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A Wagonload of Trouble

By Vickie McDonough

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one

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but there’s not sufficient funds in your account to cash this check.”

Bethany Schaffer stared at the young female teller, confusion clouding her mind. Why would her father send her a check for traveling expenses back home if there was no money in the ranch account? And how could that be? The dark-eyed bank clerk handed back her check and a receipt with the balance of the account imprinted on it, then the young woman glanced down at the counter and fiddled with a pen.

Bethany stared at the paper. $56.38. There’s no way this can be right.
She glanced up at the teller. “Are you certain you entered the correct account number? For Moose Valley Ranch? I’m Bethany Schaffer, and my father owns the ranch.”

The woman nodded. “I’m sure, but I can check again if you’d like.”

“Yes. Please do.”

The teller tapped on her keyboard, her lips pursed. A few seconds later, she turned the monitor so Bethany could read it.

As if she’d jumped into a frigid lake in late December, a cold numbness seeped through her. She double-checked the name at the top of the screen and the account number. How could the ranch’s balance be so low? Dad hadn’t mentioned any financial troubles, and there had been at least forty thousand dollars last time she checked the account. Bethany turned and walked away, still trying to make sense of the account balance. The ranch had been through many hard times in the eighty years that her family had owned it, but to be scraping the bottom of the barrel…

She stuck the useless check back into her purse and pulled out her bank card. At the ATM she made a withdrawal from her personal account so that she’d have enough cash to fill her gas tank and make it to the ranch. Her father sure had some explaining to do. How could he have used up so much money? Had there been some big emergency that he hadn’t told her about? As long as she’d been old enough to help with the bookkeeping, Moose Valley’s balance had never even been close to zero.

Concern battled irritation. Bethany hopped into her Jeep and started the engine, squealing the tires as she pulled out of the parking lot. She’d wanted to leave Moose Valley Ranch and its boring life in the Upper Wind River Valley of western Wyoming, and she had. She slapped the steering wheel and pulled into the gas station. Her heart suddenly constricted. Had Dad called her home to tell her he was bankrupt? Could they lose the ranch?

The ranch had been the only home she’d known until she had gone away to college. As much as she had wanted to leave, she hated the thought of not having a home to return to. She studied the small town as she pumped the gas.

In the four years that she’d been attending college in Denver, little had changed Many of the old familiar business were still there behind the Old West storefront facades, but new ones had also sprung up in the scenic tourist town. With the badlands to the east, and mountain peaks surrounding the town on the west, south and north, there were endless things for visitors to see and do.

Bethany rubbed the back of her neck and stuck the nozzle back into the gas pump. Her family’s guest ranch was just one that competed against many others for the tourist dollars that saw them through the long winters. Why…she couldn’t begin to count the number of trail rides she’d led or accident-prone greenhorns that she’d doctored.

But she’d hoped all that was in her past.

She tore off the receipt and climbed back into her Jeep. In just three weeks she would start working for a big manufacturing plant in Denver as an accountant with health insurance and benefits. She had less than a month to get things straightened out at the ranch so she was free to begin her new life.

She started up the engine. Yep, just three weeks. Then she could kiss the Wyoming wilderness goodbye and return to the big city and all its amenities. Her thoughts traveled back to the bank account as she pulled onto the highway.

Her stomach swirled as her mind was assaulted with concerns. What could have happened at the ranch to deplete their whole bank account? Why hadn’t her dad called her sooner? What if she couldn’t fix the problems in such a short time?

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