The Actor Ep. 01

Chapter Five

"Mornin', Hollywood."

Jake yawned in the fluorescent light of the bunkhouse; the dawn's early light hadn't even arrived yet as he finished buttoning up his shirt. "S'up, Darryl," he grumbled. "We got coffee yet?" Jake hadn't slept well, his brain turning last night's events over and over.

"Naw, Jimmy is slackin' again. Jimmy! I told you to be ready at 5:00 o'clock, what's the matter with you?"

"I set my alarm, I'm awake," Jimmy whined, still in his boxers.

"Yeah, you set your alarm, but me 'n Hollywood is dressed and ready for coffee. You're holdin' up the whole damn ranch, son!"

"Lemme get my pants on," Jimmy whined.

"Fuck that. Make it naked, I don't care, just make it right fuckin' now!" Darryl playfully kicked the new kid in the ass as he walked by, muttering. "Goddamn greenhorns gettin' greener every year, ain't they?"

"Yeah," agreed Jake. "What you got goin' today? Horse ride?"

"Yeah, Chisholm Trail ride at ten, so gettin' all the shit together for that. Then afternoon ropin' lessons. What about you?"

"Gotta mend the fence up on Cripple Creek. Earl said part of it washed out. I'm takin' The Donk." That was what they called their little four-wheel-drive all-terrain work vehicle.

"You get all the good jobs," quipped Darryl sarcastically.

"Beats shoveling shit like Jimmy over there."

"Yeah, well, have fun. Jimmy, hurry the fuck up with that coffee!"

- - - - -

It was getting close to 9:30 in the morning and Jake was about half-done with the fence repair in the upper pasture when Marcy Gilroy, the owner's wife, called him on the radio.

"Jake Jake Jake, you out there, son?"

It took him about a minute to where he could walk over to The Donk, but Marcy had called him three more times. "I gotcha Marcy, go for Jake."

"Jake, we need you to take the Chisholm Trail ride. Darryl fell in the barn and dislocated his shoulder. Can you get back here quick-like?"

That's at ten, he remembered as he looked at his watch. Thirty minutes from now. "Marcy. Yeah, just barely, can someone saddle up Sailor for me? Then I'll be good." Sailor was the ranch's horse, but nobody would ride him except for Jake and he considered that to be his horse. He began packing his gear.

- - - - -

"Howdy, folks!" Jake addressed the guest riders as they and their horses more or less formed a horseshoe around Calvin. "Sorry I'm late, our trail boss had a little mishap this morning' so I'll be helpin' out. Calvin has everyone fixed up?" He looked over at Calvin, who nodded his head. Jake liked Calvin; affable, he was competent, hard-working, and never had a bad word to say about anyone. Most folks were surprised to find that this young African American man grew up on the streets of Detroit because he was such an expert horseman, definitely the best on the ranch.

"We're all set," Calvin replied. "I got the lead if you take the rear."

"You got it, boss. Folks, it's important to remember our big rule: stay on the trail. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I got a question! Weren't you on that TV show way back? Somethin' about Montana Skies?"

Some of the other riders murmured to each other, smiling and nodding their heads as recognition set in. Jake looked at the asker and realized it was that knucklehead, Chad, Jamie's fiancé. He looked ridiculous in his white New Balance runners, his red collared Polo shirt, cargo shorts, and some kind of 1950's narrow-brim hat that hipsters wore to try to look cool. How the hell did that asshole land such a stunningly beautiful woman like her? Jake wondered; he could never could figure women out, and this was just another glaring example.

"Yes, I was, thank you for noticin', any questions concerning the ride today?" Jake had changed tasks in such a hurry that he hadn't really looked at his riders until just now. He saw Jamie next to Chad and his heart skipped a beat, remembering the previous night. She looked the part of an experienced rider; a good hat, sensible long-sleeved shirt, denim pants, and nice-looking boots. But it was her smile that got to him, that big grin of hers that favored her right side just a bit and gave her such cute dimples on both cheeks.

Chad piped up again. "And weren't you also plunging shit in our bathroom yesterday?" Jamie leaned over and hit Chad on the forearm, and it wasn't a love tap but he continued on. "I'm just sayin', you've come a long way, huh?"

Jake pulled out his Marlin 1895 rifle (chambered in 45/70), a typical cowboy's lever-action gun, and checked that it was loaded. "I've never had to use this rifle on over a thousand rides, but today might just be the first." All the riders laughed, save one, as he put it back in the scabbard.

Calvin whistled and hollered "Ya!" and the sixteen riders began their trek up the Chisholm Trail toward their destination, lunch on the banks of Snowshed Creek.

The horses, gentle older fellas and mares, traveled this route nearly every day in the warm months. They knew the way without much assistance or guidance from their riders. The trail was wide enough in parts for them all to ride side-by-side, but the animals mostly kept to single file. While Calvin rode point, Jake adjusted his speed so he could talk to the various riders for a few minutes each. And with Chad's information dump, most wanted to ask about his well-being and how they just loved him in Montana Skies, and boy, they'd sure just love to see him do another series, or hey, what about a movie!

Jamie noticed that Jake took all the questions in stride, never hesitating to give out details and whatnot about his acting career. But she could tell it weighed on him. All the personality she saw in him last night faded away when he talked of his past life. Hell, anyone could see that it bothers him if they just looked at him for a few moments; leave him alone! she wanted to shout.

Chad, meanwhile, droned on to Jamie about how hard the show-biz industry was. But she only half-listened as he spoke of his good friend, who was a producer for Warner Brothers, and the stories he told. Chad had so many good friends she didn't bother to keep track of them all, and she actually began to wonder how many of them really existed. But she nodded appropriately and gave out "uh-huh's" when it was required. She really wanted to apologize to Jake for Chad making a scene, but she knew it wouldn't bode well for her if she did it in front of Chad.

Finally, she thought as Jake slowed his horse and they caught up to him, she being closest to him as Chad moved up alongside them.

"How you folks doin', enjoyin' the mornin'?" Jake asked pleasantly. He wasn't about to let that dumbass spoil his morning, especially when riding next to Jamie.

"We're all good, it's so lovely here! The mountains are just majestic! Look at the snow! And--" Jamie gushed.

"Yeah, yeah," Chad interrupted. "We're good, and the shitter seems to be working fine today. Thanks for asking."

"Well, now," mused Jake, "you're probably just not as full of shit as you were yesterday."

Jamie broke out into a loud laugh before clamping her mouth shut. Chad just responded, "Ha-ha. So now you're a funny cowboy, too, huh? Boy, aren't you just a master of everything... except acting, apparently."

"Chad! Stop it!" Jamie couldn't believe how much of an ass he could be.

"Now hold on, little darlin', a man has a right to speak his piece, uninformed as it is. I actually was a good actor, but it was the drinking, the drugs, and the philanderin' that kept me from getting more roles. Now... I'm just damaged goods. You got any more questions about that?"

Jamie successfully hid the shocked feelings she was experiencing. He'd kept their conversations light and pleasant last night and hadn't revealed any of this very personal information to her. Chad started to answer, but she cut him off. "Well, Jake, I'd like to know what kind of flowers are those over there?" She pointed to a nearby hillock blanketed in purple.

Jake beamed at Jamie. "Ain't they beautiful? Those would be, let's see, the purple ones are Jacob's Ladder. But there's a few violets in there amongst them. These yellow ones we're almost steppin' on are Toadflax. Then you've got your St. John's Wort over there... and look! Columbine! Those white ones? They're kinda rare." Jake imagined a blanket, a bottle of wine, and Jamie lying naked on the blanket in this field of flowers, and he warned himself. No! Stop it! She's engaged!

"They're so lovely! I can't believe they all just grow wild like this!"

"I can't believe I got no cell service," Chad blurted out, looking at his phone.

Ignoring him, Jake continued to name flower after flower for Jamie, loving the fact that she appreciated the wild and beautiful country. He liked the way she looked at him when he talked, so interested, so focused on him. He also loved being able to look at her so much. In conversation people are supposed to look at each other, but these two maintained so much eye contact that anyone would have thought something was going on.

"Do you smell that?" Jake asked.

"What, the flowers?"

Jake took in a big exaggerated breath and blew it out noisily. "It's fresh air! Ain't it better than smellin' smog, and tar, and all that other crap that cities put in the air?"

"It smells like hay-fever season to me," Chad interjected.

Jamie looked at Chad for several seconds, then turned to face Jake again. A chill ran through her as she tried to recover from a near-catastrophic moment. I was about to ask him why he's here if he's just going to be a little bitch about everything.

At about the 45-minute mark they reached a nice shady spot on the edge of a meadow in a verdant valley, surrounded by ponderosa pines on the uphill side while quaking aspens, sycamore, and river birches grew along the good-sized creek cutting through the middle of it. Calvin signaled for a rest, and the riders gathered together to chit-chat.

"Lotta folks like to take pictures here," Calvin announced, "or just get a drink of water. We'll pick up again in about ten minutes, and lunch is about twenty minutes after that. You can tie up your horse over here, but I'd prefer you to stay mounted. Regardless, stay close, okay? Don't nobody go wanderin' off."

One of the larger guests mentioned that her saddle seemed to be slipping, and asked if someone could help her?. Calvin tied up his horse, but Jamie offered to hold Sailor's reins as both of the ranch hands helped the woman dismount. While they looked over the front and back cinch, figuring out which one was loose, they heard hoofbeats leaving the group. Jake stood up, trying to see who had left. It took him several moments before he realized it was Chad, racing across the meadow at top speed towards the creek.

"Chad! Get back here! Chad!" Jake screamed at the top of his voice, but Chad either didn't hear or didn't heed the command.

"Goddamn that guy," he muttered under his breath as he headed towards his horse. He figured he would have to go after him and bring him back. How hard is it to stay on a fucking trail?

"Jake!" Jamie called out in a concerned voice. "What's that on the other side of the creek?"

Jake looked where she pointed and his blood ran cold. Emerging from the trees on the other side of the creek, about a half-mile away, was Jake's worst nightmare. Oh shit! A fucking grizzly... and two cubs... a mama bear.

He hopped on Sailor and took off as fast as he could, but Chad already was more than a hundred yards ahead of Jake. "Turn around, you idiot!" Jake called again, but Chad kept going. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? Jake's mind raced as he tried to think of a way this might play out with a good ending, but he couldn't think of any.

Chad's horse must have smelled the bear because he stopped suddenly and reared up, afraid. Chad slid off the back end, got up off the ground, and then walked towards the bear, pointing his cell phone at it.

The bear stood on her hind legs, extending up to her full height of almost eight feet, bellowing as she did so. Her two cubs scrambled up a nearby tree, obeying their mother's warning. Chad began to realize his dangerous predicament, but it was too late.

Jake watched from astride his mount as 800 pounds of angry mama grizzly bear began her charge towards Chad. Jake thought he could probably snatch up Chad in about fifteen seconds... but he calculated the bear would reach Chad at about the same time. Grizzlies could run at upwards of thirty miles an hour for short periods, Jake remembered, and that would be enough time for her to close the distance.

Sailor began to falter; he didn't like the idea of running towards a charging grizzly. The bear bellowed again, running faster than what seemed possible. Chad stood still, paralyzed by fear, his smartphone capturing the drama in video.

Jake suddenly felt like he was operating in slow motion. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind, with the primary thought being, He's going to die. I can't let that happen. And some troubling thoughts also jumped into the mix. But he's an asshole, and he deserves what he gets for not listening to me and being so stupid.

A hundred yards from the bear, Sailor wanted to turn around, but Jake frantically dug his spurs into his flanks and only his expert handling kept him on course.

Mama bear kept charging toward Chad and her terrifying bellows chilled all who heard because they knew what it meant; mama was about to rain death and destruction upon her chosen victim. Her mouth agape, saliva spewing from both sides of it, her giant teeth ready to sink into Chad's fleshy body, many of the guests screamed in horror at Chad's imminent dismemberment.

As Sailor galloped his old heart out, Jake reached for the rifle in his scabbard.

- - - - -

To be continued...