The Ranch Short Story

The Ranch Awakens

We arrived to the ranch with our pants scrunched up to our knees, fast food stains smeared on our shirts, and eyes half shut, barely paying attention to the open plains and star lit skies just outside the car. The rusty gates creaked as they swung open, revealing the world of tall grass and herds of cattle hidden deep in the hills of Nevada. The two cars, filled to capacity, rolled up the dirt road leaving behind all sense of civilization. It was night, and thousands of white lights illuminated the sky normally blanketed by the bright streets back home. The air smelled and felt fresh. The eerie quiet hid the sleeping animals, but because of the grinding gravel and our anxious screams of joy, the noise bounced between the mountains and awoke the ranch. Dad and his friend, Dean, parked the cars and our two

My friend, Dylan, drove the Ranger behind the house to plug it in and keep it there for later. Dylan and my brother then gathered the bouquet of fishing poles and met with the two younger girls and myself to set up on the dock of the pond. We cast our lines in every direction possible, entering into an inevitable, tangled mess. It was a miracle we were able to catch any fish at all. My every step made the dock creak and sway, an obvious sign of rotting wood. Dylan found great joy in scaring us by shaking the dock even harder. However, he eventually grew tired of this and joined us in our hunt for fish. After a mere matter of minutes, poles began to curl and bend towards the water. Dylan rushed over to help reel in whatever was caught. We grabbed our cell phones and posed with the fish, smiling from ear to ear, beaming with pride. We threw the fish (rather aggressively) back into the water and this cycle repeated over and over again. Eventually, we grew bored of the long ordeal fishing entailed, and went back into the house for