Page 15 of A Moment In Time

“Oh, yeah.” He gave her a wave and left the station. It was a nightmare. His sister and his assistant were in there planning his future. He needed to put a stop to it.Gage Calaway as mayor?What a horrible idea.

He walked back to the newspaper office and went inside to get his camera bag. Then he got into his truck and drove to the fairgrounds. The auction was held inside the huge indoor arena and the horses being put up for sale were usually young stock horses ready to be trained as cow ponies.

He slung his camera bag over his shoulder and went inside. The auction was a loud, dusty event with a lot of participation. Only about half of the crowd were buyers and sellers. The rest were there to watch and hang out with other ranchers, which made it more of a social event than an auction.

Gage started working his way around the edge of the arena, taking pictures as he went. He got a few of the horses, but he was more interested in the people. And some of the old cowboys in the valley were perfect subjects for his theme this year.

When he spotted his grandparents, he made his way over to them. Before they saw him, he snapped a few photos of them watching the horse being shown. As he got close, Lillian noticed him.

“Gage.” She waved him over.

Gage kissed her on the cheek and shook Greer’s hand. “I thought you were sick.”

Greer grumbled. “Never too sick to watch the auction.”

“Are you looking to buy something?”

Greer scowled. “What the hell would I do with a horse, Grandson? Your grandmother made me stop riding ten years ago.”

Lillian put her arm through Greer’s. “Only after you fell off and broke your arm. Took you the better part of a year to get over it.”

Greer grumbled. “I didn’t fall. I was bucked off.”

Lillian looked at Gage. “Like that’s better.”

He smiled. “If you’re a cowboy, it’s better.” He sat next to Greer. “If you were in the market for a horse, which one would you buy?”

“She’s already come up. Tommy Crane got her. A beautiful two-year-old paint.”

“Do you think Tommy knows what he got?”

“Hell, yeah. He looked right at me when the gavel went down. Gave me a giant invisible F.U.”

Lillian hissed. “Greer Calaway, you watch what you say.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t say it.”

“The intent is the same.” She looked at Gage. “He gets like this when he’s around all these old cowboys. Most of them should have their mouths washed out with soap on a regular basis.”

Gage grinned. “And that’s why we young Calaways, mind our manners around you, Grandma.” He sat for a few more minutes, then got to his feet. “I need to get some more pictures.” He looked at Greer. “You behave, Grandpa.”

Greer smiled. “I never was very good at behaving. And don’t let your grandmother fool you. She’s been known to misbehave from time to time.”

“All right, you two. Both of you stay out of trouble.”

Gage spent another two hours at the auction, in which time he talked with Cabe and Cooper, who were just there to socialize. And Lincoln and Rand, who were there to buy if the right horse came up. The one horse they wanted, they got outbid on, so they gave up and went to sit with Greer and Lillian to make sure they got home okay.

Gage had a beer with his brothers and fought the urge to tell them about the mayor situation. He’d already told two peopletoo many. When he left them, he talked to some of the sellers, took a few more photos, then started working his way to the door. He was stopped several times for conversations before he made it. Once outside, he took a deep breath of the cold air. It had been stuffy inside the arena. And along with the dust and noise, he felt a headache coming on. He wanted to go back to the office, but he decided to stop at the ice cream social first to see how Sydney was doing. Assuming she was able to tear herself away from Clementine.

The social was held at one of the churches in town and was quite a contrast to the auction. It was mostly attended by women and children. Probably because their men were at the auction. He went inside and found Lyric with her two boys, Elaina with Joaquin, and Cassie with Rose. He went to their table.

“Is that ice cream as good as it looks?”

Rose jumped up and hugged him. “Come have some with us.”

“Where’s your dad?”

“He’s at the clinic. Mr. Walters got his head smashed in by a horse.”

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