Chapter One

Travis

“Why is it important to study political science?” I asked as I scanned the room.

A group of bored faces stared back at me, and I resisted the urge to shout at them. I wanted to ask them what they were doing in my classroom if they didn’t want to be there in the first place. Instead, I tried to remember what it was like to be young and in college. Everyone liked to pretend as if they were there to study hard and learn as much as possible, but the only real thing on their mind was hanging out with their friends or going after some hot young thing that they’d seen in the hallway. I couldn’t blame them. I would love to say that I was different, but I wasn’t. At thirty-two, I now realized the importance of a good education, but it took me a while to think this way.

“Anybody?” I asked. It was a question I liked to throw at them every now and again to get them excited for the future, but it didn’t often elicit much of a response. You couldn’t fault me for giving up though. A hand went up, and I smiled. “Yes?”

The girl looked down at her notes before looking back up at me. I’d noticed her before, mostly because she was one of the few who always scribbled down notes furiously throughout the class. I wanted to tell her to try and listen and absorb before writing down, but part of me liked her enthusiasm. The fact that she tried so hard could either be her downfall, or it could be the one thing that made her stand out from everyone else. The fact that she’d made the effort to at least try and answer my question made me think it was going to be the latter. If only more people in class made an effort.

“Uh, in order to open up job opportunities for us when we’re finished here.”

“Well, yes, that’s one reason. Tell me a bit more about these jobs.”

“Uh,” she quickly looked down again at her notes. “Careers in education, law, business, journalism, government or politics. Basically, jobs that will serve to make a difference to our country.” She added in the last part without looking at her notes, and I was pleased that she’d at least understood what I was trying to say without just throwing my words back to me in parrot fashion. Maybe I wasn’t so bad at this teacher thing after all.

I smiled. “Bingo. So… are you all ready to make a difference?” I asked and chuckled as a soft murmur of approval rang through the room. It was better than nothing.

I had always wanted to be one of those professors that students loved. Like Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society. I wanted to inspire them and to feed their young minds with endless knowledge. I wanted to watch them grow and see them become great leaders one day. The day I had first started, I’d walked in with these grand visions and promised myself that I would never stop trying. Eventually, I had to realize that this was not how it was in the movies. Things were very different in real life. I still wanted that, but I’d long ago stopped aspiring to such greatness. If I walked around with that mindset all day, I was just gearing myself up for disappointment. Now, I only hoped to inspire a few and hoped to at least be liked by all. If not liked, then at least not hated. I’d heard a few of the girls had crushes on me, but that wasn’t surprising. I wasn’t that much older than all of them, and I knew I wasn’t bad looking. I only hoped they looked up to me for more than my looks.

I spent the rest of the lecture talking about the stability of democracies in post-war scenarios and watched as some faces lit up at my voice while others looked like they were about to fall asleep. I tried to add in a bit of humor to lighten up the serious discussion and hoped that it worked. I’d had a professor once who never once even smiled at his students, and by the end of the semester, everyone wanted to drop out. It was a pity because the actual content of what he was saying was very interesting. It was all about the delivery and making the topic interesting. But it wasn’t nearly as easy to do as I thought it was going to be.

“Okay, everyone, we’re done here. But before you go, please remember that the marks of your final exam will be twenty-five percent of your grades. So it’s important that you take this all seriously. If you weren’t listening to a word I said today, then I would advise you to study even more than you were going to. For those that were listening, you’ll be pleased to know that you’re one up on all the others. I’m not up here for no reason, you know. Now, go on, get out of here,” I said and chuckled as they all scampered out of the room as fast as they could go.

I waited until all the students had walked out before heading back to my office. I had a mountain of paperwork to get through. It wasn’t just my work as a college professor that had me busy, but I was part of the think tank team, so I was constantly researching and helping with the development of ideas. Then, to make things even more stressful for me, I was writing a book. Sometimes I looked at my students with envy. I loved what I did, but I sometimes missed the days when the only thing on my mind was passing my exams and hanging out with my friends. They had no idea how lucky they were, but you never realized it at the time. I clearly remember feeling stressed at their age too. I had no idea what was still to come. I often wondered if I would look back on my life ten years down the line and think that I had it easy now too. I hoped not. If things got more stressful than they were now, then I was in for a world of pain. Severe pain. Being busy was one thing, but being too stressed out was another.

I was just about to settle into my paperwork with my phone rang, and I saw it was my brother. I thought about just letting it ring but then thought better of it. I’d only have to call him back another time. He always got so annoyed with me when I didn’t answer my phone, and I had already done that to him many times.

“Hey, Mike,” I said as soon as I answered.

“Travis. Oh, I’m glad you answered,” he said which immediately made me wish that I hadn’t. He had a way of frustrating me like nobody else could. “Good time to talk?” he asked.

“It’s as good a time as any, I guess. I just finished a lecture.” I looked at the pile of paperwork on my desk and hoped that the conversation wouldn’t take too long. You could never tell with my brother. It wasn’t that he was a big talker, but he had a slow and unrushed way of talking that drove me crazy. He wasn’t in a rush for anything, while I was in a rush for everything.

“Well, I’m just checking to see if you’re still planning on visiting in the summer,” he said.

I frowned. I probably should’ve known that this was what he was going to talk to me about. “Yeah. You know I am. Nothing has changed. Why would you ask?”

“That’s what you said the last time, so I figured I better check with you. I know how busy you are. I didn’t hear from you, so I assumed you weren’t coming again.”

I rolled my eyes. I loved my brother, but he frustrated me more than anyone. The two of us were so vastly different from one another too. Mike loved working at the ranch, while I’d run away as soon as I could to live a life in the city. It wasn’t that I'd had a bad childhood, but that sort of lifestyle just wasn’t for me. I liked the freedom of being close to it all. I also hated the constant reminder that my parents were no longer around. My mother had died from cancer and my father from a heart attack, and every time I visited the ranch, a heavy feeling would settle on me as all the memories came flooding back. Mike believed that the ranch brought him closer to them, but I didn’t want to stay close. I had always preferred running away and ignoring my feelings. I was happier in the city. But Mike was my brother, and I knew that my parents wouldn’t be happy if they knew how little time I spent with him. I tried to make a plan to visit at least a few times a year, but things had been so busy lately that I kept canceling.

“I’m coming,” I said.

“You know, it’s been over a year since I last saw you.”

I frowned. “Really? That long? Shit, I didn’t realize.”

“Yeah, it’s been too long, Travis.”

I sighed. “You say that like I haven’t come on purpose. You know I’ve been busy. It’s been crazy around here. I’m not avoiding you or anything; you know that,” I said even though it wasn’t entirely true. I was avoiding him a little. Well, not him, but the ranch. “And I really did plan to come last year. You know was selected to give a presentation at that conference. It wasn’t planned or anything, and it was an opportunity that I couldn’t give up easily.”

“I know. I know. You’re a busy man. Well, I’m glad you’re still coming. Are you still coming for a month like we discussed?”

That was a stupid idea of mine. I’d come up with the idea after talking to my brother while I was drunk on brandy. He’d called me to ask when I was coming and I promised him that I would come for a whole month to make up for my absence. I had been in a particularly good mood that day. The next day I regretted it, but there was already a message from my brother telling me what a good idea it was and I didn’t know how to back out of it. The longer I left it, the more I realized I couldn’t tell him I wasn’t going to come. I knew I would just have to go. But perhaps a month wouldn’t be as bad as I thought it would be. I needed to work on my book, and it was probably the best place to do it. Anyway, a month out of my life wasn’t that much in the grand scheme of things.

“Yep, I’m still coming for a month. The tickets are booked already. Are there going to be guests there?” I asked and prayed the answer would be no. For several months of the year, the place was used as a dude ranch oriented towards tourists. It had been my brother’s idea in order to generate some good income for him to continue living there, and so far, it had been a great success. Despite this, the last thing I wanted was complete strangers roaming around all day while I was trying to write my book.

“Yeah, we have a few bookings already. I’m hoping to have a good solid group by the time you get here. But don’t worry—I’ve kept a room aside for you, and you don’t have to get involved with them. They’ll be at the ranch, and you’ll be at the house, so you don’t really have to be around them at all if you don’t want to.”

“Sounds good,” I said as I realized that it might actually be a good thing. It would mean that my brother would be kept busy for most of the time. Maybe he wouldn’t spend the whole time badgering me about not being a more integral part of the ranch. “Well, I’ll send you the details. Don’t worry about it; I’m definitely coming. You don’t have to check up on me.”

“Of course I have to,” Mike said. “I’m your older brother. I always have to check up on you.”

I groaned. “You’re three years older than me. That might have been a big gap when we were younger, but it’s not anymore.”

“I’ll always be your older brother,” he said.

“You are such a pain. That hasn’t changed at all!” I said. “I better go before I change my mind about coming.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Oh yeah? Want to test that theory?” I teased.

“Better not. Okay, I’ll see you soon, Travis.”

“See you soon, Mike.”

I cut the call and groaned inwardly. Why had I agreed to this stupid idea? I should’ve just gone for a weekend, or even a week at the most. A full month suddenly seemed dreadful to me. And why did I get the impression that Mike was not going to leave me alone? I couldn’t help but worry about any conflict that might occur between my brother and me. We hadn’t spent that much time together in one long stretch in a very long time. It was going to be a long summer, that was for sure.