accommodating. Maybe it was her easy going personality or her very obvious and genuine love of living on the ranch, but either way, the younger girl was giving up an entire day to help Mimi get what she needed for country life. Why ask someone for advice if you don’t plan to listen to it?
They left the hunting shop with a bolt-action .22 rifle for Mimi. It was easy to load, easy to secure, and didn’t have too much of a kick when fired. Sure, it wasn’t going to bring down any rhinos, but it would certainly make a coyote or a mountain lion think twice about coming any further. Sarah had pointed to some practice targets and grabbed those for Mimi’s basket, urging her to tack them to a tree stump and practice in her spare time.
From the same store, she also picked up a few extra changes of clothes, some bear mace, and a second pair of boots so she’d have something to wear if her one pair got wet. Then, it was on to the mall’s electronics store, where Sarah flirted and finagled with the college-aged boy behind the counter until she got Mimi the best possible discount on a satellite phone, a hand-held GPS for taking hiking, and a portable wifi hotspot that fed off the same satellites as the phone.
“Did you bring a computer with you?” Sarah asked, pointing Mimi to a display filled with laptops of various sizes.
“Oh no, I purposely left all that junk behind in the city when I packed for the trip. I came out here to get away from that stuff, not have to drag it all with me!”
“Well, you might want one of these. Something like this would be ideal. It’s small, it’s cheap, it doesn’t take long to charge, and it will help keep you connected. Plus, shopping for more supplies is a lot easier when you can do it online and have it delivered.” Sarah held out a miniature netbook computer. “You can read books on it, listen to music, even watch movies or TV if you felt like. I’m not going to lie to you, it can get pretty lonely out here sometimes, especially if you’re snowed in.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Mimi said with a grin, reaching for the small computer. “It’s not like I’ll use it to prepare anyone’s taxes. I’m not about to go bringing my old life out here with me!”
“But you know,” Sarah said, her expression changing a little, “that’s not a bad idea. I don’t want to pry, but how are you going to earn an income? I mean, I’m assuming you’re not a lottery winner or anything. You could do a little home-based internet business helping some of the ranchers out here with their taxes and accounting.”
“That’s not a completely horrible idea, but I’ve had my fair share of crunching numbers for a while. As for income, my friend Krystal is at work right now selling my house. I bought a home in a rough neighborhood years ago, back when no one wanted to live down there. Now, the area’s built up and my ugly apartment is appraised at a much higher value than I paid. She’s also selling a few of my things, like the furniture, my car. The cost of living in Washington is so high that I’ll have money to live on for at least a good few years. Nope, I’m coming out here for the simple life, to get my head on straight and just enjoy the peace and quiet.”
“Well, you came to the right place for peace and quiet, most of the time, that is. Every so often we get a good bit of excitement, like tornados or wildlife problems, and this state has had its fair share of wildfires that tend to go on for a couple of weeks. But most days, it’s just going to be you and the sky.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” Mimi said, her smile reaching all the way to her eyes, purposely glossing over everything that Sarah had just listed. She wasn’t going to think about tornados or wild animals, not when she had a freshly signed deed to her own piece of the country still wrapped in its folder in the side pocket of her purse.
They checked out at the electronics store and had