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Warden Hollister
New Girl on the High Desert
By Chuck Schrader AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2016 Chuck Schrader
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5246-4226-6
CHAPTER 1
Bitsy, known as Warden Hollister, took the oath of office and received her badge. "Thank you, sir," she said as she saluted the commander.
"We will issue you a satellite phone to use when needed, we know your area is without cell service in a lot of places. Cliff Jorden will be in touch with you and you can call him for advice. Cliff has covered your area in the past ten years or so, so I think you will find him invaluable. I suggested to him that he meet you for a day and give you the maps he has used over the years. I've seen them and they are marked where herds of deer, elk and antelope like to hang out."
Bitsy smiled and said, "Thank you, sir."
"If you find you need anything else, give me a call. Hope you are going to like your work, Warden."
"I am looking forward to it, sir."
Bitsy walked by her workout room, the gun ranges and the classrooms, thinking, 'I sure hope I haven't bit off more than I can chew.'
Walking by the windows she couldn't help but look at the reflection of herself in her new uniform with her gun and hat on. Turning slowly, she liked the way the pants fit her butt. 'Eat your heart out guys.' She was thinking.
As she walked up to her new Ford F-150 crew cab she pulled out her phone, took a picture and sent it to her parents, texting, "I'm all grown up now, wish me luck, kisses and hugs."
She had been trying to reach Steve Hoffman for the last three days but the calls went to voice mail.
"Warden Hollister," she said out loud to herself, liking the sound of it. She knew she still had a lot to learn yet, she had several books on her job — books about protocol, arrest procedures, laws and regulations governing fish and game in Oregon, federal laws and her job of testing the environment and sending the reports to the different agencies.
She had the okay to set up her home office in one of the bedrooms on her grandfather's ranch. No need for an office as there was one in Ontario — all calls would go to Ontario as always, then on to her if needed.
She stopped in The Dalles for lunch and liked the looks and nods she received by people she passed by, The wait staff were very respectful and courteous.
Going out to her pickup she did a walk around making sure everything was in order, as was part of her training. Some folks didn't like authority and would run a knife through a tire or more destruction.
Bitsy took Interstate 84 to the 20 near Ontario and followed the onboard GPS that would lead her to the local Fish and Game office.
Warden Cliff Jorden was out, and the lady that managed the office greeted her.
Standing and coming around her desk with her hand out, she introduced herself. "I'm Helen Cringle. Everyone calls me Helen, Warden Hollister, welcome aboard. Warden Jorden is in the field, sorry you missed him. I know he is looking forward getting together with you."
Shaking her hand, "My pleasure, looking forward to working with you," Bitsy said smiling.
Helen got Bitsy seated with a cup of coffee and gave her all the numbers she would need, including emergency numbers for the state, as well as the counties in which she would be operating.
* * *
Bitsy stopped by at the Harney county Sheriff's office to say "hi" to Sheriff James Brown whom she had already met through her grandfather.
Sheriff Brown smiled. "Hi Bitsy," shaking her hand.
"Congratulations Warden Hollister. My wife is going to be unhappy you are back at the ranch."
"Why would that be?" Sheriff
"With both Joe and Steve gone, I've been stopping by and feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs. She sure likes the fresh eggs."
Bitsy laughed. "You tell her she can come by anytime, we always have more than we need."
The sheriff walked her out. "Wow they sure furnished you with a great ride."
"They did." She showed him around the truck's interior. Behind the driver's seat was a small fridge.
"What's that for?" James asked pointing at the fridge.
"For storing all the samples I take for testing."
He looked at her. "That's right, Jerry Herman is retiring and I heard you will be taking over his job of keeping an eye on the environment around the lakes and streams. You will be busy. What day will you be taking off?"
"Tuesdays and Wednesdays — guess most of the work in game is on the weekends when folks are out and about."
"Same with us, I have most of my men working and patrolling on the weekends." James told her.
She had never seen the ranch so quiet as she pulled up close to the front of the ranch house. Bitsy checked on the chickens, then threw a bale over the fence and climbed over to spread it out as the herd of cows came running. She put her arms around several and petted even more on their heads.
After unloading all her gear except for the shotgun and rifle, she took note of what was in the refrigerator. "Damn, I need to go to town if I'm going to eat around here."
* * *
As she went up and down the aisles, picking up supplies, a young guy of about six or seven followed her asking all kinds of questions, like where the best places to fish, and what was the limit you could catch.
Bitsy smiled and told him she wasn't sure, and they chatted about this and that until a lady came and fetched him. "I hope he wasn't too much of a problem, I was talking to the butcher and didn't notice he was gone, he's a handful."
"No Problem at all, cute little guy," she said as she jostled his hair smiling down at him.
Bitsy pulled off the main road and saw light on in the ranch house. 'Wonder who that could be.' Her heart quickened when she saw her Grandfather's pickup.
She drove into the ranch yard, flipped on her wig wag lights and gave the siren a little blast.
Grandpa Joe came out, followed by Steve.
"Well look at you girl, all grown up." Grandpa Joe hugged her lifting her off the ground.
"Would you look at her Steve, now we can't hunt out of season," her grandpa said laughing.
Steve looked at her smiling.
"Where you been and just why haven't you called?" Bitsy asked with hands on her hips, feet spread.
"I lost my phone," he said sheepishly.
"Is that right?" she asked, walking and opening the door behind the passenger's seat and taking out a bag of groceries. "Could you help me Grandpa?"
Grandpa came over and whispered in her ear as he took the bag from her. "Take it easy on him, he's been through a lot."
CHAPTER 2
Grandpa and Steve, having stopped to eat on the way home, sat and watched Bitsy eat her three egg omelet for dinner.
"I'm going to spent the day with Cliff Jorden tomorrow, he's going to teach me things I need to know that they don't teach in training."
"I know him, he stops by all the time in the winter and helps me feed the deer and elk. Nice man," Joe told his granddaughter.
"I'll let him know, don't think he knows that." Bitsy said taking another mouth full of eggs, smiling at Steve as she chewed.
"Grandpa, I need you and Steve to clean out one of the bedrooms that's full of junk so I can make it my office if that's alright with you?" she said, giving him a bright smile.
"Of course it's all right, just show us which one, we'll have it shining for you when you get home." Grandpa said as he watched her set the plate with the last of the omelet on the floor for the dogs.
"You and Steve are spoiling Missy and Skip. Next thing I know they will be house dogs wanting to sleep in the house, not out in the cold guarding the ranch and chickens from varmints," he said, shaking his head.
Pushing back from the table looking at the kitchen clock hanging over the hutch, she said, "Ten o'clock. I need to get to bed I have to get up by five to get ready to meet Cliff for breakfast in Ontario at seven." She kissed her grandfather on the cheek. "Night Grandpa."
As she was leaving the room, she said, "You coming?"
Steve started to get out of his chair with a smile on his face. "She's talking to the dogs, Steve." Joe said smiling.
Steve sat back down. "I knew that," he said.
The dogs just sat and ignored Bitsy. "Be that way, see who shares her dinner with you ever again."
Joe went to bed, and Steve went to the barn to check the horses, giving each one half an apple.
Steve patted each of the dogs on the head as he went back in the house, leaving them outside. Getting a glass of water, he heard scratching on the back door. He opened it and said, "All right let's go to bed guys," he said, smiling as they followed him up the stairs.
Steve pulled the covers up and both dogs got on the bed next to him, they already had their favorite place-one against his back and one behind his knees. They were soon all asleep.
Bitsy had a hard time sleeping, tossing and turning most of the night, thinking about her job and about Steve. He seemed reserved towards her-was he regretting going to bed with her in Salem. She'd thought they were a couple.
The ringing of her alarm told her it was 5 am but she wasn't ready to get up. After taking a shower, putting on a new uniform and light make up, and drying and brushing her hair she went downstairs and found Steve with coffee already made.
"Here, sit down Bitsy, I'll get you a cup," he said, jumping up and getting her favorite mug and filling it.
"Thank you." She said looking Steve in the eye over the rim as she had her first sip. "Nothing like the first sip to get the day off to a great start."
Joe came in and Steve got him a cup. "What are you doing up so early Grandpa?"
"Wanted to see you off for the first day of the new job and the rest of your life, sweetie," he said, leaning and kissing her on the cheek before sitting across from her.
Bitsy finished her coffee and stood up. "Wish me luck guys, I have to get going."
Steve said, "Just a minute," as he poured coffee in a travel cup.
Grandpa, Steve and the dogs walked her out to her truck, her grandfather giving her a hug.
In her Warden mode now she did her walk around the truck.
Before she got in she looked at Steve. "Well?" She said.
Steve walked over and gave her a hug and stepped back.
"Not good enough Stevie." She said as she stepped forward and planted a deep kiss on his lips.
Rolling her window down she added, "See you tonight guys, don't wait on dinner, I don't know when I'll be home."
Joe and Steve stepped back as Bitsy drove in a circle and headed out, giving a little blast of her siren.
Bitsy was getting excited to learn more about becoming a Game Warden from a man who had spent the better part of his life as one. Her mind kept drifting back to Steve.
'Well, Bitsy you sure were a little hussy this morning and in front of Grandpa, forcing yourself on Steve like you did.' She was thinking.
Her day with Cliff Jorden began at the family diner where she found him waiting. He stood up and shook her hand. "My you do make one good looking Warden, why guys I know would break the law just to have you arrest them." With a big deep laugh to fit his big body.
"Grandpa says he knows you — that you help feed the deer and elk every winter." Bitsy told him.
"Joe's your grandfather? Well I'll be damned, and one hell of a nice man, not many would do what he does for the local herds."
"He doesn't need the money, he only runs enough cattle to pay the taxes and expenses on the ranch."
"I know. I spent many an hour with him over the last five years since he started on his feeding of the wildlife. The Sheriff's been one of his pupils over the years. Knows him well also, he speaks very well of Joe."
After breakfast and the table was cleared Cliff took out some maps out of his briefcase. And spread them out one on top of another.
"This is the area you'll be covering," he said, already having drawn a red circle around her area where she would be testing the lakes and streams. "As I understand it you will be testing as far away as Summer Lake, Albert Lake, Harney Lake and Malheur Lake. One big-ass area. Your number one job is to do the environmental testing for the state, someone came up with the idea it would save the state money as long as you will be in those areas. It would be nice to have someone with the skills to do both jobs and along you came." Cliff explained to her.
"Let's drop your rig off at my office and we'll take to the field. I'll show you what I do, why I do it, and how I do it. We'll take a trip along the Snake River, be plenty of fishermen to check."
As they neared the river he said, "We are pretty much by ourselves out here so we need to be alert. Rule one, never let someone get behind you, never. Rule two, always undo your pistol strap, so it is always ready. Rule three if you feel uncomfortable back off, call the Sheriff's department."
"You make it sound scary."
"It can be, you wake up thinking about those three rules and you go to sleep thinking them, until they are second nature. One other rule, if you think you need to pull your weapon don't hesitate to pull the trigger, remember what my trainer told me years ago — it's better to be judged by twelve than carried to your grave by six."
Cliff pulled up to a camp site and stopped. "Tell me what you see?"
"Two guys fishing by the river." Bitsy told him.
"And what else?"
"A tent, portable stove and more camping equipment." Bitsy said looking around.
"And what else?"
"That's it."
"Now take a look at their license plate, it's out of state and it's expired. So write down the number. And wave as we pass them by, we'll pull over the first chance we get and call it in.
As they waited for the report back on the out of date, out of state license, Cliff kept teaching her about what the field is like.
"One of the first things you do is to ascertain as much information as you can just by looking; tell-tale sign of packing a gun, or of being drunk, we get a lot of that. If they are in camp and not bothering anyone, then we pass them by."
"Another thing we are called on is to render aid, I don't know if you noticed but in the back of my truck is two five gallon gas cans with a funnel, I can't remember all the times I had to help folks who ran out of gas."
Cliff's cell phone rang. "Warden Jorden."
It was the Malheur Sheriff's department. Cliff gave them their GPS coordinates, and said they will hold and wait back up.
"Well, well, well. Are you ever in for a great lesson on you first day on the job. The license comes back as stolen ... from a crime scene in Nevada, where there was a shooting." Cliff told her as he got out his half gallon Stanley thermos filled with coffee.
"Look around in the back seat, should be a cup back there somewhere," he told her.
While Bitsy was looking for a cup, Cliff backed around slowly to face the way they had come, and unlocked the shotgun in its holder.
While they were drinking coffee Cliff asked. "You any good with that Glock you're carrying."
"I am, my rating is Sharpshooter." Bitsy responded.
"When we get out I'll take the shotgun, I'm not near that good."
CHAPTER 3
After Bitsy left for her day with Warden Cliff Jorden, Steve took the dogs for a short walk through the fields where they found a discarded pistol that probably belonged to one of the gang members who'd attacked the Carson ranch. He picked it up, took out the magazine and pulling back, ejected the round from the chamber then put the empty casings in his pocket and stuck the gun behind his belt.
"Look what I found, Joe." Steve said handing it to Joe as he watched Fox News, and placing the magazine and extra bullet on the coffee table.
Joe looked it over. "Where did you find this?"
"Remember those guys that took off through the fields? One of them must have dropped it, the dogs found it."
"I'll call Sheriff Brown and have him or one of his men stop by and pick it up." He said, looking up at Steve. "What are your plans for the day?"
"You told me you wanted to fix the place back up again. Thought I'd start on the horse stalls. Over the years they've been chewed on pretty good. I'll make a list of some of the lumber we'll need. The corral will need a few new posts and more lumber for it. Depends how far you want to go fixing it up?"
"Tell you what Steve, go saddle the horses for us. I'll make us a couple of sandwiches and we'll go for a ride, where we can talk and I can think, I'll bring a couple of beers along."
"Yes sir," he said, going to the broom closet and getting a scoop of dog food and filling the dog's dishes.
Steve was leading the saddled horses from the barn to the house when Joe came out with two sandwiches wrapped in aluminum foil and four beers wrapped in a towel to keep them cool.
Steve opened a saddle bag and helped Joe load their lunch asking, "Where do you want to go?"
"Bitsy told me she took you to our favorite spot high in the hills. Why don't we go there?"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Warden Hollister by Chuck Schrader. Copyright © 2016 Chuck Schrader. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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