Pioneer Passion by Therese Kramer

as the skies split wide open late that night,
releasing rain to splatter steadily from bloated pewter clouds. A
bolt of lightning hit the ground with an ear-splitting crack,
spooking the longhorns. Wild with fear they began to shove each
other into the fence. His horse reared, nearly throwing him and he
was soaked to the skin. Another strike, like the crack of a
bullwhip crashed into the black sky. Heading for the barn, he saw a
few cows jump over the backs of others, causing panic. Painful
cries of frightened animas were heard over nature’s wrathful voice
and he knew he had to do something, but what? Then all hell broke
lose and the fence was no longer an obstacle. Wiping the wetness
from his eyes, he saw the petrified herd had trampled it into
splinters and headed off every which way to escape the terror of
the storm that flashed all around them. Luckily, he had the
foresight to stay clear of the corral, and headed for the barn.
Taking deep breaths, he ran to the bunkhouse as the storm and the
earth shook under hundreds of stomping hoofs. The ranch hands in
the bunkhouse told him they had heard and felt the tremor and they
were all grumbling. He barked an order to the men as they were
scrambling into their pants, frantically bumping into each other.
Cockroach ran from the bunkhouse in time to see the small herd race
towards the valley.
    Diabolo, tied in a separate pen, snorted and
bellowed, shaking his thick neck wildly. He wanted no part of the
storm either and butted his horns against the barn, splintering
wood in the tempestuous night. Cockroach had no time to try and
calm the ill-tempered bull, knowing the beast would cause more
damage to the structure than to himself.
    Guy had heard the pounding and ran to the
front door. He hopped about on one foot almost falling, trying to
get his other leg into his pants. Buttoning his pants, he reached
the door mumbling obscenities freely from his tight mouth. “What in
God’s name is going on?!” he groused and swung open the heavy door.
Cockroach, his black hair plastered to his head, jumped back a
foot. Apparently, the foreman was not expecting him to answer so
riled. Pushing back his wet hair from his face, Cockroach
apologized for the noisy intrusion and shivered. Rain ran off the
end of the man’s long nose and he spit out the bad news.
    Guy groaned and cried, “God! The storm hit so
quickly I didn’t have time to post a guard.” Dammit, his herd was
small but he didn’t want to lose one single cow. “Don’t just stand
there!” he bellowed. Before the man could obey his order, he heard
a loud gasp. Guy turned as a flash of lightning lit up the startled
look on the frightened girl’s face.
    Rusty had run to see for herself what was
happening and found herself standing with two men, overhearing the
bad news. Guy was clad only in pants and the ranch hand in his
soaked clothes. Embarrassed, to see Guy half naked, she covered her
mouth with her hand and turned away but not before she saw
Cockroach do an about face and hightail it out of there. Guy rushed
past her to finish dressing and yelled at her to go back to bed.
For a moment, she stood dazed by his actions. Then all at once it
sank in. “The herd! Oh, no!” She swallowed the words and raced back
to her room with no intentions of going back to bed. She wanted to
help and was determined not to let Guy stop her. As she reached the
porch, the men rode off after the cattle and she heard one of the
men shout, “They went that-a-way, through the south field!”
    The field! The field! The words echoed
through her brain.
    “No-o-!” Rusty ran to the barn, towards the
broken coral. From crushed bags of fruit the sweet smell of oranges
turned her stomach. Her voice screamed over and over with the
thunder until her voice was so hoarse that only the thunder sounded
in the skies. The drenching rain plastered her hair to her face and
the downpour and tears blurred her vision. She fell to her knees
and frantically grabbed