Can or Cantor
copyright comidacomida 2020

Noah used to think that summer time was the perfect opportunity for vacation in California.  Living in the San Fernando Valley meant that his family was less than twenty minutes from Six Flags and they usually got season passes.  Then again, that was well before he started college.  At the end of his freshman year, Noah had done well enough that his scholarship was intact, but it still didn't provide a lot of money for living expenses, and that only got worse when his parents lost the ability to send him an 'allowance'.

Being the eldest of three kids meant that Noah often got the first shot at anything but it also meant that he had to be the most independent and when his sister, the youngest of the three had a medical emergency his parents had to redirect their funds which meant he would be a few thousand short for fall quarter budgeting.  Noah had also just finished a nasty break-up with his first official college boyfriend; although they both agreed that it was mutual, Noah was not the one who wanted things to end and, at that point, he just needed time away from everything that reminded him of his ex.

Fortunately, his dad's uncle (Noah's great uncle) owned a large piece of property up outside Sacramento and he was willing to hire family.  Noah had only met him a few times but remembered liking him.  Either way, it would get the young man some money to use toward his next semester at university and, just as importantly, it meant that he could put some distance between himself and his soured relationship.  As an added bonus, he'd get  to spend some time with a family member he rarely ever got to see.

Great Uncle Harry (who was okay with being called 'Harry' or 'Mr Simmons', but not anything having to do with 'Uncle') was friendly and welcoming enough but all of that came to an end whenever Noah was on the clock.  Despite being in amazingly good health for a late 60-something, Harry was, nevertheless, getting on in his years so most of the heavier work was left to his right-hand man or, in the ranch's case, a dog.  Jess, for as much as Noah could guess, was a Welsh Cattle Dog in his late 30s or early 40s, but he was still gruff enough to keep up with "Old Man Harry" during his bitch sessions about 'kids these days'.

Harry put Jess in charge of Noah, explaining to his great nephew "I don't know how things work down in LA--" (Noah didn't TECHNICALLY live in LA, but he'd already learned not to talk back to his Great Uncle), "--but here I want my employees to put in an honest day's worth.  I already told your dad that I'd make sure you get paid full wages rather than what I start most of my staff at so I'm having you work with Jess.  Whatever he tells you to do, you do.  Don't come to me and complain that he's working you too hard because you're getting paid better than a third of the workers out there with a hundred times the experience.  You got it?"

Harry didn't wait around for an answer, of course, and headed off leaving Noah in Jess' care.  The Dog was gruff and to-the-point but not entirely unfriendly, if in a reserved manner.  To be honest, Jess reminded Noah a lot of a consummate professional businessman-- presuming said suit-and-tie wearing desk jockey rode horses for a living, mended fences, and herded cattle.  It was really the professionalism though-- the professionalism was what rang true.  However, as the first week came and went, that professionalism started to wear on him.

Training was done over the course of the first morning and was added to throughout his entire stay.  Not only was Noah expected to pick up a general understanding of ranch procedure, but he also had to learn how to tie ropes in any number of ways (while wearing work gloves), he learned how to muck stalls, how to mend fences (metal wire and wooden), and got a crash course in agricultural mechanics (with the bruised knuckles to show for it).  All of the projects dealing with static objectives were far easier, however, than the animals.  With those, Noah was readily to give up by the end of the first day. "Ugh!  This is just so damn HARD!"

His instructor didn't accept his 'resignation'.  "Ain't got a college safe space out here, kid... suck it up and keep goin'.  Nothin' worth doin' is easy."  With no other real choice except to give up and leave, Noah, who still needed the money, stuck with it.

Between learning how to clean and trim sheep hooves, distribute animal feed, and avoid getting nipped at by geese, Noah had reached his fill after only a few days, but Jess wasn't done-- not by a long shot.  Horse riding turned out to be a pain in the ass... literally.  And the back, shoulders, and ribs... but mostly the ass.  The training arena that Jess had been using to teach him had a lot of loose sand so every time he fell off a good portion of his impact was softened, but it still hurt like hell.  He'd stopped counting the number of times he'd fallen by the time he just laid there, staring up at the sky.  "I think I'm done."

Jess' reply was matter-of-fact. "Ya ain't done til you can stay in the saddle, Kid."

Groaning, Noah wanted nothing more than to slink off to his room but instead he slowly sat up.  "I can stay in the saddle just fine until he starts bucking."

The Dog offered him a gloved paw and pulled the teen to his feet with a 'ha'.  "Tucker here's one of the mild mannered horses we got... he ain't buckin'... it's called a 'canter'... and if ya can't handle that then somethin's seriously wrong."

Although Jess wasn't particularly accusatory, Noah still didn't like the implication. "I was doing EVERYTHING you were telling me to."

The Dog let out a long sigh and walked past the teen, smacking him in the rump with the back of a gloved paw. "You got about as much sense fer ridin' as I do for that computer crap you're always talkin' about."

Noah scowled, offering clarification. "Advanced Systems Matrix Formation.  And that makes sense, 'cause you didn't go to college for Computer Science and I didn't go for horse back riding."

Jess sighed, leaning against one of the large wooden posts that created the fence for the training ring. "I learned how t'ride when I was six.  It isn't so much 'bout theory an' study an' all that college-brain stuff as it is understandin' what it is yer doin'.  It's about instinct.  Yer problem, kid, is ya gotta learn t' follow yer instincts."

The new lesson Jess taught Noah was all about 'instincts', and it didn't go much better.  Part of the tasks Jess was responsible for involved circling the ranch and patching fences; it was a lot faster to do on horseback but, since Noah still couldn't handle that reliably Jess had him follow along on the four-wheeler.  At first the teen thought that would solve all of his problems... until he learned that a good portion of the ranch wasn't reachable except on horseback... or by foot. 

There were many occasions over the next week when Jess had him cruise on ahead, only to get off of the four wheeler and walk the rest of the way; he was invariably passed on the road by the Dog and was forced to catch up.  By the end of that week, Noah was convinced that there was no way it could possibly get worse; he was wrong.  Week three was a return to horse practice, and apparently for a very good reason: Noah's Great Uncle indicated that Jess was going to be heading out to the far side of the grazing land to bring back some cattle and, since the ranch was short handed, Noah was going to go with.

The bruises increased in number but rather than slow down the training Jess only increased it.  With the day of their departure coming up, the Dog pushed him harder and harder until Noah was absolutely sure he was going to snap at some point.  By then, the young man had seen the impressive Dog take down a young bull by twisting its head by the horns and bodily pushing it to the ground so he was very confident if he took a swing at the ranch hand he would be sorely outmatched, but his frustration had reached such a point that it was going to come to a head.  Ultimately, it did, and Jess noticed it before Noah did.

The Dog hopped off of the spot where he was perched on the fence and approached Tucker BEFORE the teen had fallen off of the horse.  Jess took hold of Tucker's lead and slowed him down.  "See?  What'd I tell ya, kid?  Just gotta listen to yer instincts an' you'll do fine."

At first, Noah was confused why the Dog had stopped his training.  "I didn't do anything different."

Jess glanced his way, tail swaying ever-so-faintly behind him as he winked. "You mean other'n stay in the saddle?"

There had always been a point during Tucker's increase in speed that caused a discordant vibration in Noah's body; it started at the small of his back and went up his spine it lodged in the back of his skull and made him dizzy enough that he overbalanced and fell off the horse.  For some reason that hadn't happened and, before the teen knew it, the horse had increased his speed and, somehow, Noah had remained on him.  "Wait... was-- was that a trot... or a canter?  Did I just stay on for a canter?"

The Welsh Cattle Dog's tail's movement unlocked and it actively started wagging.  "If I gave him a little more time he woulda gone straight inta a gallop, Noah... looks like whatever head-stuff ya had goin' on up there finally got shaken loose."  Jess accentuated his final comment by placing a paw on Noahs' head and mussed up his hair with a vigorous ruffling.

The teen ducked away from the gesture; despite Jess annoying him incessantly with unreasonable demands, the only thing that could make it worse was the Dog proving to him that maybe, just MAYBE the demands weren't as unreasonable as first presumed.  "Yeah?  Well hopefully I can do that out there when Monday comes."

Jess' tail slowed slowly but the wry grin on his muzzle cracked his lips further. "Monday?  Nah, kid... we gotta be out in the field by Monday mornin'... we're leavin' Sunday."

That was a surprise. "As in... the day after tomorrow."

"Last I checked, yup."

The Dog moved to secure Tucker so Noah could climb down; it was a novel experience for the teen by that point.  Once he had his feet on the ground he turned to regard his instructor.  Noah was part of a very well integrated student body back at college and he was no stranger to being around dogs, but most of them were urbanite breeds and, even those who weren't still tended to have the 'city feel' to them; Jess certainly didn't.  The Welsh Cattle Dog was also around twice the age of most of Noah's classmates and had an all-in-all different 'feel' to him. 

He also, Noah realized, wasn't the horrible task-master that the teen first presumed him to be.  "Thanks for teaching me how to ride, Jess."

The Dog's tail began to wag again.  "Well, it's a start, Noah... and, while I'd LIKE to say it was no problem, yer probably the most difficult student I've ever had."

The Human felt insulted, but only for a second.  Recovering quickly, he shot back "Well then, you're welcome."

Jess offered him a quizzical glance, ears raising.  "Fer what?"

Noah was vindicated when he finally got to shoot the Dog's statement back at him. "Like you said: nothing worth doing is easy."