Free Roads Less Traveled by C. Dulaney Page B

It was probably unnecessary; the field they were in stretched the length of the mountain ridge and was only accessible by the gate. The backside was nothing but a steep, rocky slope even a living human couldn’t scale. Regardless, I knew I would feel better having them close. All four of them were well trained and broken to ride. If worse came to worse, I could escape with them.
    We had walked so far that the house was out of sight by the time I saw my oldest mare. Gus was bouncing like a rabbit over patches of high grass and was oblivious to her presence. She lifted her head as I approached and came to greet me.
    “Hey Daisy, long time huh?” I said as I stroked her forehead. She nudged me with her nose and closed her eyes, loving the attention. I took a few more steps, Daisy following close behind, until I finally saw the others, who had already winded me and started in my direction. I waited until they were close enough to keep up, then started back to the house. I whistled for Gus, who proceeded to turn tail when he saw the giant beasts and booked it back to the gate.
    Daisy nudged me again in the back as we walked, her way of telling me I was crazy for walking when I could ride just as easily. So I grabbed a handful of mane and climbed on. The old girl strode ahead while the other mares followed. I slid my rifle sling onto my shoulder, hooked a thumb into the strap, and took in my surroundings. I remember thinking it was a perfect afternoon; the weather was clear and crisp, my dog was up ahead and it was just me and my horse. Quiet, calm, peaceful. I also remember wondering, how long will it last ?
     
    * * *
     
    I ended up riding around in the field for the majority of the day. Gus watched from a safe distance: the other side of the gate. I checked my watch, saw it was suppertime, and hopped off Daisy. I led her by the halter out the gate and to the barn. I didn’t worry about the other three mares; as long as Daisy was there, they would follow her no matter what. After swinging the big front door back, I went straight to Daisy’s stall and opened the door, then moved down the line and opened the others. One by one they lumbered inside, taking their good old time. I went through and fastened all the doors, said goodnight, and left. Gus was waiting for me on the porch as I secured the outer barn door and ran over to shut the gate.
    “Alright, alright already, I’m coming you big chicken.” I smacked him lightly on the behind as he walked ahead of me around to the front door. The porch was what I called a partial wraparound: it started on the garage side of the house next to the door and spanned the entire front of the house, then stopped just around the corner, before the first window on that side. The steps on that far side were closest to the barn, and the steps on the door side were closest to the sidewalk and garage.
    Since I wasn’t hungry yet and was really starting to dread another evening of glorious nothingness, I decided to sit on the front porch until dark. Gus grunted and plopped down beside me, annoyed at being outside when he thought he should be inside eating. I noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Chipmunk had decided to call it a day as well. After swinging back and forth for a while, I pulled the phone from my jacket pocket and called Ben. Immediately the operator came on and said in her lovely electronic voice the number couldn’t be completed as dialed. I stared at it for a minute and thought I had dialed the wrong number. So I tried again. Same message.
    “Shit,” I muttered and jumped up from the swing. It kicked back and hit the house with a thud, causing Gus to wake up with a snort and a bark. “Oh be quiet,” I hissed and hurried into the house. I was just inside the door before remembering my rifle, so I turned, almost fell over the hungry dog that was fighting around my legs to get inside, and stomped back to retrieve it. I glanced around the yard (something that had quickly become a