Where are they staying now?
“Where are they staying now?” Randy and Sierra walked into Mt. Zen Cafe to find all the locals surrounding June. Sierra realized that she hadn’t seen her since the day they had closed on their house. She had a list in front of her. Even Curly had come out of the kitchen to join the crowd. The early ski tourists were lined up at the counter wondering where the “help” was, oblivious to the events that had thrown the small town of Merriton into a fit of worry.
June spoke, “They’re staying with the Bowens right now. Dora’s busy teachin’ and Roscoe’s on the mountain all day with that Chinaman.” Angie corrected the realtor, “Kevin. His name is Kevin.” June nodded and continued, “So the Thunder Brothers are fine for now.” Elvis spoke clearly, “What about their equipment?” June shook her head, “It was repossessed before harvest.” Several people in the group swore with no apology to the tourists waiting for their food that would not be cooked. “Why didn’t they tell us? We coulda helped ‘em get their harvest in.”
Elvis was the only calm one in the group, “Mighty hard to tell the people you love you’re a failure.” The crowd hushed at the thought and nodded. Angie was the first to break the silence, “What’ll we do?” June shook her head, “Hope a farmer buys it.” Randy and Sierra were confused, “Buy what?” Everyone looked at them. Just a second before, they were locals. They were insiders. They were accepted, but with one question, they were outsiders again. June politely answered the question, “The Thunder Brothers Ranch. It goes up for auction next Friday. None of us knew about it until I found it on the auction sheet.” She held up the simple list in front of her.
“Who else would buy a farm?” Sierra asked and once again the group gave them a look of tried patience. June patiently replied, “Housing developers. That’s what we’re worried about. They come in and build a bunch of McMansions. Our population will go from 300 to 3000 within a few months and Merriton will never be the same.” Sierra and Randy were instantly ushered back to insider status by the looks of horror on their faces. Angie put her arm around Sierra and asked, “Can we somehow pool our money together and buy it? Maybe the town can buy it.” Elvis and June both shook their heads, but it was Curly who answered, “No time. The auction’s next Friday. They’ll want cash that day.”
The silliness of her question finally dawned on her and Sierra asked, “Why weren’t you worried when Randy and I bought the Bowen farm?” June blushed and the rest of the crowd turned to Elvis. He gruffly answered, “We had the Bowen farm taken care of.” Randy crinkled his brow, “What does that mean?” Elvis sheepishly rubbed the stubble on his chin and looked Randy straight in the eye. “Your farm is land-locked. I own the gravel road you drive on to get to your property. Housing developers won’t touch land-locked property. Arbitus and me, we took care of that after Edith died.” Randy nodded and shot a reproving look at June. He thought she had never mentioned that fact to him when he bought the Bowen farm, but Sierra added, “Oh yeah, I remember you explaining that to us when we were closing.”
An angry ski jacket at the counter yelled, “Hello?! Does anybody work here?” Angie rushed to the counter and Curly headed back to the kitchen.