Homestead

By LG McKenna

Its quite common for children to disagree with there parents about what is expected of them when they become adults. Some give in and do what is expected, some rebel and run away, and some just bide there time and leave as soon as they can.
Lew had a dream and he followed it, he left as soon as he could, and he succeeded in all that he had dreamt about. He was free and out from under the thumb of his parents, he had a new life, and a good life. But what he didnt take into account was that mothers have dreams and plans for there children as well, and they dont give up on there children easily.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483609744

LG McKenna

L G McKenna was born August of 1941, in Detroit Michigan, moved to Utah in 1946, joined the Navy in 1958 and served four years, was discharged in 1962. He’s worked as a farm laborer, Machinist, production control supervisor, and Merchant Marine. He now lives in Downey California with his wife of Thirty Eight years, and three cats. He wrote a short story for himself sometime around nineteen fifty nine, and kept it for years. It got lost sometime in the eighties, On retiring after a heart attack, he found he had the time to sit at a computer and write, so he re-wrote his first short story, titled The Homestead and found out that he enjoyed writing, and has decided to continue writing fiction. He’s always enjoyed a tall tail.

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Copyright © 2013 by LG McKenna.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4836-0973-7

                Ebook          978-1-4836-0974-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 03/12/2013

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127297

HOMESTEAD

The wind on his face felt good, nice, aand cool. Drying the sweat on his chest and back, the aroma of fresh cut wood fought with the ever-present smell of new pine.

The breeze got him thinking of home, where it was always hot, or seemed to be, with the ever-present smell of dust and emptiness. And the loneliness of being a rich rancher’s son whose only true friend who would listen to him was his older brother.

Some memories were nicer: the family sitting down to eat and laughing and discussing the day’s events; working alongside his father and brother and learning to ride and rope; branding, castrating, and dehorning yearlings; going to a gathering after a roundup; and meeting old and new friends.

There was dancing and cold beer. There was horse racing and sausage and onion sandwiches with cold beer, fried chicken, old dutch potato salad, apple pie and ice cream, and lemonade. Then there would be silly games, potato sack races, pie-eating contests, and once a kissing booth to raise money for the Jump Marines. Yes, some of those memories were nice.

Lew climbed back up onto his model 5000 Work All, or what was called a tree harvester, and picked up his lunch box and water bottle. Then jumping back down, he looked around for a nice comfortable spot to eat. Seeing a place between the roots of a massive old growth golden pine, he reached back into his harvester and grabbed his work jacket from behind the driver’s seat and walked over to the tree and got comfortable, using his jacket as a pillow for his back.

He snuggled back against the tree roots until everything felt comfortable He opened his lunch box and pushed the on button to warm his lunch. While he was waiting for his meal to warm up, he opened his water bottle and poured himself a cup of Willow’s homemade apple cider. Willow was the wife of his closest friend and neighbor, Josh Armstrong, and was famous worldwide as the Cougar Whisperer.

He took a sip of cider and closed his eyes, savoring the full-bodied flavor of Willow’s cider, and breathed deep. The air was fresh and cool and clean. He could smell the aroma of fresh cut wood, along with some yet-to-be-named forest flowers. He opened his eyes and gazed out over the little valley he was working in, over the tops of old growth golden pine, hybrid new pine, hybrid oak, and a few hybrid walnut, to the snowcapped mountains in the distance. It was comforting to know that this valley was all his. He sipped some more and let his mind wander over the last few years and how he got here.

Lewis Travis was from Carson, a planet in the Wolf Cluster, a heavy metal planet, colonized early on in The Great Expansion. The major industries were heavy metals and ranching. The major exports were rare earth metals, finished leather goods, and some titanium and silver. The planet was divided pretty evenly by three huge mountain ranges. No oceans. Just six large lakes.

Carson was the second of six planets. Its orbit was a little closer to their sun than normal for an Earth-type planet.

Members of Lew’s family were founders, descendants of one of its first families, and had a large ranch bordering Lake NASA west of Jasper, the capital city.

The Travis Ranch had originally been homesteaded by ten families, all ex-marines, headed by Master Sergeant Lewis