Tag: horse-riding

He Rode Tall

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

Joel wasn’t sure what it was, but somehow he had connected
with the peace and tranquility of the land. He was wondering
if there wasn’t some way he could make a go of the Circle
H. Joel knew that he had lost his soul a lot of years ago, but now,
maybe just maybe, he had found his soul in the hills.
“So who is this Smith character?” inquired Joel.
“Big rancher. Moved in about ten years ago and hasn’t stopped
buying since. Must control almost the entire county. Between
what he has already put his hands on and what he has tied up in
first right of refusals he pretty well owns Sweetwater Country.
They say he runs over 5,000 head.”
Even Joel knew that 5,000 head was a lot of anything let alone
cows. Anyone who has enough land to feed that many cattle
would be just about as close to a king as you could get in this dry
country.
By now, Harry had run out of chores to do and things to tinker
with so he slowly turned to face Joel. It was then that Joel clearly
saw the withered, weather-stained face of the man he was speaking
with. Joel couldn’t help but think that Harry’s head was too
big for the size of his body. His tiny frame carried maybe 140
pounds, none of it fat. With a thirty-inch waist, this ranch hand
of fifty or sixty, or was it seventy, years appeared to be in excellent
condition. His face featured a big nose, ears the size of tea saucers,
and an abundance of thick black hair. And his hands. His
hands were those of a worker and his big head seemed out of proportion
to the size of his lithe body.
“Lives over there,” offered Harry.
“Over where?” asked Joel, almost forgetting who it was that
they were talking about.
“The Buck Smith Ranch Corporation Headquarters are just
over those hills. Maybe a mile across.”
“Then we are neighbours.”
“Might say that. A mile across the hills but must be ten miles
around on the roads. Don’t see much of them over here. Just
their cows all over the hills.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

He Rode Tall

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

“Joel,” Mr. Lee replied calmly. “I met with our client’s entire
management team at the terminal yesterday and they are fully
behind the decision. In fact, they were very critical of me for not
acting on this earlier, but I thought I would just give you one
more chance. I know you are capable of so much more. It is so
frustrating watching you waste your talent and poison yourself
the way that you do.”
“Bloody hell, you bastard. What are you talking about? Just
because you don’t know how to have a little fun once in a while
doesn’t mean that other people can’t have a good laugh now and
again.”
“Joel, I can see that this conversation isn’t getting us anywhere,”
interrupted Mr. Lee. “But why should I expect it to be
any different than any of our other conversations? Everyone I talk
to on this addiction problem of yours tell me that you won’t be
ready to make the changes you need to make until you hit your
bottom. I just hope it doesn’t take you much longer to hit your
bottom. There might not be much left. Could you please give me
your key to the office and your security pass?”
“Screw you!” screamed Joel as he slammed his office key and
security pass on the desk in front of him. “You are going to be
very sorry. You’ll see. You will be crawling to me asking for me to
come back and clean up after the kid. There is no way I’ll ever
work for this damn rotten company ever again after the way
they’ve treated me. You’ll all be sorry,” he blurted to anyone who
cared to listen as he strode across the office, opened the door, and
walked into the sweltering heat of the day.
If Joel was feeling pretty rough at the start of the day, he certainly
wasn’t feeling any better now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

He Rode Tall

On By vequinoxIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Excerpt

Especially this morning as he stumbled to
the toilet, dropped to his knees, and wretched his guts out. For
maybe ten or twenty minutes Joel, continued to engage in the ritual
of dry heaves. And every time he thought it was over, because
he needed to get to his office, his entire body would be overcome
by yet another compelling desire to puke and he would once
again gag into the toilet. Once the heaves subsided, Joel was
wasted of whatever strength he might have. The coolness of the
porcelain toilet bowl on his forehead was a comforting feeling as
he rested to regain his strength to rise. Eventually, knowing that
he just could not afford to be late again, Joel rose, brushed his
teeth, and shaved. Lately, Joel had taken to simply using the
razor every other day. But looking at himself in the mirror this
morning, Joel realized that it had probably been three and maybe
even four days since his face had been visited by the razor. Knowing
that with his hands shaking as they were and realizing that he
was going to be late again, Joel opted to quickly shave his upper
lip and race to the office. A shower would have been nice. No, a
shower would have been wonderful, but he couldn’t afford many
more reprimands from the office manager, Mr. Lee, for being late.
Even if he was the best damn engineer on the waterfront, Joel was
pushing his luck.
After throwing his old rumpled suit on, Joel rushed down the
stairs to the teeming street below where he quickly hailed a cab and
twenty minutes later rushed into the offices of Empire Engineering
Works. Empire was one of those harbor-based engineering firms
that specialized in all kinds of projects on the Hong Kong waterfront.
Joel had been with Empire for many years now, including
postings at the home office in London and an endless string of
assignments around the globe that usually lasted anywhere from
twelve to twenty-four months. He had actually spent nearly three
years at one posting in Amsterdam, but that was only because of
overlapping projects, and once the first project, a new dry dock facility,
was completed, he was asked to finish up a project with another
team of engineers who were designing a new pier for the ferry fleet.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955