Double C: Cody and Cal - 1. Chapter 1

“Double C”

Cody

1 month prior to Hunter and Seth meeting

at Big Sky Ranch for the first time:

“Cody are you going to be alright?” Cody’s mother Sue asked.

“Yep I will be just fine mom.” Cody said to his mom looking at her knowing she always worries about him.

“You know you could stay here and still work out there at Big Sky, the commute is not that bad.” Sue told Cody with a sad look. Knowing her only son was leaving the nest for the first time.

“Mom I stayed here with you while going to college to save both of us money on housing. Which I loved being here for you, but I’m 22 years old and I need to have a go of it on my own. The ranch is offering me a bed and food, and the pay is great. I can save so much and put away money, so one day I will have a down payment on some property that you know I have dreamed of having one day.” Cody said.

“I know son I need to let you go and let you have your own life and not cramp your style anymore. I guess it’s just I have to come to terms with you moving out.” said Sue.

“Ya you do mom, you know I still have a room here. I’m not taking anything but my clothes and saddle, and now I won’t have Sonny’s boarding fee to worry about. They told me to bring my horse so I didn’t have to worry about riding one of the ranch horses.” Cody said trying to get his mom to understand why he wanted to do this.

“I went to college to learn about running my own ranch one day, this will give me hands on experience which will help me.” Cody started pleading with his mom. “Mom please don’t make this hard for me. I can come home on my days off to help you around here. I will only be two hours away, if it is an emergency I know the boss will let me come to you.”

“Ok son you get what you need together and go do what you have to do, but I want you here on some of your off days.” Sue smiled at Cody and gave him a hug.

“I will mom, I love you but I need to do this for me.” Cody hugged her back.

Cody walked into his room and started packing his clothes that he would need on the ranch. He looked around his room that he has had for the last 22 years, hoping that his mom doesn’t come in and change anything. He knows he will be back to help his mom work around the property. He turned to go out the door shaking away the memories, stopping at the edge of the bed looking at his mom standing at the door. He walked up to her giving her a hug saying, “I will be fine, how about I call you every couple days just so you know I’m fine.” Cody looked at her smiling.

“That would be good Cody, please do that until I can wrap my head around that you moved out of this house.” Sue said with a sad voice.

“Mom I’m not going far, and I know I will miss that cooking of yours so call me when you make that pot roast and I will come have dinner with you.” Cody kissed her cheek and grabbed his bag, walked out of his room. When he got to the front door he set his bag down and turned and gave his mom one last hug and told her “I love you Mom,” Cody smiled at her.

“I love you too son, be careful.” Sue said and then watched her son walk out the door.

Cody walked to his truck that he just bought two months ago, got in and took off to go get Sonny. He made it out to the boarding facility in good time and hooked up his horse trailer to the truck. Then went over to Sonny’s stable and found him laying down asleep, “Hey big guy get your lazy ass up, it’s time to go to your new home.” Sonny got up when he heard Cody’s voice looking over at him. Cody went in and put Sonny’s halter on and attached the lead rope to it. “You ready big guy? You are going to love this new place Sonny. We can go out and ride every day, you can learn how to be around cows and work them. Let’s get going we have to be at the ranch in a couple hours.” Cody loaded up Sonny and tied him down in the trailer, and gave him a little hay to keep him occupied on the ride. Cody got back in the truck and took off for Big Sky Ranch and a brand new life.

Cody made it to the ranch in good time, he pulled in and parked next to the round pen beside what looks like a ranch truck. He got out and stretched his legs looking around. He walked over to the main house looking for the boss, he knocked on the front door and some lady answered it “Yes may I help you?”

“My name is Cody Simpson, I was to be here at 2pm to check in with Ed.” Cody told the lady.

“You must be the new ranch hand that Ed said would be here. Cody my name is Martha Collins, I’m Ed’s wife it’s nice to meet you.” Martha reached out to shake Cody’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too Mrs. Collins.” Cody shook Martha’s hand.

“None of that Mrs. Collins stuff that was my mother-n-laws name, you just call me Martha young man.” Martha said laughing.

“Ok If I remember to do that, since I was raised to call my elders by their last name.” Cody smiled at Martha.

“Ed is out in the pasture doing something with the cattle, so I will see if any of the other hands are around to show you where to drop your bags.” Martha closed the door and walked off the porch. Cody followed her to the bunk house. On the way over there a guy walked up to them saying, “Martha is this the new hand that Ed said that was coming in?” asked Hunter

“Yep sure is Hunter, can you show him where he can drop his bags and I see he brought his horse so he will need a stall to.” Martha said to Hunter

“Sure can Martha, Ed asked me to stick around to help him when he got here. I will show him the bunk house and the stall.” Hunter smiled at Martha.

“You’re in good hands with Hunter, he will take care of you.” Martha patted Cody’s shoulder and walked back to the house.

“Hi my name as you heard is Hunter.” he held his hand out to Cody

“Glad to meet you Hunter my name is Cody Simpson.” Cody shook Hunter’s hand

“Come on I’ll show you your bunk then we can unload your horse.” Hunter told Cody. He showed Cody what bunk was his “You can use the cabinet over there to put your things in, there is lock on it with the key and I would advise you to lock it when you’re not here.”

“Is there a problem with things missing around here?” Cody asked Hunter concerned.

“There could be so just to be safe lock your things up.” Hunter said

Cody opened the cabinet door and saw it was hutch with a rod at the top and drawer at the bottom, so he just tossed his bag in for now closed the door and locked it putting the key in his pocket.

“Let’s go unload your horse and show her/him the stall.” Hunter laughed.

“Sonny is a gelding so that would make the horse a him.” Cody smirked to Hunter.

“Ok smart ass let’s get HIM out of the trailer. Is the trailer yours, rented or friends?” Hunter asked

“Mine.” Cody replied

“Ok you can park it over by the barn where the others are.” Hunter said walking out of the bunk house.

They walked over to Cody’s trailer to get Sonny out. Cody unlatched the trailer door walked in and attached the lead rope to Sonny’s halter. “You ready to go big boy to see your new house? Ya I know you want out of here” Sonny was stomping his foot to let Cody know he wanted out. Cody backed Sonny up and got him out.

“Cody that is a nice looking horse you got there” Hunter was saying

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“He sure is I have been working with him to be around cattle and he is picking it up pretty fast.” Cody said leading the horse over to the barn. He walked in the barn and thought that it was a real nice one for it being on a working ranch. He walk Sonny over to the stall that Hunter was standing by with the door open. “Is this attached to a run or do I have to take him out somewhere to graze?”

“You take your horse out to the little pasture area you saw coming up the drive. It’s fenced off just for the working horses.” Hunter said

Cody nodded in agreement. “I don’t know what Ed wanted you to do when you got here, so you can just go back to the bunk house and get settled in I guess. We eat at 6pm at the kitchen house which is next to the bunk house. The kitchen is Tom’s domain so if you want something you have to ask him first or get on his shit list.” Hunter said and walked away.

Cody took the halter off Sonny and hung it up on the wall. He went out to his trailer and got his saddle/tach and put it on the saddle rack by Sonny’s stall door. He parked the horse trailer where Hunter said and then went to the bunk house to unpack. As he was unpacking a guy walked in “You must be the new hand, Hi I’m Mike.” Mike said holding his hand out.

Cody shook Mike hand saying “Hi names Cody, nice to meet you.”

“Let explain a few things since you’re the new guy so you will be responsible for cleaning the stalls for the first month for all the horses then you will also have to dig the hole to put all that shit in behind the barn. So don’t think you will have it easy here.” Mike smirked at Cody.

Cody knew he was new here but he was not hired to clean up everybody else’s horse shit so he didn’t know who this guy was but he knew for sure he was not his boss. “I don’t know who you are but I do know you are not the boss, so I will wait for the boss to tell me what my duties are.” Cody said to Mike and got back to putting his thing’s away.

“Well I know you will do it or I will run you off this ranch so get used to what I tell you to do.” Mike said as he was walking out the door.

“You can kiss my ass if you think I’m going to listen to you so why don’t you go clean your own shit out of the stall your horse is in.” Cody was getting mad at this punk that thinks he is the boss.

Mike turned around with the door half open looking at Cody. “Oh you will do it or you’re gone and I’ll make sure of that.” Mike walked out and closed the door.

Cody was so damn mad he could spit nails. He threw everything back in his bag and was taking his bag back to his truck when he ran into Hunter in the yard. “Hey what is going on?” Hunter said looking at Cody carrying his bag in his hand. Cody looked mad Hunter thought.

“I’m not taking this job to be everybody’s shit picker. Sorry but tell the boss thanks but no thanks I can get a job someplace else that treats me as a person not somebody wipe boy.” Cody walked on to his truck, throw in his bag then turned to go back and hook up the trailer.

Hunter walked over to Cody to find out what happened, when he got to Cody’s truck he grabbed the door before Cody could close it “You need to tell me what happened, you were hired to help with the cattle I believe so what’s this shit picker and wipe boy crap you are saying.”

“This guy walked in the bunk house and told me that my responsibilities were to clean the stalls for all the horses here and then dig a hole to bury it. I did not take this job to clean up somebody’s horse shit. So tell the boss no thanks.” Cody started the truck and told Hunter to move which Hunter did. Cody hooked up the trailer and pulled it over by the barn to load Sonny back up.

“Hey you Cody? Martha told me you were here, did you get settle in alright?” Ed said to Cody walking up to him when Cody stepped out of his truck.

“Ya I’m Cody but I don’t want this job after all sorry.” Cody turned to go in the barn to get Sonny.

Hunter walked up to Ed and told him what Cody told him. Ed got mad when Hunter told him what he knew that happened. Ed got madder because one of his men was taking it in their hands to issue duties on the ranch when he was the only one doing that. “Come with me Hunter and let’s get to the bottom of this crap right now.” Ed said walking in the barn looking for Cody.

Cody was in Sonny’s stall haltering him back up and leading him out of the stall by the time Ed got to him. “Put that horse back in the stall Cody, if you still want this job it’s yours and I will be the only one issuing the duties on this ranch. Once you get that done go unhook that trailer and park it then go unpack your bags in the bunk house.” Ed said trying to calm down.

“Sir I do want this job but I will not clean up someone’s horse shit and dig holes to bury it, I took this job on to work with cattle not horse shit.” Cody looked at Ed with a serious look on his face.

“And that’s what you will be doing, working with the cattle but you will be cleaning your stall just like everybody else dose here. So put him back in the stall and do what I said. When you get done come to the house and I will explain your duties to you.” Ed said then looking over at Hunter “Come on we have some shit to clean up around here.”

Cody put Sonny back in his stall and put the trailer back in its spot then went to the bunk house. He walked in and saw Mike sitting there on his bunk, Cody walked over to the cabinet and dropped his bag in there and locked the door. He walked to the door and opened it with Mike saying “You need to clean them stalls before dinner or you don’t eat cuz the cook don’t like you coming in late to eat.”

Cody had his hand on the door listening to Mike when all of a sudden the door was jerked out of his hand and he stumbled grabbing the wall so he wouldn’t fall on his ass. He looked over and Ed was standing there madder than mad you could see fire in his eyes. Hunter was standing behind Ed, walked in and put his hand on Cody’s shoulder stopping him from leaving.

“Who in the hell do you think you are giving someone orders on this ranch? You have not even been here a month yet and you are causing trouble already. Well you just got new duties yourself, you will be cleaning stalls for six weeks and I mean all of them. If I hear that you didn’t do them you will be gone. If I hear that you abused any horse because you are mad I will have you arrested. You will keep your mouth shut and do your job, if I hear any more of this crap you are gone. Now get your ass out there and start cleaning and I will be checking so they better get done.” Ed said to Mike with Mike just sitting on his bunk looking at Ed not saying a word.

Mike got up and walked by Cody saying “Snitch” Hunter grabbed Mike’s arm and told him “Apologize right now Mike because he didn’t say anything, we overheard you saying it so apologize right now.”

“Sorry”

“Mike if I hear you say or do anything else to Cody or anybody on this ranch you will be fired, this is your only chance.” Ed said.

“Yes sir.” Mike said with an evil look at Cody.

Cody didn’t like the look on Mike’s face so he called him on it. “Mike if you have a problem with me say it now or no matter what Ed says I will not take your shit. I’m here to do a job and that job is not taking shit off you so what is your problem with me?”

“I don’t like your kind but like you said you are here to do a job so am I.” Mike said and walked out the door.

“Cody I’m sorry about all this crap on your first day here, I’ll make sure the other men watch out for you with him. If he does or says anything please come to me or Hunter. Hunter is the top hand here so if I’m not around go to Hunter for anything you’re not sure of. Finish unpacking and come up to the house.” Ed said leaving the bunk house.

“Hunter I don’t know what his problem is with my kind, I didn’t know I had a kind. I was born 2 hrs from here to some great parents, went to college, and now working here so what the hell does he mean ‘your kind.’ I didn’t come from money by no means my parents and I scraped pennies for me to go to college.” Cody looked at Hunter with a confused look on his face.

“Cody don’t worry about Mike and his hang ups, you just do your job and what Ed says and you will have a job for however long you want it I can promise you that. If Mike cause you any problems find me and I will take care of him so get unpacked like Ed said and get up to the house.” Hunter left the bunk house going to find Mike.

Cody got done unpacking then walked to the main house, knocked on the door, Martha answered the door “Cody did you get all settled?”

“Yes I did ma’am thank you, is Ed here?”

“Yes he’s in his office go on back, second door on the left.” Martha smiled and closed the door after Cody stepped in then went back to the kitchen.

Cody found the door Martha said and knocked “Come in” Cody heard and opened the door.

“Cody come on in and please close the door. Have a seat so we can get everything taken care of.” Ed said

After all the forms were filled out for Cody to work on the ranch, Ed told him his duties. “I want you to work with Hunter and follow him around for now. He will show you the ropes of the ranch. I am going to tell you right now we lost some cattle to thieves about 2 weeks ago so you and Hunter might be pulling some night shifts watching the ranch. When you are out in the pastures please watch what is around you and if you see something that is out place let me or Hunter know.”

“I have no problem pulling the night shifts if that is needed. The only request I have is that you don’t have me pull any duties with Mike unless there is somebody else with us. Sir I will not have someone treat me like he just did, so if you don’t have a problem with that I’ll be fine working here.” Cody told Ed with a very serious look.

“No you won’t be put with Mike, I don’t know why he said that to you but I will be watching him and so will Hunter. We have one more ranch hand starting today, he should be here anytime now. I would like you to show him where his bunk is and everything that Hunter showed you. I think he is bringing his horse but I’m not sure. He is coming from another ranch so he will probably know some things that you don’t and vice –versa so I think you could help each other out.” Ed said smiling.

“I think that would be great to learn what he knows about working on a ranch. I know you hired me never working on a ranch and you are giving me a shot at this job, I do appreciate this opportunity that you’re giving me.” Cody said to Ed smiling.

“Cody when you came to me for a job just getting out of college that told me that you wanted to learn more about ranch life. You could have went another direction with the education you have, so I’m very proud to be able to teach you what you need to do to run a ranch. You told me one day you have plans to buy your own spread so I know I can teach you what you would need to know for that to happen. You and Cal both will be Hunter’s shadow for a while so I hope you can all be friends here.” Ed said getting out of the chair walking to the door.

“Thank you Sir for saying that, I will do my best while I’m here.” Cody said walking over the door.

“I know you will son. I’ll send Cal your way when he gets here, so you can just go be with your horse or find Hunter to see if he has something you can do. Tomorrow you will start a full day in the saddle so rest up.” Ed showed Cody to the front door.

“Thank you, I will go find Hunter to see if anything needs to be done until Cal gets here.” Cody walked out the door heading to the barn to find Hunter.

Note: Next chapter is a little background of Calvin “AKA Cal” on how he made it to the Big Sky Ranch