The Reoccurrence

THE OLD WEST Levi awakened to a bright sunny sky. He pushed his aching body back in the seat. He had a sore, stiff torso, but was unscarred and had no permanent damage that he could feel. The sweat on his face dripped to his jeans. The cab was like an oven as the sun built up heat in the closed vehicle. He reached for the window button on the door. No power, he thought as he then reached for the key. The key was on. "Oh no!!" Levi remarked, as he flipped the key off and then back on again. Nothing happened. The battery was dead. He flipped the key back off. Maybe it will build back up if it sits a while, he thought as he looked around to get his bearings. No, better yet, I'm only half a mile or so from the line shack, by tomorrow that battery will be okay. Levi opened the door and stepped out of the vehicle, but to his surprise the mud he had expected to find coming up around his boots did not exist. The earth was dry. So dry it fell freely as he scooped up a hand full, like sand through an hour glass. Levi's puzzled mind was also still in great pain. Maybe I'm still not thinking right, he rationalized to himself. As he looked around everything was in order. He was sure glad to see the horse trailer still intact. Just thinking of Crimson he moved as fast as possible up the bank and over to the trailer. "Hey Crimson, hey boy, how `ya doing? That was a pretty bad storm, wasn't it?" Levi looked back at the ground, still not believing the powder dry dirt at his feet. "Well, maybe it wasn't as bad a storm as I thought," Levi remarked out loud in jest. "I guess I'd better get `ya out of that cage, huh boy? I know you'll be glad to stretch your legs," Levi commented, as he pulled the gate open at the rear of the trailer. Crimson was a little jittery as Levi backed him out and off the trailer. "Easy boy, easy boy!!" he remarked as Crimson, not too sure-footed, came down off the trailer. "Good boy", he praised as he led Crimson to the storage compartment. He pulled out a blanket and threw it over Crimson's back. Levi lifted the saddle and slung it over the blanket. It was a beautiful hand carved Mexican saddle and Crimson stood tall as Levi cinched the girth. Tying Crimson's reins off at the front of the trailer, Levi started gathering all the items he might need for this first night at the cabin. Thinking to himself, `I guess I could wait till morning to radio the ranch. I'll have Manuel send the pilot up with a new battery.' Still disturbed by the condition of the soil, Levi reasoned out loud, "You know what, I was probably out for two days. That's why the ground is so dry," he remarked to Crimson as he piled more supplies into the saddlebags. He walked to the Bronco's passenger door and grabbed his rifle, a 270 with a scope, and his competition holsters. The rifle slid in the saddle holster. Then he buckled on his hand gun holster and strapped it to his leg. He flipped the pistol out with lighting speed, just to get the feel of it. A couple of extra boxes of shells completed the haul. "Well Crimson, it's about threeee," as he spoke he realized his watch was not working. Slipping it off he laid it in the seat of the Bronco. "I guess I broke it too, Boy." Then looking up at the sun, still to his east but high in the sky. "It must be about mid morning," he decided. Levi swung up on the big red stallion. "Okay Crimson, let's go." Levi had been to the line shack on the lake many times and had a good sense of direction. But for some reason the trail didn't look the same. The general terrain hadn't changed, but the lay of the brush just wasn't right. The trail was too small, not like the width needed for his vehicle, but much narrower. "Well, maybe it's just grown over. Everything grows so fast in the spring." He continued due north, knowing the cabin could only be a few minutes ahead. Levi was startled as a shot rang out and the bullet ricocheted off a nearby boulder. He sprang from his horse with swiftness born of instinct. He took refuge behind one of the boulders as he reasoned the situation. "Is it someone hunting?" he thought. "It's not any of my hands. They're all back at the ranch house. The rustlers, maybe one of those rustlers got stranded," he imagined. "I just surprised him or maybe he surprised me." Levi decided that was the case and started to make his way around to the back side of the man. It took three or four minutes, as he climbed over boulders and through the brush. Levi came upon the back side of a cowboy behind a large boulder.