Randle Chimes Chapter Two - Arriving at Grandpa's Ranch

Riding the Train to Grandpa's Ranch

 

Chapter two

As I boarded the train to my grandpa’s place, Ma was crying and George had a tear running down his cheek.  Unbeknownst to me there was a Pinkerton man on board looking after me just in case there might be someone who liked young men.

There was a man who seemed overly friendly to me - - who someone threw off of the train while it was moving very fast.  I didn’t find out any more about the incident and figured it wasn’t any of my business.

We pulled into one of the stations and I was hungry. There was a sandwich shop across the street so I went and loaded up with food not realizing that there was a dining car on the train. The conductor saw me with all the sandwiches and told me I didn’t have to eat cold sandwiches because my ticket included meals in the dining car. I felt foolish but I didn’t know any better.

I went to the car where people who bought the cheap tickets were and passed out all the food I had bought.  Some of them acted mad because I didn’t have enough for everybody. They were getting riled up when this man grabbed me by the arm and escorted me back to my seat and said, “Don’t go wandering off again.”  

I didn’t know the man but I promised I would stay where I belonged from now on.

Someone came into our car and played some chimes and said dinner is served. The people started getting up so I got up and followed them. I found a seat with the man who rescued me and we ate together.

He didn’t speak during our meal so I kept quiet also. When we finished he said, “Go back to your seat and stay there,” so I did.

We ate together during all our meals and during the last meal he said we would be arriving to where I was to get off shortly.  About a half hour later the train came to a jarring halt.  

I saw the man get off, go over to an older man, speak to him and leave.  The old man came over and greeted me and said, “I’m your grandpa and you must be Randle Chimes the second.”

I didn’t know what to say to that for no one had ever called me that.

He said, “From now on you will be called junior.”

“I said that would be fine with me.”

He then said, “Come here boy,” and he picked me up and just about squeezed the breath out of me.  He put me down and said, “I sure am glad to see you at last.”  

One of the cowboys had picked up my suitcases and loaded them on the wagon.

Grandpa stood back and said, “We need to go shopping,” and with that, he took me to the general store.  When we left I had a complete cowboy’s outfit.  He put the hat on my head and said, “Wear it proudly boy for that hat and the way you wear it tells everyone the measure of the one who wears it.”

He asked me if I could ride and I told him I had ridden some.

He grabbed me and tossed me up on a large rangy horse who didn’t seem too happy about me being on him.  As soon as we started moving he settled right down and had a nice smooth gait.

There were three cowboys on horseback and one who drove the wagon that was loaded with food stuffs; counting Grandpa and me that made six of us.

We had to move over and let the stage pass us. The driver of the Coach was going at a gallop and we gave him plenty of room.

Grandpa said, “There would only be a few more trips and that would be the last of the stage runs.  The railroad was connecting to the towns it had served and would be giving far better service.”

He said he was sorrow to see it go because the stage line had been part of his childhood.

We hadn’t ridden but about an hour till grandpa said our property starts here and takes a day to ride across it.  I couldn’t imagine anything that big but in the years to come I rode over all of it.

The ranch compound came into view and it was a large complex, with several barns, two bunk houses, a large smoke house, corrals, out buildings and a large ranch house.

Grandpa said I was going to have to earn my keep for no one gets a free ride here.

We went into the house and grandma gave me the same greeting as grandpa did. She hugged me and kissed the top of my head several times.

I thought she is a nice old woman and I hoped she could cook as well as she could hug.

The next morning after a big breakfast one of the hands named Pecos took me to the barn and together we fed certain animals.  Some milk cows, chickens, horses they kept in the corrals for emergency purposes. There was another person who fed the hogs so I was for the present spared that chore.

The cowboy who was bossing me around said grandpa wanted me to improve my riding skills.  We spent the rest of the day doing starts, turns, fast gallops and swimming the river.  He said we would pick it up tomorrow and we headed to the barn.  

I was worn out but he said, "We need to tend to our horses." We took the gear off of them and rubbed them down real good and then fed them.

I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and I was so tired I didn’t think I could eat. But after the first bite my appetite returned and I ate a good meal. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

It was still dark when Pecos the cowboy came in and woke me. I was so stiff he had to help me get out of bed.  He assured me that in a few days I wouldn’t have any more soreness and would be up before him.

Once again we had a big breakfast and I ate a lot more than normal just in case we didn’t have any lunch again.

As we rode along he had me practice with my rope.  Half of the time I was lassoing myself, but as the day went on I began to improve.

Pecos said we were going to herd a few cattle back over to the neighbor range and would spend the night there.  He said it would be really late when we would arrive back to my grandpa’s so it would be better to sleep in their bunkhouse.

I thought that suits me fine for I was tired already. When we got the cattle back to the rancher’s property we met a couple of hands and they thanked us for bringing them back instead of changing their brand to grandpas.

We rode on in to the rancher’s compound and I saw that it was a lot like grandpas. Pecos knew most everybody who worked on the circle D and they were joking around just about ignoring me.

Finally Pecos started introducing me to the hands and the owners of the circle D. John R the ranch owner had two boys who were a year or two older than me and they had been raised on the ranch all their lives.

I felt a little intimidated for they were already getting bow legs from all their riding. They said to me C’mon let’s put your horse in the corral along with Pecos’s.

I felt relieved to be doing something instead of being stared at by the people who were looking at me.

I didn’t realize that the reason they were staring at me was because I was the heir to the largest ranch in the area. They probably thought I was a poor looking specimen of a ranch owner.

If I had known what they were thinking I would have been even more intimidated.

The boys took mine and Pecos’s horses and we went to the corral, unsaddled and fed them after a rubdown. I was standing with my back to the corral and…

All the sudden someone jumped on my back, locked their legs around my waist and was choking me.

At first I was too surprised to do anything and then I tried to unlock the guy’s legs from my waist with no results.  Nothing I tried could loosen the choke hold he had on me.

I was running out of air fast and with one last effort I shove the attacker back against the corral which for a second caused them to ease up on their hold and I got a gasp of air. Then the choker tighten his grip again and I was on the edge of passing out he turned me loose and I fell to my knees.

A few moments later my eyes focused enough see my attacker who was dancing around saying over and over “I whupped you.”

I struggled to my feet but I was still unsteady on my feet.

I said some threatening remark and the choker took off running with me stumbling behind him. He arrived at the nearby river and proceeded to remove his clothes and jumped in the river. When I got there I was furious and stripped down and began to swim after him. He was a better swimmer and just swam away from me with ease.

My eyes began to focus better and I could see the attacker more clearly and as I swam closer to him I could see that this boy was somewhat of a sissy looking lad. His hair was long and his face was smoother than mine. He quickly swam to the shore and when he got out of the water I could see his naked body and he turned out not to be what I thought he was.  

 

Lo and behold it was a bare naked girl about my age. She seemed to have no inhibitions at all.  She had some spots where titties were supposed to be but all she had was small mounds beginning to form.

By the time I got to the river bank she was almost dressed.

I took one more look at her chest and thought you poor thing. All the anger had disappeared by the time I realized I was standing there without any clothes on.

I turned away and began to dress. She teased me by saying, “It’s too late for I’ve seen it all,” to which I replied “I hoped you enjoyed what you saw for I did.”

We found ourselves bantering back and forth till her brothers showed up and began to rag on us. They asked did you enjoy looking at each other nakedness and other things like that till it went too far and I lit into the nearest one.

I had him down and was whaling the snot out of him when the other brother started kicking me in my ribs. That took the fight out of me and he proceeded to put a whip on me.

TO BE CONTINUED