“Don’t Worry About Your Ranch…” The Obese Woman Took Charge and Saved It While He Was Sick

Chapter 2

The second morning, Clara found Silas conscious but exhausted — the kind of sick where a person has stopped fighting and is simply waiting for it to be over. She rebuilt the fire, made him eat, and then went out to do the morning chores as if she had been doing them all her life.

The ranch was larger than it looked from the trail. Beyond the two horses, there were six cattle in the east pasture. A chicken coop along the south fence had been badly neglected. And near the vegetable garden, the water pump had developed a slow leak — the ground around it was too wet for how dry the rest of the yard was.

Clara fixed the pump. It was a simple repair — a worn washer, a loose fitting — and she had the tools from the barn and the knowledge from years of living in places where if you didn’t fix things yourself, they simply didn’t get fixed. It took her about forty minutes. When she was done, she stood up and looked at the property around her and thought, “This is a good piece of land. This is land that deserves to be cared for.”

When she came back inside, Silas was awake. He had heard her working. She could tell by the way his eyes went to her hands, taking in the grease on her fingers.

“You fixed the pump,” he said.