Jesse has inherited his Grandfather’s ranch and now must fight his father to keep it while on a quest to find Coyote and his spirit animal.

In Western Native American lore, Coyote was either the maker of the earth or the messenger to those who made the earth. It was Coyote who was tricked into making death a part of life. I apologize to any who may be offended by my use of Coyote. He is central to the story and used with much respect. Native Americans have much for which to be respected; their love and care of the earth and the sacrifices made for this great land.

I hope you enjoy my first attempt at a story for Big Closet. Please, any comments that will help me become a better write are always welcome. And, if I have borrowed anything from someone unknowingly, please forgive me. Barb

Chapter 1 The Will

The large two story farmhouse looked lonely. It had belonged to Jesse’s Grandfather and his Grandfather before him. It was three weeks ago at the reading of the will that he learned that he inherited his grandfather’s ranch. When Jesse’s father found out that his own father had wrote him out of the will, he threw Jesse out of the house. Their relationship was tenuous at best. His father wanted someone he could push into sports, but Jesse’s small stature meant that he would not excel at the so called manly sports as his father called them. Jesse did play baseball. The coaches would always relegate him to left field when he was allowed to play. Most of the time, he just warmed the bench and kept the stats. His mother loved him dearly, but she died a little more than a year ago. If it wasn’t for his grandfather, his father would have kicked him out immediately. It was in hopes of inheriting the ranch that his father was civil to him this past year.

Jesse grabbed his backpack that contained all his worldly possessions and crossed the threshold. Entering the house brought back all the memories of spending summers with his grandparents as he was growing up. His grandfather had left him enough to pay the inheritance taxes plus enough to get started with the ranch. However, his father had promised to take him to court to get the will overturned. So with the advice of his grandfather’s lawyer, he decided to keep from spending any of the inheritance until the fight with his father was over. Still he had to have a place to stay and this was his only home. He had stayed with some friends back east until he could get his clothes from his father’s house. Even then he had to have the police help him. His father kept his computer, car, and anything else of value that his father could talk the police in letting him keep, “Because I paid for it.” Jesse had hitchhiked his way across country to the ranch.

Jesse was surprised that the lights and heat were still on in the house. He thought that these would have been turned off long ago. The house looked like it was well cared for even though his grandfather had been dead for three months. He entered the den where he would spend hours listening to his grandfather tell tales of the old west and the Native American ways. Jesse had taken after the Native American side of the family. His hair was jet black which he wore long and he had no facial hair. He stood 5’ 8” and weighed 150 pounds dripping wet. He was tough and wiry, though one could not tell it by looking at him. He remembered that the lawyer said there would be a letter for him in the wall safe and had given him the combination after Jesse’s father left. Jesse removed the picture over the safe and worked the combination. He was tired, but the excitement of reading the last letter from his grandfather would not let him sleep. He found the letter on top of a stack of money and other papers.

Dear Jes,

If you are reading this then I presume I have died. The illness came upon me sudden and out here on the ranch sometimes it is hard to get medical help. But I think the main reason is I waited too long to see Old Doc Henley. Your grandmother always told me that the neglect to my health would get me one day. Now I when I see her, I guess she can say I told you so. The ranch foreman, George Shilling, should be taking care of the place until you come to take over. That is why I insisted that you go to college to learn how to run this place. There is over 14000 acres. The deed is in the wall safe. There is a lawyer in town that has been paying George and the other hands so that the ranch would not go under until you get settled in. I had a new pickup truck, but I gave it to George as his truck was about to die and his daughter was expecting. They needed away to travel to go see their grandbaby. George is a fair man and you can trust him. The money will let you get the farm truck fixed and back on the road. I figure your father will fight the will, but I had Senator Burns and Doc Henley witness the will. Then each signature was notarized by separate Notaries. Still it may take time for the fight to go out of your father. There is enough money in the ranch account the lawyer is handling to continue paying the ranch hands for two years after my death. Also there is enough money in the safe to supply you with food and utilities for three months. I know you will work the ranch, but I didn’t want to spoil you. So if you want the money to last you will have to begin work on the ranch and get it to start producing.

Now that the business is out of the way, I would have liked to have seen you one more time before I passed. You were such a beautiful and caring child. I always thought it was funny that your grandmother would dress you up in your aunt’s old clothes and make you help her in the kitchen. It was a shame you never got to meet your aunt. She was killed in an auto accident shortly after you were born. You looked so much like her that I think it comforted your grandmother to pretend she was with us again. Also, I think that because you look so much like your aunt is what put your father off so. You were a constant reminder that he did not get along with his sister and would say mean nasty things to her.

The young man on the next ranch kept asking about you. I believe he thinks you were a tomboy growing up. It would have been funny to get you dressed up in your aunt’s old prom dress and send you two out together. I never told him different. Every time I saw him or his family they would ask how my granddaughter was doing. I would just brag on you, but I never told them that you were a boy. I hope this doesn’t come back to bite you later.

That reminds me. There is a pack of wolves in the back country. They don’t cause trouble for the most part. They may take an old cow every now and then. I don’t begrudge them that. They seem to keep the bigger varmints away. The old dog was half wolf and half Golden. The Golden tempered the wolf enough to make it a good dog. If you go riding in the back country just be careful. Either take someone with you or take enough fire power to protect yourself. After you have touched base with George, you may want to take a trip to the back country to speak with Coyote and find your spirit. I am sure that you couldn’t do such a thing back east.

It is time for me to end this letter, I sure did miss you. I will always be around if you know where to look. The Great Spirit will guide you and guard you.

Your Loving Grandfather,

Grandpa Bill

Jesse laid the letter aside and wiped the tear from his eye. He will miss the old man. Some people around here thought that Grandpa Bill came from a long line of Shaman. There were tales about, but Jesse could never confirm who was spreading the tales or if the tales were true. Jesse was tired and hungry. He went to the kitchen to see if there was anything that could be eaten. Tomorrow he would have to find a way in to town to get some thing. The refrigerator was empty as well as the freezer. The deep freeze had some meat in it. Jesse took it out and looked for a pan in which to cook it. He didn’t care what type of meat it was. He was so hungry he would eat anything.

Looking in the cabinets Jesse found some cans of vegetables. He found the pans and turned on the stove. It wasn’t long before he had something edible. With his food in him, he decided to find his old room and get some sleep. He would clean up in the morning. He left his backpack in the entrance where he dropped it. He climbed the stairs and opened the door to the room. It smelled a little musty, he liked the smell. It reminded him of his grandparents. Jesse turned down the bed and took his clothes off. When he took his clothes off, he could smell himself. He wondered why people would give him a ride smelling like he did. He grabbed his old bathrobe out of the closet and headed for the shower. The hot water eased some of the tension out of his muscles. He was glad to be here. He had walked the last twenty miles. After drying himself, he laid down between the clean sheets. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

During the night, Jesse thought he heard a wolf howl. It was far off and lonely. Why it had wakened him, he did not know. He listened intently to see if he heard it again. When the distance howl did not return, Jesse laid back down listening intently. It was just a few minutes and he was asleep again. His dreams turned toward the wolves. They seemed to be searching for someone, but couldn’t find them.

The sun was shining in the window when he woke late the next morning. His first thought was of food. But he would have to get to town first. He looked for his backpack in the entrance, but it had been moved. He went into the kitchen thinking he might have left it in the kitchen. The dishes and pans he had used last night were cleaned and drying on the draining board. Jesse went looking through the house to find who ever had cleaned up. As he entered the den, he recognized the man behind the desk as George Shilling. George smiled as entered the den.

“Welcome home Jesse. It is good to see you up. I thought I had an unwanted guest until I saw you grandfather’s letter.”

Jesse smiled at the older man. “I am glad I am here. It has been too long. I missed being out here. How is your daughter? I heard she is having a baby.” Jesse took a seat in the easy chair across the desk from George.

“She is doing well. Thanks for asking. She is due next month. My wife and I will go down to be with her for the couple of weeks to help her get settled. We want to be there for the birth. Your Grandfather father let me borrow his truck as we can’t trust mine to get us to Helena. Her young man is working for the Governor. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t run for governor someday.”

“You didn’t read the letter?”

“No, I don’t make a habit of reading other peoples mail.”

“I didn’t think you would, but according to the letter, Grandpa gave you the truck. I want you to have it. You have been Grandpa’s right hand man for longer than I have been alive. If I need to, I will sign over the title as soon as Dad quits fighting the will.”

“Jesse you are just as generous as your Grandfather. I can’t accept the truck.”

“George, yes you can or I will fire you.”

George laughed, “Well that answers that question.”

“What question would that be?”

“I knew the lawyers were paying us to hang on until you were settled in, but I didn’t know what would happen after that.”

“I want to keep the ranch and make a go of it. Grandpa kind of let it go a little after Grandmother passed. I want to get the ranch up to where we are all making a good living and putting enough aside that we might retire someday or pass it down to the grandchildren and let them run it while I am still alive. Also, I want to try and keep some of the ranch wild as Grandpa did. We may start a small bed and breakfast with trips into the back country. These are just dreams right now, but I don’t think they are too far fetch.”

“George, I am going into the kitchen and see if there is any coffee and something for breakfast. Why don’t you read that letter, and then come into the kitchen and we will talk in there over breakfast.”

Jesse got up and went into the kitchen. He found the coffee and started a pot. Looking around he found some flour, canned milk and some syrup. He pulled down the iron skillet, added some lard, and started making pancakes on the old stove.

George came wandering into the kitchen just as Jesse set two plates with a good stack of pancakes on each on the table. George took a couple of coffee mugs off the hooks next the coffee pot, filled them, and came to the table. As he sat down he asked Jesse, “Did you really dress in your Aunt’s old clothes?”

Jesse looked a little embarrassed. “My Grandmother liked to dress me in my Aunt’s clothes and fix my hair. It made her happy, and I didn’t mind. Like Grandpa said it seemed to comfort her. Your child should never die before you and it depressed her. It seemed to lift that depression having me dress as my Aunt. My embarrassment was a small price to pay to make my Grandmother happy.”

“Okay, why does Gabriel Johnston think you are a girl?”

“My Grandmother would have me put on a dress and take me to town to help her shop. She would introduce me as her granddaughter. The loss of her daughter really affected her. We met Gabriel and his mother in town. I couldn’t look him in the face. I was so embarrassed. So I looked like a shy young girl. Grandpa thought it was funny and had a good laugh at my troubles. He, especially, thought it was funny when Gabriel started calling the house wanting to take me out. I managed to tell him that my mother wouldn’t let me date. That held him off for about two years.

“My junior year in high school he asked to take me to the spring dance. I tried to tell him no, but Grandmother insisted that I go. She took me to town to buy me a nice party dress. I didn’t have the assets of a girl of sixteen. My grandmother had a pair of breast forms that a friend gave to her after the friend had a mastectomy. The friend decided she didn’t need to hide the fact any more and wanted to get the forms out of her house. I do not know why she gave them to my Grandmother. My Grandmother had me put on a bra and other clothes. Then we put the forms in to the bra and off we went to town. Gabriel was in town looking for a nice shirt and a new tie when he saw me with the forms.

“That night I wore a short little black dress made of satin and matching shoes with two inch heels. My Grandmother did my make up. Gabriel treated me like a lady all night. He would introduce me to his friends as Bill and Joanne’s granddaughter. I think he was a bit smitten by me. He walked me to the door to say goodnight. As I was saying I had a good time, He said he would call me the next time I was in town. Then he reached down, tilted my head up and kissed me. I was so flabbergasted; I just stood there with my head tilted up like I wanted another kiss. So he put his arms around me and kissed me again only much deeper. Before I could react he said goodbye; whooped real loud and ran to his truck. My face had to be as red as a beet when I came in the door. Grandpa Bill was laughing so hard, I thought he was going to have a coronary. Grandmother Joanne just took me by the hand and led me to the kitchen where we had a cup of tea. She gushed over how grown up her little girl had become

“I didn’t know whether to be angry or cry or both. Looking back on the event it seems funny. . Whenever, I came to visit, Grandmother would insist I date Gabriel. I couldn’t spend a lot of time out here while I was in college. And with grandmother passing while I was at college I thought this might be a good time for Jesse the girl to disappear. But when I came to the funeral, Grandpa insisted that I wear the black dress one more time for Grandmother. The whole town turned out for the funeral. So to this day I am Jesse the girl in town and the people here about except for the people who work on the ranch. Dad being the ass that he is didn’t bother coming to the funeral. He was too busy.

“The only reason he came to Grandpa’s funeral is he thought that he might impress the lawyers and/or steal things from the house. If it wasn’t for you and the other hands, he might have taken things out of here that didn’t belong to him.

“I guess that is more than you wanted to know, but I need to get that out.”

George sat thoughtful for a minute before saying, “I guess it would put a young man off his feed if he had to dress as a girl. Unless he was one of those …… transgender types. I saw a show on them once. I couldn’t understand why a man would want to become a woman, but it takes all types to make a world.”

“I appreciate what your Grandfather said about me in the letter. What is it that you want to do?”

“Well, George, I want you to stay on as long as you like. Even though I went to college, I still have much to learn at running the ranch and managing the hands. I am going to have to rely on you for awhile. You don’t mine babysitting me for awhile.”

“Not at all. I will teach you as much as I know. I will have to go be with my daughter when she has her baby. When I get back maybe you can take that back country trip your Grandfather spoke about.”

“Great. My first act as the new owner of the ranch is to make sure that I am paying my foreman enough to keep him working for me. How much do you need to keep working for me? We will also need to discuss making sure that the hands are being paid enough.”

After discussing business, Jesse decided he needed to go into town to get supplies. “George is that old farm truck still running I need to be able to get supplies. Also, I want to get some other animals besides cattle, so that I can get the ranch more self-sustainable. Also we need to butcher one of the cows and get it in the deep freeze.”

“Jesse, I will give you my old truck. It is good enough for around here. I don’t trust it to go on long trips, and you did give me your Grandpa’s new truck.”

“Sounds like a good deal. Let’s get this ranch up and running.”