Last night after leaving work, I headed over to visit Holly on the farm. I had a few treats I was dropping by and I wanted to check out the camping area. Who knew it would be such an exciting night?
I pulled in her drive to be greeted by two grubby boys, a few cats and a chicken. I was promptly embraced in a hug from one little buckaroo, while the other boy looked at me like I was crazy...and maybe he's right. But the buckaroo is used to crazy women, so he loves me anyways: )
After a quick change, a delicious farm burger and a small glass of wine, Holly took me on the grand tour. There is nothing like being on a farm on a cool spring evening. The animals were beginning to settle down, the crickets were chirping and the fireflies were getting ready to go out looking for their special someones. Of course, there were lots of other critters rustling about too, but I was blissfully unaware at this point.
We visited with the farm dogs...let's see all together I counted 7 dogs. I'm not sure which dogs went with the farm and which were just dogs of the Valley, but when you live out there in the wild, you can never have too many dogs. Two dogs (Hobo and Sadie) tagged along with me on my tour, something I would be glad of later on.
We walked across a hayfield or two and headed to the camping area. It is beautiful! I could hear the sound of a spring feeding into the river. The river was chilly, but not too cold. As Holly and I surveyed the boxing and tent arrangement possibilities, we kept our feet in the river. After being on mine all day at work, this was pure bliss! Holly pointed across the river to a horse riding trail that she likes to go on. Should she plant some boxes across the river? Sure, everyone needs to get their feet wet on a farm. We were both laughing at the thought of Mama Fox holding her pack above her head and crossing a river AGAIN, when suddenly Hobo stiffened and began barking. Sadie followed his lead. I followed his glance just in time to see a black streak through the forest across the river. I've heard tales of black panthers in this area. Last fall I actually saw one while I was taking care of a friend's animals. Ever since then, I must admit, I have been a bit paranoid about them.
“Come on, let's get out of here, “ Holly immediately directed. My heart was pounding as we raced away. Once we were back in the hayfield, Holly seemed fine.
“What was that back there?” I asked her.
“Probably nothing, these dogs will bark at anything. Let's go see the orchard.”
So I followed her down the mown grass trail to the orchard, the whole time thinking about what that could've been. One strand of assurance I was holding onto was that at least it was across the river.
We arrived at the orchard. There are peaches, apples blueberries and even a bee hive. Wow, if I was a bear, this would be a great place to hang out in the fall! Holly tells me that they often do find black bears here. I begin thinking that maybe that is what we saw. And now I am not scared. I can handle seeing a bear in these parts. Hollerin' Holly is pretty loud, her holler could definitely scare it away! I still was a little startled when I hear a rustle in the nearby woods.
We headed over to the horse pasture after this where Holly introduced me to her jack ass. No I don't mean the Troll either! I've already met him and his bark is worse than Holly's bite; ) Markie, the donkey says hello to us and then Glennda the mule introduces herself. Before I know it I am standing in the pasture surrounded by beautiful horses. But wait one of these horses has horns...what!?! That is the biggest goat I have ever seen in my life! Be sure and gawk and take lots of pictures of Weston the mutant goat when you come to Holly's farm. I have never met a goat that is almost as big as a horse and thinks he is a horse.
Holly wanted to show me the fishing dock down behind the horse pasture before it got too dark. So we said goodbye to her horses. Jr. kept nudging Holly, almost pushing her. Then suddenly all of the horses ran towards the barn. Holly thought maybe Glenn had called them in.
The sunset was absolutely gorgeous. The night air was getting damp. The whipoorwills began calling back and forth. We headed down to the dock.
Looking back now, there are lots of things I should've noticed, like the huge tracks, the dark shadow in the tree, the tentativeness of Hobo and Sadie, but I was so wrapped up in the beautiful moment that I was completely unaware. Even so, as soon as we got to the dock, I had a funny feeling. The river was deep and black here. Holly, though, just kept chattering on about the big flood and the fish they've caught here and swimming in the summer. I didn't want her to know I was spooked. I knew she loved this place and if she wasn't scared than there was nothing to be scared of was there?
At the moment I reasoned this out, everything changed!
A low purring growl pierced the darkness. The whipoorwills stopped calling. The dogs started whining. I looked at Holly and for the first time saw real fear in her eyes. For a paralyzing moment we waited. The night was silent, there was just the sound of the river quietly slipping past. Standing here on this dock, it occurred to me that we were cornered. And whatever it was that was out there was not going to let us go without a fight. Where was Charlie of seekers1108 when we needed him?
Holly and I moved close together and tried to figure out the direction the sound came from. Looking out into the semi-darkness, it seemed that the sound was a little to the left of us. There was a tree there. If this was what I feared, there was a good chance it was on that tree. Black panthers often hide their prey in a tree and then return to eat it later. Had we interrupted a feast...or were we about to be the feast? Had we even been stalked all evening?
The dogs now started barking. Holly and I looked at each other. Holly pointed down towards the river. While the dogs were making lots of noise we quietly climbed down the side of the dock onto the river bank. Faster and quieter than either of us have ever moved in our lives, we headed down stream. We finally came out at the campground. We were panting and we could hear the dogs still barking back at the dock. We kept running, across the hayfield and into the house.
We slammed the screen door behind us and who was standing there with a gun but the Troll.
“Holly! Where were you? I told you not to go down to the fishing dock at dark, you promised you wouldn't. You didn't go down there did you?”
“I just wanted to show 't'...”
“Holly, YOU LIED!”
I think the panther is still out there. The troll went out this morning and found the tracks and the head of a goat at the base of the tree. Be careful at the gathering...and don't ask me to go anywhere near that dock!
