So�This Is Montana� Ch. 13
There was enthusiastic conversation bouncing about the two backbench seats of the suburban carrying the members of Nsync to Hickory Hill Ranch. Unnoticed by the young men were the glances that were being shared by the two ranch hands in the front seat.
John Williams and Steven Cartwright felt deep resentment at the fact that their employer, Harvey Benson, had sold the ranch to a young outsider�a James Lance Bass instead of one of his employees�namely John or Steven. Both men had been employed on the ranch for more than 15 years; long enough to have received first call on the ranch in their eyes, but not in the eyes of Mr. Benson. He wanted new blood to own the ranch and besides that, he feared what the ranch might become if John Williams or Steven Cartwright ever gained ownership of it.
�How much farther, Mr. Williams?� asked Lance as he leaned forward against the back of the front seat and touched the man on the shoulder to gain his attention. He felt the man�s muscles beneath his hand tense and immediately Lance withdrew his hand. Lance was accustomed, as was the rest of the group, to touching�physical contact. Apparently, John Williams was not and he would make it a point to let the guys know later. Lance did not know that John was just reacting to the fact that someone he disliked�no�someone that he hated so much actually touched him.
John looked in the rearview mirror at the young man as he answered, carefully trying to control his tone of voice. He did not want to cause any suspicion�not yet. �About 30 more minutes.�
�Thank you,� Lance answered as he sat back against his seat.
�How long, Lance,� Chris asked.
�About 30 minutes.�
John seethed in anger over the contact that Lance had made and his sunglasses hid the hate in his eyes, but Steven could tell what was going on and looked over at him and gave him a knowing grin then nodded his head at the scene up ahead of them. That gesture seemed to calm John down somewhat. He and Steven had made special plans for the boys, along with Mr. Jenson, the owner of the neighboring ranch�big plans.
Minutes later, it was time to set their plans into motion. Before either man could speak, a voice in the back of the suburban called out.
�Look at that,� Joey commented as he pointed at a large hole in a portion of a wood fence that they were approaching.
�Wow�� Chris said. �Looks like someone bought themselves a fence.� There were light chuckles coming from the front of the vehicle at Chris�s remark that were unheard by the group in the back as John pulled the suburban over and gave Steven a quick glance that said �if they only knew.�
�Why are we stopping, Mr. Williams?� JC asked.
�Just wanted to see if this looked familiar, boys,� John replied dryly.
�Sir?� Joey asked in confusion as he rolled down his window for a better look.
John and Steven turned in their seats and watched the group behind them as realization slowly sank in as to what they were looking at. They didn�t dare look at each other out of fear that they would begin laughing at the various expressions that each of the young men were now sporting as they surveyed the damaged fence.
�We did that?� Justin said in a quiet voice from the very back of the vehicle.
�Yep,� was Steven�s answer.
The damage to the wood plank fence was extensive. There was the initial hole in the fence that was about 8 feet wide, but the damage extended beyond that by at least 8 feet in either direction. Boards were either cracked or broken in two. Nails protruded from the wood or were non-existent where the planks had bent upon impact.
The fence posts that were left standing near the point of impact were either broken or leaning crazily near the ground. Those posts further down from the hole were no longer standing perpendicular to the ground, but were leaning sharply at various angles.
Joey had pulled his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose and his mouth hung open in amazement as he surveyed the damage before him. In the very back of the suburban, JC had his arm around Justin�s shoulders, who was slightly trembling. They did not clearly recall hitting the fence like Joey, Chris and Lance. It was a hazy memory for Justin and a non-existing one for JC, who had slept through the entire wreck, but to actually see the accident sight was unnerving, to say the least for them. Chris�s expression mirrored Joey�s and he gave John a questioning look as he began to open his door.
�Go ahead�take a look if you want to,� Steven answered for John. Chris stepped out of the vehicle and made his way over to the fence. The rest of the group quickly followed Chris and they all wandered around, surveying the damaged area.
Both ranch hands were amused by the facial expressions of those four, but Lance�s expression was just classic and worth the stop. Knowing that Lance had been the driver during the accident had helped them in earlier deciding to make this stop and they had not been disappointed. In slight amusement, both men saw that Lance had visibly paled and had an almost green tint to his coloring.
JC happened to look over at Lance at the same time and gave Joey�s shoulder a shove as he began speaking to Lance.
�Hey�you okay, Lansten?� he asked, his voice full of concern. He and Joey quickly move toward him and stood on either side. Joey grasped his left elbow while JC put his hand on Lance�s right shoulder in an effort to comfort him.
Lance nodded his head and quietly spoke. �I can�t believe I did that.�
�Hey�we�re all okay�don�t worry about it,� JC said in reassuring tones as he put his arm around Lance�s shoulders.
�Yeah,� added Joey. �Seeing it is a little weird, but I wonder why it hasn�t been fixed by now. Didn�t Johnny take care of this?�
Lance looked at Joe with a confused expression then looked back at John and Steven as they also exited the vehicle. He was about to ask about the fence not being repaired when Chris suddenly spoke up.
�Wasn�t there an oak tree by the fence? I remember hearing that we had hit a tree after we had hit the fence.�
�Was, is the word, Mr. Kirkpatrick...was,� Steven answered as he joined the group. �It was too smashed up so they cut it down�stump is still there though.�
�Oh�� Chris replied.
�All I have to say is�wow,� Justin said as he shook his head.
�Why hasn�t it been repaired?� Lance asked as he, Joey and JC walked over to the other side of the fence.
�Yeah�our manager took the liberty of having the supplies for new fencing sent to Mr. Jenson,� Justin added.
�Mr. Jenson was waiting for you to get here,� John answered as he followed the boys along the smashed fence line.
�Come again?� JC asked, his voice full of confusion as he stopped walking and turned to look at the older man.
�This is your first job,� John answered, working hard to keep the smirk off his face. He and Steven, along with most of the other ranch hands were sure that this bit of news would not set too well with the group of young men, but they soon found out otherwise.
JC nodded his head and once again began walking beside the fence, running his right hand over its uneven surface.
�Are the supplies here?� Lance asked as he walked closer to the fence and began to look more carefully at the damage.
�They�re back at the ranch. You�ll load them up and bring them out here tomorrow,� Steven answered. He glanced at John and gave him an amused look, but it slowly began to fade away with the words that he was hearing from the group of young men.
�What time you got?� Joey asked Chris.
�It�s almost 11:30,� he answered.
John and Steven watched as the five young men stood together and began formulating a plan. This reaction was not what they had expected or wanted. They had expected the city boys to howl in protest to the idea of manual labor, but they had no knowledge of the work ethic that this group of young men had�none at all.
�We could eat lunch and then start loading the supplies,� Chris said.
�Will we be using a trailer and truck?� Justin asked.
�I don�t know�let�s find out ,� Lance said as he and the others walked over to the two ranch hands and began asking
�Okay�let�s see,� Lance said as he looked at the various supplies that Joey and JC had just revealed by removing the tarp covering them.
�Ten posts�36 planks�couple bags of nails��
�Here�s the level and 4 hammers, Lance,� Justin said as he walked up to the group.
�Got the post hole digger,� Chris said, following behind Justin.
�Well, it looks like everything is here,� Lance commented as he handed the sheet to JC who quickly looked over it.
�Yeah�let�s load it up,� JC replied handing the sheet back to Lance.
Justin and Joey began moving the 10-foot long planks while Chris and Justin took care of the posts.
Approaching from the other side of the open yard were ranch hands Troy Gardner and Mitch Warden. They were curious about what was going on. They had been instructed by Mr. Benson to repair the fence almost a week ago, but John had been keeping them busy. They had not known at the time that John and Steven had planned on Lance and his friends having to repair the fence. After hearing that news, the two young men decided that they were going to give the group a hand with that chore. It would help them keep a better eye on the visitors and, besides that, they were sure that this was going to be a new experience for them as well.
�Looks like you fellas are going to get right to work and you haven�t even been here long enough for the dust to settle,� Mitch teased once he had walked up to Lance�s side.
Lance looked up from the supply list at the approaching figures and quickly extended his hand to awkwardly shake Mitch�s.
�Hi�I�m Lance Bass,� he said with a smile. �Sorry about this,� he apologized about the brace.
�Nice to meet you, Mr. Bass. I�m Mitch Warden and this is Troy Garner. I don�t think you�re going to be able to get much done wearing that.�
�Please, just call me Lance,� he said with a smile. �And don�t worry about this arm. That�s why I brought my four friends out here with me.�
�Hey�I heard that!� Chris called out from the other side of the supplies.
That remark earned several laughs as Lance, Troy and Mitch walked closer to the others who were busily loading the supplies onto a low bed trailer that was attached to a truck.
Chris walked over and shook hands with Troy and Mitch. �Hi, I�m Chris Kirkpatrick, otherwise know as grunt #1.�
Both men snickered at the remark while Lance rolled his eyes and pointed out the rest of the group as they finished loading the trailer.
Once they had finished loading the trailer, Mitch and Troy met the rest of the group. They were impressed with the way that the group had jumped in to a difficult task with both feet. This might go smoothly after all.
�Uh, oh,� Mitch said suddenly.
�What?� Lance said, following the man�s line of sight to see Stan Baker, along with John Williams approaching the group.
�It�s the accident waiting to happen,� Mitch hissed under his breath.
�Got one of those too,� Chris said quietly as he pointed at Joey, who was unable to reply since, they had been joined by the older men.
�Mitch, I want you and Troy to head up to the ranch house and fetch that water cooler that Selma�s got for them,� John said as he gestured at Lance and the others.
�Be back in a minute,� Troy said.
�Oh, and when you finish with that, you need to head out to the south pasture to check the lines,� John called.
�Uh�we were going to help with the�� Mitch began.
�Don�t worry about the fence,� John said. �Stan is going to help the guys out.�
�Yeah�I bet he will,� Troy said under his breath after turning to head into the house.
It wasn�t much longer before Stan was driving the truck down the highway. Lance had opted to sit up front with him, as did Chris.
Joey, Justin, and JC were seated on the giant toolbox in the bed of the truck. They had their baseball caps pulled down low over their heads, yelling at each other over the noise of the wind and the truck�s diesel engine.
�I hope we do this right!� Joey shouted as he pointed at the supplies in the trailer.
�Yeah!� Justin replied. �I hope Mr. Baker knows what he�s doing!�
�What?� JC yelled.
�I hope Mr. Baker knows that we have no earthly idea what we�re doing!� Justin shouted loudly.
�Oh�believe me�he�ll know when Chris doesn�t know what end of the hammer he�s supposed to hold,� JC yelled in reply.
Justin burst out laughing at the remark and laughed even harder when Joey picked up one of their hammers from the truck bed and held it by its head.
�Like this�right?� he shouted.
The loud laughter from the back of the truck could barely be heard in the cab of the diesel truck.
�Lance turned around to look through the back window of the truck and saw that Justin, Joey and JC were seated on the toolbox, playfully shoving at each other as they shouted and laughed.
�Looks like they�re having some fun,� Lance commented. Chris turned around and watched for a moment.
�Man�they better be careful,� he commented. �One of them could slide right off that thing.�
Stan glanced through his rearview mirror and a slow, small grin crossed his face. He quickly checked to see if Lance and Chris had their attention drawn away from the road. Chris did, but Lance had turned around and was once again looking at the road ahead.
�Um�it�s going to get a little bumpy,� Stan commented. �We have to get on to Jenson�s property in another mile or two so they should sit down in the bed of the truck when we turn off. Tell them that.�
�Um�how?� Chris asked.
�Slide the back window open,� Stan replied. �City slickers,� he thought as he continued to quickly formulate his impromptu plan.
�Oh��Chris commented with an embarrassed grin as he slid the window open and began to warn JC, Joey and Justin about what Stan had just told them about the rough road ahead.
Stan quickly glanced over at Lance and saw that his attention was drawn to what was going on behind him. He slowly let his foot up off the accelerator then glanced ahead�this was going to be too easy.
Just as he was about to hit the brakes, Stan glanced one more time over at Lance and to his surprise, he saw the young man give a small yelp and grip the dash in front of him.
Stan quickly returned his gaze to the road ahead and saw a large buck standing in the middle of the road.
�Hold on!� Stan called out as he slammed on the brakes and swerved to miss the deer. Dust was kicked up in all directions as the truck swerved to the dirt shoulder of the highway. The trailer began to lose part of its load as its wheels lost their traction and rocked side to side crazily as Stan continued to press the brakes until the vehicle skidded to a complete stop.
The dust had barely cleared when Lance shakily opened his door and raced outside of the truck with Chris not too far behind, to see how JC, Justin, and Joey were.
�JC�Justin�Joey!� Chris shouted as he and Lance ran to the rear of the truck. They could hear some moaning and coughing as they quickly hauled themselves into the truck bed. As they climbed over the tailgate of the truck, they could only find two figures sprawled out before them.
�Joey�where�s Joey?�