Free The Ninth Nugget by Ron Roy Page A

A sign hanging over the gate said WHEAT RANCH.
    Straight ahead was a red barn and corral. To the left, Dink saw a large white house. Behind it was a pond surrounded by trees and cabins. Ducks and chickens pecked in the grass bordering the driveway.
    “This is so beautiful!” Ruth Rose said. “Can I feed the chickens?”
    “Sure can, missy,” Jud said. He stopped in front of the house.
    On the porch sat a man and a woman in two wooden rocking chairs. The man had white hair and looked like an older version of Jud. The woman had black hair turning gray. They both wore boots, jeans, and flannel shirts.Their tanned faces were covered with smile wrinkles.
    “Those are my folks,” Jud said. “Everyone calls ’em Ma and Pa.”
    Jud’s parents hurried down the porch steps. “Welcome to Wheat Ranch!” Ma Wheat said. “You must be Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose.”
    “Howdy!” said Pa Wheat.
    Just then the screen door banged open. A stout woman wearing a backwards baseball cap strode onto the porch. Over her jeans and western shirt, she wore a long white apron.
    “And that’s Lulu, the best cook in Montana,” Jud said as he dumped the kids’ backpacks onto the porch.
    Lulu smiled at the kids. “They feed you anything on the plane?” she asked.
    “Just peanuts,” Josh said. “I’m starving!”
    “Supper will be ready in fifteenminutes. Listen for the bell,” Lulu said, pointing at an iron triangle hanging from the porch roof.

    “I’ll take you to your cabin,” a deep voice said.
    Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose whipped around. A man had walked up behind them. Wild hair poked out from undera sweat-stained cowboy hat. His skin looked like wrinkled leather.
    “I’m Thumbs,” the man said. As he reached for the kids’ backpacks, Dink saw that one of the man’s thumbs was missing.

The kids followed Thumbs down to a narrow path lined with stones. The path led to three small cabins. Behind the cabins, the sun sparkled off the pond.
    Dink noticed other cabins farther along the path. “Who’s in those?” he asked.
    “They’re all empty ’cept one,” Thumbs grumbled. He stopped in front of the middle cabin.
    “This here’s yours. There’s a lady in that one,” Thumbs said, nodding at thecabin to their right. “Some New York feller in the other. Married couple got one of those across the pond.”
    They were log cabins with chimneys and narrow front porches. There were windows on the sides and in front, where they framed the door.
    “Ma Wheat’ll give you extra blankets if it turns cold,” Thumbs said, clumping up the steps with the backpacks. “You’ll find towels in the bathroom.”
    He nodded at the kids, then clumped off the porch and headed back along the path.
    “That guy creeps me out,” Josh said. “What do you think happened to his thumb?”
    “Maybe a bear bit it off,” Dink said, winking at Ruth Rose.
    “Could’ve been a mountain lion,” Ruth Rose added, trying not to laugh.
    Josh snorted. “Don’t try to scareme,” he said. “There’s nothing out here but chickens and ducks.”
    The kids carried their packs into the cabin. A set of bunk beds stood against the far wall, and a single bed was opposite the bunks.
    A stone fireplace nestled between the bunk beds and a small bathroom. The only other furnishings were a braided rug, a few chairs, and a table.
    “I want to live here forever!” Ruth Rose said. She tossed her backpack on the single bed and looked out her window at the barn.
    “I’ve got upper,” Josh said, slinging his pack onto the top bunk.
    Dink set his pack on the bunk beneath it as a loud clanging came from the main house.
    “Food at last!” Josh said. They ran out of the cabin, nearly colliding with a skinny, bearded man.
    “Whoa,” the man said, smiling. “Noneed to rush. There’s plenty of food. You must be the newcomers.”
    “We just got here,” Dink said.
    “I’m Ed Getz,” the man said. “I came in yesterday from New York.” He wiggled his fingers