#chuckwagon

Chapter one

June 1992 Seymour, Texas 

The bus ride was bumpy, inside it was stuffy and hot but you had never been happier to be in these conditions, because it meant that you would be able to get away from the city and actually see the stars, which had been a wish of yours ever since you could remember.  

You packed away your things all while the bus was pulling to the side of a quiet intersection. 

The bus stop sign coming into the view of your window was dirty and defaced, there was a red truck splattered with mud parked next to it, two men leaned on its hood, one an older man with a clean, cream colored Stetson and the other a much younger one with a dark dirt stained hat. 

You got up and walked through the cramped space between the empty seats, down to the front, thanked the bus driver and exited the dingy bus, welcoming the fresh evening summer air with a deep breath. 

It felt good to stretch your legs, your sneakers felt foreign when the blood started rushing to your feet, you stepped towards the two men, thinking about what exactly you'd say to make a good impression. 

But the younger man cut you to the chase “you're the help? “He sounded disappointed, but you didn’t want to pick a fight on you first hour of your summer job so you held your tounge and replied, “yes”  

He didn’t look too bad, brown short curls, traces of a faint mustache, dirty blue jeans that went over his cowboy boots and a red and blue striped pearl snap shirt. 

The older man spoke “now don’t be rude to the boy, he might just spit in your chow” he shook his head. “fine” the one with the black hat answered “names jack, this is Harold, done, now let's hit the road, I haven't caught a wink of sleep all of last night” he said the last part while opening the passenger side door of the truck." don't mind him ducky, Hes a bit down in the mouth because he expected a woman to step outta the bus" Harold added as he turned to walk to the driver's side. 

“well, that’s just charming isn't it" you spoke to yourself. 

The drive back was quiet and awkward, at least the ac was on. That’s the only good thing you could say about it. These next four months were going to be as boring as watching paint dry. 

When you finally did arrive at the ranch, it was almost midnight and the stars were in view, not satellites or darkness, actual stars. You gawked at them, looking up not paying attention to anything other than them, you bumped into jack “oh, I'm sorry” he looked at you funny and walked away not offering you another word. 

Harold spoke up “don't mind him ace, he'll lighten up” 

“yea” you started “so I wanted to ask- when am I meant to get up? And how exactly will this work? I didn’t really catch all the details when I was on the phone" you continued on. 

“You worry too much tex- you get up at four to help me prep the chow an ingredients for the next day, then we get going at four again the next mornin” harold stated as he walked towards the farm house. 

You didn’t move a muscle- four in the morning? you second guessed what you heard, maybe a summer job helping cook at a chuckwagon wasn’t such a good idea, I mean working as a sous chef you had to get up early but- never this damn early- 

”You thinking about spending the night out here slick?” the much older man interrupted your thoughts. 

“huh?” you felt completely disoriented” Oh no I was just-” you began but harold interrupted you  

“don't like the hours kid?” you hesitated to answer but opened your mouth to speak, but the man spoke up again “c'mon I don’t wanna stay out here all night” you gave up trying to form words and walked beside him. 

The accommodation wasn’t too bad, a carpeted room with a single window on the second floor, with a twin sized bed and a closet, nothing fancy, not that you would have expected it. 

Instead of using your time for much needed sleep you instead took the chance to go out to the porch and watch the sky above you. It was a sight you'd never seen before, pitch black sky sprinkled with white dots everywhere, it made you sad to think theyd fade as the sun rose. 

You noticed jack trudging towards you, he was probably coming from the barn.  

He stopped next to you. 

“they're beautiful aren't they” you stated somberly. 

“what?" jack questioned. 

“The stars” you had replied. 

He looked up “yes, I guess they are” his eyes approaching yours “why? Never looked up before?” he teased. 

Everything quieted down for a moment, the crickets and mosquitos being the only thing heard at this moment. 

You decided to speak up “there's not a lot of reasons to look up in the city, you're always looking infront of you and being careful to not bump into someone” 

He didn’t seem to understand you “well you still need to watch your surroundings round here” you were disappointed “can't go round bumping into people” he added. 

You decided it would be better to talk about something he would understand “how long you been doing this?” 

“a while, I heard you were a gourmet chef?” he was curious. 

“no, I'm afraid you're down on your luck if that’s what you were hoping for, I am a good cook though- a sous chef" your reply puzzled him. 

“sous chef? I aint never heard of that” 

“it's like, head chef- sous chef- you know second in command?” 

“ohh” he finally understood something you said, you felt like you were talking in a foreign language, well more like they were, you didn’t understand most of their accent. 

You couldn’t think much to talk about “i like your hat” you told him. 

“thank you-uh- I don’t think I caught your name” he lifted the brim of his hat. 

“yea its-” 

“Jack!” a man called- probably in this early twenties, “you gonna help out?!” he shouted while hauling up an old tire. 

“ill talk to you later” he stated while running off toward the other man. 

Disappointed and defeated you got up from your chair, you knew you'd see the stars again, and it was time to sleep either way. 

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i will make entries that base on each week you spend with him/skip some boring ones.