Alaya's Premonition

One bright, sunny Monday, Alaya woke with the premonition that something “bad” was going to happen that week. There was nothing “unusual”, but, Alaya had the feeling something wasn’t quite right. She quickly got dressed and went downstairs and got some coffee started, while she made some eggs and sausage. It was going to be a l o n g day of herding the cattle in the lower pasture, and she wanted to make sure she ate a good breakfast that would hold her for a while.

     She went out to the barn and after she greeted the ranch hands, got her horse, Leia, saddled; she headed out to the lower pasture with the rest of the ranch hands to get the cattle in. The feeling of foreboding hadn’t gone away, though, and she vowed to discuss it with her grandmother, Rosa, when she returned later in the afternoon. She had learned not to dismiss such thoughts when they “popped up”, because, as her grandmother had taught her, it was a “sign” of things to come, and should not be taken “lightly”. She was thinking about that, when she was herding some calves up out of a gully, to follow the rest of the herd, who had strayed away. She couldn’t help but laugh, as they were running in all directions, as they were trying to get away from her and Sam, the ranch hand, who was trying to help. Calves can be so obstinate, when they wanted to be, she decided. She told Sam about her premonition, and he laughed, saying she was being “foolish”, but Alaya knew better then to “dismiss” things that away. Her Apache heritage had taught her that, if there was a “feeling of foreboding”, then “trouble would soon follow” and she was going to make sure that she and her family were safe. She helped get the rest of the cattle in and then went in to get washed up and talk to her grandmother about her premonition, to see what she had to say about it.

     The next day dawned, and was another bright, clear, day. Alaya knew that today was another busy day, as today was sheep shearing and the neighboring ranch hands were coming over to help. They started arriving as she was finishing breakfast, and she hurried out to greet them, wiping her hands on her pants. Some of them she had known since she was a “little girl” and others were so “new”, she didn’t even know their names, yet. They were “new hires”, just for the sheep shearing in the area. She loved shearing, but it was a l o n g three or four days, working late into the evening, sometimes. She would joke around with ranch hands, play some practical jokes on a few and even get a few marriage proposals, as well. She was talking to Dave, one of the new guys, and they were talking about “believing in supernatural”, and “believing in angels” and other things. Alaya asked Dave if he “believed” in premonitions, and he shook his hand, “maybe”. “Why?” he asked. “I just feel like something bad is going to happen soon, that’s all. When I’ve had a premonition, sooner or later, it usually comes ‘true’. ““WOW! Really? Are you psychic or something?” Dave asked. Alaya laughed. “I wouldn’t say that. It’s more that I get these feeling about things, or people; and I’m usually right. My grandmother said it’s a *gift* that I inherited from her. They kept working until dinnertime and took a break to get a quick bite to eat, before getting back to work.

     The next day, Alaya rolled over and groaned, when the alarm went off, because every muscle in her body ached, including her back. But, she slid her feet over the side of the bed, and padded into the bathroom, and grabbed some Advil for her muscle pains, and headed to the kitchen for some coffee and breakfast. She was pleased to see her grandmother had already made some coffee, and the kitchen island was lined with eggs, bacon, sausage, English muffins, and a variety of homemade muffins, fresh bread, and a huge stack of flapjacks, ham slices, a breakfast frittata, and maple syrup from the local ranch. Everything smelled so delicious, that Alaya didn’t know WHERE to start. But, she just threw a few things on a paper plate and headed out the door to the barn, with her mug of coffee, to see where to start for the day. By the time she got there, the guys were already setting things up, to start clipping. So, she gobbled down a few bites, took a few swigs of coffee, wiped her hands on her jeans, and went over to help grab some sheep. The first few sheep struggled under her grip, but once she got a rhythm going, it went pretty smoothly. And, before she knew it, it was dinnertime again, and her grandfather had threw some steaks on the grill for everyone; she had never smelled ANYTHING so GOOD, when she came out of the barn.

      By the time they quit that night, they had sheared over 300 hundred sheep, and they had 500 hundred sheep to go. But, they had made a good dent in things and her grandfather was pleased with all the work they had accomplished. She went and took a shower and headed to bed, dreaming of the end of the week, and a nice, cool swim in the pond when they were all done. A smell woke her, and it took her a minute to figure out what it was. FIRE!! That was never good!! She got dressed quickly and head downstairs and opened the front door and saw the side barn, where the grain was stored, was all ablaze!! The bunkhouse was close by, and the ranch hands were already forming a line of water buckets, trying to put out the flames creeping up the side of building. By the time she got a bucket and joined the brigade, they had it almost out, but the damage was done. They had lost most of their grain, and the barn was pretty much destroyed. She found her grandfather and saw him sitting on the front porch, with his head in his hands. She asked him what happened and all he could do was keep shaking his head. So, she went to go find the Foreman, Hank, and see what he had to say. He said it looked the barn had been soaked in gasoline and maybe something else, too.  He said he saw the butt of a cigarette on the ground, that may have been the spark, that started it all, but he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that it was NOT an accident!  He told Alaya he had called the local sheriff, Wayne, and he would come out to investigate the matter further.

    By the time Wayne and his deputy had finished questioning the ranch hands, and inspected what was left of the barn, it was after 6am. No one had been to sleep, and some of the ranch hands were a bit “grumpy”, to say the least. But, Alaya knew that living on a ranch; you sometimes didn’t get a lot of sleep, and had to adjust accordingly. But, this also presented a new problem, too. It meant that someone, maybe one of the “new guys”-or, a neighbor, someone they had sold cattle to, or some disgruntled ranch hand-was out to destroy everything her grandfather, Elan, had worked so hard for the past 40 years. The feeling of foreboding was getting stronger, now, and Alaya wondered what else would happen, before it would go away. She also wondered who was so mad at them that they would want to start a fire so close to the house, and risk injuring the people inside. It meant it had to be someone who had such an intense hatred for her grandfather that didn’t care who was in the wake of the destruction they left behind. Alaya shivered, as she thought about the person who could be so evil, to want to cause so much harm, to such a kind and gentle man. She vowed to make sure that her grandfather did not lose all that he had worked so hard for all these long years. Without her grandparents, she would have not had a place to go, after her parents had died, when she was very young; she owed them everything. She would make sure that her grandparents did not get everything taken away from them, like she had.

    She went in and got some coffee and made sure her grandparents got some breakfast, before going back out to help with the shearing. Some of the ranch hands had offered to help rebuild the barn, and so they were short a few, to help with the shearing to start. But, but the afternoon, news had spread, and more ranch hands had shown up to help with the shearing. Alaya looked around with tears in her eyes, at all those who had come, and realized they had such wonderful neighbors, who would drop everything and come help in a moment’s notice, if need be. They would definitely have a big cookout to celebrate getting everything fixed up, this weekend, she decided. At least the sheep were more cooperative today, and shearing had gone along pretty smoothly, and she was grateful for that. By the time they were finished for the night, they had almost all the shearing done. They had gotten all the shearing done and she couldn’t BELIEVE IT!!

    The next day was a bit cloudy, but as Alaya finished her breakfast the sun burst out of the clouds and started brightening up the day. She headed to the barn and cleaned up the rest of the shearing equipment left behind. Then, she saddled her horse, and decided to take a short ride to check the fences. When she got down to the lower pasture, she noticed the fences had been cut and raced back to the back to the barn, shouting as she went. The ranch hands came running and she told them what had happened and they swore up and down, that the fences were all in “working condition” the last they looked, which was the day before yesterday. So, she had to assume it was the work of the saboteur again. Alaya called Sheriff Wayne right away to let him know and he said he’d send his deputy right out. They had to find the responsible party before things got out of hand and someone got hurt! The Deputy got there quickly and took pictures and one of the ranch hands with Alaya to repair the damage to the fence. She then took the took tool and fencing back, an decided to call her neighbors to see if there had been any other disturbances in the area. Her neighbors reported minor instances of fences being cut, fence posts knocked over, mail boxes, toppled, horses let loose, some hay being stolen, but nothing being burnt. So, Alaya’s suspicions were confirmed: It was someone with a vendetta against her uncle.

    She went inside and went over the records of employees they had let go. Thankfully, there hadn’t been many; most of the ranch hands had been referred from her neighbors and were very loyal. So, there wasn’t a lot to go through. But, when she came to the bottom of the list, she frowned at the last two names: Bart Jensen, and James Hansen. They were temporary hires, they had used for shearing and then to gather in the hay and other odd jobs. When those jobs were done, her uncle thought he’d have more work for them, but then, they went through a “rough spell” at the ranch, and he had to let them-and others-go, because they couldn’t pay them. She remembered how angry they were about being “let go”, because they felt they had worked hard and were willing to stay, even without pay. She called Sheriff Wayne immediately and let him know to check them out, and went outside to feed the stock. She then went to check the garden to see if there were any vegetables for dinner, and found tomatoes, beans, peas, and green onions.

    She was just turning to go in, when a hand was put across her mouth, and pulled her roughly behind the house. She was dragged to the barn, and blindfolded, and tied up, and felt herself being put onto a horse. She then heard the barn door being opened, and heard the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves slowly walk out of the barn, and decided to yell to attract attention. She yelled with all her might, and scared whoever grabbed her so much, they fell off the horse, when she butted them in the head. She heard Sam’s voice as he came running, and saw his face, when he lifted the blindfold off her face. She turned and looked and saw James Hansen lying on the ground, with Dave holding his hands behind his back, so he wouldn’t get away. She walked over to him and said: “Are you the one who set fire to the barn? Why? My uncle only ever treated you with respect and dignity?” “What Dignity? He fired me!” James said. Alaya said: “He had to let some employees go, and unfortunately, you, and Bart were in the group. It wasn’t personal.” “It sure felt like it”, James said. “Well, you can tell Sheriff Wayne whether it was you-or someone else-who set fire to the barn when he gets here, then. But, I’m DEFINTELY pressing charges for assault!” Alaya turned and walked off, trying to stay calmer then she felt as she walked toward the house, to tell her grandparents what had happened; though, she figured they had heard most of the story by now. She wanted to talk to her grandmother, and have her calm her spirit, down, though, thinking how close she came to taking Sam’s knife out of his belt and slitting James’ throat, for trying to take away her grandfather’s heritage. When she got inside, she found her grandmother, and her grandmother took one look at her and knew that Alaya had been through a lot. She went over to the stove, got some tea out of the cupboard, poured some hot water in the cup, and brought the tea over to Alaya. She knew that Alaya would talk in her own time. Alaya took one sip of the blackberry/yucca tea her grandmother gave her and felt tears slide down her cheeks. The stress of the past few days had finally caught up to her and the calming brew had made them flow. Sitting there on the stool in the kitchen, she realized at last, she didn’t feel the sense of foreboding anymore. In its place, she felt a sense of true peace and comfort and knew that finally, things were going to be alright for her grandparents. And, that the future of the ranch and its holdings, were finally safe from harm and destruction at long last. She felt the presence of her ancestors looking down on her and her grandparents that day. And, as she looked out at the beautiful, Mountain View, and valleys below, she knew that one day, her kids would enjoy the wonderful, majestic views as much as she did.