Republic of Dirt (17 page)

T
here’s guys you expect to see riding mules and guys you don’t. That’s why I was so surprised when I come out of my cabin this afternoon and seen Dean Spratt riding Lucky around the pasture, Bertie trucking along behind.

Prudence must have put Spratt up to it. She’s still tuckered out from her Japanese disease, but that don’t mean she’s not still getting into everybody’s business and putting everybody to work.

First time I seen Spratt out there with Lucky, I thought for sure he’d get his headlights kicked out, but he turned out to have a way with mules. Still, it’s a helluva step from brushing a mule and picking up his feet to having him in full Western riggin’ a week later—saddle and bridle, crupper, the whole shitaree—and riding him around.

That mule looked straight out of
Lonesome Dove
, which is the only book I ever read twice. The show was good too. Lot of mules in
Lonesome Dove
.

I’m not saying Old Man Spratt looked like Augustus McCrae or Woodrow Call or any kind of Texas Ranger. He had on his regular
cab-driving clothes and some rubber boots with a little heel, almost like a lady’s rubber boots. I don’t know where that guy’s money goes, but it’s sure as hell not on boots.

Anyhow, I come outside to feed the animals and there’s Spratt trotting around on Lucky, and Prudence and Seth are leaning against the gate like it’s the top entertainment they ever seen. Bertie did her damnedest to keep up. It was good to see our old sheep showing something other than blackest despair.

The light was nearly gone when Spratt dismounted. Lucky stood stock still, which was a good thing because Spratt looked sore as hell. He grunted when his feet hit the ground. Must have been a helluva big woman who had them boots before him.

Prudence started clapping and so did Seth.

I believe Spratt may have smiled, which was damned near a miracle in itself.

He stood in the pasture, holding Lucky’s reins and giving that mule pats on his neck. The rest of us come into the field, keeping a close eye on Lucky’s ass-end, since he does like to kick. But that spotted red mule seemed almost as happy as Old Man Spratt. Maybe being good with animals runs in the family. I wonder if little Sara knows that her old man is good with mules. She never had much to say about her pa, which I can understand since he’s a miserable sonofabitch, but it’s good for kids to respect their parents. That’s not something me and Merle and Pride got too much of because of how we was raised and our old man being mean as a bag of rattlesnakes.

It would be good for the little Sprout to be able to see her dad riding on that mule that no one else can handle.

That’s what give me the idea to leave her a note in the chicken coop. Sara always did like to be kept informed.

I
was so excited to get Earl’s note, even though I already knew what he told me, which was that my dad is good with mules and is riding Lucky and that things are fine on the farm. I have read his note over twenty times so far and I enjoy it every time.

I hope he likes mine as much. I told him that things are fine at school and that I am staying with my mom and that I am happy he is taking such good care of my chickens and that he should be careful with Alec Baldwin and the Polish non-bearded hens when the weather gets bad, because they get colds easily.

For some reason I didn’t tell Earl that me and Target have been sneaking into the pink fort almost every day so we can watch my dad train Lucky from the upper window. I want Earl to feel good about telling me news even if he’s telling me stuff I already know.

My dad visits Lucky even if it’s raining, which it often is now because it’s fall. Sometimes my dad just catches Lucky and brushes him, and sometimes he holds a long rope and makes Lucky go around him in a wide circle. That’s called lunging and it’s cool that my dad knows about it.

My dad has even started riding the mule! Once he rode him down the driveway before he turned around and went back. Prudence walked partway down the driveway with them and I heard her ask my dad if it was safe, and my dad said it wasn’t time to take Lucky on the road yet due to him having had some negative experiences, but he didn’t mention that they were Prudence’s fault, which was nice of him.

My dad has a lot of patience for mules. He doesn’t have as much patience for people, such as me or my mom.

I wonder if Lucky will turn out to be an incredibly fast mule. Then we could race him. My books said that mule racing is quite popular in some parts of the United States and Alberta. If Mat Morrisey rides his motorcycle by when my dad’s riding, everyone will find out how fast Lucky can go.

Like I told Earl in my note, I’ve been staying with my mom. We’re not living in our old house because it’s for sale and she told the real estate people it’s empty. She said empty houses are easier to sell. The first few days we stayed with my aunt, but then my mom said that my aunt’s house is a “toxic environment.” At first I thought it was because my aunt only cleans her house once a week on her day off. My aunt is an RCMP officer and a single parent, so she’s very tough and also practical. She told my mom she needed to “get off her butt” and get herself together. It was right after that that my mom said the thing about my aunt being toxic.

Now I meet my mom at her work when her shift ends at the gas bar and then we go to Smitty’s or A&W for dinner. Then we visit the big library downtown until it closes. When she’s sure it’s too late for any realtors to show the house, we go there. She keeps our sleeping bags and stuff in her car. Last night when we went to the house, there
was a fancy car in the driveway. My dad said all real estate agents have expensive cars due to highway robbery. I’m not sure what he meant, because they’d all be in jail if they really did robberies on the highway. Anyway, we couldn’t stay in the house because a realtor was showing it. Instead of waiting for them to leave, my mom said we were going to have an adventure, and she drove us to a campground. When she thought I was asleep, she got out of the car and went away until four in the morning!

A lot of people might be scared to sleep alone in a car in a dark campground, but it was okay, I guess. I hoped the campground got locked at night so no one could come in. Still, I wondered what the social worker would say if he found out I was staying overnight by myself in a car and that it was partly his fault.

I also told myself that no matter how not fun it is with my mom, I probably have it better than Target because he’s in foster care. I’m going to visit his foster house for dinner tomorrow, and I have a feeling that will make me feel better about staying in our car, even though we have a perfectly good house.

I decided not to ask my mom where she went last night. Sometimes, kids don’t need to know everything. I also thought about telling Earl about how I was staying in the car in my next note, but decided not to because then he would worry.

I would be much better off in foster care.

Target has two older foster sisters and two foster mothers who are married to each other. All four of them are extremely nice to Target. I don’t usually feel jealous of other people because I’ve got a
lot of leadership qualities and I own several of the top show birds in the mid-Island, but I think I feel a little bit jealous of Target.

One of his foster moms is a yoga teacher and the other one is a personal trainer. They look very healthy, which is quite different from what I’m used to with my parents. There are wedding pictures everywhere, and Esme and Fran look like they should be on TV in all of them! Esme has on a white dress and Fran is wearing a white suit, but they both look like they’re about to go for a run or do an exercise class. If I ever get married to someone, I hope I look as energetic as them in my pictures.

Target’s foster sisters are both in eleventh grade. Stephanie is biological and Ariel is spiritual. When I asked what that meant, Esme told me that Fran gave birth to Stephanie and they adopted Ariel.

Our dinner was just like dinners used to be at Woefield, only much more delicious. We had green smoothies that Fran made in a fancy blender. The smoothies contained Herbal Matay, which is a kind of tea, kale, romaine and Swiss chard as well as mint and pineapple plus pine pollen, which is this yellow powder. Prudence doesn’t like things that have to be shipped from far away, so she probably wouldn’t have approved of the pineapple, but I know she’d like to have a blender like that. It’s called a Blendtec and when I asked Fran about it, she said it was the Lexus of blenders, which I think means it is a really good one.

We also ate wild rice and a coho salmon that Esme caught. Esme is an avid fisherwoman. There are almost as many pictures of her fly fishing as there are of her and Fran’s wedding.

Dinner was so amazing!

I also really liked Target’s foster sisters. Ironically, because she’s biological and her moms are into fitness, Stephanie doesn’t like
to exercise. She would rather play video games, such as World of Warcraft. Ariel skateboards. They are probably the coolest people I ever met.

Esme and Fran don’t get mad at Stephanie about her video games, even though they worry that her lifestyle has too much sediment. They made her sign a contract about how long she is allowed to play. I think it’s neat that they did that. It shows clear communication.

Fran told me that sitting causes inflammation. So do sugar and wheat. I pointed out that means sitting at school must be dangerous for kids, and Fran and Esme agreed. Fran said that when I’m studying, I should try to get up every twenty minutes to half an hour to walk around, and that if I couldn’t do that, I should at least stretch out my legs.

I think that was great advice.

Their house is full of opportunities to not sit around. Esme and Fran’s office has a treadmill with a tray on it instead of a desk and a chair, like most people. Esme says she walks while she pays their bills and does other household activities.

Fran, who teaches yoga, put mats and balls all over the house so everyone can do yoga or stretching whenever they feel like it. Bouncing on exercise balls is fun. I would like to have a big exercise ball, but I don’t think it would fit in my mom’s car. I guess I’d have to leave it at my dad’s, but then it might get the smoke and tire smell on it.

Ariel sat on an exercise ball at the dinner table because she says she needs to work on her core strength. Ariel has straight blond hair and arched eyebrows. Even her smile looks athletic!

Stephanie has curly brown hair, just like Fran’s. The front of her hair is dyed bright green, which she said is a hard color to get.

Target’s foster family is sort of like Prudence and Earl and Seth,
except without the swearing and arguments and men. They are so nice to Target, only they call him “T.” I shouldn’t be jealous because he has a terrible brother and a sad family life, but I sort of couldn’t help it.

They kept asking him if he wanted any more green smoothie and they asked us how our day was and they asked if I wanted to sit on an exercise ball or a yoga mat to watch a movie. It was a movie suitable for kids that had a good message about not littering. Even when I was at the farm, I didn’t get to watch many youth movies. Seth likes documentaries about dead musicians and Earl likes TV shows about home improvements and cars as well as people who run pawn shops. Prudence doesn’t sit still long enough to watch movies. She probably has zero inflammation in her.

If I was Target, I’d want to stay with Fran and Esme forever. I told him that when we went to see his room, which has a blue checked bedspread and books and a desk and a lamp and everything.

He shrugged his shoulders and said that placements never last. I asked why not and he said the system was why.

It must be terrible to live with the nicest people ever and know that the system is going to make you leave at any moment. I felt less jealous after I heard that, but then I remembered that my mom was coming to get me at eight. What would Fran and Esme think of my mom, who is probably one of the most inflamed people ever? I wished Prudence would come to get me and that made me feel guilty as well as jealous.

For some reason, feeling bad like that made me ask Target about his brother, because I know he never wants to talk about his brother.

“He’s going to a special school,” said Target. “To get the help he needs.”

“Oh,” I said. Then I even felt a little bit envious of Target’s brother because nothing in my life felt very special lately. Which is terrible. But I forgot about all of that when we went to play in Fran and Esme’s gym.

That’s where Esme trains people and Fran gives yoga lessons. We all went in together and Fran showed us yoga moves, such as crow, where you kneel on your elbows. And Esme spotted Ariel on the climbing wall, which means she held the rope so Ariel wouldn’t be injured if she fell. Stephanie used the time to play one of her video games. If I was her, I wouldn’t want to miss any physical activities with such a fun family, but Esme said that at least her body was there even if her mind was not.

Fran and Esme and Ariel asked Target if he wanted to bust a few moves and he said no. He just sat on one of the exercise benches and watched. I did want to bust moves, so they showed me how to do Zumba. It was incredible. I think I even felt some inflammation leaving my body.

Before I knew it, it was eight and the doorbell rang.

Fran and Esme answered the door together and they were very polite to my mom, who looked more tired than usual, as well as inflamed, probably because she stayed out all night when she should have been in the car with me.

Fran said how much they enjoyed having me and said she hoped I could come over again soon. Esme said she was glad I was T’s friend. Stephanie said I was hilarious! I don’t know why she said that, but I liked it.

My mom thanked them for giving me dinner and said that we had to go. I was hoping the realtor wouldn’t be at the house, so we could stay there. Like I said, I wasn’t too scared in the campground
because I think they have good security measures, such as a gate, but I do feel better in our old house, even if we have to sleep on blow-up mattresses on the floor. I felt a lot of relief when we pulled into our driveway, but then I started to feel jealous again when I thought of Target and his two fit moms and two cool sisters. Just a little bit.