Chapter 8:

Instincts Of Eternal Bonds

Black and White


(Scene one: Loss)

Brian came in the next day morning as he promised Whitney to get going with her practices. The day was and will be beautiful as always, only if it didn’t rain. For that, after Brian came to the ranch James, Brian and Whitney went to the forest with their horses. In the same forest, the last horse race took place. Near the beautiful Autumn infected forest was a nice open area with a couple of rocks and naturally fallen tree trunks; which makes the place even more suitable for Whitney and Luna’s practices. “James, be a good lad and go there.” Brian pointed toward an inclined, about eighteen feet tall, rock with rugged edges (spiky, not pointy), on the slope of this mountain forest next to the open area. James figured he was asked to keep an eye on the unwanted. “Okay.” James awfully and boringly replied. “Alright Whitney, commence rehearsals.” Brian cheered her up. He left Phantom to eat some grass. “Let’s show’em what we got. Right Luna?” Whitney asked Luna, and it replied with a cheerful neigh.

Brian fell asleep on the rock bench he was sitting on after he exceeded one hour after the afternoon reached, watching Luna and Whitney vaulting. Whitney was pissed by it. “Brian…BRIAN!” she yelled. Brian fell off startled. “What’s so boring for you to sleep!?” she asked furiously. “Do you really want me to answer? I’ll reply with compared to Roxanne…” Brian anxiously asked. “YES!” she forced by one word. “Here goes…” Brian closed his eyes, fisted his hands, looked down and continued. “To be honest, your performance…is…lousy. All you did was jumping, standing, riding and all Luna did was jumping, walking and running. The performance is…performance is full of holes.”. Brian’s this statement shocked James. Whitney looked down emotionless. “You think like that huh? Alright! I’ll work on them to fill the holes.” Whitney happily said. She signalled Luna to speed up and she whooshed to the town. James came down from the rock. “You really don’t understand the situation do you, Two-B?” James asked. “What do you mean. I told the truth, right?” Brian asked. “Well…the way you said it was harsh. She’s not strong as us men you know. Though I can’t believe she bottled her despair.” James said. Then Brian realized he was too hard on words, only concerned about answering her question. “We’ll head back. You better apologize to her first. She is at the ranch.” James said and mounted onto Loki and Brian to Phantom whooshed to the Gold-key ranch.

Minutes later, approached the ranch, from behind. They saw Whitney doing practices on her own. Brian noticed a few differences in Luna. It was exhausted from all the training but still, it didn’t want to disappoint Whitney. So, Luna tries her best to satisfy Whitney. James saw Brian getting furious seeing Whitney not caring enough about Luna. He also saw Whitney had no emotion at all but senseless greed to get better. She kept falling down, dragged on mud. And she still got up and kept practising. “Rider must care about the horse Whitney.” Brian gravely whispered. “But you better apologize first and then tell her to stop. Brian…BRIAN! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?” James shouted while Phantom rushed with Brian, jumped from the fence and stopped. Whitney was in a jumping position. She saw him and forgot where to land. She tripped on the saddle and fell into a shallow pool of mud. She got back up and touched the saddle to mount back up. Brian dismounted and went toward Whitney. “Take a break.” Brian said and pulled over Whitney. “No! I’m almost there to success. Don’t make me quite.” Whitney unhanded herself and mounted to Luan. Brian was pissed. He went and unbuckled the saddle strap to Whitney and fell to his hands. Then he kept her aside. “Why don’t you want me to succeed? Why can’t I be differe…” “YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT LUNA!” Brian shouted in interruption, so loud, Whitney was shocked to the core. “You don’t care she gets a meal; you don’t care she gets enough of anything. You treating her like a SLAVE!” Brian closed his mouth in shock that he went too far. Whitney’s eyes got watery after she looked and realized she didn’t treat her partner as well as Brian. “I…I didn’t mean to say tha…” “GO AWAY!” Whitney ran inside the stable.

Brian is now in extreme confusion; he can’t think straight. Not even know what he should do. Whitney took out her helmet drenched in mud and threw it at the wall while staying under the attic. Instantly, a few planks on the attic’s floor collapsed and a hay stack fell upon her like a highspeed shower and buried her. Brian heard the sound of the collapse. He rushed inside and saw only Whitney’s arms and legs shaking outside the stack of hay. Brian let go of the previous incident and pulled her out from her legs. “Are you alright?” Brian asked. “pthu, ththu.” Whitney spits out hay in her mouth while brushing off the ones stuck in her hair. “Thanks Nata…you!?” She kicked Brian at a sensitive area for showing himself as the first to help, because she was expecting Natasha. “Are you…that mad with me. I…am…sorry.” Brian knelt on the ground and cuddle up in pain. “I’m sorry, I’m really really sorry. Does it hurt that bad?” Whitney asked apologetically. “Oh no no, doesn’t hurt a bit.” Brian said sarcastically. “Oh, okay then.” Whitney relaxed. “Huh!? I expected little more care.” Brian’s pain started to wear off. “I’m sorry I yelled and complained to you... about your performance.” Brian apologized. “It’s alright. I shouldn’t have gone this far either.” Whitney said. Then they started giggling and chitchatting.

The conversation was going on for a couple of hours and the twilight ended. Jane and Jessica came running to the stable. They were terribly exhausted. “For god's sake what happened to you!?” Whitney questioned. “Don’t…worry…about…us. Where’s Luna and Phantom?” Jane asked. “Uh? There outside near the water troughs, I guess…” Brian said. “You better hide them. NOW!” Jessica exclaimed. “What!? Why? What’s going…” Brian couldn’t finish his words; Phantom and Luna neighed loudly. ‘Phantom’ ‘Luna’ Brian and Whitney thought and ran outside. Jane and Jessica collapsed in exhaustion from running, laying their backs on the stable doors. Brian and Whitney saw ropes thrown at Phantom and Luna. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING.” Whitney screamed. “LEAVE’EM ALONE!” Brian yelled. “Brian calm down. He’s the true owner of the horses.” Mr. Bolt stopped Brian from making any wild actions. “But dad…” “I know but this is out of my hand.” Mr. Bolt replied. “No…no…NO! LUNA!” Whitney cried and tried to run to Luna. But Natasha, Serena and Mr. Paul’s wife held her. But she kept struggling and so did Brian. “James are you okay with this? James…?” Brian shouted but James wasn’t even on the ranch. A man pulled and caged Phantom and Luna into his waggon and another one sat on the driver’s seat and grabbed the reins, connected to four shires like Loki. Phantom and Luna neighed for help. “Dad buy them. I’ll do whatever you say. Please buy them.” Brian begged while having watery eyes of rage. Mr. Bolt sadly said “I’ll definitely do that be for this guy came here but, he wants the horses. Not the money.” Mr. Bolt tightly held Brian by the shoulders. Emily also saw the incident. She was shocked to see his brother in sorrow. “Thanks for the report ranchers. I don’t know where on earth I would’ve found them.” The one caged Phantom and Luna said while sitting next to the driver. Then the horse snatchers went.

Brian brushed off his father’s hand from his shoulders and fisted his hands. Whitney shook off the ones holding her. Whitney covered her face and ran home crying in agony. “Whitney!” Serena called and went after her. Brian went even angrier seeing Whitney crying. “I HATE YOU ALL. YOU SOILED LOSERS.” Brian shouted in public and pulled off his rancher badge and horseback race badge and dropped them in the mud puddle and stamped on them till they get crushed and unwearable. The ranchers, Mr. Bolt and Emily were motionless and speechless about the situation. Brian furiously tried to go home. “Two-B you have to understand…” “Don’t call me that missy. Not a member anymore. And not even your friend now to begin with.” Brian pushed away Natasha and went on foot.

(Scene two: Knew)

 The next day morning sunshine fell and got dimmed by dark rain clouds. “I’m leaving. I’ll be at the station for new supplies.” Mr. Bolt was expecting Brian would say something, anything in reply. But Mr. Bolt had to leave with solemn loneliness because Emily was still asleep. Brian got out of his bed after he heard his dad closing the door. Brian thought himself to ignore everyone that saw the incident. Everyone except Emily. “Big brother…good morning.” Emily greeted while opening his door and gasped. The whole room was cleaned for a mass-scale change. Brian was looking at the path he used to travel often with Phantom. He put his head on the window and said, “This pain is harder than breaking up with a girlfriend.”. “But you never had one…” Emily pointed out. “That doesn’t matter.” Brian murmured. Emily sighed in sympathy. “Are you going anywhere today? Dad made some toast and tea downstairs. I’m leaving for school. Bye.” Emily said while accompanying Brian downstairs. Then she swiftly went out and ran to school.

Brian thought to check the warehouses to remind the day he first saw Phantom. So, he went there after taking breakfast. Brian felt bored walking. On his way, he met Whitney. They looked at each other shockingly and sighed. “G…morning…Whitney.” “Morning Brian.” They greeted each other. “So where are you going?” Whitney nervously asked while twisting her hair. “To the warehouses. What about you?” Brian asked. “Same.” She replied in one word. After fifteen minutes of walking, they started to see the warehouses. Not for long, suddenly, Simon ran and grabbed Brian by the shoulder. He looked scared; again. “Brian, there’s sa…sa…something a…a…alive in da…the warehouse.” Simon said while pointing to the warehouses. “Could it be?” Whitney looked at Brian; hinting Luna and Phantom might escape and come back. Brian thought in surprise and nodded. They ran toward the warehouses forgetting Simon. “Hey, where you going? I HAVE THE KEYS!” Simon yelled and ran behind.

Brian and Whitney came quickly as possible. Brian thought the iron door of the second warehouse will be open and tried to push through to enter. But the door was tightly closed and didn’t even shake an inch from Brian’s blow. “Ouch! SIMON!” Brian complained of pain in his shoulder after getting hit. “He indirectly told you the door was locked.” Whitney facepalmed while saying. A couple of seconds later Simon came drained. Almost walking like a drunken idiot. “Here…the k…keys.” He said wearily. Brian grabbed the keys, pulled off the torch in Simon’s belt and opened the door and went inside. Few rays of the sun have fallen inside by the air vents near the warehouse ceiling. But those weren’t enough to light up the spooky-looking interior of it. Brian and Whitney ran where they met their horses. “AAAAA!” Whitney screamed. Brian slowly moved the torch light ahead. They saw a moving, closed hay sack. The thing was moving like a caterpillar and it came out behind a few large crates. The scene spooked out Brian in daylight, and to drop the torch in his hand. Whitney hid behind Brian. “DON’T MOVE. Or…or I’ll…k…kill you with this pole!” Brian warned. Then a weird moaning sound came from the sack and started to do some curls and stretches in one spot. Brian saw the sack was tied with three belts and a couple of punched holes.

Brian thought for a moment, he slowly approached silently and jumped at it. He quickly unbuckled and loosen the belt at the mouth of the sack. “What the!?” Brian said in shock. What came out of the bag was James, tied up and bounded by ropes. “Oh, thank god you came. Get me outta here.” James yelled to untie the ropes. “I take that as a thank you. Whitney, it’s fine. It was James.” Brian calmed Whitney’s fears. She helped to loosen up the ropes. “What happened to you man?” Brian asked confused with the situation. “You went passed me when we came back, remember…?” James replied. “So…” Brian said. “I went to meet Simon to ask about my package. Whether it came or not. A bunch of horseshoes. He said no. So I tried to come back to the ranch. I saw a wagon with an iron-barred cage. Since it ain’t normal in these parts I went to investigate. I heard two people talking about a black Mustang and a white Lipizzan. They wanted to steal them.” James said and paused to take a breath. “Steal? But Mr. Bolt said they are Phantom and Luna’s owners. They took them…” “All; is a fake drama. Well played, to be honest.” Brian answered Whitney while wondering about their (thieves’) plot. “How did you end up like this?” Whitney asked while untying and removing the last rope tied on James’s leg. “I don’t quite remember. But I do remember I received a huge blow to my head…by an iron baton or a heavy pole. The next thing I remember is I’m all tied up and in a stinky sack, in a god-forsaken dark room. Apparently, it was the warehouse. What’s the number?” James ended the detailing and probed. “Second.” Whitney replied.

James got up and rubbed his wrist to remove the marks of being tied up. “ARHH!” James kicked a shelf next to him. “Damn it. If I were a bit protective about myself. We…we could’ve saved them. I…I am so sorry.” James started to cry while apologizing. “I forg…” Before Whitney finished, Brian slapped hard on James. James was stunned. “Pull yourself together. You are always cheerful and full of energy. So, stop crying. It’s embarrassing and pathetic.” Brian said and continued. “Besides, I kinda have the feeling that we and Phantom and Luna are close. Like close enough to get them back.”. “Now that you mentioned it…I also have a tingling feeling like that.” Whitney added up. “Then we better start chasing. Let’s go.” James said.

Not a moment later, they heard a loud squeaking sound. Simon closed the door and locked it. “You sure they went out?” Simon asked someone. And that person replied, “Yeah yeah, Brian and Whitney told me to tell you, ‘there was nothing to find as you said, we’re leaving’.”. Simon left to check the third warehouse. Brian, James and Whitney shouted but the iron door blocked the voices. “Why would Simon lock us in?” Whitney probed nervously. She was scared to think she had to stay inside a spooky, lightless warehouse. “It’s not Simon. Someone told Simon we left.” Brian said. “Maybe the same one who tied me up.” James assumed and Brian agreed to say there was a high possibility. “What if we make a loud noise?” Whitney suggested. “We can’t risk damaging these. These are all money and requirements.” Brian said. “Lucky to us, I have the key.” Brian showed the key he got from Simon. But the key didn’t go into the keyhole from inside. “What’s the problem?” Whitney asked. James pulled Brian’s hand and looked inside the keyhole. “No use, there’s no way any key in the world can open this. There’s something blocking that we can’t remove unless the door is broken. Not to mention this is a freaking IRON door.” James said while sighing in disappointment. “What makes you say that?” Whitney asked fearfully. “The door was set to lock by shutting once. Well not the door, just the lock. There’s another possibility. Someone broke the lock after Simon locked it.” Brian and Whitney gasped after James’s reasoning. They curled up together and stayed next to the door.

Three of them had to stay until it is twilight outside. Whitney got scared of the rise of the darkness inside the warehouse. Then Serena, Mr. Bolt and Emily came riding Swifty and another Thoroughbred. They rushed and stopped near Simon. Simon looked at them confused and said “What’s with the fuss?”. “Simon did you meet Brian and Whitney today? They are missing.” Mr. Bolt asked. “What!? Yeah, I asked them to check the second warehouse, because I found something alive. They ran inside and I went to make sure the living thing is not in the third or first. Then after I was done checking up, a man wearing a rag and sunglasses was sitting in my chair and told me while he was standing up that, Brian and Whitney went, there’s nothing alive. And he gave me the key, which I gave to Brian. Then I locked the door.” Simon said. “But, one in your hand is not a key…” Mr. Bolt pointed. The head of the key is broken and missing. “Tsk. Open the door. NOW!” Serena shouted. Simon was startled and rushed toward the door and tried every single key he had. But none of them worked. “BRIAN, WHITNEY…You in there?” Serena asked in a high volume so it can get past the door. Whitney heard it and a tear dropped from her eyes. “Sis. Serena is outside! SIS YOU THERE?” Whitney shouted back. Serena was glad of finding them. “STAND AWAY FROM THE DOOR. We are kicking you out!” Serena said. “Kicking out? What’s that even mean?” James probed in confusion. “Swifty!? MOVE!” Whitney yelled and pushed Brian and James to the other side and laid her back to the wall of the other, other side. “Do it Swifty.” Serena said and Swifty smashed the door lock from its hind legs. The door lock squashed and the door slightly opened. The wall shook a little from the impact. Serena pushed open the door. “I was expecting the door to fly to the end of the warehouse. Disappointing.” James said in enthusiastic disappointment. “Fine then you can pay for the door. You owe me a bunch, right?” Serena said and winked. James embarrassingly looked away. Then he saw Loki. “Loki! Did you stay a whole day for me? Thank you mate.” James ran and hugged Loki. “Sis, we heard what y’all talked about. And we have a pretty good idea who did this. Stay in the Gold-key ranch” Whitney said. Serena gave a confused affirmation. “Let's go Whitney.” Brian said and both he and Whitney went without specifying a place. While Serena was confused, James explained the plan in whispers. 

(Scene three: Errand)  

When the sun went down and presented the full moon shone on the town. Brian and Whitney came running to the Steel-lock. “How do we find him?” Brian asked. Whitney smirked and pointed to Marshall. Brian stays hidden until Whitney gets the information from Marshall. Seconds later Whitney turned back and gestured the victory symbol with her two hands. Brian facepalmed. They went a little ahead past the ranch and they reached their first suspect; Pete. “Brian…calm down okay? No violence.” Whitney warned. “Hmm” Brian looked away. Whitney rang the doorbell. Pete opened the door. Brian didn’t wait for a second and without hesitation, he jumped onto Pete. “Whitney close the door!” Brian shouted. Whitney closed and locked the door. “You agreed to no violence!” Whitney said in worry. “I didn’t say anything. I just happened to hum.” Brian dodged and kept a small (about five inches), silvery knife to Pete’s neck. Pete’s hands and legs were immovable with Brian’s position. “Let’s take this nice and easier. Where is PHANTOM AND LUNA?” Brian interrogated. Pete smirked and took a deep breath to scream. “Oh, and before you scream…if I sent this blade through here, no one will hear you. So, spill the beans mister.” Brian threatened seriously. Pete was stunned and shook. Pete started to get scared just like he was in the last race. “Fine fine I’LL TELL YOU.” Pete begged for mercy. “I want to hear first. So, say it. NOW!” Brian insisted. “Okay…they went to the five miles in the railroad direction, right and told me they were heading to the south. That’s all I know.” Pete said. “Thank YOU!” Brian yelled and hit him in the face to knock him out. Whitney gasped. “Do we really have to knock him out?” she asked. Brian sighed and said, “Yes. Absolutely. Besides, this knife is not even real. It’s a wooden one covered in foil.” He then gave a nervous smile while showing the fake knife.

They ran to the Gold-key ranch as fast as they could. They saw Serena with Swifty and James with Loki. “You guys are late. Even I can do better than that.” James overstated. “Yeah; with Loki.” Serena mocked James. Whitney mounted to Swifty and Brian to Loki. “Got the direction?” Brian nodded to Serena’s question. “We’ll go exact opposite direc…” “We’re going the exact direction he told us. Pete’s trying to take us far from them but, he said they told him. So, in two cases; he knows we go in the opposite direction and the one told them gave him the wrong direction because they, as thieves don’t trust their own partners.” Brian informed, interrupting Serena. Everyone wondered and agreed. They hurried in the direction Pete informed.

After two hours of searching and riding, James yelled pointing to a dimming light from a forest up ahead. A grey smoke started to appear. “Campfire?” Whitney probed. “No. It’s the thieves.” Brian replied. Swifty and Loki gained speed and approached stealthily. Serena and James tapped on their horses and whispered to stay hidden and not to move whatever happens. Only Brian and Whitney dismounted and approached closer and closer to the campfire. They started to hear metal clashing, fire crackling sounds and slight neighs of horses. The campfire was surrounded by one wagon-like portable house and two wagons with cages and eight shire breeds outside drinking water or eating hay. Whitney poked Brian and showed him where the wagon of Luna and Phantom is. Luna was breathing hard in exhaustion and Phantom kept trying to break free from the cage. Phantom was kicking from his both hind and fore legs, aiming to break any bar of the cage. But the bars were too strong; Phantom and Luna seemed to have no energy left. It’s a matter of time before they’d give up. “Whitney, do your sister know self-defences?” Brian probed. “Yeah, I guess but, why asked?” she probed back. “We gonna need a distraction.” Brian said with a confident smirk. 

Brian and Whitney temporarily fell back to where Serena and James were. Brian started to discuss the plan. “So, here’s the plan. Serena, you gonna make a distraction. Flirt the guys. Act like you were lost in these woods. Build up a story…” “I never thought doing drama at school will be this handy. Task understood.” Serena winked. Brian continued. “…Whitney, you need to steal the keys near the eight shires. I’ll let Phantom and Luna get refreshed so we’re ready to go. Once Whitney gets the keys, I’ll free Phantom and Luna. Serena will knock out the two bastards and then we escape. Did everyone understand the plan? None should go wrong.”. Everyone except James, nodded in agreement. “What am I supposed to do?” James questioned annoyingly. “Stand guard. If the plan fails, get us help.” Brian informed and James realized and agreed. But after that Brian whispered something to James. James nodded and agreed; again.

Then after, Serena screamed to gain the thieves’ attention. “What are you doing? You should go there first.” Brian complained. Serena gave an ‘okay’ sign with a wink and ran into the thieves. The first part of the plan went too well, the thieves took the bait without hesitating. “You ain’t saying Serena is beautiful for nothing.” James started to get lovesick. “Snap out and keep you focussed.” Whitney punched James on the knee. James held his voice and stayed silent. Brian and Whitney approached from the left side. In other words, behind the wagon opposite Phantom and Luna’s wagon. Brian grabbed two buckets, full of water while Whitney distracted the horses and stole the keys. Whitney showed a gesture; signalling, she grabbed the keys. She and Brian went behind the thieves’ home-like wagon which was directly behind the campfire and approached Phantom and Luna’s wagon. Phantom was excited seeing Brian and, Luna was the same. “Shhhh.” Brian signalled them to be calm and sit down. Phantom and Luna did as they were told and put part of their heads out of the bars to drink the water Brian offered. “Whitney, try to open this in one shot. Otherwise, the wrong key will throw out a sound so those bastards get alert and the plan will be failed. Good luck.” Brian whispered. Whitney got anxious selecting the key. The keys made a small sound. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Calm down.” Brian shouted in whispers. Whitney gathered some courage and examined the keyhole. She then looked at the keys and picked one. She directly inserted the key and unlocked the cage in one shot. Brian and Whitney ran inside the cage and rushed out. “WHITNEY!” Serena screamed. Her self-defence tactics hadn’t worked. She was kept hostage by keeping a REAL knife to her neck. “Bring back those horses, lads. Or this one is done here. Put them inside the cage and lock it and scwam.” One of the thieves ordered. Brian and Whitney couldn’t leave Serena like that, so they approached. “Now be good dumb lads and put those horses back in cage.” The other thief strictly said.

Exactly five seconds later, “THEY AIN’T DUMB.” James showed himself up with Loki, shouting with feint confidence. “Eh? We have a hostage here and what makes you save her?” The thief pointing the knife asked. James threw a senseless shrug. Not a moment later to thieves to react they started to hear horses, stamping and neighing sounds. “This is Broken Willows’ police! Let go of the hostage and surrender. You are surrounded.” The town policemen surrounded the camp with their ash and grey Thoroughbred horses. “You did this?” Whitney probed in astonishment. “Yup. Brian told me before we commenced the plan; ‘If see any difference in their movements of them. Take necessary action but don’t overdo.’ Hence I became today’s hero.” He exaggerated. Phantom stamped his forelegs close to James for fun. James was startled to think that Phantom’s attacking. “You have to learn how to play with Phantom.” James said. “Okay…kay. Right bud.” Brian pat Phantom’s neck and prepared to head back. “You guys are the easiest thieves we ever caught.” A policeman said. They restrained and brought the thieves with them. The eight shires were planned to be divided equally and given to the two ranches.

After the journey back to the town, there was still time left till dawn. The police barged into Pete’s house. He was sleeping on the floor when he got knocked out while covering himself from the floor mat. The policemen rolled him up like a hotdog and confined him and the thieves in close, but separate cells. “James, Serena, Thank you.” “Thank you.” Whitney and Brian said. “James thanks for the recovery.” Serena thanked him but, was not done yet. “I won’t owe my life because I had a plan to get outta there, instead, I’ll cut off seventy-five percent of the money you owe me.” Serena said. “WHAA? Come on. How about ninety? I was a hero.” James tried to minimize his budget. “Fine. Eighty and that’s it.” Serena said and left home with Whitney and their horses. James sighed. Then Brian and James greeted each other and went back home to sleep, though they had only three hours to dawn. Pete was set free after when he paid the fine because the thieves’ idea was not Pete’s. Pete also believed they were Phantom and Luna’s actual owners. 

The next day morning, both ranches get together and threw a party for James. For saving Serena and, most importantly, knowing and trying to help them about the thieves and get them captured. Although the previous statement was not much heroic, his attempt to help was honoured. “A toast; to James. Cheers.” Mr. Paul proposed a toast while everyone gathered outside near the long table beside the stable. Everyone grabbed their beers, and juice bottles and raised them to cheer. “And of course, to Brian, Whitney and Serena of course.” Mr. Paul said. “Why did you say it different!?” Serena complained. “By the way, you should’ve seen how Serena flirted with the thieves. My…I hardly held my mouth from laughing.” Brian said. “Let’s not talk about it. The food getting cold.” Serena tried to change the topic of embarrassment. “No no wait! I wanna hear more.” Natasha insisted. “Natasha…” Serena looked at her in a scary way. All, literally all except Natasha and Mr. Paul, got scared or stunned to freeze by that face of hers. “What can I say. Aren’t you the drama QUEEN in our school year together? Hmm…” Natasha said wide openly. “Besides, I can imagine a bit how you did that.” Natasha wondered. “Please stop.” Serena said. “Barbecue is ready people. Enjoy.” Whitney and Mr. Paul’s wife brought charred grilled meat on sticks and placed them on the table. Instantly the plate is empty. The ranchers enjoyed the morning, laughed, played and went back to their daily chores four hours late.