A Second Chance II: Life Goes On. - 6. Chapter 6

Mike and I damned near broke our necks, trying to find our shoes, and get to the back door, because Colt was gone, and it was dark as hell outside. We turned on all the lights we could find, and Mike was yelling for him. We headed for the barn first, but, not finding our son there, we headed for the corral. We both were yelling, “Colt where are you son? If you don’t tell us, we can’t help you or Star.”

Mike screamed, “Where the fuck are you?” He was now in a panic, and I was about ready to have a heart attack myself. We were making enough noise to wake the whole damn cemetery, let alone the dead.

I said, “Where could he be Mike, you know this place better then I do?” I really was having a hard time breathing. Then I heard Colt running, or something running, in the dark, and then I heard him say in a panicky, panting weak voice, “Hurry! Please! Star is dying, hurry pop, where is poppa Mike?” By this time, half the ranch hands and Ben were up and looking for us. I yelled out saying, “Come to my voice, son!”

By now, there were flashlights, and everyone was up looking. Then I felt Colt grab my hand and he said, “This way, pop...” We approached the far corner of the pasture about 3 or 4 hundred yards from the corral and found Star on his side, with his hoof caught in the fence line. It took several of us to free him, with a saw and some loving care from Colt and his ability to talk to Star to calm the horse enough for us to free him completely.

Mike said, “Don’t move him, son, I need to check and see if that leg is broken or not?” Mike was worried that Star might have to be put down. In addition, he said so, and that brought tears to Colt’s eyes. I just hugged him telling him, “Star will be fine, son; just you wait and see, OK?”

It was a cool night and very dark, but there was no wind; then the wind picked up, and then like some other nights I remembered, the wind seemed to say, “It’s all right, everything will be all right.” Knowing no one else heard it, but I heard or felt it, and that's what counts. I just pulled Colt close to me, holding him ever so tightly, and then Mike said, “It’s not broken, thank God.” I whispered under my breath, “Thank you my angels.”

Mike, Colt, Ben, and others took Star back to the barn, and quartered him there for the remainder of the night, so he couldn’t do any more damage to his leg. Then it came time for us to go back into the house.

Colt wanted to stay in the barn with Star saying, “He wants me to stay with him, poppa Mike.”

However, Mike would have no part of that, saying, “Son, he may think he wants you, but he needs his rest, and so do you.”

Colt kept insisting that Star wanted him to stay with him.

Mike explained it to our son like this, “Son, if you were hurt like that, would you want someone to keep you up all night, without sleep? On the other hand, would you rather go to sleep and wake up all better?

Colt looked at me, then at Mike, and lastly Star and said, “Boy, you need your rest tonight, I will check on you in the morning. I love you, Star!” Star just whinnied again, as we all left for the house. Colt looked back and told Star, “Ok, Star, in the morning I will, I promise.”

Mike asked him what Star wanted, “Just some sugar cubes.” Colt replied, running into the house, followed by Mike and me.

I said, "So much for a quiet night, in front of the fire."

Mike said, "It’s for sure, bedtime now."

I asked Colt, “Son, how did you know Star was hurt?” I really wanted to know, and I knew Mike would love to hear this, as well.

“That was easy, pop; I heard him crying, and yelling for help, he was saying that he was going to die, if someone didn’t help him, so of course, I ran to help him; was that ok?”

Mike nodded his head, and said, “Of course it was ok, my little munchkin. You saved Star’s life tonight, for if you hadn’t heard him, and got us to go help him, he, for sure, would have died, right there, where he was lying.”

I said, “Ok now, it's time we went off to bed, son; your pop, and poppa Mike are going, too.” I thought, Christ, he’s got me calling Mike, poppa Mike and me pop… What next?

We all hit the sack. Mike and I enjoyed each other, as always, and the night passed in calm. The next couple of days were uneventful. We all kind of got back into some resemblance of normalcy, if that is possible, with a 12-year-old bouncing boy, running around.

Richard had called me a few times, letting me know that a jet was not what we needed; something more on the lines of a turboprop twin engine would do better, and would allow us to fly into small private airports. They are also very safe and reliable aircraft, and the cost is much less, also the operational cost is much less. I told him that was not something I was worried about. I just wanted to be able to have Colt home on the weekends, and holidays. I just didn’t want our son sitting in some dorm room, while he wanted to be home with us. Larry was ready on Saturday morning early, with Richard already with him. Julie came in early, to fix breakfast for all of us: Richard, Larry, Mike, Colt and me. She wanted to prepare sack lunches for us, but I told her we would be eating out, on the trip.

Colt was excited about going to Crazy Horse, and so were we. Colt insisted on saying goodbye to Star. God, that was so cute and even Richard was falling in love with our munchkin, which was a little surprising, seeing this was the first time they had seen each other, but, come to think of it, I don't think anyone could meet Colt, and not fall, instantly and madly, in love with him.

After breakfast we all piled into the limo; we took that for the trip for the extra room it provided.

I could tell that Colt was shocked, just by the expression on his face, he spoke saying, "Oh my, what a big car, pop. Do you own this one too?"

It was really funny when Richard spoke up saying, "Oh, my son, are you in for a big surprise one day soon!" I knew what he was referring to, but bit my tongue trying not to laugh and give it away ... I wanted to surprise him with a trip somewhere on "Cowboy" or “Buckaroo."

Colt looked first at Richard, then Mike and me saying, "What surprise are you talking about, sir?"

"I think I will let your two dads tell you about that, when they are ready." Richard replied, smiling at Colt.

As Larry turned around in the driveway, Colt yelled out the car window, "Bye, Star, see you tonight!” Richard looked at me with a look of wonder in his eyes.

I just said, "We have a horse whisperer here, didn't you know that?' I laughed at him. But I was really thinking, that is what Colt was, or would be called by many.

Colt was excited by being in the big car, and the wide-open spaces that we were driving through, as we headed for Crazy Horse, SD. Miles seemed to drift by, and it wasn't too long before we crossed into South Dakota. The scenery changed to that of grass and pine trees. When we arrived in Custer, SD. Richard had already told Larry where to go, so we headed for the small private airport. Richard excused himself telling us he wouldn't be too long. About 20 minutes passed and Richard was coming back, getting into the big car, as Colt called it.

Richard said, "This airport is a piece of cake, and they keep it open in the winter as well." One more obstacle out of the way, I thought. Now I hope Colt likes Crazy Horse, and the school there.

Mike spoke up and asked a question, "Richard how much trouble would it be for us to put a landing strip on the ranch. For a small plane like you are talking about?" I looked at Mike wondering where he came up with that idea; we had never even talked about that. But what a wonderful Idea it was.

"Not much," Richard replied, "The cost would be keeping it open in the winter. You would need a snowplow and some landing lights and you would have to get it approved by the FAA. However, that’s not hard to do, for a private airstrip. I could check into that for you if you want me to?"

Before Mike could open his mouth I said, "Do it! In addition, I want you to order that plane you were telling me about. Just have it all billed to the company."

"Ok, boss!" Richard said, with a big grin on his face. Then he said, "Geez, I have to get checked out in one of them. I might fail!" laughing out loud.

"You? Fail? Never!" Was my reply to his joke?

As we traveled up the highway, we could see the beautiful mountain carving getting close. We could see the Crazy Horse Mountain coming into view.

“Can you believe someone would even start carving a complete mountain? And why did they start it?” Colt asked with a tone of amazement in his voice.

“Well, son, I can only quote something I was told when I asked the same question, several years ago. (“My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know that the red man has great heroes, too.” -- Henry Standing Bear, 1939) so a man by the name of Korczak Ziolkowski started it, and now his family is going to finish it for him; he passed away many years ago.”

Richard, Mike, Larry, and Colt, all looked at me as if to say, how do you know all that stuff? I just explained that I fell in love with the mountain, when Charlie and I visited it, oh, too many long years ago. Again, my eyes got glassy, just talking about Charlie. I turned toward Mike and planted a long deep kiss on his lips. I didn’t care if the world saw us.

However, Colt did, and said, “Pop, you really do love poppa Mike don’t you?” He had a cute little smile on his beautiful face.

“You bet I do, son, but I... Oh, yes, son! I really do! I love you, too, but not exactly the same way.” I was smiling at him, and Mike was blushing a little, too.

We stopped at the Crazy Horse restaurant for lunch, while we ate, Mike and I started talking to Colt about how nice this place was, and what they were doing to help the Indian people, and preserve their customs and traditions, by offering a good education at their wonderful school, located here at Crazy Horse. Colt was listening and taking in the conversation. We just kept telling him he was a special boy, and our son, and we loved him, and just wanted the best for him. It wasn’t long before he got a funny look on his face -- one that none of us had seen before.

Colt finally spoke saying, “Pop, you, and poppa Mike want me to go to school here, don’t you?” He still didn’t have an expression that either of us could figure out.

Mike spoke saying, “I won’t lie to you son, we told you that we would never lie to you, didn’t we?”

“Yes poppa Mike!” Still, he had no expression change.

Mike continued, “Yes we do want you to attend school here at Crazy Horse! It is a very, very good school, and you would be getting a great education.” Mike was looking at him with all the love in his heart, showing on his face.

Colt, now showing some emotions, said, “That would mean I would have to live here and not with you and pop at the ranch.” As he said that the tears started to flow, and so did mine. Mike was trying to hold up and not show that he was getting emotional as well. Larry and Richard just got up and moved away, saying they needed to use the restrooms.

Mike replied to Colt’s remarks by saying, “Son, it’s going to be hard at first, but one thing is, that you can come home every single weekend, and all the school holidays, and all summer, too, even Christmas.” He said that last hoping that would cheer Colt up.

"But poppa Mike, I don’t want to leave you, or pop. And I would miss Star, and he would miss me, too.” Colt was still crying.

I spoke saying, “Son, I know you and Star love each other, and we love you so very much, but son, it’s because we love you that we want you to go to school here. You know, I just told Richard to buy a new airplane, so we can fly you home every weekend, and every time you want to come home. Even during the week if you really need to. Can you understand that son?”

“Yes, pop, I do, but I still don’t want to be away. But if you really think I need to go to school here, I guess I will.” He still had tears in his eyes. Nevertheless, they seemed to be subsiding some. In addition, his demeanor was somewhat better.

Mike said, “Why don’t we go see the school next, and talk about it more after that, OK? Mike was pushing hard for Colt's acceptance of our wishes.

Richard and Larry returned, and we all left, heading for the school next. What a beautiful setting for a campus, with the carving of Crazy Horse for a backdrop. We pulled up to the administration building. As we got out Richard and Larry both said they would just walk around and see the sights, while Mike, Colt and I went inside, to see the director of education.

We were all impressed with Mr. Darkcloud. He was a very friendly and very intelligent person. He put poor Colt’s mind at rest, and explained in detail about how the boarding school worked. In addition, he assured Colt, that he could go home, with his parents’ permission, anytime they picked him up, and that there would only be one other boy sharing their room in the dorms, and that each room had an adjoining bathroom with shower and the door locks, so each boy had complete privacy. Colt was still uneasy, with what was being discussed about him. Nevertheless, he seemed to be adjusting to the fact that this was going to be his new school. Mr. Darkcloud asked another Indian man, named John Two-Feathers, to come into the office, and introduced him, first to Colt, then to us, as the Dorm Director of the dorm that Colt would be sleeping in. He was not only very friendly, but he was so funny, he had Colt, Mike and me in stitches for over a half hour. At this point Colt caved in, and seemed to be somewhat excited about going to school here. Mike and I both sighed with relief, as we saw that change in our munchkin. As we started to leave, Mr. Darkcloud got up and handed Colt a little keychain with the school mascot on it, which was a black stallion raised up on his back hoofs; on the other side, it just read Crazy Horse Schools.

“Thank you, sir; that looks like my own horse, Star. He is back at our ranch in Casper, and I will miss him so much, when I attend school here,” Colt replied and reached out to shake his hand. Mike and I both shook hands with both the men, and said our goodbyes; of course we had picked up all the enrollment forms, that would be mailed back to the school later.

I called Larry on the cell, asking where they were, so we could join them. They were not too far away, as most everything at Crazy Horse was within walking distance; well, for the younger folks, it was. We took Colt to the Indian Museum of North America. He loved it, and the Cultural Center as well.

“See, son, what we told you about this place, isn’t it a cool place?” Trying to sound like a teenager for him.

He just laughed at me saying, “Pop, you sound silly saying cool, but I still love ya! Oh and poppa Mike too!”

We even took the tour up on the carving, and how impressed I was, and I knew the others were, as well. The view was spectacular; you could see for miles and miles, just like in the Who's song. The school looked small from up there. I told Colt, "See here," pointing at the carving, "Chief Crazy Horse will be watching over you, and I know a couple of other angels, will be watching, as well!"

Well the rest of the trip was fun, we stopped in Casper, and all five of us ate dinner at the Corral Steak House, our favorite place to eat. After dinner, Larry first took Richard home, then dropped Mike, Colt and me, off at the ranch. I thanked him for a nice day, and complimented him on his good driving.

Colt bolted to the barn; I knew, without a doubt, where he was going. Mike followed, wanting to see Star as well. So I just mozzied along, too. I loved watching the interactions of our son and his horse. Although I'm not sure which one is the owner if there is an owner, I just think they love one another and care about each other.

"Hello, Star!" Colt said, patting the stallion's side. Star just whinnied a few times and Colt ran to the house in a hurry. Returning with a hand full of sugar cubes. Mike stopped him.

"Son, you need to be careful how much sugar you give him. It's not really good for them." I knew Mike hated saying that to him. Nevertheless, Mike was right, and Colt knew it.

"Ok, poppa Mike, I will only give him two. OK?" God, he was so damn cute. How could Mike stop him from doing anything?

"That's fine, son, he can have that much, but, make sure it's only twice a day, OK?" Colt just smiled, not saying anything more at that time.

Mike looked at Star's leg, and it was in better shape than he expected, he said, "Star, your leg looks like its healing well, patting him on the shoulders."

Star just whinnied some; Colt said, "He says he feels better now, too." Then Star pushed Mike with his snout and whinnied again. Colt again said, "He thanks you, too." Both Mike and I just shook our heads, and walked back into the house. Before we entered, I yelled back, telling Colt to come in soon; it was getting dark out.

Mike went into the kitchen, and bless Julie’s soul; she had a big Strawberry short cake, sitting under a glass-covered dish on the counter with a note that read, “I figured, all my sons, and grandson, would like a snack, when they got home. Enjoy! I'll see you all in the morning.” I knew we had made the right choice of housekeepers ... nah ... the right choice of a mother and grandmother. We all loved Julie, just as much as if she were our mom or grandmother. Oh, Hell! She was. There was no doubt about it, none what so ever! Mike went back outside and yelled at Colt again telling him it was time to come inside for a surprise.

That’s all it took, for him to charge into the house saying, “What surprise?” I just pointed him in the direction of the kitchen and his eyes got as big as the cake plate. He said, “I want a big piece, can I?

“Of course, son.” Mike grinned as he said that.

Mike dished up three large plates of Strawberry Short cake, along with coffee for us, and milk for Colt. We carried it all into the living room, where there were the makings of a fire, already laid, in the fireplace. So I struck a match to it, and in no time we had a nice warm fire to sit by.

Colt ran off to his room after we finished the Strawberry Short cake. I guess to play one of his new video games. Mike and I just relaxed watching the late news again, and talking about the day. Knowing we had to get those forms filled out for Colt's school. Mike said he had lots of work that he was getting behind in, and so did I. Normally we would not work on Sunday but tomorrow we had to make up for lost time. With all the extra happenings with our munchkin’s arrival. After the news ended I went in and told Colt that it was getting bedtime and he needed to get a shower before bed.

“Ok, pop, I'll take one now.” He started to get undressed, and then I saw the bandages, he still had on.

“Just a minute, son?” I told him, then turned and yelled at Mike, “Hon, come here and check munchkin’s bandages before he gets in the shower?”

Mike came in, played doctor again, but this time he removed the smaller ones, and the wounds had healed nicely. But the larger two were still not completely healed yet. So he told Colt, “You need to take a quick shower, I am going to leave the big bandages on, you wash up good, and when you come out I will put new dressings on those for you. OK?”

“Sure, poppa Mike.” He turned and ran into the bathroom, and showered quickly, and then returned to the bedroom where Mike was sitting on the bed waiting for him. Mike applied more medication and new bandages to only two of the wounds now. And our boy smelled as good as a cute boy should.

Mike ruffed up his hair and said, “Now it's bed time, hop in and we'll tuck you in.”

“Ok, where is pop?” He was looking for me.

“Right here.” I said as I entered his room, after turning off all the lights. I went over to his bed, reached down and hugged him saying, “Good night, my little one. I love you!”

Mike hugged him again saying, “I love you, too; see you in the morning, son!” Mike left his room, closing the door behind him.

We went into our room and got undressed and headed for the Jacuzzi again; this time we just took a long long time in it. Making long passionate love, doing all sorts of wonderful things to each other. For the first time in our lives, we both felt we had a purpose in our lives, and that purpose was now sleeping just down the hall.

I woke up in the middle of the night, and reached over to find my love with a hardon. So I just slid down under the covers and ever so slowly started licking him from the base of his shaft to the beautiful tip of his manhood. Once at the tip I just sucked it in. I wanted some late night snacks. And he was going to give them to me. Mmmmm, I thought, a big cream filled Twinkie! I sucked him in all the way, until his balls were resting on my chin. And my nose was smelling the sweet scent of Mike. As soon as I had all of him inside of me, he moaned and said, “Oh, my; what a wonderful way to be woke up. But hon, if you're not careful you may get something you don’t want. Let me go to the bathroom, please. I let him up and I figured I would just join him. After we did our thing in the bath, we both went back to bed and continued with our play. Only this time we were in a 69 position. I was enjoying every second of it, and so was Mike. It wasn’t long before we both unloaded, and we both had our midnight snack. We seemed to be enjoying our lovemaking, so much more, now that we had our little family. I would never have thought it would make that much difference, in our lives, But it did! Oh yes, it certainly did!

The next morning came and we all got up. We didn’t get the morning romp in the bed by our munchkin.

Mike said, “I wonder where he is this morning, love?” With kind of a disappointed look.

“Well, maybe he's still asleep? Let's go see, put your robe on, and let's take a look?” We both put our robes on, and quietly went over and opened his door and sure enough, he was sleeping. Then I remembered our rules. I motioned to mike and made sure he knew what I wanted him to do. I pulled Mike back and closed the door.

Then Mike knocked on it saying, “Time to get up, time to get up!” We heard him mumble something, and then we charged in, ran to his bed, and started tickling him.

Colt just wiggled and started shouting, “I’m gona pee the bed, if you don’t stop that!” Mike and I just backed off, knowing he was telling the truth.

I said, “Ok, son, go pee, and then get dressed, OK?”

As he was running to the bathroom, we heard him say, “Ok, pop and poppa…” then the door to the bathroom closed.

We both went back into our room and took care of the morning duties, then got dressed and headed for the kitchen to find no Julie. “Oh, yeah, that's right.” I said, “Today is Sunday, It’s her day off. Ok; whose turn is it to cook breakfast?”

Mike said, “Not me!”

I said, “I cooked last weekend, it’s your turn!” laughing at my love.

Colt came in saying, “I’ll cook if you want me too?” And he was serous about it.

I looked at Mike and said, “What the hell, let him try?” Mike nodded his head in agreement.

So we watched our munchkin, as he went about, the process of getting breakfast ready. Our breakfast consisted of dry cereal and toast, butter and jam. We both ate what he fixed, and told him it was great. At least he tried. And I know I was so proud of him, and by the look on Mike’s face so was he.

“You did very well, son; thank you for a great breakfast,” I said, as I finished my corn flakes.

Mike told him, “Son, I'm proud of you, do you know that?” smiling at him

Colt didn’t say anything but blushed a little at Mike’s and my comments.

After breakfast, I told Colt he could do what ever he liked. But Mike and I had some important business to get caught up on. And he seemed ok with that. Mike took off and went to the bunkhouse and to his small office out there; he normally did his work in his office in the house, but for some reason, he had to work out there. I went to my office and started working there. I didn’t really know where Colt was, but I knew he would more than likely be with Star, and that was ok. Mike had been gone maybe two hours, or so, I was deep into what I was doing, and the phone rang,

“Hello” I said

“Love, I got a great idea?”

“What’s that, hon?” I was smiling and happy getting a short break with my love on the other end of the phone.

“I was thinking maybe tomorrow we could go into town and get Colt that new computer we’ve been talking about?” I could tell from his voice he was excited, and wanted to do it.

“I don’t think so, not now, I want to wait for Christmas.” I didn’t want to spoil his excitement but I really wanted to wait.

“He could use it now!” I could tell he was getting upset. But so was I.

“Maybe sooner, but not now, Ok?” I was kind of getting upset with him and that’s not normal for us. “Look, Mike, we will have all the time we need for that, when he is at school, for weeks at a time."

“So you want to do it while he is in school, kind of like a surprise, then?”

“Yes, we will have all the time we need then, Ok?” Mike conceded, and said, "Ok, I see your point, love; I’m sorry; I just wanted some more goodies for him. I want to spoil him, I guess."

“I think we love him dearly and want to do all we can for him, but we need to have some surprises now and then, Ok?”

“Ok, love, sorry I upset you?”

“Love, you didn’t upset me, I just have a lot on my mind, right now, and well, crap. Come back here now, and I'll show you how upset I am,” I said with a real sexy voice.

“Ok, love, I’m on my way.” Then he hung up the phone.

Colt…

<><><><>

I was in the hall going to see my pop when I heard him yelling at someone so I just waited in the hall for him to finish.

I just heard him saying, “Look, Mike, we will have all the time we need for that when he is at school, for weeks at a time?"

Then he paused, I waited for a little longer and he spoke again, “Yes, we will have all the time we need then, Ok?” I ran out of the house and back to my Star, who loved me. My pop and poppa Mike don’t love me anymore. I started crying and my Star told me, he loved me. So I got my Star and told him we needed to find that man Charlie, and never come back.

You are my horse, now. So let’s go find that man, Charlie, up on the mountain. I could see the mountain and I had my Star. I got on him, and we just started running, for the mountain to find Charlie.