Sonntag, Oktober 08, 2017

Beware of Ants in Colorado....

my second short story..now again, any similarity with living persons  is pure coincidence, well the ants heave been somewhat real at some time of my former live! ;)))

October 8/2017

I had been one of our memorable trips to The United States, at a time when it still had been an easygoing friendly country, not destroyed by the paranoia of a bad leader .
We above all had lost our heart to the westcoast ,the change between  rough wilderness and bright lively cities held a continious fascination for us  
When we hit Colorado we decided to stop over at some quite secluded horse ranch. 
Did I mention that I am a junky for horsebackriding?  I have my own horse at home but that I ride "english style" , western  riding always bore a fascination for me and I did some of it in New Mexico with my friend Sid. He even let me ride his own horse , man..was I tickled pink. 

The guest ranch of course did have horses and so I booked a ride for the next morning.  
But  let me tell you a bit about the ranch, it had several log cabins, scattered about amon trees and a little brook was running through the area. Very cozy and secluded, you expected to be greated by a bear on your porch and as a matter of fact there were warning signs all over the place. So after a hearty meal at the fire place in the guestroom we soaked in our hot tub which was attached to our cabin. The little room had a sliding roof and we sat in the hot water, gazing at that tremendious sky full of sparkling stars which only can be found far away from civilization. 
So next morning we went to the stables, I had packed my chaps and to get cowboy boots of course had been a must right after our arrival in the States. It had been so far from the main lodge that Frank had to take me there by car. 
When they came up with my horse my jaw dropped , it  had been the bigest western horse I had seen in my life. "What's its name?" I asked . "Tank" was the answer. I burst out laughing...."now Tank, I hope we are going to be friends! " . Amazingly Tank had a very soft gait and was easy to sit. The group consisted mainly of ranch girls and the only other guest had been a little girl about 10 years old. So we two "outsiders" got to talking. Her name was Ashley and she told me that they were spending a weekend at the ranch. Here parents were divorced and she had arrived with her daddy's new woman friend and daddy, whom she kept raving about. Poor woman, I thought, she has bad cards with little Ashley.
The ride had been quite pleasant and the landscape had been out of this world, rough and lovely at the same time .
When we arrived back, Frank and another guy awaited us. "There is daddy" Ashley cried excitedly, " you will have to meet him, pleease...".
, Since we always love to meet new people when we travel, it gives the additional pleasure to get to know the country,  we introduced  ourselves and that' s what I really like about Americans, they are so much more easygoing than us stiff Europeans! 
"I am Jack " he said and he had that twinkle in his eyes which made him appeal to me right away. He was a bit on the sturdy side, with brown curly hair an a short cropped beard, wich I like with men. 
Frank had tried to grow one, but it never came out right somehow. 
So we got chatting for a bit and he told us that back at the lodge we would have to meet his woman and maybe should we have dinner tonite together. Of course we willingly agreed .
It had been a very pleasant meal together with some good Californian wine and Norma ,his friend,seemed a nice woman. Jack worked for a newspaper and wrote short stories on the side."Not very successful" he pulled a sad face.
 We had a lot of laughs , little Ashley of course,tried to play the first fiddle, but she was so cute, you could not be mad at her. 

"What about a hike into the mountains tomorrow" Jack asked. I looked at him and thought that the name really fit him and he looked at me with that twinkle in his eyes as if he had read my thoughts. "woman, stop flirting" I told myself, "nothing good comes out of that!"

"Hiking" Frank moaned, you know I am rather the boating freak (we had been taking some sailing cruises during former holidays together)  and Ashley started whining that she wanted to go horseback riding again. "I will take her" Norma said, you two go on your hike. 
"You see" I thought to myself a bit nastily "that you get attaching yourself to a darling daddy!"
So Jack and I agreed to meet the next morning after breakfast for our hike.
Again it had been another beautiful day, warm sunshine, the sky so blue, just scattered with a few cumulus clouds. 
Since Jack was an experienced hicker, he consulted hicking maps and worked out a trip which greenhorn  me could also take.
We sat off and I must admit  that I found it quite exhausting.  And all that time we did not meet another soul. As we arrived at a breathtaking overlook , Jack, eying me grinning, asked if I would like to take a rest. 
Only too willingly I agreed. So we sat down and Jack passed me a bottle of water which he had taken along. I took a sip. "Champagne would be better to honour the occasion" I sighed. " I could not agree more" he answered and then we looked at each other, fell into each others arms, tore off each others clothes and rolled in the soft moss. But then I started to scream..."what is it , darling ,what is it" he uttered under heavy breaths. 
"Ants!!!" I kept screaming, "I am full of ants..and they bit me"  By that time they had also reached him and we both jumped around brushing and shaking them off.
So we had put oursevel into the migrating path of big red ants! Somewhat sheepishly we dressed, and then we broke out into a hilarious laughter! 
Now, do not go and confess, I told him. "Well ,he said, nothing much happened!" ...." If you call nothing happened being full of ant bites on your most private parts..and mind you, I am so much more open than you! " So we started screaming, this time with laughter, again.

"The turn of the srew" he sighed, "ants killed our romance"!  - " Only a writer could think of Henry James at a moment like that" I teased.

It had to be good bye later on that day, every one going their own way. - We exchanged addresses and promised to keep in touch,which one then never does.
During our trip, thinking of those effn ants, I had to giggle and Frank, knowing me quite well, eyed me sidewise and asked"have you been into mischief? - oh,nothing to worry about" I grinned.






2 Kommentare:

Nessa hat gesagt…

Those little devils spoiling your fun.

Land-Frau hat gesagt…

yes, and they really can bite!