...a Birthday present from my kids.

The Last Mustang by:Aislinn Konig

Illustration: Mackendra Konig

Chapter 1

“Tia! Get back in here!” her mother Renee called from inside, “It is unladylike to be playin' outside like that! Now come and practice your piano!”

“That is all I ever do mother! Why can I not go and work with father and Darrel?” her father Henry owned the largest ranch in all of Texas, The BRISCOE Ranch, and her only brother Darrel got to help him because he was a boy, which Tia thought was unfair! She loved the ranch and the horses more the anyone! Darrel and her three other sisters, Natalie, Rayla and Erin all wanted to leave as soon as possible. Tia being the oldest was betrothed, as were her sisters Natalie and Rayla, the other two were happy to be leaving the ranch , but she felt like her life was over.

“Tia! Stop daydreamin' and get in here and practice!” Renee yelled for her again.

Tia, reluctantly got up from her favorite spot on the grass and went inside and practiced her wretched piano.

Chapter 2

At dinner every one was happy, and full. Renee had made her famous stew, and made some rice, potaters and corn.

And her father was talking about how well the horse round up had been this morning, and every one congratulated him, except for Tia, when the Jacksons fist moved to Texas they had nothing but a hundred cows, three horses, and two dogs. And just outside their land were wild Mustangs, Tia would watch them from her window all night, she thought they were the most beautiful creatures she had ever seen.

But now you almost never see a herd of mustangs anymore, you would be lucky just to see one or two... Her father and his men would search for days at a time to try to find a herd to bring in for the sales. This time they looked for a whole week and only brought in fifteen horses, that is the longest they have ever been out, and the smallest herd they have ever brought in, Tia was beginning to believe that the mustangs were almost all gone.

Chapter 3

That night Tia had a hard time sleeping, she kept dreaming about the mustangs, she dreamed that she was searching for one, but she could not find any near the ranch so she journeyed the whole world but still she never found one...

When she woke up she began to cry, what if there were not any mustangs left?

After she cleared her tears, Tia looked out her window... And to her disbelief she saw a single black horse where the old mustangs used to be.

She first thought that she was still dreaming, but when she realized that she was not dreaming, she rushed to her closet, grabbed a shawl and her boots and ran for the door

In her nightgown she began to make her way over to the mustang.

When she got to the horse she was mesmerized by its beauty, It was black as a onyx stone but gave the feel of warmth like the moon light. Tia instantly knew it was a girl by the way the mustang looked and its size.

Chapter 4

She stepped towards the horse, and to her surprise the mustang did not back away but took a step closer as well, the horses eyes were filled with as much curiosity as Tia's. The mustang did not look aggressive or dangerous just curious, and Tia instantly felt familiar with his strange horse.

Tia closed the gap between her and the mustang, letting if sniff her and the slowly placing her hand in top of its snout. The horse welcomed her touch and nuzzled her hand, Tia loved this horse and the horse loved her.

“What is your name beautiful?” Tia asked the horse “ I think I will name you Midnight!” She proclaimed “Does that not sound perfect?” Tia said as the horse snuggled closer.

Chapter 5

“Tia!!! Get away from that wild animal!!!!” her father shouted with Darrel and one of the farm hands Fraser following close behind him, Fraser was her age , he was handsome and muscular, she fancied him, but she was too scared for Midnight to notice his looks.

“Go Midnight! Run!” Tia yelled at the horse but she would not move. In no time at all Tia was being pulled away and Midnight was being roped.

Henry Pulled Tia inside, he tried to yell at her but she ran to her room and locked the door before he could say anything, when he tried to talk to her she just yelled at him to leave and to let the horse go.

“Tia, that horse could have hurt you!” Henry said knowing that it did no matter, she loved that horse.

“No! She would not have! She likes me and she would kill a wolf to save me!” Tia screamed back at him.

And that was the last time Henry talked to his daughter that night.

Chapter 6

Tia was crying in her bed when she heard a tap on her window, when she looked out the curtains, hanging from a tree was Fraser. She opened her window, and he jumped right into her room, if she had not have been so heart broken she would have screamed for him to get out.

“Tia! Put these on.” he threw clothes at her,

“And what are these?” she said examining the pair of jeans, a shirt and a cowboy hat.

“You wanna save your horse do you not?” he said obviously annoyed at her silliness.

“And how are we going to do that?” Tia asked excitedly

“We are going to ride away together, me on Roger and you on the mustang”

“Her name is Midnight! And I have never ridden a horse before, and I am pretty sure that Midnight has never been ridden!” Tia was scared a little now.

“I will keep you safe, trust me!” and Tia did trust Fraser.

Fraser climbed out of Tia's room and down the tree so Tia could change. The pants felt weird to Tia, she had never worn a pair of pants before. ”It is unladylike to wear trousers, and you look like a man” she imagined her mother saying, she put on her boots and her cowboy hat and jumped from her window into Fraser's arms.

Chapter 7

Fraser and Tia ran from her house to the barn, Fraser's horse Roger was already saddled up, when Midnight was all saddled up Tia mounted a horse for the fist time, and Tia, Midnight, Fraser and Roger all rode off into the wild not knowing where they were going or what they where going to do...

After riding for a few hours they stopped and Fraser built a fire. Tia settled down by a tree.

“Why did you help me?” Tia asked Fraser, it looked like the question caught him off guard.

“I do not know! Maybe be cause you were a damsel in distress!” Tia laughed at him for that

“Why are you laughing at me?” Fraser looked disgraced .

“Because! You think your a knight!” she giggled.

He thought her laugh was adorable.

“Or” Fraser said “ I wanted you all to myself”

“You do know I am betrothed?” Tia said curiously

“Who cares! Your not with your family anymore!” Fraser said, the fact that she was betrothed made him angry.

“Who says I am not with my family?” Tia said as she stood up and sat down, snuggling up close to Fraser.

Chapter 8

When Tia woke up, she was wrapped in Fraser's warm, muscular arms.

She quickly got up to make sure Midnight was alright, Midnight was sleeping soundly and the big white and grey Roger was eating as much as his mouth could hold, everything was quiet and calm, her parents would be waking up about now and realizing she was not in bed, and find that Roger, Midnight and Fraser were also missing.

Tia began to make breakfast but was having a hard time with the eggs, so Fraser got up and told her to relax, then he made a amazingly good breakfast.

After Fraser and Tia ate breakfast they headed towards town, Tia did not know that Fraser had brought all the money he could find, so that he could buy them a house! She would have told him no if she knew, but now it was to late.

When they got in to town he bought them lunch. After he went to a realtor and used his money to buy a ratty old farm, Fraser had spent three quarters of all his life savings, he spent the rest on cattle, chickens, and pigs. Tia felt horrible that he had spent all his money, she tried to tell him no but he just ignored her and bought all of the thing that would allow them to start a new life together.

Chapter 9

When they got to the farm it looked horrible, there was a leak in the roof, a bug infestation, a out of control yard and squirrels had nested in the roof.

“It is the only thing I could afford, plus it is not that bad, it only needs a little work” Fraser said to Tia but even he did not believe himself.

The farm had a stable for Midnight and Roger, and in the time they had they had been together they had became very close and would not leave the other horse alone. Later they had a foal named Shadow who was a dark grey male.

After a few months of living together Fraser King was married to Tia Jacksons, they were married for only one year when they had there first baby, Alisa. Fraser's and Tia's farm was flourishing and soon they had enough money to buy a Ranch!

After another five years, Tia an Fraser gave Alisa a new bay sister named Maria. The KING Ranch was now the biggest ranch in Texas, easily passing The BRISCOE Ranch. Tia had went back to The BRISCOE Ranch two years after she had married Fraser, they were all happy to see her, Natalie was married, and Rayla had divorced her first husband and married a cowboy named Joe . And Darrel was engaged to a beautiful woman named Aurora Whalen . The whole family was happy and doing well, Tia was thankful for that.

Chapter 10

The KING Ranch is still one of the largest ranches in Texas, as well as The BRISCOE Ranch.

Midnight was one of the last mustangs there were in Texas at the time, she gave birth to three male horses and five female, the two fathers of the foals were Roger and Blaine. She lived to the age of fifteen, dieing from a deadly disease called Swamp Fever.

Tia, Fraser, Alisa and Maria are as happy as can be, they are currently celebrating Tia's birthday, which is the 25 of July.

The KING Ranch is still among the nicest ranches in Texas, or as I like to call it, COWBOY COUNTRY.

THE END.

Pretty amazing, right? My kids spent an entire day working on this book for my birthday. It was just too good not to share with everyone. I suspect some of you might recognize yourself in some of the characters.

Hope you enjoyed it. Oh....I'm 37 if you were wondering.

Love Tanya

...ummm so...an early summer update.

Wow, where did June go?

Seriously, it is almost the middle of July and I totally missed June. I suppose its not really my fault, the weather has been extremely un-summer-like. I honestly can't believe that it is summer.

A quick update then:

The kids finished school. Mackendra had a very good report card. She has really improved in the reading department. I am happy that she is getting a new teacher next year. She has had the same teacher for 2 year now and I have to say that I am not a fan. She is a vegan and a Christian, and somehow some of her views would always come up at home..."we should not drink cow's milk, Mom. Its not healthy for us, we should drink soy milk." Or, "my teacher says that eating animals is bad." Or, "we should go to church so God loves us." That prompted some interesting discussions. Which, I guess isn't a bad thing...but come on! I wonder if she ever thought about what would happen if a family was...I don't know, Muslim, or Hindu, or atheists. Or maybe the mother grew up on a beef farm, like me. I hope that she was prefacing her views with "there are a lot of other beliefs out there, I just happen to believe that..."

Aislinn also did much better this term. I have been giving her a really hard time about getting a better grade in math. She had a C her first term, a C+ the next term and she finally pulled out a B this last term. Her nickname for a long time was "C-Plus". I owe her a spa day for that B. I'm pretty proud of her for that mark. She got one C+, in French, but managed to get A's and B's in everything else. We both know that she can do better, and once she understands that getting good grades is just about time management and handing in homework on time, she will be fine.

Mackendra finished up her soccer season. She has really improved this last few months. We have been spending some time working on footwork and one-on-one moves and light touches at the park, and it showed in her practices. She is also showing a lot more interest in basketball. She has to come to the majority of our practices, and we go to the courts a lot, and she has decided that she is going to learn how to play. She is actually a pretty good shooter, and my favorite part is that she practices so hard.

Aislinn is doing awesome at basketball. She is starting to be noticed by other coaches. She was invited to play for a team based out of Portland, Oregon last weekend. The head coach saw her play with our team in Vancouver, Washington and asked if she would like to play for his Gr. 7 team. We jumped at the chance. Turns out, his senior team is one of the top ranked AAU teams in the Nation. He turned out to be a big-time coach. He's coached NCAA Div I for about 15 years, had a stint in the WNBA as an assistant, and is married to a professional sport agent who specializes in Women's basketball. Not a bad contact to have. So, we spent a weekend in Portland, and Aislinn played for the team, and she totally rocked! Other coaches asked about her. She has invitations to play for other teams next season. And yesterday, she went to SFU to see if she could play with the women's team. I didn't go, but Frank stayed to play a bit and watch and he said she fit right in, was the second leading scorer for her team. The girls on the team said Aislinn could come and play with them anytime, and they even got her cell phone number so they can call her up. So, she will now be practicing with a NCAA Div II team during the rest of the summer. Not bad for a grade 7, huh?

We purchased a rebounding machine. It is pretty cool. You can get about 100 shots in 6 minutes. We also purchased some weighted basketball and Aislinn strength has improved in just 4 days. She shoots a 3 really easy now.

I think she will improve a ton this summer. We are thinking of sending her to a couple high-quality camps in August. Frank did some research and found what we hope to be, better camps.

Frank was hired as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team, up at SFU. He is totally stoked about that. It means that I will be taking on more coaching duties for Next Level, but that is fine. It also means that he will not be coaching at the high school that we are planning on sending Aislinn to. Which sucks, because they need him. They don't have a good program. We will have to discuss different options for Aislinn's high school now.

Mackendra had a really bad ear infection last weekend. She was in a lot of pain and had a bad fever. The amoxicillin seems to be taking care of it, but she still can't hear very well. Its kinda funny how we have to keep repeating ourselves.

We still haven't finished moving in. We've been here since May and we still have boxes here and there. But we like the new place.

I'm working hard to complete all the things I need to do before I start school. I have a CPR course next weekend and I have to get a criminal record check and my immunization record completed. I'm looking forward to finally starting.

We are heading to San Francisco tomorrow for one last tournament. We will be driving down and staying with Uncle Alec and Auntie Ceci. It should be a lot of fun. I hope Aislinn has a good weekend and kicks butt. We only have 7 girls going, so she will be playing the entire time. Maybe we'll find summer down there.

Okay, until next time...