Dixie

By K. K.

Summer 1881, San Joaquin Valley

13-year-old Andrea Carter peeked outside the barn at the sound of approaching hoofbeats. Justin was in San Francisco on business. She didn’t think Mother and Melinda would be home from town so soon, and it didn’t sound like the buggy. Chad, Mitch and the cowhands were out checking cows, and were not expected home until later.

So who could it be?

As the rider neared, she could make out the face. “Ohhhh no.” Andi moaned.

As Johnny Wilson rode closer she could see the evil smirk on his face. “Howdy Andi.” He gave her a friendly wave. Too friendly.

“Howdy,” She replied suspiciously, “What brings you this way?”

“Oh, I was just passing by. Thought I might stop in and see if you wanted to go for a little ride. How about it?” Johnny asked, dismounting.

“Why are you really here?” Andi countered, eyeing him skeptically.

“Andi, Andi, Andi, can’t you trust me? Well fine then. I didn’t want to tell you, but I guess you need some convincing.”

Convincing? Andi raised a brow at the young bully.

“I am surprised you haven’t noticed my new horse.”

I did notice, I’m just not going to give you the satisfaction of knowing it, she thought.

“He’s the fastest horse in Fresno,” Johnny continued, ignoring Andi’s annoyed expression, “Why, maybe even the fastest horse in all of California! In fact,”

He lowered his voice as he towered over Andi, “He might even be faster than Taffy. I just wanted to give you the opportunity to try to beat the fastest horse Fresno has ever seen.”

Andi knew he was just trying to ruffle her feathers, but how could she resist?

***

“Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t want your pride to get hurt when you lose.” Andi taunted after she had saddled Taffy and mounted.

“Ha! Andi, if anyone gets their pride hurt, it’ll be you, Ms. Carter.” Johnny tipped his hat mockingly as he settled himself into his own saddle.

“Just pick the spot, Johnny.” She spat out his name.

“How about to there?” he pointed to the creek, “We can go to that tree, the one that got its bark stripped off.”

That’s close to my special spot, Andi thought. “I don’t know, Johnny.”

“You said to pick the spot so I did. If you don’t like it then you don’t have to race.”

He’s not going to back down, but at least I can try. “But Johnny--”

“Go!” The boy shouted as his horse leaped ahead.

Cheater! Andi almost yelled, but it wouldn’t do any good. She clamped her mouth shut instead. She soon realized that Johnny was leading her almost straight to her special spot. Great. Just great.

Just as they passed the tree Johnny wheeled his horse around so fast he nearly bumped Andi’s mount.

“Johnny Wilson, what in tarnation do you think you’re doing?” The two kids stared at each other for a few silent seconds, until a giddy grin spread across Johnny’s face.

“I can’t believe it! I beat the world famous Andi Carter in a race! Wait until pa hears about this!”

“Johnny, be quiet.”

“Aww, Andi, don’t be a sore loser.”

“No really, be quiet!” The girl insisted, “I think I heard something. It sounded like a calf.”

Andi followed where she thought the sound had come from. She went right to her special spot, and what she saw, surprised her greatly.

“What is this doing out here?” he questioned, pointing to the adorable Angus calf curled up in a little ball.

“I have no idea. The Circle C doesn’t even own any black Angus cattle. Or any kind of Angus for that matter,” Andi shrugged, crouching down by the little animal, “Regardless, we had better take her back to the barn. She doesn’t look like she’s in very good health. It’s most likely an orphan. No cow would let her calf get in this bad of shape.” Andi felt inside her mouth, “It’s pretty cool in there, most likely dehydrated.”

“Huh,” Johnny tried to sound like he didn’t care, but Andi could hear the compassion in his voice. His own mother had died when he was young, and it took a toll on the whole family. He had nearly starved himself to death at one point.

Maybe that’s why Johnny acts the way he does. Maybe he’s trying to harden himself to the pain around him. She considered the idea, but quickly pushed the thought away to focus on the task at hand.

“I had better get back to town. Pa’s probably wondering where I went.” Johnny turned his horse toward town, “See ya, Andi.” And with that he rode off, into the horizon.

Just like Johnny, leaving when the work starts. Andi heaved under the weight of the calf. She stumbled, nearly dropping the delicate animal several times.

After many valiant efforts, Andi finally shoved the Angus to her mount’s back. As she turned her Palomino towards the ranch house, the girl tried to think of a possible owner for the calf. She soon gave up not being able to name anyone. As she entered the ranch yard, she could see that still no one was home.

Perfect, She thought sarcastically, No one to help me get this load off my horse. Several minutes passed before Andi got the baby animal off of Taffy.

“Well girl, looks like you’re going to have some company tonight,” She stroked her horse’s creamy white mane after settling the calf into the Palomino’s stall. “What should I name her? Hmm… I think Dixie fits pretty good, don’t you Taffy?” The mare nickered as if in agreement. “Good then, Dixie it is.”

***

“I’m sorry, Andi,” Chad said after examining Dixie that evening, “I just don’t think there is much of a chance she’s going to make it. I got some milk down her, but with how you said she didn’t even put up a fuss when you got her on Taffy, she must have really been out of it. She’s just in plain bad shape. Seeing how she doesn’t have a brand, we might as well just keep her until she dies.”

“Chad, do you really think Dixie is going to die?” Andi’s blue eyes blurred with tears. She hated seeing animals die.

“I can’t tell you for sure, but I’m doubtful she’ll live. Dixie is just too far gone. But just to make sure she isn’t being missed by anyone, I’ll check the other ranches around here to make sure they haven’t lost a heifer calf. If they could get Dixie back with her mother, there would be a better chance that she could live.”

“I could be her mother, Chad!” Andi eyes sparkled with anticipation as her plan unfolded itself, “I could bottle raise her! And I could nurse Dixie back to health. I could even stay the night out here to make sure she stays warm!”

“Andi, even if you would, it still probably wouldn’t be enough. Nobody can give Dixie the care of a mother, except her own mother. All we can do is our best. And try to make her as comfortable as possible.”

Chad laid a gentle hand on his youngest sister’s shoulder, and gazed deep into her crystal eyes. “I’m sorry Andi, I really am, there just isn’t anything we can do. Let’s go, Nila is keeping dinner warm for us. Maybe some food will make you feel better.”

“I’m not hungry,” She mumbled, suddenly exhausted.

“Go ahead and run on to bed. I’m sure mother won’t mind.”

Once Andi got in bed, though as exhausted as she was, she couldn’t sleep. She hopelessly tossed and turned, imagining the helpless baby calf out there dying.

She must have dozed off, because when she opened her eyes the next morning, sunlight wafted in through her window. Drowsily, she forced herself out of her comfortable bed.

Oh goodness! It must be 7:30!

Rummaging around, she found a sky blue button down, and her old, faded overalls.

“Hello Ms. Andrea!” Nila, the cook, greeted her young mistress as she sunk into a chair at the dining table. “Your mother said to let you sleep in. She and your sister are out in the barn with the calf you found. As of 7:00 the poor little thing was still alive. Hurry and eat so you can get out to the barn with them.”

The Mexican hurriedly set a plate of pancakes and sausage in front of Andi. After quickly devouring them with a nice amount of syrup, and draining her glass of cold milk, Andi hurried outside. Who knew how long it would be until Dixie died? Andi wanted to spend as much time with the precious calf as possible.

“Mother?” The girl called, entering the dusty barn.

“Back here, Andrea,” She heard the response. By the time she reached the back of the barn, her eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting of the building. They had moved Dixie from Taffy’s stall to the tack room. Chad had figured that it would be best.

“Taffy is so much bigger than Dixie,” He had said, “Even if she was being gentle, she still could seriously hurt her.”

It had taken some convincing, but Andi had finally agreed.

“How is she, Mother?”

“Not much better than last night, I am afraid,” The woman sighed sorrowfully, “Andrea, I don’t know how else to put it, so I will just say it as it is. Dixie is not going to make it. I will be surprised if she lives until noon. I’m so sorry,” Elizabeth wrapped her daughter in a hug, “Why don’t you spend the morning out here. I will ask Mitch to do your morning chores.”

“Thank you, Mother.”

Mother and Melinda had barely walked out of sight when sobs of anguish started to wrack her body. When she eventually calmed down, she knelt down by the delicate calf. Minutes passed like hours as she gently stroked the coal black hide.

“Andi, wake up,” Mitch’s gentle voices drifted into her dreams as he shook her awake. Startled she jolted up.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” She looked to her side where the heifer calf had been laid, “Where is Dixie?” The girl peeked into her brother’s downcast eyes.

“She didn’t… Did she…” Andi’s voice quavered as she tried to ask the question that haunted her.

“I’m so sorry. There was nothing any of us could do. Chad went to bury her. It’s about lunch time. Why don’t you go get ready to eat.” Her youngest brother smothered her in a caring hug, then sent her to the house. When she got to her room, she flopped on her bed and let the tears come.

She had owned Dixie less than twenty-four hours, but it still hurt. There was something special about that animal, although Andi didn’t know what. It didn’t matter anyway. She was gone, that was that.

***

“Andi? Where are you?”

She heard the familiar yell. She stopped grooming Taffy, put the brush away, and exited the barn. “Here, Johnny.” For some reason, she didn’t care that he was there. She didn’t even ask what he was doing away from his home at 5:30pm.

“Hey! Where is everybody? And where is that calf we found yesterday?”

“Mother and Melinda went to town again, Melinda said she didn’t get all her shopping done. I think she just didn’t want to be around me when I was grumpy. The ranch hands along with Chad and Mitch are out checking cows. The calf died this morning. Chad buried it.”

“Oh, I-I’m sorry.”

“What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry.”

Is Johnny… Is Johnny actually being kind of nice?

It shocked her even more when he gave her a quick stiff hug. If you could call it that. It was more of a close pat on the back.

I guess I should probably be polite back to him.

“Come on into the house. It’s too hot out here to visit.” She let her guest to the front door. But before she could open it, a couple of the horses started to whinny. Andi turned and thought she saw somebody dash inside the barn.

“Come on,” She whispered to Johnny. Andi quietly let him toward the big barn.

“I don’t think anyone is in here,” The boy whispered as the two entered the barn. Andi motioned for silence. She pointed up.

“The loft.”

Slowly they climbed the ladder. When they reached the top Andi spotted a dirty foot sticking out from behind a square bale. She and Johnny each sneaked around a different side of the bale.

“Gotcha!” They each grabbed an arm of the burglar. Andi’s eyes widened at the pleading face looking at her.

“...Sadie? Sadie Hollister?”

“What in the blue blazes are you doing here?” Johnny’s eyes bored into her.

“Let me go,” Sadie’s expression turned hard, “Let me go, and I’ll tell you.”

“Let her go, Johnny. I trust her not to run away.”

“Fine,” The boy tossed her away from himself.

“I’m waiting,” Andi settled herself down on a bale.

“First of all, did you find that calf at your special spot?”

“Yes,” Andi raised a brow.

“Where is it?”

“She died earlier today.”

“Oh. Well, I guess I might as well get to the point. I put her there. Remember old Mr. Alcorson? He died a week ago. Zeke and I went to his place and found a cow giving birth. We helped her best we could, but it wasn’t enough. She died.”

Sadie stared at her muddy feet, “We tried taking care of the calf, but it was getting really sick, and we couldn’t keep it hidden from pa very long. So I put it there. I knew you could take care of it, so I left her where I knew you would find her. I didn’t think she would die, but I guess I was wrong. That’s all there is to it.”

“Wow. I don’t know what to say. Thank you,” Andi gave Sadie’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Yes, thank you, very much.”

Andi was startled by the tone in Johnny’s voice, and for a minute their eyes met. She smiled, Johnny was truly being genuinely kind. Even if it was only for a time, Andi knew she would remember it for the rest of her life. How a little calf, a little kindness, and a little friendship could change a person’s life.

***

That night Andi told her family Sadie’s story. She told Justin the same thing the next day when he arrived home. They believed her, and the matter passed.

Johnny and Andi never became close friends, but after that things went easier between them. They enjoyed going riding together, and Andi started beating Johnny’s new horse in several more races.

Andi never forgot that little calf, the one she called Dixie.