An Unexpected Ride ages 9-12

Based (loosely) on picture prompt #2

San Joaquin Valley, California, Late Summer 1881

My name is Andrea Carter. l live with my family on the Circle C ranch near Fresno, California. My oldest brother, Justin, is a lawyer.  My other brothers, Cad and Mitch, run the ranch because Father was thrown from his horse and killed years ago. Mother and Melinda run the house, helped by Luisa, our housekeeper.       

As soon as my brother Mitch’s leg wound healed up, he decided he’d still head up to that logging camp in the hills, even though Mother tried to talk him out of it. Finally, they agreed that he could go, but only if Chad came too. At first, Chad wasn’t too keen on leaving the ranch for two whole weeks, but Mother eventually convinced him.

“I’m sure Sid can handle things around here for a few weeks while you’re gone. After all, roundup isn’t for another month.” That settled it. Except for me, that is.

For an entire week I begged Mother to let me go, but the answer was always the same: no. But to my surprise, the evening before my brothers left, that my brother Chad said;  “Mother, I think Andi should go with us tomorrow.”

Mother looked around the table, at each one of us in turn, especially Justin. “What about her school?” she asked, and my heart sank into my toes. “Her education is more important than a trip into the hills, especially considering what happened earlier this summer.”

My oldest brother Justin cleared his throat. “On my way home from the office, I spoke to Andi’s teacher. He said she was far ahead last semester,” he offered.

“School doesn’t start until later this month,” I put in.

“Besides,” Chad laughed, “if Mitch runs into a couple of bank robbers and gets shot, she’d be pretty useful to have around!”

Earlier that summer, the youngest of my older brothers, Mitch, had taken Jenny, my wild, red headed friend from Miss Whitaker’s Academy in San Francisco, Cory, the livery owner’s son and my childhood friend, and myself into the hills to visit a new sawmill that my family is part-owners in. But the trip had gone horribly wrong, leaving Mitch badly wounded.

Now we were headed back to that same mill, and we were packing again. Hopefully, this time we would complete our mission and travel back unscathed!

“Well Andrea, if you are already ahead, and if you promise to work extra hard when you return, then I suppose you may go along.”  Mother said after a moment’s pause.

“Yipee!” I exclaimed but I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous that I’d tried all week to convince Mother I should go, and Chad had done it in just a few minutes! Big brothers were sometimes just annoying.

Early the next morning, I woke and dressed in a hurry, then raced out into the hall. At the top of the stairs, I paused to run my hand over the smooth wood of the banister. Before Louisa, our Mexican housekeeper, or anybody else, for that matter, could stop me, I sprang onto the railing and slid down.

“Oof!” I said as I landed hard on my backside, “still need to practice that landing.”

“Andrea,” Mother called from the kitchen, “is that you?”

“Coming, Mother!” I yelled back, then scrambled to my feet and raced towards the dining room door. Halfway there, I stopped. I probably shouldn’t start the day on Mother’s bad side, and charging into the room definitely wouldn’t help. So, I walked.

“Good morning,” I sang, off key, as usual, and plopped into my chair. Soon my brothers arrived, and we all enjoyed a delicious breakfast of Luisa’s famous pancakes with syrup. As soon as I finished, I excused myself and raced to the barn to saddle Taffy, my palomino mare. Scout, my puppy, followed me as I led Taffy out.

“Sorry Scout, but you can’t come this time. You might fall over a cliff. You wouldn’t like that too much.” I laughed as he rolled onto his back so I could rub his belly. I obliged him, and then led my horse to the trough for a drink while I stuffed supplies into her saddlebags.

“Ready to go, Andi? We want to be on the road before it gets too hot.” My brother Chad emerged from the barn, leading his horse Sky.

“You bet big brother! If we can ever find Mitch.” I laughed, but Chad didn’t seem to think it was funny.

“He’s in the barn. Chase is giving him some trouble.” Now I frowned too. This was not good news.

“Let’s help him!” I exclaimed. I started to run towards the barn, but Chad caught my arm and held it fast.

“Woah, little sister!” He pulled me towards him and knelt, “think about it Andi. How many times have you gotten into trouble because you didn’t stop to think before you acted? You need to look before you jump. Besides, Mitch has him under control now. Look.” He pointed, and sure enough, Mitch was leading a calm Chase from the barn.

“You guys ready to go?” He asked, patting Taffy’s shoulder.

“Almost,” Chad replied, “we’re just waiting for Rosa.”

“Rosa?” I wrinkled my nose in confusion, “Rosa’s coming too?” Rosa Garduño was the daughter of one of the ranch hands and was my best friend, and usually the only one who went along with my ideas, most of which weren’t too great, actually. A few years ago, I had run away and lost Taffy. I met her family, and they helped me recover her and when I returned home, they followed me. Now her father was a ranch hand, and her mother helped Luisa in the house.

“Yep,” Mitch answered, “figured she should come to keep you in line.”

“Yippee!” I squealed, then came back to my senses. “Where is she?” I asked.

“She’s coming now,” Chad replied, “she’ll be riding Pal.” Just then, Rosa walked out of the barn, Pal following obediently behind. She seemed slightly nervous, and I couldn’t blame her, because she’d heard lots of wild, exaggerated tales about our last trip.

“Buenos Dias,” she began, and she was going to say more, but I jumped in;

“How did you get to come along, Rosa, when Mother wasn’t even sure I should go?”

Rosa shrugged, then replied, “I did not do it, Andi, this morning Señor Chad asked if I would come.”

“And you said yes?” I inquired, though I knew the answer.

Mitch grinned as he boosted Rosa onto Pal’s back, “Clearly,” he began, “or else she wouldn’t be here.”

And we were off. We traveled hard the first day, even though I protested. I didn’t want to overwork Taffy, because of her foal. But later we stopped to make camp for the night. Early the next morning, we set off again, this time more slowly than before. Although I said nothing, I felt like someone was watching us the entire day. That night, we camped by the creek, where, earlier that summer, Cory and I had taught Jenny to pan for gold. I laughed at the memory. Jenny had gotten really frustrated and pitched her pan clear across the stream.

After supper, I told Rosa the story, but her reaction was quite different from Chad’s when he had heard.

“How did you get the pan back?” Rosa wanted to know, “is it still there now?”

“No, silly,” I laughed, “she just went after it!” Then I had an idea, “Rosa, I brought my pan, tomorrow I could teach you how to do it.”

“Si,” Rosa replied, “that might be fun.” So, the next morning we woke first. Careful not to wake my brothers, I fetched my pan from the packs, and we waded into the creek.

“It’s cold!” Rosa exclaimed, and I agreed. It was freezing. But I convinced her that it would be well worth it once we found some gold. But we didn’t.

“I do not think that this is a good idea,” Rosa said after a while. “We have not found anything, and I cannot even feel my feet anymore.”

She was right, as usual, but I wasn’t ready to give up yet. “Just another minute, Rosa. I know there’s gold here. Please.”

Rosa opened her mouth, probably to protest, but Chad beat her to it. “Not so fast little sister,” he said, “Rosa’s right. The water is cold, and Mother will never forgive me if you girls get sick. You’re getting out, and we’re getting on the road.” We scrambled to obey.

Soon we were on the road again, and everyone was in a better mood. But that all changed the next evening, when we reached a rocky point next to the creek. No one was smiling now.

I thought about what had happened at this very spot earlier that summer, how Mitch had left Cory, Jenny, and I at these rocks while he went to ask the owner of the nearby cabin if we could spend the night at the creek. But the owner turned out to be a bank robber, and he shot Mitch in the leg.

So, my brothers approached the cabin cautiously, guns drawn. After an agonizing five minutes during which nothing happened, they returned and told us that cabin was safe to stay in. Still, I was nervous as we walked into the small, one-room building. Soon, however, I saw that my fears amounted to nothing.

The next morning, we got out of there as soon as possible. A few days later we finally reached the logging camp. It was beautiful. Trees lay in massive stacks, waiting to be sawed small and sent down the flume.

The flume! It was a wonder all its own. A huge wooden structure full of flowing water designed to carry logs down to the sawmill in the valley.

While the boys were investigating the logging process, I wandered over to the flume to get a closer look, Rosa following close behind. The water flowed fast, which made us feel dizzy, so we sat down on a wooden bench nearby. A little bluebird fluttered down and perched on the edge, so I stood and moved closer to watch.

“Be careful, Andi!” Rosa cautioned, “you might fall in.” I knew she was right, but I wanted to watch the bird, and I knew I would be careful.

“I won’t fall, Rosa,” I said quickly, and I knew she wouldn’t challenge me. However close we were, she could never forget that she was a servant. So kept quiet. “Come over here,” I offered as I ran my hand through the cool water, “the water feels nice.” I splashed some of it on my face. It was nice. But Rosa didn’t think so.

“No,” she replied firmly, “I will stay here. That way, when you fall in and drown, there will be someone to tell your brothers what happened.” Her face was set, and I knew she wasn’t budging.

I scowled, “Suit yourself,” and went back to bird watching. After a few minutes, the bluebird flew away, and Rosa smiled.

“Now you will come back?” She said hopefully, then frowned as I shook my head.

“Not yet,” I begged, “please, come here, it’s so cool and nice.” She didn’t see that my hand, which was behind my back, was full of water.

After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded and walked over to me. As soon as she was near enough, I splashed the water from my hand onto her face, grinning. She shrieked and whirled on me as the water dripped down her blouse. Then she laughed and splashed me back, and soon we were both wet all over. Laughing, I leaned back against the flume, and she simply plopped down on the ground to rest. I heard footsteps coming up behind us, and turned around, smiling.

“Howdy, Mitch!” I called, waving. He waved back, grinning.

“Howdy!” he replied, then smirked, “what happened here? What did I miss?”

I glanced at Rosa, who shrugged and, to my surprise, answered first; “We got wet. I think Andi started the water battle.”

Mitch laughed, “A water battle! I’ve never heard of that.”

I laughed too, “Well, now you’ve seen the aftermath of one!”

 Mitch started to speak but stopped. His eyes grew wide, and he shouted, “Duck!”

“What?” I asked looking around. No duck in sight.

“Now!” He yelled, and only then did I realize that he was telling me to duck. Later he told me it actually was a duck that came hurtling towards my head. It struck my shoulder as I turned, knocking me into the fast-flowing flume!

The last thing I saw as I was swept downstream, was Rosa running towards the woods, screaming at the top of her lungs, “Señor Chad! Señor Chad!”

The flume carried me far down the mountain, my cries for help drowned out by the sound of rushing water. Pretty soon I would be drowned too if I didn’t escape.

About ten minutes later, I saw a large building up ahead. It was surrounded by logs, ready to be shipped down the river to the mill. At first, I was overjoyed to see someone who could help me, but then I realized what they were doing, and my joy turned to terror.

A very short flume came out of the building and connected with mine. Logs were being shoved down into the short flume and were coming straight towards me! I tried to pull myself against the wall, but I was moving too quickly to get a good grip, and I only had a few seconds before the logs, with their greater weight, caught up to me. I had to think fast. Problem was, thinking was never my strong suit.

I was too far now for the men at the building to hear me, so I’d better save my energy for keeping my head above water and getting out of the way of the logs. Which was difficult because they were nearly on me. I tried once again to flatten myself against the wall, but the water pushed me under, and barely had time to snag a breath. I came up again seconds later and saw that one log had gone over me while I was under. This gave me an idea.

As the next log drew nearer, I sucked in a breath, and then forced myself under the water. Above my head, the wood floated slowly over my head. I held my breath as long as I dared, then shot back to the surface. As gasped for breath, I saw that only one log remained. One massive log. It blocked nearly the entire flume, leaving only a small space underneath for me. I would have to flatten myself against the bottom of the flume and hold kick to stay in place. So, I dove under and forced myself to the bottom. I lay there for what seemed like an eternity, until the log had passed. Then I kicked my way up to the surface. I turned as the water carried me along once more, this time behind the logs. I reached out and grabbed the large one that had nearly killed me and clung to it for dear life. I saw that the walls were much higher than before, and I wondered why. I also noticed that the wood was barely moving along.

This would be a very good time to climb on top of that log. I thought. And that is why I’m still alive.

I clambered up onto the log and tried to stand. Bad idea. I lurched sideways into the wall and quickly sat down. A few minutes later I realized that I was moving. Fast. There was also a strange rumbling noise. At first, I thought it was simply my stomach, because I was starving. But as the noise grew louder, I began to feel very uncomfortable. Finally, I looked back and was horrified to discover that a massive wave of water was rushing towards me!

I started kicking my legs to try and move the log I was riding faster, and then realized how dumb this was. It already was moving faster, and not on my part! So, I focused all my attention on keeping my balance on the wildly rocking log, because even I knew that If I fell, I would drown. I also tried to remember what Jenny had told me about being trapped underwater. Don’t fight back, you’ll just waste breath. Let the water carry you along. How I wished she were here! She lived in the wooded backcountry, so she’d know how to get out of this fix. But I’d have to do it myself. 

Soon, however, I realized that alone, I had no chance of survival. Unless, of course, I managed to climb out of the flume. Which I couldn’t do. I needed a rescue. But I worried that, if it ever came, it would be too late. So I panicked.

“Help!” I shouted, waving my arms above my head, “can anybody hear me? Help! I’m in the flume!” When that didn’t work, I tried to grab the wall to pull myself up, but in doing so lost my balance on the log and fell into the wildly rushing water! In moments I was swept underneath the log and pinned against the wall.

Jenny had told me to let the water carry me, but the water wasn’t carrying me anywhere! Unable to breathe, I started kicking my way to the surface, fighting against the current. Finally, I was loose. I shot to the surface gasping for breath, then floated along past Fresno Flats.

I felt strong arms gripping me, hauling me to safety. Justin shook my shoulder gently, saying, “I think that’s the last time you’ll ever be playing by a flume.”

It was.