This following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely a coincidence. No resemblance (s) of any actual person or character or act is intended. While there is no sexual contact in this story, please be aware of the rules in your community for reading this or other stories on Nifty. If reading such is illegal where you reside or you are not of legal age, please go no further.
This work of fiction is the property of the author, Sonny Malone and should not be reposted or reproduced without his permission. Email always welcome and should be addressed to rhyolite221@outlook.com
Copyright (c) 2017
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Uncle Rick's Rhyolite Ranch
Chapter 16
After taking his G.E.D. exam, Daniel intensely focused on ground school lessons as part of his required flight training. Every morning for the next week Uncle Rick and Daniel flew to Kingston, where Daniel sat for his lessons at ground school. At night Jason or Uncle Rick would read quiz questions to Daniel until he knew every bit of material covered in the lessons. Soon Daniel was passing the quizzes at the end of each chapter with 100% grades.
Three days before Christmas, Vicente Sanchez drove in the driveway of the Rhyolite Ranch with a cut 8-foot tall pine tree loaded onto the back of his pickup truck. It was the Sanchez family Christmas gift to Uncle Rick and the family.
Jason's muscles ached as he slowly trudged through the snow up to his knees. He had to lean far forward to counter the fierce wind attempting to blow him in the opposite direction. It was only a few hundred feet more to the cave he had discovered at Becker's Canyon, but those few hundred feet felt more like a few hundred miles. It took all of Jason's strength to pull his legs out of the snow and create new footsteps. Where did this freak snowstorm come from? It was sunny and 70-degrees just an hour ago. Finally he reached the cave entrance and collapsed on the comforting warm sand inside the cave. Why was the sand inside the cave warm? That was strange. It must be the hot water from the springs must emanate from somewhere inside the dark cave. That had to be it. Daniel nestled with his arms around Jason, kissing him gently from behind. Daniel knew how to hold Jason to calm his mind, soothe his aching muscles, and warm his loving heart. Sleep came quickly to Jason as he was enveloped in Daniel's embrace. A resting peace surrounded the two lovers. Soon Jason felt as though he and Daniel were silently being watched. Dare he open his eyes to reveal the mysterious creature overlooking them? Perhaps the creature would lose interest and leave them to their slumber. On second thought, what if the creature was dangerous or hungry for human meat? Jason opened his eyes slightly to see a large pair of brown eyes so close to his that the creature's breath could be felt on his skin.
The creature giggled. "Wake up Jason and Daniel."
Jason struggled to make sense of it all. After waking slightly more, he soon realized he was dreaming and the vicious creature staring at him so close was really lovable Cody.
Cody beamed. "Jason, Daniel, its Christmas eve and Brandon asked me to wake you guys up."
Daniel opened his eyes and looked over Jason to see Cody's happy smile. "Good morning, Cody. Are you the ghost of Christmas past, Christmas future or Christmas present?"
Cody playfully scowled at Daniel. "I'm not a ghost. I'm an angel!"
Daniel scoffed. "Who said you are an angel?"
Cody proudly smiled. "Christopher said I am an angel and he would know."
Daniel turned to Jason. "I think we need to have a long talk with Christopher."
Jason continued the teasing. "Well, wait a minute, Daniel. Maybe Christopher is right. Maybe Cody is an angel. Maybe Cody is the angel Uncle Rick put on top of the Christmas tree and he managed to climb down."
Daniel nodded. "If that's the case, we need to take him to the Christmas tree and put him back up there."
Cody's eyes got big. "NOOOOOO, I'm not that angel. I'm a different angel!"
Jason and Daniel climbed out of bed, took hold of Cody and put him backwards, butt-up over Daniel's shoulders. Together they took him to the family room where they found the family sitting around the fire drinking tea and hot chocolate.
Uncle Rick looked up to see Cody being carried in. "Boys, what did I tell you about bringing varmints into this house?"
Cody protested. "I'm not a varmint; I'm an angel."
Jason explained. "We took this suspect into custody, Uncle Rick. We think he may be an escapee from the top of the Christmas tree."
Uncle Rick played along. "Come to think of it, he does look like the little guy I put up there. String him up, boys."
Cody argued. "No, the angel is still on the Christmas tree. I'm not him."
Uncle Bill chuckled and looked at the angel on the Christmas tree. "Well, I'll be darned. Boys, he's right. The angel is still on the top of tree. I guess you'd better release the suspect."
Christopher giggled. "It's a good thing they let you go, Cody. Erik, Tony and I would make a mean tickle team. Jason and Daniel wouldn't have a chance against us."
Daniel winked at Jason. "Christopher's right, Jason. We don't want to rile those guys and besides, we know when we're outnumbered."
Cody snuggled with Christopher, giving Jason and Daniel a smug look.
Brandon called out from the kitchen. "Breakfast is served. Come all you ranch studs, angels, wizards, chefs and varmints and get your waffles, eggs, and bacon."
The family moved into the kitchen and feasted on delicious strawberry waffles with maple syrup and whipped cream, free range scrambled eggs with diced smoked ham, and crisp maple bacon. The topic of conversation at the breakfast table was the sudden change of weather forecasted for that afternoon. A winter storm was on the way from Canada and temperatures were expected to drop twenty degrees by 5:00 P.M.
Henry took a sip of freshly brewed coffee from his cup. "There is a good chance it may snow tonight. It's a good thing we have the wind generators and batteries installed."
Brandon nodded in agreement. "It's also good you got those radios installed so we can check on Raul and Travis, and of course the Sanchez family."
Just then Maria's voice came over the radio. "Brandon, are you there?"
Brandon smiled. "Speaking of the radio!"
He walked over and pressed the button on the desk microphone. "Brandon here, Maria, go ahead."
"Brandon, Mario just called me from the restaurant. He needs some help there. He has a full house and it's only him cooking. If you can pick me up, I can go in with you to help him."
Brandon smiled. We sure didn't expect a full house on Christmas Eve. I can leave right now. I'll be right there, Maria." Maria answered. "Thank you, Brandon. I'll be ready when you get here. Thank you. Over and out."
Brandon laughed. "I'll have to tell her no one can hear us way out here. She doesn't need to say all that over and out stuff."
Brandon, Mario and Maria worked as fast as they could though the breakfast and lunch shifts, cooking delicious food for the customers on the day before Christmas. Brandon had made a special holiday cranberry chutney that was included as a free Christmas treat with every order. The customers raved about it. When the last customers left the restaurant with full stomachs and smiles on their faces, the restaurant crew decided few people in Chaparral would not be having Christmas eve dinner at home, so it was best to close for the remainder of the weekend. Brandon turned the open/closed sign on the door to "closed". Maria wrote a note wishing the customers a merry Christmas and explaining the restaurant would be open for breakfast on the day after Christmas. She taped it to the inside of the glass door before walking out and locking up for the holiday.
While walking to the truck Mario noticed the overcast sky. "It looks like we may have rain or snow tonight."
Maria gave a warm hearted smile. "Maybe we will have a white Christmas this year. I can't remember the last one we had."
At the ranch Henry and Erik fed the horses a special blend of oats, grated carrots, apples, and molasses. Giselle, Sundown and the other horses all seemed to have smiles on their faces as they gobbled down the tasty holiday treat.
Cody, Christopher and Jason spent the afternoon in the greenhouse tending to the plants. The greenhouse was equipped with radiant heaters to ward off the cold. They also picked fresh organic produce for a dinner salad.
When Brandon and Mario arrived home, they talked to Uncle Rick and Bob about the weather. They all agreed it would be best to prepare for another winter's storm. The new energy system, with its battery backup would prove its worth should the storm grace the ranch with snow. As a precaution, they filled the generator gas tank.
Vicente and Maria planned for a special warm cozy Feliz Navidad evening in front of the Christmas tree with Alejandro and Ana. The kids were excited. They knew of the traditional unwrapping of one gift each just before bedtime.
Raul and Travis spent the afternoon together preparing delicious side dishes for their family dinners. Later that evening Travis and Raul would come down the mountain road where Travis would leave Raul to spend the evening with his family and continue to the Rhyolite Ranch to spend Christmas evening with Uncle Rick and the others.
Mario and Brandon enlisted the help of Cody and Christopher to wash and chop vegetables for the salad. The boys were happy to do all they could to make sure dinner was served as early as possible. The mixed aromas of the turkey and ham roasting in the oven, the spiced apple cider brewing on the back burner of the range while glazed carrots simmered on another burner, and Mario's spiedini kept warm in the warming drawer, married to stimulate everyone's appetites. By the time everything was ready to be placed on the table, there wasn't a single man or boy in the house who didn't have a growling stomach telling him it was time to eat. Brandon stirred the turkey gravy and Mario pulled the spiedini out of the warming drawer when they felt they were being watched. They turned to see ten pairs of eyes hungrily waiting for dinner.
Brandon grinned. "All right, you ravenous ranchers, dinner is ready. Line up to grab a potholder and a dish to take to the dining room table. They wasted no time forming a line. Brandon and Mario directed the procession of chef helpers and in no time everyone was seated and ready to quench their famished appetites. Uncle Rick carved the turkey while Henry sliced the ham. Dishes of delectable delights were passed around the table and soon everyone was in food heaven, complimenting the chefs as they dined on the delightful gourmet home cooked meal.
The conversation topic around the table was cheerful and fun. Cody asked what everyone's favorite present was from past Christmas.
Jason smiled, remembering the Christmas of his fifth year. "Santa put a bicycle under the tree for me. It was red and white and had training wheels. I remember feeling like a big boy because up until then I only had a tricycle. I didn't care that it had training wheels. I don't know how many times I rode that bike around the block. I was only allowed to ride it on the sidewalk of our block. I wasn't old enough to cross the street yet."
Daniel and Erik agreed they received their best Christmas presents five years ago. Daniel shared their memory. "I guess Dad had received a substantial Christmas bonus at his old job. He came home on Christmas Eve with a stack of presents for Mom, Erik and me. Mom got a diamond necklace and Erik and I got trips to Disneyland with the local boy's club. That was the last nice Christmas we had."
Everyone shared their best Christmas stories as they consumed half of the turkey and ham as well as most of the other luscious delights. For dessert Brandon and Mario served mouthwatering pumpkin pie and homemade whipped cream. All of the guys claimed it was the best Christmas Eve dinner they'd ever had.
After dinner the guys helped Brandon and Mario clean up so they could all sit together around the big fireplace, watching the dancing flames and the twinkling lights on the Christmas Tree.
Cody cuddled warmly with Christopher. Christopher leaned in and gave Cody a kiss on his cheek. Cody kissed Christopher's cheek and held his hand. He glanced around at his family and beamed.
Daniel and Jason saw Cody beaming. Daniel chuckled. "Cody, everything must be good. I've never seen you smile so much."
Cody giggled. "It's almost perfect, Daniel."
Daniel inquired. "Why is it only almost perfect? Is something missing?"
Cody grinned and nodded. "Yes, but don't worry. It will be perfect really soon. You'll see."
Just then the lights blinked off and on again. Everyone looked at Bob.
Bob chuckled. "I can see what my job around here is going to be. I'll go check the batteries and be right back."
Bob untangled himself from Uncle Rick, put his coat on and went outside to the generator room, where the batteries were. In a few minutes Bob returned from the generator room and went to the C.B. radio base station.
He pressed the talk button on the desk microphone. "Vicente or Maria, are you there?"
Vicente answered. "Yes, Bob, go ahead."
"Merry Christmas, Vicente. We just had our lights blink and it looks like the grid is down. I just want to be sure you're ok and the batteries are working."
"Merry Christmas to you too, Bob. Yes, we saw the lights blink here too. We're also on batteries and everything is fine. Do you know what caused the outage?"
Bob smiled. "Probably a tree branch fell on to the lines. Have you looked outside?"
"No, Bob. We just finished dinner. Should I go look?"
"Yes, I think all of you should look outside. You have a merry Christmas. We'll talk in the morning. Goodnight."
Bob walked into the living room to see the guys curiously looking at him. "Guys, come take a look at this."
Erik looked at Bob with concern. "Is something wrong? What is it?"
The guys got up from the couches and chairs and followed Bob to the front door. Bob turned on the and porch lights and outdoor spotlights. Everyone followed him out onto the porch and beamed from ear to ear. A heavy snow was falling, creating near whiteout conditions. Christopher, Cody, Erik and Tony cheered when they saw the falling snow.
The family wished each other Merry Christmas, giving each other hugs and kisses. They suddenly realized how cold it was on the porch and quickly returned to their places around the warm fire for the rest of the evening. After they let their delicious dinners settle in their stomachs they soon began to yawn. Collectively they decided it was bedtime and said their goodnights.
The next morning the household woke to a magical landscape beautiful enough to be a canvas for a Currier and Ives winter postcard. The weight of the fallen snow draped on sagging cedar and pine branches framed the white-blanketed ground. The family sipped hot chocolate and morning tea, while looking out of the large living room window to the beautiful winter countryside.
As Cody looked out the window his eyes grew wide. "Hey, who built that snowman out on the grass?"
The guys looked out the window but no one claimed responsibility.
Uncle Rick glanced at the others. "Nobody here built that?"
Everyone shook their heads and said it wasn't them.
Just then Maria's voice came over the C.B. Radio. "Rick, Brandon, is anyone there?"
Uncle Rick pressed the talk button. "Merry Christmas, Maria. This is Rick."
"Rick, Merry Christmas. We want to thank you for the surprise on the lawn."
Uncle Rick was confused. "What surprise is that, Maria?"
"The snowman, Rick. Whichever one of you guys did that, thank you."
Rick looked at the guys. They all shook their heads.
"Maria, we have a snowman here, but none of us built either one of them."
Maria looked perplexed. "I don't understand, Rick. Who built them?"
Cody giggled and pressed the talk button. "Maria, maybe it was Santa!"
"Cody, that's as good of an explanation as any. We'll give the credit to Santa then and thank him. Merry Christmas everyone!"
The guys all shouted "Merry Christmas" to Maria and padded into the living room.
Jason looked out the window at the snowman. "You know what is strange? There are no footprints to or around the snowman. There isn't that much snow on the ground that would cover those completely. Does any one have any idea of who built that?"
No one had any idea who built it or how it was built. The answer remained a mystery.
The guys had spent hours decorating the Christmas tree given to them by the Sanchez family. Today it was surrounded with colorfully wrapped packages. Brandon served special red, white and green Christmas breakfast roles and muffins to eat while opening packages. The group appointed Henry to be the official gift distributor. He took his place in front of the tree, calling out their names indicated on the tags and handing dozens of gifts to the guys.
The first round of gifts was from Henry. Everyone got a red and white Santa hat to wear while opening the other gifts. Everyone chuckled as they slipped the festive hats on.
Cody's hat went over his eyes, resting on his nose. "Hey, I can't see now!"
Christopher leaned over, lifted Cody's hat above his eyes and gave him a tender Christmas kiss. Cody giggled, thanked Christopher, and returned the kiss.
The next round of gifts were warm down jackets, gloves, insulated pants and toques (beanies) and waterproof insulated boots for everyone. They all agreed all would be well used by the time warm temperatures returned.
Henry continued to distribute the gifts as he opened his. Finally all of the gifts under the tree were distributed and opened. Hugs were exchanged as with gratitude and everyone was delighted with their presents.
Uncle Rick called the attention to a package located in the very back, behind the tree.
Henry pulled the gift out and read the card. "The tag says it's for Danny from Uncle Rick."
Henry handed the present wrapped in blue, silver, and white wrapping paper to Daniel. Daniel thanked Henry and unwrapped the box. He opened it and pulled out a wooden replica model of a Cessna 182. The tail number was N734TC, the same as Uncle Rick's plane. The model was also painted to identically match Uncle Rick's Cessna.
Daniel beamed. "Thank you, Uncle Rick. It's a model of your airplane, but don't you think you deserve this more than I do?"
Uncle Rick chuckled. "You're welcome Daniel. There is more in the box though."
Daniel looked in the box. Sure enough, there was a small manila envelope. He pulled the manila envelope out and opened it. He found a handwritten note and a set of keys inside it. He unfolded the note and read it out loud. "Merry Christmas to an proficient future pilot." Daniel had a confused expression when he looked inside the manila envelope again and a set of keys dropped out. "Uncle Rick, these are the Cessna keys. I don't understand."
Uncle Rick beamed. "Daniel, I'm giving you the 182 for Christmas. I have no doubt you will pass your flight exam and check ride. You'll need it when you travel to and from school."
Uncle Rick glanced at Jason. "Also, Jason and I know you'll be come from school often. It's a seven-hour drive by car, or a two-hour flight in the Cessna each way. You can spend a lot more time at home on weekend visits by flying."
Daniel was still confused. "But Uncle Rick, I can't just take your plane. That's too much."
Uncle Rick argued. "Daniel, what makes you think you won't be doing me a favor? It turns out I've bought another plane, a Cessna 206, that will carry eight people. I don't want two airplanes. I want to give the 182 to you. You deserve it for all you went through. Besides, I don't want just anyone to have it. I want a good pilot to own it and I know you're going to be a very good pilot. So Merry Christmas."
Daniel gave Uncle Rick a big bear hug. "Uncle Rick, you are the best uncle anyone could hope for. I promise I'll always do my best and I'll take care of the plane. Thank you so much."
After opening presents the family put on their new warm coats, gloves, boots, and toques and walked out in the falling snow to get a better look at the snowman. Jason and Daniel took a close look when suddenly they were both hit in the back of the head with snowballs. They turned around to find Christopher and Cody with maniacal expressions making new snowballs in their gloves. Jason and Daniel picked up snow, made it into balls and threw it at Christopher and Cody but overshot and hit Uncle Rick and Bob. Soon the entire family was in a fun snowball war. After a few minutes everyone was laughing so hard they couldn't throw snowballs and hit anyone.
Later that evening, after another huge home-cooked meal, they sat around the fireplace and agreed this was the best Christmas ever. Cody grinned from ear to ear as he snuggled with Christopher. With all the love around him, he knew things would be as they were supposed to be for a long time.
The end......?
Author's notes: I've rushed this chapter to be able to have it posted for Christmas. I am hoping you'll forgive me for the typos and mistakes that will undoubtedly sneak past me. I won't have an opportunity to pass this to my editor before posting, but will do so later and repost a grammatically correct version that will be as error free as possible.
I had planned on ending the story with Chapter 15 but after giving it to my editor I could imagine Cody with an annoyed look on his face telling me I was forgetting to give the family their Christmas. I certainly didn't want to argue with Cody, who knows all. Can you blame me?
While this is the end of this story, I've opened new opportunities for other stories or spin offs, as they are referred to in the television industry. I hope you'll follow Cody, Uncle Rick, Jason, and Daniel and the rest of the family in future adventures. Who knows, we may even find out who built those snowmen or if they were the result of some type of Christmas magic.
My thanks go to all of the readers for continuing to read this story that I originally began as a quickly written short story in 1988 and became a novel-length story this year. I would like to also thank the amazing guys who have emailed your suggestions and comments. I've enjoyed every one of your emails. I also give special thanks to my good friend and anonymous proofreader who encouraged me to continue Uncle Rick's Rhyolite Ranch and who taught me how to be a better writer. As always, thank you also to my editor, Mark for your much-appreciated help with this chapter.
I welcome any respectful comments. Please send me an email and tell me what you think about the story. I'm happy to reply to each one. If you've already done so, thanks. Please stay in touch.
Sonny Malone rhyolite221@outlook.com