Triple Creek Ranch - Part 35

Good Morning Friday Fiction Fans,
Here I am again at another conference. This time we're in Wichita, KS. Yesterday we spent the day setting up and then came back to our hotel room, ate supper and watched the Scrips National Spelling Bee. It was a lot of fun to watch. There were some great spellers!

Nothing very unusual went on this week. I mowed the yard and worked on writing Triple Creek Ranch. And for those of you interested, I "think" I might be "done" writing this first book, but I'm not quite sure. I don't think I like the ending and Mom hasn't read it and told me what she thinks, so I may have to re-write the last part or add more to it. What would you all, as my readers, like to know by the end of the first book? That might help me know if I've reached the end or not. :)

Right now S went over to the conference hall with Brother while Mom and I wait to get a call from Sis-in-law saying that some of the kids need to go eat breakfast.
For those of you who enjoy children's cute sayings and doings, here are some vocabulary words you can add. Doodle Bug has such a fun way of saying some things. :)
You can "slim" in the "slimming pool" if you have one.
And at night you sleep on a "plillow."
Singing can also be different when you sing, "This is My Father's 'Weerald'." 

And now, Part 35 of Triple Creek Ranch. Enjoy!

Part 35

    The fierce heat of the summer had abated and the nights now held a bit of coolness, a hint of the approaching autumn, while during the bright sunny days there was often a cloud or a breeze which offered just a hint of chill, a tantalizing, invigorating, refreshing tang of air to quicken the blood, lighten the eyes and put a new spring in the step. The season was beginning to change and those on Triple Creek Ranch, hired hands, those living in the house and the animals in the barn or pasture felt a new lease on life. Some days were rainy, but when the sun shone again, not to bake the ground and suck any moisture from the earth, but to change the dry, brown grasses into bright green pastures where the cattle and horses ate with delight, then indeed did the ranch seem alive with life.
    The change was enjoyed by all and Jenelle, feeling more refreshed than she had for weeks, went about the house or worked in her gardens among the flowers with a song on her lips and the ever ready smile or bubbling laugh for those she saw.
    Orlena, having never experienced the changing of seasons away from the noise, bustle and hurry of the city, found herself almost skipping down the stairs each morning, eager to be finished with her chores so that she might enjoy the day with a book in some secluded place where she would be undisturbed. These books she carefully hid from her brother, for she had a feeling that he would not approve of them. True, her work often suffered from being sloppily and hastily done, the dusting, which Orlena despised, would often be neglected for days until Mrs. O’Connor or Jenelle spoke to her about it, but, when once her neglect of the chickens had taken Jenelle out to feed them and gather the eggs herself and Norman had discovered it, Orlena had been made to clean out the hen house while her brother stood sternly by watching her. Though she had complained and cried, her brother remained unmovable until the job had been finished. Ever since that time, Orlena had taken care that whatever other chores might be neglected or hurried over, the chickens never were.
    As for Mrs. O’Connor, that good woman relapsed more often into her native tongue and the bright lilt of her Irish melodies danced across the yards while she hung up the wash. “For,” she remarked to Hardrich one evening after the Monday night feast, “Tis like a bit ‘o the old country entirely. Tis green and bonny. I’m a thinkin’ ye can’t know how I’ve missed the grasses growin’ entirely.”
    Hardrich nodded. “I lived in a city two years, and I never will go back if I can help it.” He shook his head decidedly and strolled away from the house with the rest of the hands.
    Seated alone in her room, watching from behind the plain muslin curtains, Orlena frowned. “Wouldn’t go back to the city. What wouldn’t I do to go back!” Turning pensively away, she sat down in her chair and thought. Autumn was rapidly approaching and school would be starting soon. Where should she go? She only had a dim hope that Norman would relent and send her to Madam Viscount’s Seminary, but if he didn’t, where was she to go? “I’ll ask him tomorrow at breakfast,” she decided and began to undress for bed, though her stomach rumbled loudly for its missed supper.
    In another room, some time later, the master of the ranch turned from the open window to his wife who was busily brushing out her long golden hair. “Jenelle,” he said, “we have to decide where.”
    “True,” Jenelle agreed quietly. “I’ve been praying about it.”
    “So have I,” Norman put in. “But the decision has to be made now. I don’t feel right about putting it off any longer.”
    Laying the hairbrush back on her dressing table, Jenelle moved softly over to her husband who had turned back to the window, a worried expression on his face. “Why not here,” she whispered, slipping an arm through his and leaning her head on him.
    Norman looked down. “You mean in town?”
    Jenelle nodded.
    For a moment all was silent. “It would be simple,” he at last replied slowly. “But not Sheldon’s?”
    “No. Not yet. Let’s wait a while for that. Perhaps next year would do.”
    Bending his head, Norman dropped a kiss on his wife’s bright hair before slipping his arm about her. Silently, together, they stood watching the last of the evening light fade from the sky and the stars come out one by one to twinkle brightly now that the king of day had gone to bed.

    It was the following morning, one bright and fresh from a dew that had fallen during the night, and the air which blew the curtains was slightly chilly. The family was seated at the breakfast table when Orlena, turning to her brother, asked in the patronizing voice she had begun using, “Norman, have you yet made up your mind about which academy I am to attend this school term? I do wish you would hurry and decide for I must have time to order my school uniforms and my books and get my trunk packed.”
    Setting his coffee cup down and exchanging a quick glance with Jenelle, Norman smiled at his sister. “I have decided. Jenelle and I talked it over last night.”
    “And?” In spite of herself, Orlena was curious about this place where she would be spending the school year. Wherever it was, it would be better than staying out in the middle of nowhere on the ranch she decided.
    “You’ll be attending school in town this term so you won’t need any uniforms. As for books,” he went on, not noticing Orlena’s surprise and growing anger. “You and Jenelle can go into town with me tomorrow, and we’ll find out what you’ll need.”

What would you like to know before the first book ends?

Questions or comments about this part?

Would you like to read more?