Chapter 3
When all them girls come to the ranch, it changed everything for us hands. Before, the boss paid us some attention, but left us alone to do our work. Uncle Hank would tell us what the boss wanted done, and what needed to be done besides, and we’d get it done. The only woman on the ranch was Janet, the cook, and she was older than my mom woulda been if she hadn’t of died. I didn’t mind that. It was hard enough to know what to say to the girls at school before I graduated, ‘specially when they got all moony-eyed and expected stuff I didn’t know nothin’ about.
In my senior year, I had a girlfriend, though. Wasn’t any of my doin’, Cass just come around and wouldn’t leave, and I gotta admit, those kisses she gave me were somethin’. Got kinda uncomfortable in my jeans, if you know what I mean. When the time come that she peeled me outta them jeans, and showed me what life was all about, I got a whole new int’rest. That spring, I was a walkin’ hard-on. But then come graduation, and before I could ask her what next, she up and left me for a dude that graduated the year before, just ‘cause he got him a fancy new pickup and trailer rig for his calf-ropin’ horse.
That’s when I decided I’d like to rodeo, too. The boss told me I was startin’ out at a disadvantage, that everyone on the circuit had been ridin’ rodeo since they was little kids, but it didn’t matter to me. I knew I was good with horses. Uncle Hank made me a wrangler after just six months at the ranch. I just needed to save up and buy me a horse, tack and some way to get to the rodeos around, and I’d be on my way.
I’d been on the ranch a year and a half by then, and workin’ full-time once I graduated high school, when I took a shine to a two-year old frame overo named White’s BB King. The boss liked to name his horses for old blues singers, Uncle Hank said. I called him by his barn name, though. One of the other hands, a Mexican outta Texas, named him Abogado. He said it meant lawyer in Spanish. That was ‘cause no matter what you wanted him to do, that horse would argue about it. I’d say, “Here, Abo, have some sweet hay.” And damned if that horse wouldn’t turn his nose up and say, “I’d ruther have some grain.” Or the other way around. I got such a kick outta that—he was somethin’! But, he always listened to me, and usually he wouldn’t argue if I asked him nice. One day, the boss noticed I was givin’ Abo more attention than the horses in the barn.
“Cody, what’s with you and Abogado? You got an understandin’?” The other wranglers laughed, because the boss meant was I sweet on that horse, like a girl, and I turned red.
“Boss, this horse listens to me, I swear it. I bet I could train him for a calf-ropin’ horse, I put my mind to it.”
“What would you need a calf-ropin’ horse for, Cody Wayne? Wanta give up wranglin’ and go to cowboyin’?”
“Nosir, Boss. I wanta rodeo.”
“You serious?”
“Yessir. I reckon I know horses and that’s all it takes.”
“Well, Cody, you got some more reckonin’ to do, but if you’re real serious, I’d sell you that horse on payments, if you want him.”
Uncle Hank was there, and Miguel, who’d named Abo, and a few others. They was all shakin’ their heads like that was a bad idea. I couldn’t back down. I stuck out my hand to shake on it, and Abo was mine. At a hundred bucks a month, I reckoned I’d have him paid for about the time I could start ridin’ him. Right then, I started puttin’ away an extra hundred for my tack.
I took to ranchin’ like I was born to it, my Uncle Hank always said. We didn’t talk much about my mom, dead from the poison my dad was cookin’ up in a shed behind the house and sellin’. I knew about meth, what kid in this country doesn’t, these days? But I saw what it was doin’ to Mom, and even though I couldn’t get her to quit it, I wouldn’t touch it. When Mom died, I called my Uncle Hank and he was there in half an hour, hollerin’ and takin’ on. He said he was gonna kill my dad. I was sixteen, too old to cry, but I couldn’t help it. If Mom was dead, and Uncle Hank killed my dad, I’d be an orphan, and he’d be in prison. I begged him not to, not that my bastard dad didn’t deserve it. After a while, Hank settled down and took me to the ranch. We never knew what happened to my dad.
So, there I was, workin’ and goin’ to school, and then just workin’ and talkin’ to Abo, gettin’ him used to listenin’ to what I said. I was growin’ taller and gettin’ heavier, so I knew I couldn’t ride him for another coupla years. Makin’ friends with my horse, I didn’t miss Cass so much, but there was times I like to’ve busted outta my britches, I got so horny. Times like that, I’d climb way up in the hay loft and take care of things. I guess the other guys my age was doin’ the same thing. More protein in the hay, they always joked.
It was three years later that the boss brung home Miss Charity. She’d had a car wreck, and he’d saved her life. It was plain to see that they was gettin’ along real good. The best times we had that fall was watchin’ ‘em try to make out like they wasn’t carryin’ on in bed. Meal times was just like watchin’ a movie. Then she run off and the boss was like a wild bronc with a burr under the saddle for a coupla weeks. Next thing we knew, he took off and when he come home, he had five schoolgirls with him, and damned if they all didn’t have young’uns, except the youngest one, and she was knocked up. We didn’t know what to make of it, ‘til the boss sat us down in the barn one day and explained.
Them girls was all part of some kinda cult, where they was married, all of ‘em! And all of ‘em was married to one man, their leader, that they called the prophet. Because of Miss Charity, the boss had got the menfolk in that place in trouble with the law, because them girls wasn’t old enough to be married and have kids. And that meant that someone had to take care of ‘em until they was old enough, see? I guess the boss elected hisself the one to do that. After that, we saw them pretty girls every meal. They looked like sisters, all blondes with blue eyes. Their shiny hair was always done up in tight buns, and me and the other young hands used to talk about what it would be like to pull them pins and combs out and let that hair fall over us, all silky-smooth.
Now it was tight in our jeans all the time, and we was just waitin’ to see who would make a move first, when the boss and Miss Charity called us together again and told us how it was. Babies or no babies, them girls was still off-limits, because ain’t none of ‘em was eighteen yet. That hay got more protein in the next little while than it probly should’ve. I took to watchin’ the horses careful, to make sure they didn’t get sick.
It was the next year after that when one of them girls, Annalee, took to watchin’ me in the ring with Abo, trainin’ him to stop and back up at just the right time, while I jumped off him and tied down the calves. I reckoned she might be the oldest, since she had two young’uns, or maybe it was three. But the two little ones, a boy and a girl, was the same age, give or take. So unless they was twins, I reckoned one belonged to one of the other girls.
I’d been watchin’ them all in the swimmin’ pool. All these years, the boss never did fill up that pool before. It wasn’t hardly worth it, because we could still get snowfall up into June, and it would be gettin’ cold at night again by the end of August. But this year, with so many young’uns to keep entertained, I guess he figured it was worth doin’ even for just a coupla months. Damn, those girls looked good! Every one of us young hands, and a few of the older ones, took every chance we got to walk or ride close enough to get a good look at ‘em. Most of ‘em was still feedin’ their babies, so they had the biggest, ripest tits. All the droolin’ we did shoulda made grass grow in the hard-packed Wyomin’ dirt.
Besides the girls bein’ good to look at and dream over, them kids was the cutest little things. They all had fat little legs and arms and bellies, reminded me of a litter of puppies. When I said that to the others though, Miguel pushed me over on the bale of hay I was sittin’ on and said, “Hombre, you keep it in your pants, or you’ll find out just how much like puppies they ain’t.” The old guys laughed, but we younger ones looked around all uneasy. How was we supposed to keep it
in our pants, when it was bustin’ to get out every time one of them girls stood up in a bathin’ suit and stretched. Hot damn!
So, when Annalee took to watchin’ me, hangin’ over the fence just like one of the hands, I got a funny feelin’ that keepin’ it in my pants was gonna get even harder to do. I reckoned she was tryin’ to get my attention, since she didn’t make eyes at any of the others. But, I didn’t know what to say to her, so I just bided my time. Then, one night, she must’ve been timin’ me. Every time I got one of them calves tied down in good time, she’d whoop and holler, and the others would join in, just like at a real rodeo. My chest got all big inside, and for some reason, I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t let that happen. After we was done, I went up and asked her, “Whatcha doin’ out here, Annalee?”
She looked kinda surprised, maybe didn’t think I’d know her name? But, we’d been eatin’ three meals a day together for the last ten months or so, how could I not know it? She said, kinda smart-like, “Watchin’ you turn into a champion calf-roper, Cody Wayne, what did you think?”
That there did it for me. After that, I never did have eyes for any of them other girls. It was Annalee for me, or no one. But I reckoned gettin’ a girl was kinda like fishin’. You had to tease ‘em a little with the lure, then set the hook before you reeled ‘em in, fightin’ all the way. The best time fishin’ is when you get a wily one, that won’t take the hook. You can play with that fish all afternoon, and then, when both of you are tired and ready, bam! Set the hook and get ‘em up on shore. Only this fish, I didn’t plan to catch and release. No, she was worth takin’ home for dinner.
It got to where I was countin’ on seein’ her every night, and I finally worked up the nerve to kiss her. It kinda surprised me that she kissed like a little girl, lips all closed. Cass had been a good teacher, and I wanted more. The first time I give her a little tongue, Annalee didn’t know what to make of it, but she learned quick. Every time I poked my tongue in her mouth and she sucked on it, my jeans would get a little tighter, until, by the time I walked her back to the ranch house, I was surprised I could walk. I didn’t know when we’d get to the peelin’ me outta them part, but I schooled myself to wait. Still teasin’ her with the lure, see. Only, it was makin’ me almost sick to my stomach every night, and the hay got even more protein. I wasn’t sure who was doin’ the teasin’, come to think of it. Maybe she’d set the hook soon. I couldn’t wait much longer.
~~~
One mornin’ Uncle Hank told me to saddle up and take a ride with him. This usually meant I was in trouble, or at least in for a dressin’ down. But this time, I couldn’t think what I might’ve done to deserve it. Feelin’ a little itchy between my shoulder blades, I put my tack on one of the ranch horses; I didn’t want to tire Abo out, since we was gettin’ to the cold weather, and there wouldn’t be many more chances to train him this year.
I rode up next to Hank on his big gelding and said, “Where we goin’?”
“Just for a ride, boy,” Hank answered me. I couldn’t think of anything else to say that wouldn’t let him know I was expectin’ to get an earful from him, so I didn’t say nothin’.
We rode out along a well-used trail toward one of the cattle tanks that kept the herds watered all summer. Hank said he wanted to check how much water was in it, but I knew that was an excuse. We’d had some good rain in September, so I reckoned the tank would be full. Too bad it would be too chilly to take a dip in. The boss hadn’t invited us to use the pool, which was now closed up anyhow, since the weather had turned cold at night. So we had to make do with skinny-dippin’ in the tanks whenever we was close to one. I didn’t reckon that was what Uncle Hank had in mind anyway, and I was right.
“That Annalee seems to be payin’ you some attention,” he said.
I stiffened. I guess it wasn’t easy to keep anything to yourself on a ranch. It was like a little town, after all. Everyone knew everyone else’s secrets. I wondered if Hank knew I jacked off in the hayloft every night after Annalee left me, on fire from the kissin’.
“You need to watch yourself around them girls, Cody,” Hank said.
“Aw, Uncle Hank, we’re just playin’. Nothin’ dirty goin’ on.”
“Mark my words, boy. That girl’s trouble. You’re only twenty-one, and the last thing you need right now is a knocked-up girlfriend that’s already got two kids. You’re too young to be a father.”
To tell the truth, I hadn’t thought much about it that way. Her kids were cute, and I liked them when she brought them out on weekends so we could all have a picnic. But, I didn’t have any idea of bein’ their father. Or of havin’ babies of my own yet. I had to get on the rodeo circuit and make me some money before that would be in the cards.
“I know, Uncle Hank. I’m keepin’ it in my pants.” At least until she’s back in the house, I muttered to myself. I didn’t know Uncle Hank had such sharp ears.
“Glad to hear you’re takin’ care of it by yourself, boy.” Then he grinned, and said, “Let me see your palms.”
I knew what he was gettin’ at. But there was no hair on my palms, I reckoned that was a myth, like your eyes stickin’ that way if you crossed ‘em. I kinda smirked as I showed him.
Then he cleared his throat. I guessed there was more comin’.
“Cody, I couldn’t be a mom to you when yours died, but I’ve tried to do my best by you. You’re more a son to me than a nephew. You know that, don’t ya?”
“I do, Uncle Hank, and I’m real proud to be a son to you. Thank you for takin’ care of me after mom died and dad run off.”
“Least I could do, boy. And I don’t know if this is right or not, but you’re the only young’un I’ve ever had to raise, and I just want you to be safe.” With an embarrassed look all over his wind-burned face, he handed me a string of little foil packets, all pokin’ out in little circles.
“What’s this, Uncle Hank?”
“Them are condoms, boy. You get to doin’ the dirty with that girl, you put one of these on, every time, you hear me?”
I didn’t know whether to look embarrassed like him or laugh. This was the last thing I would’ve expected, and at the same time, I was grateful. I didn’t get to town much, and I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Likely I woulda nailed her bareback if we’d got that far.
“Thanks, Hank. I’ll remember that. But we’re not…”
“I know; you said that, Cody, and I believe you. But I’ve seen the way she looks at you, and it won’t be long now, unless you put a stop to it. I’d ruther you do that. I told you once, and I’ll say it again. That girl’s trouble. But at least if you won’t stop seein’ her, stay protected.”
I wanted to defend my girl, wanted to know exactly what kind of trouble Hank could see comin’, but all I did was nod. I wouldn’t stop seein’ her, not even if Hank forbid it. I was of age, and he couldn’t stop me. But, I could be safe, with a couple dozen condoms in my kit, thanks to him. Next time I went to town, I’d buy a case. I reckoned we’d have some catchin’ up to do, once one of us reeled the other in.
~~~
I didn’t know what got into Abo that evenin’. Maybe a long shadow, or a rabbit inside the fence. One minute I was sendin’ my lariat out in a long, flat arc to rope the calf, and the next thing I knew I was flyin’ through the air toward the fence. Then I didn’t know nothin’ for a while.
When I woke up, I was in a white room on a little bed, and there was all kinda noises comin’ from machines that was crowded up next to the bed. No one else was there.
“Hey!” I hollered. When no one answered, I tried to get up. That’s when I got scared. I couldn’t move. For a minute, I strained to sit up, and then I laid back, tryin’ to figure out what happened. I couldn’t remember nothin’ at first, and then I remembered I’d been practicin’ with Abo. He musta throwed me off, and this must be a hospital. But, why couldn’t I move? Oh, shit fire! Was I paralyzed? Soon as I had that thought, my whole body started shakin’ and the noises from them machines g
ot louder. A lady wearin’ some kinda pajamas come runnin’ into the room and stuck her face right in mine.
“Mr. Wayne, are you in pain? What just happened?”
“No, I ain’t in pain. But I cain’t move.” I coulda died right then, embarrassed as all hell when a tear rolled down my cheek. Her face relaxed, though.
“Mr. Wayne, I’m sorry no one was here when you came to. You’re going to be fine. You can’t move because you’re restrained so you won’t move. As soon as the doctor evaluates all of your x-rays, we can try to let you loose, okay?”
“I’m not paralyzed?” My voice came out all shaky, and I was glad nobody I knew was there to see me bein’ a sissy.
“Not that we know of. But we don’t want to risk further injury to your neck. That was quite a fall you took.”
“I don’t remember, did…”
“Your uncle came with you in the ambulance. He said you were riding in a training corral and your horse threw you headfirst into a fence post.”
“Aw, shit. Oh, I’m sorry ma’am! Do you know if Abo is okay?”
“Abo?”
“My horse.”
“Oh. No, I’m sorry. But your uncle is here. He’ll be able to come in and see you when the doctor says it’s okay. Shouldn’t be too much longer. Do you have any other questions I can answer right now?”
“Yeah, is anything broken?”
“I’m sorry, that’s one I can’t answer. The doctors are looking at your x-rays now. Would you like a sip of water?”
Wrangled Page 3