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What is left?

Chapter 2.

Written by Wolfie Steel.

I walk into the realtor's office and I'm met by a very well dressed Dalmatian, he holds out his paw which I take into my hoofed hand and shake.

"Well howdy cowboy, what can I do for you?"

I giggle a little inside but then I decide to get him back by going all business like on him.

"Oh so you see a Horse dressed in a ranch workers uniform and instantly I am a cowboy huh?"

At this the Dalmatian's boss, a tall no nonsense looking Tiger, came rushing forward.

"You will have to forgive Damian sir, he is new to the firm, I assure you that he meant no harm by what he said"

The Tiger then looked at the now shaking Dalmatian and growled.

"You didn't mean to be rude DID you Damian?"

The Dalmatian quickly shakes his head and bolts off into the rear office, leaving me with the Tiger.

"My apologies sir, my name is Trentam Wilson, how may I serve you?"

I place my hand on the Tiger's shoulder and gain a smile.

"Mr. Wilson, it is me who should be apologising, I was just having a little fun at your colleagues expense, I don't want him to get into any trouble on my account, besides, hehe, I am a cowboy of sorts, now as to the reason for my visit, I believe you have the old O'Neil Ranch on your books ready to sell, I would like to purchase the ranch if I may?"

The Tiger walks back to his desk and rifles through the files that lay on the top of the desk.

"Ah yes, the O'Neil Ranch here we are, well sir, you would be purchasing a lot of land that is ripe for development, but I believe that there is also substantial debts that the previous owner accrued, they would need to be settled before any development work can take place"

I let out a slight giggle.

"Oh trust me sir, I know about the debts, after all I was a Ranch hand there for many years and I know the previous owner very well indeed, in fact it was he that left me the money to put down a securing deposit on a loan which I intend to use to purchase the place"

The Tiger tilts his head a little to the left and then nods; he then motions me to join him at the desk as he lays the file down on the desk top to begin the transaction.

Half an hour, and $500,000.00 later the Tiger begins to conclude the sale.

"Well Mr. Miles, not that it matters, but what are you thinking of doing with the Ranch?"

I begin to go into some detail about my thoughts for the Ranch.

"Well, I am keeping it as a Ranch that will be re-named "Miles To Go" but instead of grazing cattle and breeding Horses, I will be purchasing a few Horses and hiring some riders and then opening up the huge trails that lead from the property, I will also be rebuilding some of the out houses and turning them into Vacation Rooms, where people can stay and either go riding with me, or help out on the Ranch, or just plain do nothing but rest"

The Tiger stands from his seat and shakes my hand once again.

"Well Mr. Miles, I wish you all the best with your new venture, the town of Gilder needs to be put on the map and what better way to do it than a riding, and working Ranch"

The Tiger now hands my copy of the paperwork to me and I head out from the office and back towards my waiting truck. Once back at the truck I fire up the engine and make the journey back to the Ranch.

I arrive back at the Ranch to find a high powered BMW parked outside the front of the house, I pull up behind the gleaming car and exit the truck, as I walk towards the car the driver's and passenger's doors open, the driver is none other than the bank manager, Jason Cramer, which means that the passenger must be his step son Taylor. The two greet me by the side of the car and I hear the young Husky say something under his breath.

"What a fucking shit heap"

Unseen to the young Husky however, Jason's paw comes up behind him and connects with the back of the boys head. I let out a dry giggle.

"Yes Taylor, you are right, at the moment it is a shit heap, but you are going to help me getting it into the best shape possible"

The young Husky looks at his step father and winces but all he gets in return is a laugh, I then continue.

"I am getting a few Horses which will need to be kept fed and watered, also their stables will need daily cleaning, you will also be responsible for keeping an eye on the health of the Horses, the first sign of any problems with any of them and you are to come directly to me and I will call the vet. I can't impress up on you enough the importance of quick action with a sick or lame Horse, so work well for me and you will be paid well. You will also live here at the Ranch and will eat your meals either in your room or in the kitchen of the Ranch house. I warn you now young Taylor, it will be a 5am start every morning and you will probably be on the go until around midnight, at least for now anyway, but I will be hiring more Ranch hands to help"

The young Husky begins to walk quickly back to his side of the car but before he can open the door his step father locks the doors.

Taylor lets out a resigned sigh and then walks to my side.

"Fine, slave labour it is then"

I shake my head briskly.

"That is one thing you won't be is a slave, as you are going to be the first Ranch hand that I have hired, once the others arrive it will be you who is in charge of them, but even when we get the new help, I will expect at least an 8 hour day out of you, I'm also going to be hiring a Ranch manager, so you will also answer to him. Be under no illusion though I don't suffer fools lightly, make a mistake and you will be told about it, continue to make mistakes you will be punished, at the end of the day this is going to be a business where we have some high rollers spending some time, so I need to portray a professional look to each and every customer that drives up that driveway, for now there is a spare room in the main house that you can use to sleep in, I will get you a sleeping bag for now and then once your proper room is ready I will get you a bed and furniture, whatever else you need will come out of your own pocket, now wait for me by the front door and I will see your step father off"

The young Husky hung his head and walked towards the door of the house; his step father looks at me and speaks.

"As I have said Mr. Miles, I love the kid like he is my own flesh and blood, and there is nothing that I won't do for him, but I don't want you to go easy on him, I am hoping that this Ranch job will be the making of him, if he gives you any trouble I will allow you to deal with it as you see fit, it is now time for him to grow from a sheltered and spoiled brat into a man"

With that said the Wolf unlocks his car doors again and gets in and drives off.

"Well Taylor, if we are going to get this place up and running I am going to need to hire a Ranch manager, and the cheapest way to do that is to go to a local bar and ask the bar staff if they know of any unemployed guys, so just for this week you and I will get our faces known in the bars and see what happens, obviously I will pay for your meals and any soft drinks that you have but once we have at least the manager in tow you will pay your own way"

The young Husky walks slowly over to my old truck.

"Man I'm gonna need a tetanus shot just looking at this thing"

I climb into the driver's seat of my truck and open the passenger door.

"I would like to drive around in a flash BMW, but I'm afraid my cash flow is a little tight at the moment, now either get into the truck or you can walk into town, either way I'm not bothered"

I fire up the truck and put it into gear; I start to crawl forward just as the Husky jumps into his seat and closes the door. I will admit right now that I had an eye for Taylor, proportioned as only a Husky can be, but I can't let my feelings for him cloud my thoughts and judgement, at the end of the day, he is here to work, not only that, but if his step dad ever found out what I really thought about Taylor he would surely withdraw the loan for the Ranch, and I can't afford for that to happen.

After a ten minute drive we arrive at the first of the local bars, a seedy establishment called The Wanderer. Both Taylor and I climb out of the truck and head inside the bar, inside it is full with stale tobacco smoke and the smell of cheap alcohol. How this place hadn't been closed down by the health department is beyond me, but we are here to find workers, and what better place to find the unemployed than a seedy bar.

Taylor and I strut towards the bar and we are met by a Folf dressed in a dirty white shirt and faded blue jeans. The Folf speaks.

"What for ya guys?"

I ordered a whisky for myself and a coke for Taylor, the bartender begins to pour our drinks, it's then that I ask the question.

"I'm looking for guys to work at the Ranch that I'm re-opening, it used to be O'Neil's Ranch, and well I was wondering if you knew of anyone that wants to join my team?"

The Folf finished pouring our drinks and slammed them down on the bar counter, he then steps from behind the counter.

"I can start straight away if you want"

I choke on the first sip of my whisky.

"But you have a job here"

The Folf shakes his head.

"It is the shittiest job known to man or Folf, I am more of an outdoor kind of guy so whatever jobs you have on offer have got to be better than this"

I look around the bar and I can see that he has a point.

"Okay my friend I'm going to fire a few questions at you, first, what are you like with Horses? Second, can you ride a Horse? Third, are you any good at managing guys who you would be in charge of? And forth, are you afraid to get down and dirty when needed, stuff like mucking out, feeding and general Ranch upkeep?"

The Folf giggles a little and replies.

"Well the fourth one, that is easy to answer, I mean just look at the shithole that I'm working in at the moment, so getting my hand paws dirty is not a problem, as for number three, guy management, well again that pretty much sums me up for this place as I'm usually the one that has to kick ass, and now for questions one and two, when I was a kit I grew up on a farm that had many Horses and other assorted livestock as for riding, again as a kit I did do some riding but I'm willing to get back in the saddle, I also have a friend who is looking for work and I know he will be willing to do whatever jobs come along"

My equine ears perk up at this, two new guys for the price of one.

"Okay Mr.....erm sorry I didn't get your name"

The Folf holds out his hand paw which I take in my hand.

"The name is Makeria Stein"

I nod my head gently.

"Well okay then Mr. Stein, give your friend a call and ask him to meet you at the old O'Neil Ranch on the Old Hatch Road, and Mr. Stein, be ready for some blood, sweat and tears"

Both Taylor and I finish our drinks and head out of the bar and back towards the Ranch, after all I had only wanted to hire one other guy today and now I had the chance of getting two.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour after arriving back at the Ranch, an old Ford Pick Up truck makes its way up the driveway and pulls up just behind my old GMC, the Folf gets out of the driver's side while a vision of beauty gets out from the passenger side, a Doberman, with the usual black fur with odd tan coloured patches, my interest is immediately gained, this guy is just something else. The two guys approach me as I am standing looking at where the stables are, the Folf speaks first.

"Well I said that I had a friend and here he is, this is Tyler Mills, Tyler, this is hopefully our new boss, Mr. Christian Miles"

The Doberman lifts a heavily muscled arm that is connected to the hand paw that he offers me, oh gods I could just fuck the shit out of him right here and now... Damn it Christian, get your mind back on track... I shake the Doberman's paw enthusiastically.

"Welcome to what used to be O'Neil's Ranch, though now it will be known as 'Miles To Go' well guys, we got a lot of work to do and I want to be ready to take paying clients in no more than two weeks"

The Doberman whistles in scepticism.

"Two weeks you say, man I would have said more like two months, but if it is two weeks then I guess we better get started, oh of course that's always providing we get the job?"

I let out a shaky giggle.

"Oh don't worry boys, you are so hired, welcome to 'Miles To Go' I hope you will all be happy here"

As the day was drawing to a close I decided to treat my new friends to a meal in town and then we would use some sleeping bags that I had bought on my earlier trip into town and bed down for the night. Tomorrow is another day, and a day that will be messy and hard work, but hopefully by the end of tomorrow we should at least be able to see some improvements.