by Jay Shree

Created on: June 06, 2010

The hot weather and the sandy glare at the ranch was enough to make us to stay put in our air-conditioned room. Melra, Linmy, Jana, Danvan, Anala, Ami and I shrugged in disappointed as we had no other entertainment besides the 20 year old TV which had limited access to even common channels for us to look forward too. There wasn’t full coverage within 20 miles of where we are living, our mobiles all showed no signals and our laptops could not access the internet coverage at that district. For teenagers like ourselves who grew up in places where skyscrapers ruled, being at this deserted ranch for a family gathering during summer break was totally outraging and not to mention frustrating. First and foremost, we weren’t exactly given a choice. When Grandma Sarah wanted to celebrate her 70th birthday at the very first place she laid eyes on old Grandpa, our dad’s did everything they could to rebuild this dying ranch. Grandma did not have daughters, so our dad’s became her companions.

If I can recall matters correctly, the whole seven of us used to have splendid times at this ranch we were no more than 10 years of age. Once Uncle Vince had to shift to the north side, we saw less of Melra and Danvan. The rest of us just did not find the fun of doing things together as I guess we became aware that sooner or later we’ll have to part. Little Linmy used to carry her teddy bear where she went, Jana buried his marbles near the lamppost when we met the last time here, so when we reminded him of it this time, he actually dug up the soil and under those golden brown dried up sand, he managed to find all of his 12 black marbles, undisturbed for nearly a decade. He laughed and snapped shots of it, promising himself to upload those pictures in Facebook the minute his feet touches his bedroom.

 Believe it or not, this ranch was sort of a meeting place of us back then in the mid 90’s, but now we have changed but the ranch remained the same. The same scent, the same old double decked beds, worn out curtains, rusty wooden panels, even the ugly rat hole is still there down the stairs. Now once we are all here again, almost after a decade of not keeping in touch with one another, being no more than strangers to one another. Our parents seem to be getting along with their spouses with those karaoke parties past midnight.

Dad said this was supposed to be a summer with my cousins for me, before I migrated to Australia to pursue my studies, perhaps this could me that last chance of seeing my biological cousins who once I played with before we carry on in diverge directions. Funny as it seems, after days of horse riding, we became close pals again, that is only after Anala had to fall off from the horse. Thankfully she was alright with only a few scratch marks and bruises at her arms. However, that moment I caught a glimpse of our younger selves, when we used to carry for each other. Danvan carried her to the restroom, Melra and Linmi ran to inform her parents, Jana and I grabbed our first aid kit that we had it our bags and handed it to the trainer. We all were concern alright. The look was there in our faces. That night, we sat side by side around the bond fire that Danvan and Jana set up and well we chatted all night long, we sang our favorite songs with Ami playing the guitar, and cooked some marshmallows. That night, I was glad to have spent my summer with my cousins, cousins whom I knew was a part of myself, cousins whom I cannot erase from my childhood memories. Neither satisfaction of the surfing the internet or texting on my mobile was worth compared to that precious time I spent with my cousins.

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