The Ranch, the Gold, and the Way

 by Allyson and Sara

Photo Prompt #7 Mystery Ranch Hand

              It was an early afternoon at Circle C Ranch when a strange man came up to Chad and Mitch asking for a job, “Hey, are ya two the bosses here?” he asked in a gruff voice,

“Yes. We own this place.” answered Chad wearly, he was a bit suspicious of this stranger. 

“Cool, ya looking for workers?” the man asked

“May I speak with my brother for a minute.” said Chad, question and statement all at once, pulling Mitch aside, “Mitch, should we hire him? I don’t like the looks of him but we do need extra workers.” Chad said in a whisper.  

“I don’t know, we could just keep a close eye on him, have him work around our hands that we know well.” suggested Mitch

“Okay, we shall do that, thanks, Mitch,” said Chad, they walked back over to the man,

“Have you decided? If this makes ya feel any better I have ranch experience.” the man said, watching them

“Uh, yeah, we would like to hire you. When would you start? I’m Chad by the way.” Chad said

“Now and the name is Philip Parker,”

“Okay, great. Come, I’ll show you where you will be staying and were you can put your stuff.” said Mitch

“I don’t have any ‘stuff’, ” the man said, following Mitch to the bunkhouse.  

Mitch frowned but didn’t say anything. Chad followed them over and they talked over the man’s wages.  

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

 

When Chad and Mitch left, Philip pulled out an old map, “I sure was lucky that I found it when I did.”  He stuffed the map back in his jacket, and pulled out the letter from his Mom, telling him how everything was going at home, and it wasn’t going good, his dad got hurt during his job, and lost his job, and his family -his mother, father, and 4 younger siblings were going hungry.

Philip sighed, he would be working his job and at the same time trying to figure out the map. He went outside to find out what to do. He found some men working outside near the bunkhouse, “Hey? Who's the boss here?” he asked,

“That would be Chad.” one said

“Okay, where do I find Chad?” Philp asked

“Somewhere.” he answered

They weren't very helpful, Philip thought and went hunting for his new boss, Chad. He spotted them going into the barn, “Hey, Chad!” he called, jogging toward him.

“Howdy, are you ready to start?” he asked, tacking up a horse.

“I sure am, where do I start?” 

“Come with me and I’ll show you the area then you can join some other hands,” Chad said

“They sure weren't very helpful,” Philip mumbled under his breath,

“What did you say” asked Chad, eyeing him,

“Nothing,” Philip said nervously, thinking I better watch myself and what I say, that's for sure!

“Come along,” Chad said and got him a horse to tack up, Chad handed the tack to him, “tack the horse up and be ready in a few minutes.”

Philip panicked, he didn’t know a thing about tacking up horses! He quickly looked over Chad’s horse. This shouldn't be too hard, he thought.

He picked up the saddle and tightened it up, he put the halter on too. When he finished he led the horse out of the barn, “Philip? Are you going to be riding the horse like that?” Chad asked, giving him a confused look,

“Yeah, I tacked him up as you said,” answered Philip,

“Well… you got the saddle on backwards….” Chad said.  

“Well, I know, but it’s always just a little joke I do on each ranch I start working on.  Just want to see if the boss knows about ranchin’.”, Philip replied nervously laughing but he was thinking, what! I can’t believe I got the saddle on backwards! Oh no, I’m in for it.  

Chad’s face didn’t even crack a smile, “On the Circle C, Philip, we don’t do jokes on valuable work time. And this here boss knows about ranching better than any other ranch boss around here.  And another thing, I learned to tack up a horse when I was three, my youngest sister at age four. Now tack up that horse right, Philip!”, Chad commanded.  

A ranch hand, Oliver, came out of the barn then with a saddled horse.  

“Oh, never mind.”, Chad said, “Oliver, would you mind letting Philip here use your horse and you tack his up right?” 

“Sure, boss!'' Oliver said, handing the reins to Chad.  

“Thank you!”, Chad replied, and handed the reins to Philip.  

“Yeah, thanks.”, Philip nodded at Oliver, and handed his horse’s reins to Oliver.    

That was close! Philip thought inwardly, sighing with relief.  

“Now, mount up, Philip.  We don’t have all day.”, Chad said, already on his horse.  

“What?!?”, Philip exclaimed.  “I-I-I-I mean what, sir?”, Philip stamered.  

“Mount up.” 

“Yes, sir.”, Philip said, not knowing what he was going to do. “Do you mean, um, get on his back?”

“Yeah, what else?” Chad had a funny look on his face,

“Oh, okay.” Philip led his horse over to the fence, he was going to use the fence to climb on the horse. 

“Where in the world do you think you are going?” asked Chad.  

“I’m gonna mount the horse like you said,” answered Philip, not seeing Chad’s look, he stepped on the fence and sat heavily on the saddle. 

“If you have worked on a ranch before you shouldn't need a fence or something to get on the horse.” Chad stated. 

“Oh, that.” 

“Aren’t you going to answer?” Chad demanded

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Philip said 

“Wh-” Chad was flustered, this ranch hand was definitely different! “Whatever.” he said and galloped off, Philip followed. 

As they rode along Chad thought I wonder who this Philip really is, for him saying he has ranch experience he sure didn’t know much, maybe none at all! Philip’s voice broke into his thoughts “Hey, boss, is that what I call you?”

Chad nodded,

“I thought so, where are we going? This green goes on for so long!” Philip exclaimed,  

Chad was even more puzzled, only people who didn’t know anything about ranches called fields or pastures greens. “The pasture goes till it reaches the woods. It’s coming up here soon,” Chad said  “So, where did you learn about ranching?” he added,

For a minute Philip was confused, “Oh, yeah, I learned a couple months back where I used to live.” 

“Where did you use to live?” asked Chad

Philip was quiet, no way he was going to tell him! “Answer.” Chad demanded,

“No, thanks.” Philip said a politely as he could, 

Chad frowned and galloped his horse ahead again, what kind of ranch hand wouldn’t answer his questions? He was a rather rude one, Chad thought, Well, we do need extra ranch hands so I’ll keep him on for now, besides, I can’t fire him just a few hours after I hired him. 

“I know what you are thinking,” Philip said, “It’s part of my past  and I don’t like talking about it,” which was true, Philip didn’t like talking about his past or his family.

Chad softened a bit, “Okay, I understand.” he said as they rode along. Chad spotted a  bit of broken fence, “Fix that, Philip.” he said and halted his horse, Philip was really worried, he had no idea how these wires went together, much less that to fix them! Chad was watching him, “Think you can?” he asked,

Philip jumped, he was so deep in his thoughts he forgot where he was for a minute. “The fence? Oh, yeah, sure.” he said and looked it over, it was wire fence, this should be a simple fix he thought as he gingerly picked up the broken wire and was about to string it together when Chad said “Philip? Don’t you want a pair of gloves?” 

“Gloves? Yeah! That would be good.” he said

Chad tried to keep a straight face, what kind of experienced ranch hand didn’t use gloves handling barb wire fence? “Here you go, you can keep them in your saddle bags.”

“Thanks,” Philip did his best stinging the wire back together and mounting his horse, he made it this time without something to step on. He held the gloves in his hand and held the reins with the other.  

“You can put the gloves in the saddle bags.” Chad said, frowning.

“The saddle bags?” Philip asked, he had no idea what that was, the saddle had bags? What?

“Yeah, the saddle bags.” Chad patted his.   

“Oh! Those.” Philip quickly slid the gloves in and nudged the horse into a lope. 

Oh brother! Thought Chad as he and Philip galloped off.  

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

 

“How’s the new ranch hand doing, Chad?” Mitch asked at dinner.  

“Not too well I’m afraid.”, Chad answered and then burst into laughter.  

“What’s so funny, Chad?”, Andi asked.  

“Well, little sister, you’ll never believe what my day was like.  Philip, the new ranch hand says he has ranching experience, but he doesn’t know how to saddle a horse, he put the saddle on backwards, one time he used a fence to mount the horse, called the pastures greens, wasn’t going to use gloves to fix a barbed wire fence, didn’t know what saddle bags were, and when I told him to water his horse when we came back to the barn he literally watered his horse!!  He dumped a whole bucket of water on it!  He tried to joke and excuse everything off, but I don’t think he has any experience whatsoever!”, Chad explained.  

“I suggest keeping him on for a few more days and see how it goes, if he keeps doing that you can send him away, just be kind,” Elizabeth advised her son.  

“Yeah, Chad, I agree with Mother.  The more you pay him the more money you lose.”, Melinda said.  

“Yeah, you both are right.  Probably first day jitters.”, Chad replied.  

Justin, the eldest Carter child, had said nothing until he asked, “He dumped a whole bucket of water, you say?” 

Chad nodded, and the whole Carter family erupted into laughter.  

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

 

“Hey, Chad, can I talk to you for a minute?”, Sid asked as Chad stepped out of the house after breakfast.    

“Sure, Sid!”, Chad said, “What’s up?” 

“That new fellow, Philip, is supposed to be working with me today right?”

“Yes.” 

“Well, nobody can find him, and last night Oliver said that after everyone had dinner Philip disappeared and that he didn’t come back till one o’clock in the morning or so, and that he and his clothes looked really dirty.  And when I went to go and get him from the bunkhouse, because he never showed up to breakfast he wasn’t there.  He’s gone again.” 

“Hmmm, we’ll have to keep a watch on him…once we find him that is.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I want you, me and Oliver to watch him every minute of every day while he’s here.” 

“Yes, boss.”, Sid said as he headed off to the barn.  

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Chad was checking the fences when he saw a lone rider, he looked closer, it was Philip Parker! He spurred his horse into a gallop, “Philip Parker!” he yelled as he got closer. He saw Philip’s eyes widen as he sighed and closed his eyes. Chad slowed down, what was the matter with Philip?

Philip opened his eyes when Chad reached him. “I’m sorry, I know I should have said something but I didn’t have time. I understand if you fire me right now,” Philip said after dismounting his horse. 

Chad had never heard someone sound so dejected, Philip looked worn out and exhausted. Philip leaned against a tree. “Philip?” Chad asked, 

Philip shook his head, “Sorry, I’m just tired, I had a long night.” he had indeed, Philip did not get any sleep because he had left for town, asking around if anyone had heard of a gold cave on the Circle C land.  No one knew anything so Philip took his map and hunted for it. He had found a cave where it should be but there wasn’t much gold. Philip needed it badly for his family but if he couldn't find much he had to keep this job.

He looked up, his boss was glaring at him. “You know, Philip? I gotta question you but we don’t have time. Get back to the ranch and you are working under Sid today. I’ll meet you there.” Chad spun his horse around and loped to Circle C. Philip followed closely behind, he was relieved that Chad didn’t question him, but his relief was short lived,  “Since we are riding so close to each other tell me where you were last night.” 

Philip hesitated, “Boss, I’m only telling you this, because well, it’s gonna come out sooner or later.  But can we stop riding while I talk?” 

“Sure.” Chad said, not really sure how to act.  

After they both dismounted they sat under a tree.  Philip told his story, 

“My family, well there are a lot of mouths to feed, I’m the eldest of four kids.  My father got hurt and lost his job.  My mother takes in sewing and laundry and I sell newspapers, but well it’s not enough. We were going hungry.  A man sold me a map that said, “It leads to a gold mine on Circle C Ranch in CA.”  I know it was a long shot, I don’t even know the guy, but we were desperate.  So I headed out here.  Turns out the guy was right.  See?” Philip tossed a small bag of gold out of his pocket to Chad.  “I don’t have any ranch experience.  I wasn’t going to tell you about the mine.  You can have that gold, just please, mister, don’t tell the authorities and I’ll be on my way.”

“I could do that, but I can do something better than that.”, Chad replied.  

“Oh?” Philip was nervous,

“Yeah, you take that gold you found.  Cash it in and send it to your family.  You come back from town, and like you said you don’t have any ranch experience, but I think you are a better gold miner so, you help us mine, and your family will be taken care of until your father can heal up and find a job.  And if you’d like, I can also help you get some ranching experience.” 

“Really, Mr Carter?”, Philip asked as both men stood up.  

Chad nodded his head.  

“Nobody has ever been that kind to me before.  I really don’t know how to thank you, sir!”, Philip exclaimed.  

“It’s the Christian way, Philip.” 

“‘Christian way’? What’s that?”  

“You come back to the ranch and I’ll tell you all about it.”, Chad told him as they mounted up.  

“I’d like that.  You’ve got something special and I’d like me and my family to have that “way” of yours”, Philip said as he and Chad galloped off.