Kendra and Zeke (needs a new title)

Kendra and Zeke (needs a new title)

This story still needs a bunch of editing, but I wanted to put it here in the meantime until I get to do that editing.  Constructive criticism please! Kendra spent much of her time as a child playing in the empty buildings on her grandparents’ farm.  Now that grandpa was gone; grandma only leased out buildings to other farmers and ranchers. In the vacant expanse of those building, Kendra had built a world of her own.  It was a place where she could lose track of her time, and forget about how much she didn’t want to go home.  In her mind she could be the captain of a pirate ship, or the great warrior fighting to free her make-believe family from peril.  There had once been other children who played there with her, but as they grew older, their interests in the place had diminished.  One time they had shown up and pulled down boards and walls of hay bales, and cut down the ropes they all had used to swing on.  One of them held onto Kendra while the others ransacked the barnyard.  After they were done they told Kendra she was a baby, and should grow up.  They were older than her by only a few years, but still had begun to tease her. She spent nearly a week fixing as much of the damage they had done as she could.  She couldn’t put the ropes up.  Kendra’s parents were so busy with the happenings on their ranch; they didn’t mind Kendra making her self scarce.  It was one less thing they had to worry about.  Since she was too young to help at all on the ranch, they didn’t take much notice of her. Kendra had worked pretty hard at rebuilding her playground, and even made a few upgrades in her little world.  As she put some finishing touches on her private quarters she heard laughter and voices.  Her heart sank as she saw the six older children coming into her world.  This time they left her broken as well.  After they finally left, Kendra lay curled in a ball, crying quietly.  She lay there for a long time, so long that she had to walk home after dark. Papa was fuming mad by the time Kendra arrived at home.  He scoffed at her when he saw her clothes, dirty and torn, though he didn’t seem to notice her cuts and scrapes.  The bruises would show later. “Oh Kendra, what have you done?  We don’t have money for new clothes for you!”  Mother cried, she eyed up the child’s clothing and saw the injuries on her small body.  She got a basin of water and soap and began washing up the scrapes and cuts Kendra had sustained.  Mother tried to get Kendra to tell her what had happened, how she’d gotten so filthy.  The girl remained silent on the matter.  All she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep.  So many things were running through her mind, she had nightmares.  She tried to push the visions from her mind but they always seemed to find a way through.  Kendra spent many nights awake; awoken by contorted faces laughing at her, clawed hands grabbing at her, girls with glowing red eyes chanting mean things to her, all of them pushing her between them and the boys they were with!  When she’d wake she would be sweating, breathing heavy, scared and alone in a room of darkness. She stopped riding with anyone who went into town.  It had been one of the things she liked to do on the ranch.  Now, she was afraid if she left the ranch she would see those same faces that haunted her dreams.  She didn’t go back to the barnyard anymore to play. Mostly she stayed at home, finding conversation with the hired man Papa had helping him on the sheep ranch they ran.  Charlie was a nice young man.  He was a few years older than Kendra, even a year beyond the ones who had hurt her even, but he was very nice to her.  He was a bit slow witted, but Kendra never thought less of him for it.  Who was she to judge him when she was afraid to even leave her home, and afraid to tell her parents what had happened? Charlie was a good worker, and a great shepherd.  Papa said it would be ok for Kendra to follow along with Charlie when he took the sheep out to graze, so long as it was just a morning or afternoon walk.  The time away from the ranch, and other people helped Kendra to heal a bit.  He knew something was on her mind, yet he never pressed it.  And she never brought it up.  Charlie had a dog he used for helping him with the sheep.  She was a long bodied quick dog who seemed born to work with Charlie and the sheep.  Charlie would give Jasmin a hand signal and she knew just what to do.  He taught the hand signals to Kendra as well so she could help to direct the dog.  Kendra had finally reached her twelfth birthday.  Papa would be able to have her help on the farm now that she was old enough.  She was still a small young woman, but her age set her to working anyway.  Papa gave her twelve sheep to be in charge of.  Since she had worked so much with a dog when she helped Charlie, she had a hard time doing the field work by herself. Charlie told Kendra his uncle had a pup he needed to get rid of. “I know he will kill it if someone don’t take it.  If your pa lets you have him, we can teach him to herd like Jasmin.  The two have the same mother, so I am sure he will be good at it.” Kendra explained to Papa how well a dog would work, like it did for Charlie.  And she already knew how to work with the dog to keep the herd.  Reluctantly, Papa agreed to let Kendra have the pup.  He seemed to be not as harsh with her since she had gotten older.  Never before would she have been allowed any pet! “He best earn his keep, or I’ll send him on his way.”  Papa promised. A few days later, Charlie had an errand to run anyway, so he went by his uncles place.  He brought the pup along with him for Kendra.  She could hardly contain her excitement and held him close to her like a mother would hold her baby. “We are going to show Papa!”  She whispered to the pup. “They been calling him Zeke.  You can change it if you want though.”  The pup was almost six months old already and knew his name. “I wouldn’t want someone changing my name half way through the first part of the game.  He will still be Zeke!”  Since Papa would not allow the dog to sleep in the house, Kendra began sleeping in the barn with him.  Papa got angry about it, but there was little he could do, it wasn’t like she was trying to sneak the dog inside or doing anything behind his back. “Your pa told me that he really thinks you are going to be a great shepherdess.  He is really impressed with you and Zeke.”  Charlie told Kendra one day when they were shearing sheep together.  She’d been working for almost a year and since Zeke joined her there were no lost sheep. Zeke picked up quickly on the workings of the new farm.  The hand signals he knew from the other place were the same as the ones she would be using.  Charlie had moved into the stone house on the ranch a few weeks before.  Papa needed him to be there for lambing and he was becoming an invaluable worker.  Papa wanted to keep him close. It was a gloomy afternoon when Kendra experienced a whole new vision with her flock.  She was walking around the edges of them and suddenly the sheep all moved into a tight mass, all with their heads down.  She saw the pack of coyotes heading for them and called for Zeke.  The dog was charging at them in an instant, as the other dogs got closer they began to slow.  She whistled for Zeke and he sat down, glaring at the wild dogs.  They began to peel off and turn back as the sheep moved around the field in the same tight mass.  When she got home that night, she told Charlie about how Zeke had scared off the pack.  Charlie chuckled at her. “They weren’t running from that dog.  They were running from the sheep.” “Why would they run from the sheep?  They can’t even defend themselves.” “When they tighten up like that, they all put their heads down, right?”  She nodded.  “Imagine what that mass of legs and no eyes or faces must look like to those dogs.  And with the number you had out, that would be a huge burden for them to take on!”  When she realized what he meant she though it was funny too.  “Well, don’t tell Zeke that, he thinks he was the white knight today!” “I’ll keep that secret!”  He patted Zeke on the head. When Kendra had begun herding on her own, she had met a little old man who seemed to move around a lot.  Ben was a clever man with a lot of wisdom to share.  He shared stories with Kendra and taught her all manner things!  She noticed Ben had a strange fixation with plants.  When he would send her into his bags for an herb they would need to cook a mutual lunch, she often wondered why he had so many flowers, stems, seeds, roots, and other strange things in his bags.  There were also several small pouches inside.  She never asked him though.  She enjoyed his company, and his cooking.  He and Charlie were her only friends. She would run into Ben about once a month, sometimes a bit more often.  They would spend the day talking.  Ben showed her how to shoot a bow so that she could get a good meal or drive off a predator looking to take a sheep. Ben had a special effect on the sheep, because if it got warm a few of them would get restless.  When Ben was near they would relax again.  He had the same effect on Zeke.  The dog sat and listened to the both of them as though he understood.  Sometimes he would even answer, if Kendra would look right at him and say something.  He made a crazy whinny sort of sound at her, and a groan of contentment to acknowledge his caretaker. “Zeke responds like he is part of the conversation!  Look at him, how sweet is he!”  Kendra said as she patted his little head and smiled. Words couldn’t express how much Kendra love and needed Zeke.  Everyone around her could see it though.  The dog helped her to want to live, to do well, and to be happy.  Her life had changed for the better since Zeke.  Kendra hadn’t really realized how depressed she was before he came home. “I am glad you feel better.”  Charlie told her one day as the two had taken both flocks to one field together.  “I knew you were sad.  And I knew you and Zeke needed each other.  It’s good it worked out.” Kendra knew that Charlie saw more than he let on, but she would let him keep his secrets.  He let her keep her secrets. Days passed, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.  As long as Kendra could remain where she was, she was content.  Her days alone she cherished as much as the days with her friends.  Although alone wasn’t quite how it was, Zeke was always with her, like he was a part of her. Recently Zeke had saved Kendra and the flock!  Kendra had left the hides of a few rabbits lying in some weeds instead of burying in them right away.  After eating a good dinner, she rested against an oak tree.  Zeke guarding close by.  Kendra heard a low growl she’d never heard before.  She peeked through one eye to see Zeke take off after a large cat, a mountain lion!  As Zeke got closer to the cat it crouched down, and then leapt at him when he was within its range.  The cat batted Zeke with a great clawed paw, which knocked him over.  Kendra, horrified, screamed at the top of her lungs, the startled cat turned and began to run away.  Zeke stood and barked as the cat disappeared over a hill.  He trotted back toward Kendra, who scooped him up in her arms.  She looked him over and set him back on the ground as she found a few scratches on his side.  They were not too bad so she took him to the stream and soaked him for a few minutes to make sure he was cleaned up.  The flock was still close by, but being distracted as she was taking care of her baby, when they returned she found there were two sheep missing!  The bloody trail told her the lion had returned to show her it wasn’t afraid.  Here stomach turned as she thought about how she would tell Papa about losing two of his sheep so carelessly.  She was afraid Papa would blame Zeke, even though the dog had saved her and the sheep originally!  But Papa didn’t much like the dog and would try to find a way to get rid of him. She told Papa almost the truth, except the cat snuck up while she was standing in the shade of the tree.  “Zeke chased it off twice and was tired when it came back again!  It batted him with its paw and he got hurt, while I was trying to run over by where the cat was it grabbed one sheep and another cat popped up and took another sheep!  Then they ran off to the north!” As was expected, Papa was furious.  He ranted and raved and threatened to take away her sheep and send her dog on his way. “He is a useless mangy animal!  If he can’t defend them, he is useless!” “He is anything but useless!  He keeps them in a flock, saves them from running off, and has chased off more predators than you can shake a stick at!  He never hesitates to do his job!  If you want him gone, we are a package deal and I go with him!”  Kendra cried.  She had finally had enough of Papa bullying her about Zeke!  He was all that mattered to her lately. “Fine, that dog is all that you care about.  Go out and prove that you and that dog are not going to cost me more money!”  Papa dismissed her. Charlie was listening from outside the barn and saw Papa leave Kendra in the barn.  He smiled as he walked in to find her there with Zeke, a look of satisfaction on her face.  Charlie winked at her.  They both knew that Papa couldn’t afford to not have her working one of the flocks for him.  If he had to pay another shepherd, or give room and board out to another one, he would lose much more money than he did from losing two sheep. She had finally stood up to Papa and gained a lot of confidence from that incident.  Since Charlie had moved to the farm a few months back, she realized more and more how much more he needed her than she needed him.  She’d heard him talking to Mother about how tight things were getting with the sheep over breeding the year before.  It had been a good move to having Charlie move to the farm, but there was only so much room for hired men to live and he was taking up that space. Kendra knew Papa really needed her now.  There would be lambing soon and the ewes would have to be sheared down before then.  But she needed the job too.  It was a two sided need.  She would have her room and board paid for, and she had moved back into the house with Zeke.  She also made a few extra copper pieces for spending on other things she needed.  The tempers and threats were kept under control and that fall things went very smoothly. The following summer was so hot that several sheep died despite the efforts to keep them cool.  They were sheared often and kept in shade all the time, with fewer trips out to the fields.  They were fed grains, which cost more also.  Zeke maintained a patrol around the ranch to deter anyone from breaking the perimeter and killing any of the livestock, and to prevent the livestock from roaming off.  Several times he’d gotten into fights with wild dogs.  He was still in the younger years for a dog of his size, but he was showing signs of fatigue and distraction.  On cold nights it was difficult to wake the dog from his slumber.  During the day, Kendra and Charlie would take the dogs swimming to cool off if they were to cross paths. When the heat wave finally ended, Kendra expected Zeke to get his zip back.  Yet he still seemed tired, sometimes even lethargic.  Their first afternoon back out on the meadow Zeke got sick.  Kendra saw a lot of blood in his vomit and was worried.  It happened that Ben came along, as usual, just when she needed him.  She explained the situation to Ben and he concocted a mixture that the dog fought every step of the way!  Finally it was down and Ben smeared a paste on the roof of the dog’s mouth.  Zeke worked at licking the paste while Ben talked with Kendra. When it was time to head home, Zeke seemed to be feeling better.  As Ben went his way, Zeke turned and barked a thank you to the hermit.  Zeke had a few more episodes of vomiting blood, followed by wheezing and heavy breathing.  Kendra wished she would see Ben, but there was no sign of him this time.  He had always seemed to come along when she needed him, along with the times she just enjoyed his company. Kendra noticed Zeke slept more and more all the time.  He lost his spunk to herd the sheep, and Kendra’s worry led her to be lax in her duties.  She didn’t want to even think that her time with Zeke may be coming to an end, so she buried the idea deep inside her.  Her focus was on helping him, yet still trying to work. It was late in the evening when Kendra ran from the house, clutching Zeke to her chest.  Papa said he was going to put the dog out of his misery, and Kendra ran without even thinking!  She ran from Papa’s crass personality and Mother’s lack of loyalty.  She’d stood beside the man who treated her like a servant, rather than her daughter.  Kendra couldn’t take it anymore! She ran as fast as she could, into the dark night!  Run!  Run!  Run!  Something pushed her to get as far from home as she could.  When she finally stopped running, she didn’t know where she was exactly.  Sitting on the ground and leaning against a tree, Kendra held Zeke close to her, talking quietly to him while stroking his head.  Eventually the two fell asleep. Kendra dreamed of running through a meadow with Zeke on her heels.  The two laughed and played and she talked to him, but as he would answer she saw his mouth move, yet no sound would come out.  Kendra woke in the morning; she felt the sun on her face.  Zeke was sleeping soundly next to her.  She had to think about what to do.  Going home wasn’t an option.  She really wanted to find Ben, he’d made Zeke feel better before, and maybe he could do it again!  She was sure he could! The day was sunny, but Kendra felt like the clouds blocked everything as she walked through the forest.  She hadn’t been to this part of the countryside before that she remembered and wasn’t sure where to go.  While walking aimlessly, she came to a cave and thought it would be a good place to take refuge for a while.  As she fixed some food over a fire that night, she heard someone whistling and it sounded like they were coming toward her. “Ben!  Oh, thank you!  I need your help!  It’s Zeke!”  Kendra cried. Ben looked at the dog again, he gave Zeke another dose of what had helped the last time.  “Let’s go to my camp.” Kendra carried her little friend as she followed her hermit friend.  They walked just a little while when they reached another cave.  Ben went inside and invited Kendra to join him. As she entered the cave she could feel a magical safety surround her.  She felt safe here, she could see Zeke felt better also.  He looked more peaceful and pain free than he had in days!  Suddenly Kendra felt someone else there and looked around.  She waw a little old woman sitting on the floor of the cave.  It looked as though she may be knitting, but she had no needles or yarn. “Ah, good day to ya, dear!”  “Um, hello.”  Kendra whispered. “I am Bella, Ben’s better half.  I am thinking you must be Kendra.  I’ve heared lots about you and your little dog.” “Yes, I am Kendra, and this is Zeke.  I am sorry, I didn’t know Ben had…”  She trailed off. “Ben keeps me a secret.”  She chuckled.  “Ben and I have travelled the world for many years.  We finally had to settle here for a spell.” Ben took the dog from his caretakers arms, then he went into a deeper room of the cave.  Kendra and Bella made small talk, Bella tried to distract the young girl from her troubled thoughts.  Kendra was entranced by the woman, and hung on her every word as she spoke about adventures long past.  She didn’t know how long it was until Ben returned with Zeke, placing the dog in her arms.  Then he sat next to his wife. “Kendra, you need to realize he is a very sick dog.  He is in a lot of pain and there is little that can be done for him.  All we can do is take his pain away with some of the herbs, but he can’t herd sheep any longer.”  Ben felt a deep ache in his heart for the pair; they depended on each other for so much.  “You can talk with him while you are in this cave though.” Kendra looked at him with a confused look. “Ok, listen to me and have an open mind.  Bella and I are not just some old folks travelling the country side to collect leaves.  We can make magic, and I have done that with Zeke.  I have cast a temporary spell on Zeke so that you can both understand each other and talk.  But you must remain in the cave, and it will fade in a few hours.” With that, he and Bella stood up and collected their bags.  Even though it was dark outside, the two could find some of the more rare herbs they needed. “Zeke, can you hear me?” “Yes, I can, Kendra.  I like to call you Mama sometimes if that is alright.” She choked on her response, “Of course that is alright.” They talked about everything they could think of, utilizing the time they had to the best of their ability.  Finally, after a couple of hours Kendra breeched the topic she hated so much. “Zeke, I need to know what to do.  I don’t know if I should just let you go, or if there is some way to fight and stay together!” “Mama, I don’t think there is anything more to do.  I have hurt for so long, but its been tolerable up until recently.  But I don’t think I can keep going on.  I want to, but I just feel so…I don’t even know how to explain it.  Part of me loves you so much I never want to leave.  Another part of me hurts so bad that I want to go and make things ready for us in the afterlife.” “I don’t want you to be in such pain.  Don’t hold back moving on because of me.  Of course I will hurt, you know how much I love you!  But it hurts more to think of you in such pain.  I can grasp the seriousness of all of it.” She saw a look on Zeke’s face, a look of total loyalty, devotion, love and trust.  And the feeling was mutual.  Kendra held Zeke close to her gently, until she felt him take his last breath.  Then she sat there holding him for a long time.  Ben and Bella returned as the sun came up.  Kendra opened her eyes but didn’t move, tears immediately welled and ran down her face.  Sobs made her body convulse as she thought about the fact that her best friend, her baby, was gone and she had to find a way to move on.  To find a life that left Zeke behind in a sense.  Yet, she thought, he has just gone on ahead is all. But her weeping continued, and Bella tried to comfort her.  “Charlie will be there to help you.  He is your true friend.”  Bella told her. “How do you know Charlie?” “As you have known Ben, I have known Charlie.”  She smiled. Though Kendra could feel Zeke in her heart, she still felt a hole there too.  Ben had taken the ashes from Zeke’s body and put them into a small tattoo on Kendra’s hand that only she could see.  So she thought of the whole thing often, but she also made sure to think of the happy times with Zeke. When Kendra left the comfort of Ben’s magical cave she found time had barely passed.  She had stayed for what she thought was a week, but in her world it had only been over night.  She found her way back home.  Charlie was waiting for her and met her on the road. “I knew you would be back.  I am sorry about Zeke, he was such a great friend!”  Charlie said as he gave Kendra a friendly comforting hug. “But how did you know already?” “Bella told me last night when I was out looking for you.” “Bella.  She is one special lady.” “And Ben is a special man.  I didn’t know about him until last night either.” When Kendra returned home, she told Papa she had fallen asleep and Zeke died in her arms while he slept.  She told him she buried him somewhere that no one else would know about.  Papa didn’t push her. As the following year passed, Kendra and Charlie found themselves spending more time together and realized that Mother was helping along a budding romance. At some point in time, you just need to put your past behind you and forgive as best you can.  Forgive others, and forgive yourself. *  *  * The pain of losing someone close to you never really goes away.  There is a constant hole in part of your soul that nothing will repair.  Can people who do not have a pet understand the loss those who do end up feeling?  Can they grasp the idea of the bond some people share with an animal?  Some people just prefer animals to people, and for many, many different reasons.  Pain is still pain regardless of how you bake it.  When one door closes, another door opens.