Silver Saddle Ranch

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Christa Tudor woke up crying. Why did she keep having dreams about the accident? It happened five years ago. Chris looked at the clock. It was 4:53. She put on a T-shirt, jeans, and boots.

She quietly crept into the attic. She got out her grandfather’s violin and played a few songs. She then went to the kitchen and grabbed an apple. After she took a bite, she went outside. She headed to the stables and stopped at her horses stall. There he was. Golden Legacy. She remembered getting him for her twelfth. birthday. It was the last birthday that her mom was alive to celebrate.

She gave Legacy the rest of her apple and saddled him up. Chris mounted him and headed to the woody part of the ranch.

She lived on this ranch her whole life. She grew up around horses. She knew her father was worried about her becoming a loner, but she wasn’t. As long as she had horses and God, she would never be alone.



Laura Jones awoke and couldn’t wall back to sleep. She lied there thinking about her life before coming to Silver Saddle Ranch. Her father kicked her mom and her out of the house when she was seven. They had an apartment, but got evicted. Her mom didn’t go to college. So, she couldn’t get a very good job. They lived at a Christian homeless shelter for a time. Then they were in the grocery store and heard some women talking about SSR. That’s how they got here. They had been here for three wonderful months.

She looked at her mom sleeping on the bed across the room. Laura knew that her mom was mad at God. Laura recalled the day she went to church with a friend and became a believer in God.

She remembered her mom saying, “If you wanted to believe that stuff, fine! But leave me out of it!”

She prayed for her mom everyday, and Laura would continue to do so until she found God.

Laura heard some noise outside.

Who could be up it’s 5:00 in the morning.

She slipped into some clothes and went outside. In the distance she saw Christa Tudor with her horse, Golden Legacy. Chris mounted to horse and began to ride.

Why is she up this early?

He could see the ranch at a distance then he thought back to all his hard work slowly laboring on his horse to get to this ranch from the accident till now. He sighed it has been a long trip.

Laura saw someone running. She decided to go check it out. She had nothing better to do. She realized it was Brooke. She ran over to her, "Hi...What's going on?"

Gabriel suddenly went solemn, "You hear that?" he heard crashing and somebody crying, even from this distance it wasn't that hard to hear it. "Hey, I'll be right back, I'v got to check what's up." Gabriel turned and bolted through the trees. He was nearly flying, his feet barely touched the ground as he sped through the trees. He thought he had passed Brooke, but he kept running.

Laura saw that Brook couldn't hear her. So, she stopped. He saw someone else coming. It was Gabriel. She waved and him, but didn't smile.

Ryan didn't know what to do, so he stayed seated. He thought about his life, his family, SSR...and everything. Finally, he got up and stretched.

He finally arrives at the ranch. and looks in. How long had it been since had seen people. He hoped they would accept him then walked in.

Gabriel saw Laura waving at him and tried to stop, but tripped on a root instead. He got up and jogged over to Laura, her solemn expression filling him with dread. "Laura, wha- what happened?! I heard crashing and somebody crying, did somebody get hurt?!" He looked Laura over, "Are you alright?"

Laura nodded and glanced back at her cabin. She sighed, "That's my mom making all that noise."

Gabriel looked at the cabin and seemed unfazed. "Yeah, that's not good. May I ask what happened?" A plate just smashed through the window and landed a few yards away from their feet. Gabriel went over and came back and used his shirt to clean off the dirt.

Laura shifted from one foot to the other. Should I tell him? Well, I told Ryan...Why can't I tell him? She took a deep breath and told him about her father. She explained that she saw him at the hospital the other day. She took a breath then continued, "I told my mom...She's not taking the news very good," Laura winced at the sound of another plate crashing, "Maybe I should have just kept silent about it."

Gabriel gave her a sympathetic look. "No, its not good to keep something like this a secret when somebody like him is so near by. I've seen too much to not be scared." He wondered if she had any of the scars a cigarette burn would cause. "Don't worry too much, if he is anything like the guys in the city, then he's too much of a coward to come with hostility. But all the same, if I see him I'll tell you right off, first person okay?" Gabriel seemed really calm, but inside he was quaking.

Ryan couldn't stand sitting around, and so he decided to find Gabriel. Walking around aimlessly for a few seconds, he finally ended up near Laura's cabin. She and Gabriel were talking. About what? He didn't mean to eavsdrop, but he heard the end of the conversation and said before he was thinking, "Gabriel, you...you can't. From what I've heard, he doesn't sound like a good guy. I don't think any of us would want anything to happen to you!"

Gabriel reacted before he could think, his knife was in his hand and the blade open and battle ready in less than a second. "You! Were you eaves-dropping on us?! Tell me," His grip on the knife unconsciously tightened, but his tone slightly softened to a hiss, "the truth."

Ryan stifled a gasp. "I...I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I'm serious...sorry."

Hello. marcus said in his gruff voice . is this the ranch.

Laura grabbed Gabriel's arm so he couldn't lung forward and attack Ryan. She calmed herself down and said, "Please, put the knife away. He said he was sorry."



Chris finished playing her violin. She heard someone outside. She went outside. It was a young guy. He asked if this was the ranch. Chris nodded, "Yes, it is. I'm Chris."

"Huh?" Gabriel looked at the knife in his hand. "Oh," he immediately put the knife away. "Het, uh sorry about that. Its a reflex." He looked at Laura, "So what now? What do you want us, me, you, to do?"

Laura shrugged, "I don't know," As much as Laura didn't want to, she knew she had to do it. She had to find her dad.

Hi i am Marcus lockmen and my parent ..... sorry its to painful to talk about. I have been traveling for a long time and i heard about your ranch. i have a horse also.

Chris smiled. She welcomed him to the ranch and got a stall ready for his horse. She didn't push him about his parents. If he wanted to tell her, he would. She gave him a key to an empty cabin and told him to look for her in the morning. She watched Marcus go toward the cabin and then headed to the ranch house to get some sleep.

"Well, then, I think I'll go see what I can do at the barn. And Laura? Don't go trying to find your dad by yourself, if that's what your thinking, please, just don't go alone." Gabriel walked off toward the barn.

Ryan gave Laura a "what-can-I do" look and trotted after Gabriel. "Gabriel! Would you stop and listen for a second?" He caught up to him and said, "I'm sorry for eavesdropping on you earlier."

It had been along time since he had been in a bed. He sighed , i can't wait to eat a decent meal.

Gabriel put a hand on Ryan's shoulder and tried to sound friendly. "Its okay, I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. But when one lives by oneself on the streets, one must learn such reflexes to survive. That make any sense?"

Ryan nodded grimly and smiled. He knew a little bit about that life, and he was glad he hadn't faced a lot of it. So he said, 'Yeah, I guess so. Where ya going now?"

"To the barn I guess, then to Mr. Tudor to see about getting payed. After that, I'm going to haft to decide if I stay here a bit longer, or hit the road." Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he had when he was unsure of himself.

Brooke watched everything from the edge of the tree line. She suddenly felt extremely awkward.
What, are you going to melt or something if you leave the woods? she teased herself grimly. You're pitiful. Pih-tih-ful.