Writer's Note: I do not claim to own any of the Barkley characters save Kristina (Krissy) Barkley, who is my own creation. Otherwise all the rest of the characters belong to the makers of The Big Valley TV show.

-Shire from CollieandShire

Stranded: A Big Valley Story

Written by Shire

CHARACTERS

Victoria Barkley: the widowed mother of the Barkley family. Her gentle character and loving ways make her a favorite in the Valley. She's fifty-one.

Jarrod Barkley: the oldest Barkley brother, being twenty-eight. He's the lawyer of the family, and likes to think everything through before plunging on ahead with ideas. This proves hard seeing how both Nick and Krissy are always coming up with some genius idea that turns into a disaster.

Nick Barkley: The second oldest Barkley boy. He's twenty-six, a cowboy through and through, and is the hot-headed brother of the bunch. He's always arguing with someone, particularly Krissy, who always is messing something of his up.

Heath Barkley: The youngest brother of the Barkley's. He's twenty-four, and the most laid back of the family. Easy going and friendly, Heath loves the outdoors and the range.

Kristina Barkley: Kristina (Krissy) is the only girl and the youngest of the Barkley's. At eight years old, she shows an unusual amount of intelligence. Krissy loves science, which gets her in a lot of trouble with Nick, especially when her experiments go wrong.

*INTRODUCTION*

Krissy snatched the baking soda, pausing to look over her new volcano. The best one yet! she thought, satisfied. But will it explode this time? There was just one way to find out. So far she hadn't come up with any solutions that caused explosions like a volcano, but perhaps today would be her lucky day.

She poured the baking soda into the bottle, then jerked the funnel out and snapped the lid shut. "Take cover!" she yelled, and ran towards the nearest stall. Krissy threw the stall door open, then shut it behind her and hid under Manny's legs, their cart horse. He could have cared less, and continued to munch on his hay. Nothing happened.

She waited thirty seconds, then groaned, and came back out of the stall. Her volcano was still there, and it still hadn't erupted. "Aww." she mumbled. Walking back towards her volcano, she look at the bottle. Suddenly it exploded and baking soda mixed with vinegar flew everywhere! Krissy screeched and ran a safe distance away, then whirled around. A messy solution caked the barn ceiling.

"It worked!" she yelled with glee. Then stopped. "Nick's gonna kill me!" she muttered. She looked up at the ceiling again. She would have to clean that up. Krissy scampered up the hayloft ladder, snatched a rope and lassoed the nearest beam. After tying it, she searched around for a board, which she could make a little swing. That way, I can swing back and forth with a mop and get it all off! Krissy thought with a grin. She sure was smart!

Finding the right sized board, she tied the end of the rope to the board, and then went to locate the nearest mop. It wasn't that hard. Mary, the maid, had left one to dry in the sun, and so she went and got that one.

Krissy filled a bucket with water and soap, sloshed back to the barn and back up the ladder. She soaked the mop well, then snatched it up and leapt on her swing. She squealed with delight as she swung back and forth across the barn. This was the best idea she'd gotten since-well, since her invention of the broom stilts!

Krissy snatched the mop, then swiped it back and forth across the ceiling, taking all of her 'volcano lava' off. Now no one would know she'd made a mess! But it was not to be, for her mop caught the beam, sending her flying off and the board towards the top barn window. She landed straight into Manny's hay pile with a thud! As usual, Manny regarded her with little interest, unspooked by the child's sudden entrance on his breakfast. Krissy's mind wasn't on that right then though. No, she was watching in horror as the board crashed through the window, sending glass into a million pieces. "NO!" She moaned. Now she was in for it! Krissy leapt out of the hay pile and climbed over the stall door. I'll have to fix that window on the double! She thought, panicked. Nick would have killed her for the volcano mess, but he would pulverize her for the broken window!

"Glue!" she shouted. "That's what I need, glue!" Krissy raced towards the tack room, searched it and found the gorilla glue. "Perfect!" She said, a smug grin on her face. She raced back towards the ladder and clambered up, running towards the broken window. Krissy snatched the first glass piece she could find, slathered glue all over it and stuck it back in the window frame. This is gonna take a while. She thought.

When she'd FINALLY gotten down to the last pieces, Krissy set the glue down and stuffed the second to last piece in it's place. One more! She thought. She reached for the glue. It wasn't there. Glancing around, she realized she'd put it on the other side of the window! "Oh no!" she whined. Now she'd have to climb onto the roof and grab it, before Nick and Heath came back. She opened up one of the other windows and climbed out of the barn, swinging herself onto the roof.

Krissy inched her way to where she'd set the glue, and climbed down onto the small platform in front of the window. With one sweep of her hand she snatched the glue up. Taking the piece of glass she'd brought with her, she glued it into place. "Perfect!" She said, proud of her achievements.

"Krissy!" a voice shouted at her. Frightened out of her wits she whirled around-and fell off the roof. Again luck was with her, for she landed in the hay wagon. Thunk! The sound spooked the horses into a gallop, and they took off across the yard.

"Whoa!" Heath shouted, pulling them back.

Of course I landed in their wagon! She thought. She'd have to make her escape, and quick! While the boys occupied themselves with the horses, Krissy searched around, frantic for something to leap onto. There was her favorite tree! Krissy jumped up and leapt out of the wagon, grabbed the branch to the tree and scampered up. She knew no one could see her here! I'm gonna get it if Nick finds me though! She thought to herself.

She watched as her brothers stopped the horses, and both of them jumped out. Nick ran to the back of the hay wagon to snatch Krissy, but she was nowhere in sight. Ha! Krissy thought triumphantly. You ain't gonna find me!

"Krissy!" Nick roared. "WHERE ARE YOU!"

Krissy didn't answer. She knew better than to do that, above all when Nick was in one of his bad moods.

"Maybe you should put the horses back." Heath suggested.

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Nick yelled. He snatched the reins of the horses and jerked them towards the barn. They reacted and reared up. NOT good. Krissy thought. This would take Nick a long time to get over.

He shouted at the horses, jerked them down and forced them to follow him. As a rule he was pretty good with them, but not right now. She watched as he lead them into the barn and slammed the barn doors behind him.

"You should probably leave." she heard someone say.

She squealed, and fell out of the tree. Heath caught her just in time, and laughed. "Uh oh, you're in for it now!" he warned.

"Oh no!" Krissy yelped, and jerked herself away from her blond brother. Krissy ran across the yard and into the treed area. She was determined not to get into trouble-at least not at that second. She could hear Nick yelling at Heath to tell him where she was. Heath's right, better stay out of sight for a while. She thought.

This was an ordinary day in the life of Kristina Barkley.