Copper View Ranch

Sophia woke early the next morning, hearing the dogs barking just outside her window. With a start she realized she must have slept in. The sun was high in the sky, shining in through her balcony doors. Rolling over on her bed she saw the time. 10:26. Why didn't anyone wake her? She stumbled out of bed and quickly changed into the nearest clothes she could find. She applied her make up much faster than usual before hurrying down the stairs and out the door.

Outside she saw Emily leading a horse towards the pastures. "Mornin'!" Emily called over with a wave. "Have a good sleep? The chores are mostly done but some of the pens need to be cleaned."

Sophia nodded, still trying to blink sleep out of her eyes as she jogged up towards the pens and grabbed the nearest wheelbarrow and manure fork she could find. She cleaned the pens in record timing, knowing she had to still pack a lunch and meet Abby down at the river bend. She wasn't sure what she thought of the talkative, younger girl. She seemed friendly enough, and by the looks of it was closer to her age than anyone else on the ranch. With a sigh her thoughts turned back to her friends in the city, who were surely lounging around a pool or hanging out in nice air conditioned malls.

Shaking those thoughts away, she finished mucking out the pens quickly before returning to the farmhouse. She found some old saddlebags to pack a lunch in before heading for the kitchen. She wasn't much of a cook and didn't know what to pack, so she made some chicken sandwiches and packed some apples and granola bars. It wasn't her idea of a good lunch for a picnic, but it was better than nothing.

"Where are you off to?" Emily asked as she entered the kitchen, wiping her hands off on a towel nearby. She glanced curiously at the lunch Sophia was shoving into the saddle bags.

"Going to meet Abby up by the river," Sophia responded quickly as she grabbed the saddle bags and headed for the door.

"Have fun!" Emily managed to call after her as Sophia hurried out the door. She headed for the barn, putting her saddle bags down before bringing Sunny out from his pen to saddle up. She decided he would be the safest choice to take for a ride. She didn't want another repeat of what happened the other day.

"Goin' for a ride?" a male voice asked Sophia as she was leaving the tack room with a saddle and bridle in her arms. Sophia glanced up, nodding to Lucas, who looked slightly confused.

"Yeah, going up to the river bend," Sophia replied as she headed for the door, trying to reach Sunny before she dropped the heavy saddle. "Meeting Abby there."

"Well be careful, a cougar has been spotted in the area," Lucas called out after her. Sophia promptly dropped the saddle and bridle on the ground.

"What?!" she exclaimed, turning around to face him. She didn't want to ride off on her own if there was a cougar around. She's heard enough stories of the mountain lions before.

"Just take Bessie with you, I'm sure you'll be fine," Lucas seemed unconcerned as he disappeared into a stall with Sophia staring incredulously after him. Biting her lip, she turned around to Sunny and began saddling him with less enthusiasm. The sorrel gelding stood calmly, his eyes half closed as she tightened up the cinch.

Once he was ready to go, she shoved her hair back under her cowboy hat to keep it out of her face. She double checked the saddle bags to make sure her lunch wasn't about to fall out before she swung up into the saddle. "C'mon Bessie," she called to the border collie who trotted over eagerly.

Sophia turned Sunny down the driveway, following the dirt road for a few minutes. The scenery was becoming more familiar as she remembered the rides she used to take into the endless countryside. A few moments later she turned the gelding off the driveway where the pasture fence ended, and rode along the fence for quite awhile with Bessie at her side.

It took Sophia longer than planned to find the river bend. She did end up in a spot where she could hear the river, but not see it. It appeared someone had cut down quite a lot of trees in the area and she couldn't rely on familiar landmarks from her childhood. At last, nearly forty minutes later, Sophia found the river bend.

Abby was already there, standing on the rocks of the river as she threw pebbles in. Her black hair was tied in pony tails underneath her cowboy hat and her clothes were similar to what she wore to the barbecue. Nearby, a calm looking bay horse stood with his head slightly lowered as he dozed off.

"Hey!" Abby called over eagerly when she saw Sophia. She waved her arms wildly, as if Sophia didn't already see her. With a grin, the younger girl jogged over. "It's about time! I've been waiting ages for you to get here."

"Sorry," Sophia replied with a sheepish grin. "Couldn't quite remember the way." She didn't want to mention that she'd been avoiding any dark thick areas of the forest and spent most of her time scanning the treetops to make sure a cougar wasn't about to attack her. She couldn't help but feel paranoid now. She waited as Abby hurried back over to her horse and swung herself up into the saddle before riding over.

"So, where are we headed?" Sophia asked, her thoughts returning to the possible cougar around. "Er, you know there's a cougar around here?"

Abby snorted. "There's always a cougar around here. C'mon, there's a nice spot for a picnic up this way," she said before turning her horse around and motioning for Sophia to follow.

Sophia followed the other girl in silence as Abby babbled on about many other occasions where she's seen cougars and bears. If Abby meant to make Sophia feel better, she was doing the exact opposite. Sophia now constantly felt like she was being watched, and couldn't help but glance around nervously expecting to see the eyes of a cougar or a bear watching from every bush or tree.

"So, Abby," Sophia called forward, interrupting the girl's long gruesome speech about how some of their cattle had been attacked by something a few months back. "Is there anyone else around here that's around our age?"

"Nope," Abby called back cheerfully. "Which is why I'm so glad you moved back here, it's super boring with only my brother to hang out with," Abby grinned. "C'mon, let's run."

Without warning, the girl suddenly kicked her bay gelding into a gallop and took off across the open meadow. Alarmed, Sophia tightened her reins as Sunny took off eagerly after the other horse. She leaned forward in the saddle as the wind whistled by, hearing Bessie's excited barks as the dog ran behind them. Sunny had his ears pinned back, attempting to pass Abby's horse until Abby finally slowed her gelding to a jog. Abby was grinning as she glanced back to Sophia, who loosened her grip on the reins and the horn of the saddle feeling slightly irritated.

"Here it is!" Abby pointed to the area they reached. The area was full of many trees now, but at the edge of the meadow Sophia could see it dropped off into a steep bank. It had quite a good view of the valley beyond.

"Nice," Sophia commented weakly as she swung out of the saddle, finding her legs shaky from the sudden adrenaline rush. She slid the rope halter she brought over Sunny's bridle and tied him to a tree nearby as Abby did the same. She took out her lunch and followed Abby over to the spot on the rocks overlooking the valley.

"So, I was thinking. We should totally go on like an overnight camping trip with our horses!" Abby suddenly said excitedly as they sat down to eat. "We could go for a weekend, or longer if you want! I know all these good camping spots in the mountains."

"I guess," Sophia replied skeptically as she took a bite of her sandwich, wishing she brought something to drink. "Er-is it safe to go by ourselves?"

"Well, my parents will only let me if we have an adult with us," Abby rolled her eyes. "I could convince Ben to come, but he isn't really an adult. I was trying to get Lucas to come but he kept saying he was busy."

"Well," Sophia responded slowly as she finished eating her bite of a sandwich. She wasn't all that excited of the idea, knowing there was a cougar nearby. She wasn't about to go camping off in the mountains unless they had a group of people with them. "I'll talk to my dad, maybe they're going on a cattle drive or something sometime soon we can go on."

"I guess," Abby sounded disappointed. They ate in silence as Sophia finished off her chicken sandwich before throwing the remains of it to Bessie, who was sitting nearby watching her hopefully.

"Do you usually go riding by yourself?" Sophia asked conversationally as she bit into her apple.

"All the time," Abby replied with a grin. "I know every inch of these mountains."

Sophia nodded, her thoughts once again returning to her friends, wondering what they were doing. She completely forgot to phone them, as she'd promised to do once she got home. She tossed the apple core behind her for one of the horses before wrapping her arms around her knees as she gazed out across the tree filled valley.

Abby didn't seem to be able to sit through a silence with no one talking, and soon she was going on about a ride she went on by herself where she was getting stalked by wolves. Sophia felt her attention drifting and was beginning to wonder if the girl was telling the truth. She was rather dramatic.

"Should we head back now?" Sophia suddenly suggested, interrupting the girl as she described how she was chased across the mountains by a savage wolf. She was rather eager to head back to the ranch.

"I guess so," Abby sounded disappointed as they headed back to their horses to prepare them for the short ride back.