Chapter 2 No.2

(Narrated) Life before moving to the city to find a wife.

Chandler rose at dawn's first light and pulled on a pair of worn denim jeans by the side of his bed. He had so many things he needed to do with the few days he had left before heading to the City.

"Come," he said to his dog Milo, Chandler scratching his bare abdomen and head simultaneously, drowsily walking down the long hallway. His work around the ranch made his body lean and hard. He padded down the hall of the large, white, gray, and red ranch house and into the kitchen.

There was something sticky under his foot on the linoleum, but since the fluorescent bulbs overhead were out, he couldn't see. He sleepily made a note of it and thought. "Now, I know why Chase got married. No more cleaning house and trying to take care of the ranch simultaneously."

He studied the row of buttons on the modern contraption that some would call a coffee machine a pain. It was a gift from his sister-in-law when she was dating Chase. She gave it as a gift to them, even though she was the only one who knew how to operate it when she came over from time to time. So Chandler never quite figured out how to use it correctly.

He punched a few buttons, and the machine sounded like a locomotive steam engine. He turned away and almost tripped over his black lab. Milo always sneaked up on him, appearing under his foot and wagging. Chandler never knew a happier dog; he'd had quite a few. His dog was hungry, so he opened a sack of dog food he kept in a large bucket next to the dingy kitchen wall.

After feeding his dog a chow bowl, he returned to his bedroom and found a shirt in his pile of unfolded clothes. "Ah, darn it! Do I have to fold clothes too? I'll tackle that, too, along with that broken fence. He dressed, pulling on his boots, brushing his teeth, and running his fingers through his thick hair.

The ladder half of the day on Sundays is his only relaxation time. So he figured he would wash his clothes in that old harvest yellow washer, and he might also wash a few things around the house. He couldn't remember ever mopping the floor here, and he knew Chase didn't clean a thing before packing his bags and getting out of here like a runaway freight train. So Chandler figured, after a year, it was as good a time as any to mop if he wasn't too tired after his other daily chores.

Chandler has lived alone for almost a year since Chase left home and married. It meant he was taking all the ranch responsibilities to himself. As a result, he hasn't been able to do much with himself or the house. He never thought he'd see the day he didn't shave and keep his haircut.

He'd always been a clean-cut kind of guy before his world collapsed. So when Chase first announced he had a girlfriend, Chandler was happy for him. Thinking Chase's girlfriend would be more help at Whispering Creek. But then it felt like Chase dropped a pile of horse manure on him when he announced he was getting married and moving to Halifax.

Since then, he hasn't been able to do much upkeep of himself. But it was okay because he only saw his neighbors occasionally and a few other farmers on the other side of the fence from time to time that live about a half mile away.

His faraway neighbors certainly didn't care what he looked like. He didn't have anyone to impress, and his dog Milo would like him no matter what, even if he walked him naked. He'd done that before after too many beers late one evening. Chandler chuckled, thinking how he would like to walk Milo again that way, but next time with his girl, both completely naked! He grinned from ear to ear at the thought.

Chandler returned to the kitchen. The coffeemaker now showed all green lights, so he poured himself a cup and sat down at the kitchen table, shoving aside salt and pepper and a stack of paper napkins beside a stack of paper plates. And his laptop, his only real connection to the outside world. Oh, he had a television hooked up to some rabbit ears so he could watch the one channel he could catch that showed a good movie maybe once a month.

He looked outside through the kitchen window. Then he looked at the stove. Wishing he could have a hot cooked breakfast. But instead, he grabbed a slice of bread and headed to the barn to start his chores for the day while the weather was excellent and the wind was still.

Smiling as he took and dunked his bread in his sweet coffee, he listened to the sound of the morning birds before it got too warm for them, and they disappeared into the brush. "Are you ready, Milo, to get our day started?"

He opened the back screen door. Milo took off, racing across the field with his nose to the ground-a coffee cup in one hand and a slice of bread in the other. Chandler moseyed on down to the barn putting his coffee cup on a shelf next to three other half-filled coffee cups from previous days. He opened the back fence and turned to his horses one at a time, swatting their rumps and sending them trotting to stretch their legs.

The horse he saddled, who he called by an American name from the movie "Troy." When he climbed on top and whistled for Milo, the dog raced out of the brush and ran alongside Troy as Chandler rode out into uncut land smiling. His ranch was huge, with a lot of fences to mend. He worked and thought about how lonely it had been the past few months, and now he realized how his brother must have felt to be without companionship.

But now all that has changed for Chase, he will have companionship for life. That made Chandler happy for his brother. The happiness he hopes to experience one day too.

Chandler had one more thing he needed to do. He thought it was time to go to a new world by making a living and getting his hands on that billion dollars. When the taxi picked him up to take him to the airport, he stopped at the cemetery. Chandler stared at the three Urns that contained the name, date, and relevant details of his parents and grandmother. He looked around as tears came to his eyes. He knew a man shouldn't weep, so he held it in as best he could.

All around him, people who once were alive and full of life are now gone, the next-door neighbor who helped him and Chase when they lost their parents a year ago and their grandmother, who was like a second mother they lost at the tender ages of 11 and 16.

He looked up at the heavens asking himself. "What happened to them all?" After that, no one left mattered to him except for Chase, Milo, and his horses. Oh, and his bothersome grandpa Thorn, who has managed to turn his life upside down. But Chandler knew he would turn it right side up again. And he'll be back one day to live in the Countryside of Whispering Creek.

Chandler left the ranch, Milo, and his horses with a man he respected and who was like his family. After their parents passed away, though, the boys were now grown. Mr. Chuck gave him and Chase love and helped them finish the work their father had left behind. Growing up as a country boy with parental guidance comes more from watching his parents and listening to the few essential things his parents taught him before passing.

He only knew a little about life outside of the Countryside of Nova Scotia. Then, in his teens, he went to school and got excellent grades; he went to the local college and learned about computers and technology. After that, he could fix almost anything, like that broken television he had back home.

When he was still in high school, Chandler would search the internet to see what other people worldwide were watching and listening to. It's been years since he's surfed the internet. But Last year was his first time seeing a Chris Brown music video and a Taylor Swift concert. He was behind on what was happening worldwide, but Chandler found it exciting and intriguing. He had heard about Michael Jackson years ago, that he came to Halifax, Canada, for a show. But Chandler was just a young boy then and had missed his opportunity to see him in person.

Then, a horn blew, disrupting his thoughts.

The taxi came, he looked back one last time, and off he went. Finally, he arrived at Nova Scotia airport, and Chandler had only a few minutes to get to the plane. He was motivated to go, his adrenaline was high, and he was excited about branching out, reaching his goal, and returning home to Whispering Creek one day soon with new prospects and a new life and wife.