Page 5

T imber rode Sparky slowly back toward the main residence.

A couple other buildings were on the property as well, which would give rise to so much potential.

As the wannabe hunters drove off, Timber felt the waves of anger coming off them.

Two of them didn’t look to be a problem, but that third one?

… Timber wasn’t so sure about him. That guy was trouble, and Timber saw that a mile away.

When he got near to the paddock, he got off Sparky and quickly phoned Andy. When Andy answered, Timber heard a sleepiness to his tone that meant he’d been woken up.

“You doing okay?” Andy barked into the phone.

Timber laughed. “I just chased off some of your cronies who claimed they were entitled to hunt on your land. I wanted to let you know they didn’t take kindly to being chased off, so you might be hearing from them.”

After a moment of silence, Andy swore. “I haven’t let anybody hunt on this property in a very long time,” he snapped. “What did they look like?” Timber gave him a quick description of the three idiots, and Andy snorted. “Yeah, I know who they are,” he muttered. “I’ll have a talk with them.”

“If I catch them over here again, there won’t be any talking.” He almost heard Andy wince.

“And you would be in your rights,” Andy replied. “They aren’t bad kids. They’re just young and stupid.”

“Which in my book means bad,” Timber snapped. “They gave zero respect,… and they left a doe out here with an arrow in her shoulder.”

At that, Andy started to swear again. “God damn, I’m sorry to hear that.… I mean it, Timber. Calm down, and let me have a talk with them.”

“You can do that all you want,” Timber noted calmly. “I’ve already warned them off and told them in no uncertain terms what would happen if they come back. Still, I get the impression that one in particular doesn’t feel like listening to anybody.”

“Yeah, I have a hunch I know who that is. He’s always got a chip on his shoulder and likes to think he’s somebody special,” Andy said.

“You better help him understand that special in my books versus his won’t be the same thing.”

“Nope, nope, I hear you,” he muttered. “Let me know if they come back again.”

“Oh, you’ll hear. One way or another, you’ll hear,” Timber declared. “I’ve sent the license plate to the ranger and to the sheriff.”

Andy sighed. “No, you’re right. I’ll try to get them to stay away,” he repeated and disconnected.

Timber walked Sparky into the paddock, took the bridle off him, gave him a good load of grain, and patted him. “Thanks, buddy.”

And, with that, he headed back to the house.

He still had work to be done, but he wouldn’t do any more on the building for now.

He headed inside, poured himself a cold glass of water, absolutely loving the taste and the temperature of the well water.

Then he turned on the stove and tossed on the steak he had sitting at room temperature.

He tossed into the same pan a few sliced potatoes sitting in a bowl of water, then added some onions and mushrooms too. Very quickly he was sitting down to a meal. Then realized he’d been so thrown off by the drama of the day that he hadn’t fed everybody else.

He swore because that was not like him. The rule was always that he fed all the animals before himself, and he quickly ate now, not enjoying it nearly as much as he could have. Then he bounced to his feet and headed out to do the rest of the chores.

He was still pissed at himself for having let those characters throw him off, and, by the time he was done, he was more than ready to sit down with his water and maybe a beer. Just as he did, his phone rang. He checked the screen to see it was Andy. “And?” Timber asked.

“He didn’t answer, but I talked to his mom. He’s apparently been on a real bender for the last little while. I guess his girlfriend broke up with him, and he’s taken it pretty badly.”

“What’s that’s got to do with me?”

The old man laughed. “It ain’t got nothing to do with you. I’m just warning you that he’s in a bad state.”

“I hope you warned her.”

He hesitated before he spoke. “I did, and I told her that he’s playing with fire and that he better stay a long way away. Despite what he may say, he hasn’t been allowed to hunt on my land in a very long time, and he damn well knows it. So, if I catch him, I’ll have something to say about it too.”

“How did she take it?”

“She seemed surprised, as if everybody was allowed to go out there,” he shared, “and that is definitely not the message I want going out there.”

“I hope not,” Timber snapped, bitterness in his tone. “The last thing I want is to be cleaning up after these idiots.”

“How’s the doe doing?” Andy asked.

“She’s still hanging around, so I presume she’s not all that great,” he muttered.

“Did you get the arrow out?”

“Yeah, I was able to do that much and to get it stitched up,” he added. “And you know how I feel about that.”

“I know. I do understand that, and I’m sorry,” Andy said. “It’s been a long time since anybody caused that kind of chaos.”

“I hope it’ll be a long time before anybody else shows up,” Timber muttered. “That’s not exactly how I want people here to think of this place.”

“No, I get it,” Andy murmured. “I’ll keep trying to get in touch with them to clear the air directly. In the meantime, if you see them again, just remember they’re young and stupid.”

“Yeah,… well, young and stupid doesn’t bode well for growing old,” he barked and ended the call.

He was extra careful checking up on the animals before he went to bed that night, but, even then, he slept with an unease that suggested he didn’t have a good feeling about how these young men would handle getting kicked off his land.

Not that he wasn’t up for the fight, but he didn’t want the rest of his animals stressed to that extent either.

Every one of them had been a rescue in one way or another.

Every one of them had already seen the ugly side of life, and Timber didn’t want them to see any more of it, not if he had something to say about it.

He knew the dogs would jump in and would do anything they could to defend him, but they couldn’t take on bullets.

So, if this asshole was just using arrows, obviously he didn’t know what he was doing with them.

And that was a whole different story too.

It was unfortunate because it seemed as if a large chunk of stupidity was involved, no matter which way Timber looked at these trespassing illegal wannabe hunters.