer was short and he was already swinging the gate shut behind the last of the cattle.

“Oh yeah, my brothers have been busy at home too, it’s that time of year I guess?” she giggled flirtatiously, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and smile, she was putting in a great effort, most guys would find it hard to resist.

Robert, apparently, was not most guys.

“S’cuse me,” he muttered, stalking off in the other direction. Sally watched him leave, her expression unshaken. Jumping down from the rail she headed back towards the house finally noticing me on the porch.

“Oh hey,” she swooped in and hugged me, I froze instantly, I had always been a little awkward with hugs, especially from strangers.

“Hi…” I sounded a little off after the surprise of her embrace.

“So I was thinking,” Sally carried on unperturbed, “Maybe we could go to the diner for something to eat and I can fill you in on the boredom that is this small town.”

Her smile was infectious and I felt myself returning her broad grin.

“Sure sounds good.”

I followed her back towards her car. The thing was even more decrepit on the inside, but it was also kind of cool, in a retro sort of way.

I wasn’t given much opportunity to talk on the way to town, which suited me fine. Sally did more than enough talking for the both of us, pointing things out as we passed, telling me about the school. It was a lot to take in but I tried to remember the details she gave, I didn’t know yet how useful they might turn out to be.

We pulled up right outside the diner, no problems with parking in the main street of Huntington, and piled out of her tiny red car. I hadn’t been into the diner for a few years now and could have laughed out loud had I not been nervous of being in new company.

It was like something from a bad western movie, the tables were all square, set with blue and white checker cloths, a small salt and pepper shaker in the centre of each. The counter lay against the far wall, manned by three cowgirl themed waitresses complete with stetsons and pig tails, their blue checker shirts matching perfectly with the table cloths.

I glanced down at my watch, nope I hadn’t stepped back in time, this insane get up was actually happening here and now.

We squeezed gingerly between the tight packed tables to order, there were only four other people eating, it wasn’t exactly prime dining time.

Ordering cheese burgers we took stools at the counter.

“So you must love getting to see Robert everyday huh?” Sally cooed, confirming my earlier suspicions.

“I haven’t really spoken to him,” I admitted, “He seems a little, well, rude.”

Sally seemed happy to hear this, obviously crossing me from her list of potential competition, although looking at her I didn’t think it would be much of a competition.

“Oh no, he’s not rude,” she answered, immediately jumping to his defense,

“He’s just shy I’m sure of it, there’s a dance coming up, the Ranchers Ball, I’m hoping he’ll ask me.”

I realized then that I had just been put on my guard, the underlying meaning was strong,
Hands off, I saw him first
.