Time Setting: 2020
Genre: Life
Minimum Word Goal: 90,000
Timespan: June–August
Location: Clearwater County, Alberta, Canada
Main Characters: James & Jacob Williams
Background Information:
The Williams family has lived on the banks of the Clearwater River for 123 years; the first member of the family to settle the area was Edward Williams back in 1897, when he brought his wife and young children to the log cabin he’d built shortly before bringing his first few head of Shorthorn cattle to the property, establishing the Clearwater Ranch.
His oldest son Joseph, after serving in the First World War, inherited the ranch, followed by his oldest son — a veteran of the Second World War — Levi, whose youngest son, Samuel, who was more interested in the ranch than either of his older brothers, inherited the ranch from him.
At present Samuel’s only son James is the owner and operator of the ranch, having been thrust into the position at the tender age of 20 when Samuel was run down and crushed against a fencepost by an aggressive bull, succumbing to his injuries within days.
Although James’ great-grandmother died at the age of 103 that same year, Samuel’s death has been considered the beginning of the Decade of Death for the Williams family — sometimes condensed as the Deadcade.
Just over two years later James’ wife died from complications giving birth to their second son, and less than two years after that came the death of his best friend and second cousin, who was struck and instantly killed by a drunk driver who'd crossed the centre line at speed just weeks before James’ second cousin was going to get married — in fact, he’d been on his way to visit his fiancée.
Then came James’ grandfather’s death at 89, which is considered the end of the Decade of Death for the most part, even though James’ grandmother died three years after her husband, and was followed two years later by her niece-in-law, the mother of James’ second cousin, who’d had poliomyelitis as a child and had begun to experience breathing complications related to that illness.
As a result of their both being widowed in rapid succession, James brought his mother as well as his sister back to live with him and his two sons, Nathaniel and Jacob, from the acreage his parents had moved onto following his marriage; his sister departed as soon as she graduated high school because of her intense, surprising, and inexplicable hatred of her parents and brother.
Thus the household is presently four, although come autumn it will be experiencing its first reduction in fourteen years, as Nathaniel has just graduated high school and will be going off to agricultural college in an effort to learn more about the management of the ranch from an accounting and marketing perspective — the part of ranching James hates, and thus is quite grateful his firstborn is willing to take on.
Jacob, in turn, will be entering his final three years of publicly-funded education, starting high school, which is hard for James to believe, considering how it feels like just yesterday that his wife bid him farewell and lapsed into unconsciousness while doctors frantically strove to keep her alive, even though it was nearly fifteen years ago.
There are changes beyond the scope of the Clearwater Ranch also, the most recent and notable being that the property next door is being redeveloped.
Originally the property next door had been settled as a ranch by one of Edward Williams’ ranch hands, but his grandson sold the property in 1984 because his sons weren’t interested in ranching.
A hard-drinking, aggressive, negligent couple with the surname of Harris bought the place and — as far as most in the community are concerned — destroyed it over twenty four years, only driven out of the community when they tried to get their younger son out of a jail sentence he fully deserved.
It was he who struck and killed James’ best friend and second cousin while not merely driving drunk, but fleeing police, who witnessed the accident in real time. Everyone in the community was agog that the Harris’ attempted to appeal the conviction, considering how clear-cut it was, having been witnessed by multiple police officers and a couple of other travellers as well.
Their efforts bankrupted them, forcing them out of the community within a year of the accident, since whence the property has stood vacant, having been foreclosed on by the bank, who attempted to sell it for years.
Only last year did the sign come down, as well as the derelict house and outbuildings — the half-collapsed barn which was over 100 years old being the structure James was saddest to see destroyed, even if it was no longer useful — which were replaced by new and very modern structures which have completely changed the original layout of the yard.
As of yet, the new owner hasn’t made an appearance, as he’s reportedly living in Calgary until the project is finished, nor have any cattle returned to the rather overgrown pastures which have, at long last, been re-fenced, meaning that it will no longer be the duty of the neighbours to round up the cattle and patch the fences, as they’d had to do for the Harris’ countless times due to Mr. Harris’ regular drunkenness.
All anyone in the community is hoping presently is that the new arrival won’t be anything like the people who owned the property before him, and considering how new and manicured the property is, everyone’s hopes are high, although they are wondering when he’ll arrive, as the property’s been finished since the spring and he still has not shown up.
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