13 Sheep Shearing Good Time

"Wake up, Buttercup!" May greeted a little too energetically as she ripped the cover off me.

"Seriously?! I didn't get to sleep until after two." I whined.

"Neither did Gram but she's been up at least an hour and is downstairs cooking breakfast."

"Well, clearly I'm not her. I need sleep."

"Too bad, so sad. You'll have to wait for sundown for more of that. Let's go."

"No!" I pulled the cover over my face.

"Okay. The hard way it is." The cover was removed from me with ease. Again. She then proceeded to throw me over her shoulder and carry me down the stairs kicking and screaming for her to put me down. Only when we reached the dining room and she had a chair pulled out did she comply with my demands. "There ya go, pumpkin. Eat up. We got a long day."

"Didn't I mention you were going to start working with is this morning?" Gram asked as she stared me down with icy grey/blue eyes. Wait. They were violet yesterday. I'm sure of it.

"But, I thought after how late we were..."

"Sleep is overrated for one thing," she interjected. "And life happens whether you get enough sleep or not."

Jimmy was laughing. "Haven't seen a tantrum like that since Backus was a toddler." More laughing as he poured brown gravy over a stack of pancakes.

"I'm not much of a morning person." I grumbled as put a pancake on the plate in front of me.

"Clearly," he agreed offering me the gravy. I took it. I have always loved gravy on my pancakes much to my mother's dismay. She said it was gross. I think syrup is. Now that I see my uncle do it, it's clearly a family trait. "You like gravy on pancakes?"

"Yeah. You do too so it can't be that weird," I replied defensively taking a bite. Oh, my goodness, this gravy is good!

"Your grandfather did that too," offered Gram. Yes, clearly a family thing.

"Where is my grandfather anyway. I've heard a lot about him but haven't met him yet."

"And you won't." Gram said coldly. "He died a couple of years ago."

I swallowed hard. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean... I didn't know."

"There's a lot about this family you don't know yet. But you will learn."

"May I ask what happened?"

Jimmy answered. "Not while we are eating, no."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

Gram leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "gored by bull." She grimaced as she sat back up. "Wasn't pretty."

I suddenly lost my appetite.

"I said, not while we're eating, Mom!"

"What? She asked. It's not like it's a family secret or anything." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"There's a time and place for everything," he explained.

"Indeed," she agreed.

His eyes widened a bit. He abruptly put his fork down and said, "Welp, shearing sheep today. I'd better get after it."

"Good. Take Magpie with you."

"What? No! She'll just get in the way."

"That's true!" I hastily agreed. "I'd be more trouble than help."

"You already are," Jimmy quipped shooting a disapproving glare in my direction. I glared back.

"No worries, sweetness," interjected May. "Mackerel and I do the shearing with him. I'll show you what to do. You'll be fine."

I rolled my eyes. Jimmy sighed in frustration. "Whatever." We said simultaneously.

"Good. It's settled then. You get dressed while Jimmy gets the horses ready." Gram instructed.

"Horses?"

May took my hand to lead me upstairs and make sure I got dressed accordingly. "We have to ride out to where the sheep are. Better wear a good pair of riding pants and a long-sleeved shirt because sheep wool can be scratchy."

"I've never been on a horse before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything isn't there."

"I'm scared of horses." My palms were sweating at the thought of it. They can't be serious. I've never seen a horse in person, not even at the yearly state fair.

"You're afraid of a lot of things."

"So?" Fear has kept me safe so far. Sort of.

"So. No place for it here. Only way to get past fear is to face it. Head on."

"I'd rather not."

"Well, to quote your gramma 'you don't get choices here' so buckle up, buttercup, because we're going for a ride."

"I think I might throw up along the way."

"No biggie. That's what we have dogs for." Eeewwww. Oh my god!!

"Ew. And that dog licked my face! Ew."

*

May led me to the big red barn with her moose dog, Bruno in tow. 'He's big enough to ride,' I thought. Apparently, She-ra is a mind reader too, because she followed my thought up with the statement, "We have special saddle for Bruno so the little kids can ride." Figures. Inside the barn we found Jimmy and Mackerel, er... Michael saddling up three horses. Three? There's four of us. Oh, maybe I won't have to go after all. May ruined that thought. "I brought you, your third rider. I'll go hitch up the team and meet y'all out there." She left me in the barn with my cocky cowboy uncle and the too good looking for his own good Mackerel, er Michael. His name is Michael.

"Sounds good. Thanks Maybe." Jimmy said without looking up. "Mack, will get Princess City Pants acquainted with Bojangles?" I'll need to slap him later for that name. I would have burned him my fiery glaze but he never bothered to look at me.

"Absolutely!" He came up to me with a smile. He bowed his head slightly and put his elbow out for me to take. "Right this way." He has no right to be this gorgeous. How am I going to be able to focus on anything with him looking this good? I took his elbow and walked around the horse Jimmy was saddling to the horse I was going to be riding. Comparing to the other two horses, I'd say this one wasn't much bigger than the dog. "This is Old Bojangles. He's good ole boy. Perfect for the newbie rider."

"He used to newbies?" I asked apprehensively. "I don't know the first thing about riding a horse."

"He's what we call dead broke which means, he doesn't do anything that'll freak you out. Just put your foot right here in this stirrup and throw your leg over the top."

I tried. I put my foot up in the stirrup, the horse moved forward, I freaked out. I didn't care if gramma locked me in the basement for a week without food, I wasn't getting on that beast. Jimmy stopped me mid stride by my shoulders. "Get on the horse!" he growled.

"No!"

"Now!"

"Make me!" I should have chosen better words. He turned me around and pushed me back to the side of the horse and when I refused to mount the horse, he bent down and picked up by my leg and plopped me into the saddle hard. I grabbed that knobby thing on the saddle for dear life.

"Stay!" he snarled. I stayed. I felt a wave of nausea come over me. "And don't you dare vomit! Bojangles just had his bath." I swallowed, willing myself not to throw up. "Just hang on to the horn like you are. I will lead him. Okay?" All I could was nod in terror. He grabbed the reins of my horse and mounted his own. He turned his beast out the door and mine followed. Mackerel followed behind.

I don't how long we were on those horses, but it seemed like an eternity. It took at least thirty minutes for me to relax enough to breathe correctly. The men chatted now and again about hunting, fishing and rodeo; none of which interested me in the least. But it did seem like the prime opportunity to get some nagging questions out of the way. "Um, hey?" They both looked. I looked at Mackerel, Jimmy turned his attention back to the trail. "Why Mackerel? How'd you get that nickname?"

He smiled, bringing his horse in line with mine. "I was fourteen when I met my now wife." Wife?! My fantasy of this guy just got drowned in ice water. "The first time I laid my eyes on her and blurted out 'Holy Mackerel! She's a beaut!' and it just stuck. I don't mind it though. My wife has never called me anything else. Unless she's mad at me. Then, I'm Michael."

"You're married? Already? How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-two. Been married two years now. Got a little one at home and another one cooking."

"You don't look twenty-two. But congratulations on the family. That's great. What does your wife do?"

"Well, thank you. It's the long hair that makes me look so young. It's almost long enough to get cut off. Another couple of months and I think I can let it go. As for my wife, she's a dancer by trade but right now she's focused on being a momma."

"That's good, I guess. How about your dad? Why is he called Tuna?"

"Well, you will have to ask him that yourself. That's not my story to tell."

"Mack!" called Jimmy. Mackerel trotted up to him. "Here, take City Pants over the east rails and tie up the horses. We'll have her man the exit gate. Show her what to do until Maybe gets here."

"Yes sir." Once the horses were tied, he took me through the corral thing to a small gate. "All you gotta do is let the naked sheep through this gate. Keep it closed between sheep. Can you do that?" I nodded. "Without freaking out?" I nodded again. And I handled the gate as instructed without freaking out. Much. They only had to chase one sheep down in the beginning because I thought it was going to trample me. Mackerel laughed. Jimmy growled at me. The sheep couldn't scare me more than Jimmy did in that moment.

May showed up halfway through the sheep and loaded the wool into the wagon. She helped the men wrangle and sheer the last half making my gate managing duties a lot faster. Once the last sheep was through, Jimmy got sandwiches out of his saddle bags and May got water for us from the wagon. I was so hungry I didn't even ask what kind of meat the sandwiches were made of. Good thing I didn't as I found out much later it was liverwurst. I wouldn't have eaten it, had I known. Oddly enough, it tasted really good in the moment.

Thankfully, I got to ride back to the barn with May in the wagon instead of on Bojangles. I didn't mind riding the horse but being tethered to Jimmy was nerve wracking. We chatted about the day for a bit, then I remembered what Gram had said. "So, you have kids?" I asked.

"Sure do. Backus, my son who is sixteen and Alexa, my daughter is fourteen. They have been on a teen missions trip with our church. They'll be home this weekend. I can't wait to see them; I've missed them so much."

"How long have they been gone?"

"They been gone a little over a month. The missions trip is only a week long, but before they left for that they were at their aunt June's for a little vacation. She owns a candy factory, and this time of year is when she makes salt water taffy and the kids love making taffy."

"Isn't it like in the middle of the school year here?"

"We homeschool. Our school year is all year. That and Backus has already graduated high school."

"At sixteen?"

"One of the perks of homeschooling. They go at their own pace. Alexa is taking her time. Currently working on ninth grade stuff."

"Wow. I was on academic suspension when I got in trouble this last time. I'm going to have to do tenth grade all over."

"Maybe. Maybe not. You might get caught up while you're here."

"Maybe. Speaking of... Why does Gram and folk call you Maybe?"

"Oh, that's easy. My middle name is Bea. May Bea. Maybe."

"Strangely, that makes sense. What about Tuna? How'd he get that name?" Hoping she'd be up for storytelling.

"You'll have to ask him. We don't tell each other's stories around here."

"That's what Mackerel said."

"But after dinner, I do have a story to tell you. A true story of twin sisters and a terrible New Year's prank that threatened to tear them apart."

"Ooo. Sounds good. Can't you tell me now?"

"Oh, it is. And no. I'll need Gram's help telling this one."

Now I had something to look forward to.