The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier

Chapter 10: Monday in Late May

Chapter 10 - Monday in Late May

Four ladies sat at a picnic table outside the back door of the main house of Garmadon Ranch on a sunny Monday in late May. Miss Gayle, Nya, Sam, and Brooke were resting and enjoying a satisfying midday meal after a morning of washing and hanging up laundry on the clothesline.

It was a regular occurrence now for the wives to ride their horses from their cottages in different parts of Garmadon Ranch on Mondays and meet up at the main house. At this point, Sam was a decent enough rider, and even Brooke, the newest resident of the ranch, was able to ride well enough to make the trip. As the ladies did their laundry together in the morning and sharpened their homemaking skills in the afternoon by working on various projects, they enjoyed the camaraderie of the other ranch women.

Blaze and Flash, the Australian Shepherd dogs who had accompanied their mistresses Sam and Nya, were resting in the shade of an oak tree after a morning of frolicking in the sun.

Sam smiled at her canine friend, who was sprawled out on the grass, and turned to Brooke. "How is the dog search going for you and Cole?"

Cole had liked how Kai and Jay had acquired dogs to be protectors and companions of their wives, especially on those days when Sam and Nya were homemaking in solitude at their respective cottages. Cole wanted to get a dog as a companion for his new bride Brooke, but the man from whom Kai and Jay had bought their puppies had moved out of the area, so Cole was looking for someone else from whom he could buy an Australian Shepherd.

"Cole might have a lead on a puppy for sale," Brooke replied. "Rusty said his sister's husband's friend in Ouroborus has an Australian Shepherd who just had a litter of pups. He's coming to Ninjago Town at the end of July and he's planning to bring the puppies with him to sell." Rusty was a ranch hand on the Double S Ranch who the girls knew from their saloon days.

"If Flash and Blaze be wantin' some food, I could prepare a plate," Miss Gayle asked Nya and Sam, both of whom agreed to the idea and expressed appreciation to her for the gesture.

As Miss Gayle assembled morsels for the dogs, she looked over at Nya's empty plate. "Happy to see ye be eatin' for two now, lassie."

Nya smiled. "My appetite's coming back. I'd heard the feeling of nausea is strongest in the first trimester, and it definitely was strong for me. So I'm glad to be in the second trimester now!"

Miss Gayle took care of feeding the dogs while the other ladies cleared the picnic table of the food in the serving bowls and the dirty plates, taking the items into the house. They came back out with a platter of pound cake slices, a bowl of freshly cut strawberries, and a pitcher of lemonade, as well as fresh plates, utensils, and glasses. They were going to enjoy a small treat before they began their afternoon homemaking lesson.

For this afternoon's lesson, the younger ladies were going to get their first chance to use the new contraption that Mr. Wu had purchased at Miss Gayle's request. It was a sewing machine. The short, plump housekeeper had already become familiar enough with it to be able to show the cowboys' wives how to use it, and today they were going to begin making simple curtains for their cottages.

As the ladies set out their pre-lesson refreshments on the picnic table, shouts of men and the pounding of galloping horses' hooves could be heard in the distance. The dogs woke up and started barking.

Accompanied by the noisy furry companions, the women hurried around to the front of the main house, where the noise seemed to be coming from. They could see three riders heading up the stone driveway - Kai, Jay, and Cole.

"Yerra! The lads!" Miss Gayle exclaimed.

The women looked at each other and became alarmed. Why in the world were they heading to the main house so quickly, and at this time of day? Was Zane hurt? Or Mr. Wu? The ranch owner had gone to Ninjago Town this morning and had not yet returned.

The cowboys slowed down the pace of the horses as they arrived at the house and spotted the four females. The men looked excited, so the women's fears about Zane and Mr. Wu appeared to be unfounded.

"Howdy, ladies," they called out as they tipped their hats.

"Mind if we set a spell?" Jay asked as they slowed down their horses down to a leisurely walk.

"Sure, come and set, lads. Failte," Miss Gayle answered, welcoming them using the vocabulary of the faraway land of her birth. "But what be causin' ye to tear up the trail so?" she asked as she and the younger ladies walked with the newly arrived cowboys and horses around to the back of the house where the women had just come from. The dogs happily trotted alongside them.

"We knew we'd find you ladies here, so we came here 'cause we've got some news for you," Kai said as the men dismounted their geldings, loosely tying them to the hitching post before pairing up with their wives as they all made their way toward the picnic table.

"And it looks like we got here just in time for dessert!" Cole observed as he spotted the refreshments. "How did you know that pound cake topped with the first fresh strawberries of the season is my favorite?" he joked, rubbing his stomach.

Everyone chuckled. Brooke playfully punched his arm. "Any cake is your favorite, Cole!" she laughingly protested.

"Set, lads, and let me be fetchin' more plates and the like," Miss Gayle urged the men. The housekeeper disappeared into the house while the younger ladies began to fill the plates and glasses already present at the picnic table.

A minute later, Miss Gayle returned from the kitchen with the extra supplies, and the younger ladies began to fill those, too, and pass them around. As Miss Gayle sat down at the table, she asked, "So, lads, what news is it that ye be burstin' to tell?"

"We Yellows finally get our chance to give those Purples a whaling!" Jay exclaimed. "The war has begun!"