The Alarm Clock
In the early morning,
just before the sun came up I woke to a thump, thump, thump. The sound of my
grandpa’s boots coming from the kitchen located right above where I was sleeping.
I poked my head out and saw the fire still burning strong. The colors the fire
displayed were warm; bright variegated colors of yellow and orange with a hint
of blue positioned on the base of the flame. Little pops would sound, making
the fire even more peaceful. The air was
cold and dry. I didn’t want to crawl out of my cozy, warm sleeping bag but I
knew that when I heard the sound of my grandpa’s boots that meant I had to get
up.
After I dressed, I sluggishly
made my way up the steep narrow stairs. At the top I could smell sweet bacon
cooking on the stove, along with a whiff of pancakes and coffee. I went and sat
at the long wooden bench next to the table. My grandparents talked while my grandma
cooked with her red apron and while Grandpa drank his coffee. I could hear old
sixties music playing in the background softly. As I sat down my grandma said,
“Good morning Miss Alexis, how did you sleep?” I replied back with a simple,
“Good morning” and “good”. She quickly returned to their conversation about what
to do with the horses. I sat and listened while I waited for breakfast. After
my tummy had growled a few dozen times breakfast was ready. I helped set the
table, making sure everything was in its appropriate place since my grandma was
picky about that. The three of us sat down and ate quickly. After breakfast we
had to feed all the animals.
Once we finished eating
breakfast, Grandpa and I put on our winter clothes while Grandma cleared the
table. I first put on my black snow pants, and then I pulled on my purple snow
boots. Lastly, I threw on an old winter coat that had belonged to my mom once
upon a time. My grandma came out to the entry way and zipped up my jacket and
tucked my gloves into my coat. Grandpa and I walked out to the barn and grabbed
a bucket of pellets for the horses. The winter air had a bite to it. I covered
my cheeks as well as I could with my jacket. We set the bucket in the bed of
the red ‘82 Dodge already full of hay bales. I crawled up into the truck and we
went to the high pastures to feed all the animals their breakfast.
The old truck hopped
along the icy gravel road. First we fed the horses. We opened the gate made of
short narrow posts held together tightly by barbed wire and drove into the field.
Once the horses heard the rumble of the truck they came running. Grandpa took
his pocket knife and cut open two bails. We through the bails out on the snow
and hand fed the pelts to the horses. Haley, a large bay, was hogging all the pellets
so Grandpa waved her away so the others could get some also.
After the horses, we
went into another field and fed the rest of the hay to the cows. Grandpa opened
all the bails up and drove along slowly while I pushed all the hay out. When
all the hay was out, I stayed in the back of the truck while we drove back to
the house.
Once we returned,
Grandma greeted us with warm beverages, coffee for my grandpa and hot chocolate
for me. I looked out of the large picture window at the bright snow. A big
juniper tree was placed in the center of the window. Its snow-covered branches
looked dull compared to the lit up snow. But the sky was as bright as the flames
of a fire. The bluest of the sky was positioned at the base, next to the
mountain ridges. After we finished our beverages, both my grandpa and I took a
nap. He sat in a recliner and took his boots off and I curled up on the couch.
Then suddenly in the middle of a dream I heard a thump, thump, thump.
