by Maree, Kay
The crowd watched on as the bull fighters cleared the bull. Jerm and a few riders stood over Cody’s body. The arena was dead, quite waiting for a sign that their favorite cowboy would be ok. Lord, if only they knew what he was really like.
It wasn’t long before he began to stir the medics came over and checked him as he pushed them away, Jerm reached down and helped him up, but Cody only stared hard into his eyes, then pushed him off. His wild stare met Eka’s. As a smile played on her lips, she blew him a kiss while he stood on shaky legs. He was seven-shades-of-red anger mad. He dusted himself off as the crowd erupted in cheers, then Cody threw his hat to the dusty ground below him. Eka knew that tonight she would be the one to wear all his anger like a designer dress, and her heart clenched at the thought. She knew she would need to stay away from his trailer and hope that Wolf will let her stay within the safety of his arms.
Cody limped from the arena while Jerm picked up his hat and followed like a little puppy after his buddy.
The announcer's voice was loud over the speakers as he called out the next bull ride of the day.
“Well folks, that was a disappointing ride for Cody Smith. Knocking him from his spot. Up next the last ride of the day is Wolf Elua and he will be in for one hell of a ride on no other than War Dance and folks let me tell you a little something about this bull.”
Eka’s heart stopped, she could feel the stillness in her heart where her heart was meant to be beating. This bull was classed as one of the most feared in the whole PBR. Wolf really had no chance at all on this beast. All Eka could see flash before her eyes was pain and broken bones. The last cowboy to try to ride this beast had every single bone in his face broken from this bull’s move of throwing his head back hard and with such force that his skull and horns shattered anything in its path. Eka twisted the empty bottle of water inside her fingers, sending a prayer up to spirits of their tribe to help keep the soul of their son safe on the back of this wild beast.
“Folks, War Dance weighs in at 1,750 pounds and let me tell you is outfitted with a nasty temperament; he is a force to be reckoned with. Besides all his brawn, he’s also quick, smart and unpredictable, which is why many regard him as the greatest bull to ever compete in rodeo. During his six-year career in PBR, folks, War Dance has only been ridden the requisite eight seconds twice in his 66 outs: once in 2009 (his debut year) by Lane Frost and in 2013 by rodeo legend Axle Brain. However, most riders can only manage to hold on to War Dance for 4.4 seconds. War Dance has subsequently been the PBR World Champion for three years and has the record for most consecutive buck-offs in PBR at 42 over the course of three years. War Dance is smart. He somehow senses a rider’s moves and then pulls a swift and effective counterattack. So, folks, do you think that Wolf Elua has a chance to stay on the most feared of all bulls in this rodeo today? Because he’s a nasty son of a bitch that has terrified even the most seasoned of rodeo’s riders. He has two signature moves that have earned him his hellacious reputation: he would explode out of the chute at an impressive speed and — more sinisterly — would throw back his head using his skull and horns as weapons. So, let’s hear it for Wolf as he ready’s himself in the chutes with his riding partner Benny Nova by his side.” Eka swallowed hard as she watched him punch down his rope inside his gloved hand.
This didn’t feel well inside Eka’s soul. She was hurting under the surface of her skin and she didn’t like it. Her heart still wasn’t beating… she was dying. Her body was getting ready to leave this world with the man it loved.
Eka perched on the edge of her seat, expecting Wolf to come flying off War Dance and to be smashed into the dust. She hurt deep inside and couldn’t breathe.
The chute opened to the roar of the crowd. Wolf looked spectacular as he rode, synchronized to the bull’s movements like he’d ridden him every day. War Dance lived up to his reputation, and he flung his head back hard and fast, trying to connect with Wolf’s face. He failed each time. As he threw his head back, Wolf would move his hand high in the air, his body in line with the bull. With each kick and buck, Wolf moved with him. Each pass and flick he moved with War Dance. It was beautiful to watch.
The buzzer sounded. He’d made it the full eight seconds. The crowd and all the cowboys around the arena went wild, screaming and throwing their hats in the air. For some reason instead of watching the first instant replay on the big screens, she kept her gaze on Wolf. He’d gotten hung up. Not his hand in his bull rope, but his spur was twisted around the flank strap. The bull fighters were trying to get him loose, but the bull hopped and jumped. The next scene seemed to happen in slow motion, Wolf’s body sliding under the bull when the bull lunged sideways. Both the bull’s back legs came down on Wolf’s left thigh. Then the bull hooked Wolf’s vest and tossed him in the air. The crowd gasped. Eka leapt to her feet. Even in the upper tier of the grandstands she could hear one bull fighter screaming for the sports medicine team, while the others chased the bull away. Wolf’s leg was bent at an odd angle and he was prone on the dirt. A dozen people milled around on the arena floor. Eka sprung from her spot and rushed toward the rails. Climbing over, she jumped down and ran toward Wolf. Her hands were wet with sweat as tears streaked her cheeks. She fell to her knees at his side, her eyes looking over his body. He was pale. Sweat beaded on his brow as Benny gently pulled his helmet from his head. His hands were shaking. Eka raised her head from his hands to meet his eyes, and she saw the same in his that he saw in hers. Fear. It wasn’t long before the far gate opened and an ambulance zoomed in, kicking up dust. Wolf was loaded on a stretcher, shuttled in the back end of the ambulance, and whisked out amidst wailing sirens and nearly complete silence in the arena. Stunned, she just stared at the churned-up patches of dirt where Wolf had fallen. How long she stayed motionless, she did not know. Finally, she felt arms around her and a smell she knew. Benny, his strong grip pulled her to her feet and into him. “He will be ok, you know it.” His voice was shaky against Eka’s ear as he spoke to her. “He won’t leave the moon without kissing the sun Eka.” Eka tried to smile weakly into his chest but it hurt her heart more than reliving her love get trampled and broken under a massive bull he had just defeated and rode an astounding eight seconds.
She made her deadened body move as Benny ushered her from the arena. She moved in a daze as the crowd were still mostly standing hands over their mouths hats on their chests. ‘He’s not dead, he’s not dead, look he’s not dead.’ Eka chanted over and over as she looked around at all the people and their eyes all on the arena where Eka walked with Benny, the same place Wolf had been lying motionless and broken mere minutes before. “He will not leave without lassoing the stars to light up my dark.” Eka spoke into the air. “Please make him be ok.” Eka had no idea where they’d taken him. To a hospital? To the medic tent? Where was her love? Where was her Wolf Thunder-Horse?
Eka, Eka. Someone shouted her name. A voice she hadn’t heard before, a women’s voice, sweet but laced with worry.
She whirled around and saw an older woman come barreling toward her. She grabbed her in a bear hug.
“Luc, has Jimmy heard anything?” Benny asked the older lady. Her arms were tight around Eka, holding her, anchoring her to the ground. It felt like home inside this strange woman’s arms. It felt like being held in the dark after a nightmare by her grandma and Eka began to cry into the tasseled leather coat of these women who smelled like sunflowers and hay. “You saw it, right?” Benny asked, and she nodded her head, her chin hitting the top of Eka’s head. “Okay.” Benny said we stood still for what felt like an eternity. “It’s bad aye.” Benny’s voice broke the silence as Eka’s mind snapped back to the now and away from the carousel of events that played on a violent reel inside her mind. She slowly pulled herself from this woman’s arms, meeting her gaze. Eka fell into the depths of her stunning warm, hazel eyes. Eka smiled weakly.
“I have seen you before.” Eka spoke to the women, her voice broken and weak. “Yes, my love you have,” the
women said to her, her hands cupping each side of Eka’s cheeks.
“You were there in the dark. You pulled me from the floor, cleaned my blood and fed me soup before placing me in bed.” Nodding, the women’s eyes shed tears that slid like a waterfall down her cheeks.
“He’s the moon and I am the sun. WE are locked in the sky like lovers,” Eka spoke. Benny kicked the toes of his cowboy's boots into the dust, his hands jammed deep in his pockets. “Benny, isn’t that right? There is no moon without the sun.” Eka searched his eyes as he brought them up to meet Eka’s.
“Yes, Eka, intertwined, he will hold on tight. We all are one and he will want to kiss you goodnight. He will always chase you around like a fool.” Benny’s lips broke into a weak smile. It hurt Eka, but it was there. So, she knew his words had to be true. Benny had never spoken anything but the truth to her.
“You are the sun and he is the moon,” Benny spoke more to the sky than Eka.
“Chase me around the world like a fool,” Eka whispered out. She couldn’t hear her heart not beating anymore, all she could feel was the fragments of it breaking.
Her world spun as memories of her and Wolf flooded her mind. Like a carousel of bright pictures: all happy, all in love, beautiful yet too short. Then came the dark ones. The ones of Wolf drinking alone in his teepee with smoke billowing from the smoke flap. His tears running dark over his broken features, a pipe in his lips. Eka had left him and he sat alone with just the spirits and liquor tending to his soul that had been ripped from him.
A man came over. He was older, his eyes kind but laced with broken pieces and tears unshed stuck in them. She had seen Wolf and Benny around with this older guy.
“Oh, Jimmy, sweetheart, please is he ok?” The older women spoke.
“Benny.” He tipped his hat to Benny as he stepped forward toward the man, taking his hand and holding it in a grip that was strong and centering. Eka knew what was about to come and she reached for Benny’s side as he released the man’s hand and both Lucy and Benny held onto her.
Jimmy looked deep into Eka’s eyes, she could see the worry inside and all the bad things that were about to stop Eka’s world and turn it on its axis.
“The bull landed on his leg and broke the femur in his left thigh. A bone fragment caused a rupture in his femoral artery. Profoundly serious stuff. I am not going to lie, it is life threatenin’, so they rushed him into emergency surgery. They also were talkin’ about a collapsed lung where the bull hooked him.”
“Oh, my god.” Lucy’s voice broke as tears fell freely from her eyes. Eka could feel them land hot on her hand then turning cold like ice, just like Eka’s insides. With each breath, her blood chilled to freezing.
“But he didn’t look that bad down there,” Benny spoke next.
“Well, son, it’s that bad,” Jimmy said as Eka just stood there. She could feel her world slowly fall out from underneath her. She could feel herself die and turn to dust. Like the black roses of the past, turning to dust inside a widowed woman’s hand after her soulmate was taken by the cruel winds of war.
Only to be given black roses from that day forward, to no longer feel the love or warmth from her soulmate again. To be left with the haunting sound of her cries and the taunting sound of her broken heart.
Eka was glad that they had a hold of her, held her upright, because her knees gave out and she buckled at the next words that came from Jimmy’s mouth.
“His family have already been called as it’s a matter of life and death. I’ll drive you all to the hospital.”
The truth hit her, and she began to shake harder. “His family isn’t going to want me there.” Eka had finally found her voice and spoke her thought out loud.
Benny placed a gentle hand on her cheek. “It doesn’t matter if they want you there, Eka. Wolf will want you there.” She nodded and then ducked her head from his hands to hide her tears. “Benny!” Scott, a young up-and-coming rider, ran up, out of breath. “What are you doing out here? You’re up in about five minutes. They’re looking for you behind the chutes.” He spoke out of breath, his hands on his knees while bent over, drawing deep breaths back into his lungs. He had been running all over the fairgrounds looking for Benny.
“I’m gonna have to forfeit this go. I’m driving Eka to the hospital. Did you not just see what happened to Wolf!” Benny spat out at the young boy who was red in the face and gasping for more air.
“Dude, you’ve been working so hard for this last ride all season,” Scott said looking Benny in the eyes and then turning quickly to meet Eka’s “Oh and Miss, Cody is looking for you too. He’s been asking anyone and everyone if they know where you are. He looks all types of mad too.” Scott’s eyes fell to Eka’s lip, and she instinctively brought her fingers to her mouth, sucking her bottom lip in to her teeth to hide the mark. It was small compared to the bruises that marked the caramel flesh of her face and neck. She knew it, but it was fresh. You could tell it was only hours old. The fresh red turning to a stunning shade of purple and the swelling still very much there.
“I’ll take her.” Lucy’s arm circled Eka’s shoulders as Eka wrapped her arms around her body it had gotten awfully cold standing out under the sun.
“Wolf would be pissed if you didn’t ride on account of him. So, get back there and cover that Bronc. Meet us there later.” Benny nodded and reluctantly acknowledged he knew Wolf would be pissed. He had tied with Al Spencer on the Bronc ride and he wanted nothing more than to knock him off the top and take the all-round Bronc champ. He already had the title for best bulldogger.
Benny pulled Eka into him, breathing her in deep.
“Yegv ulanlgldu Eka Aesha nasginai imigvmo tlayei alewlsdodi uwa kanohelvsgi utsa uwa svnoyi ehi nvdo ale uwa nvdoigaehi nasgi gowelanvh hawinaciltlv uwa aninoquisi tlegodudunvgva yegv a waga digehidohi.”
Be strong unique wish for they can’t stop the moon and the sun. It’s written in the stars, lassoed by a cowboy.
Eka sucked in a shattering breath at Benny’s words. Her arms wrapped around Wolf’s best friend and hers. They were the three musketeers, and right now she needed it more than ever. She knew she had lost it, but right now she needed his love and comfort. His arms always calmed her the same way Wolf’s eyes could still her heart with one look.
“Igvnadesdi uwa uduhisdv ale agilvdi gvdodi atsilv gigage waya alsilv alasgida.”
Strip the stigma and ride with a fire red Wolf fire dance,” Eka whispered into her friend's ear. His lips found her cheek.
“Igohidaquu gesv,” Forever Benny breathed over her skin before letting her go.
“Don’t leave her alone,” he said to Lucy.
“Don’t get yaself killed,” she said to him as he began to walk away, winking at her. “I already told Wolf I didn’t wanna ring his Mumma and I don’t wanna have to ring yours neither.” Lucy’s heart hurt as she spoke the words. She didn’t want to, and she hadn’t, but Wolf still lay injured on a hospital bed in a theater cold and alone.
~*~
Eka was absolutely numb. She let Lucy lead her into the parking area. The heat from the insanely hot sun nearly scorched her lungs. She didn’t remember anything about the ride to the hospital, she was too busy praying to the spirit world that her one true love would still be alive when she got there. She didn’t even have room to think about seeing his family again. What they would say, how they would react, the shame and anger. It was all too much, and all Eka wanted to do was fall into Wolf’s arms, listen to his heartbeat and fall asleep.
He was reckless with his love, and she wanted to be the one who received all the reckless. She wanted to kiss away his pain and get lost in his eyes. Coz their love was crazy, and she was thanking god for it as she tried to not pass out with fear of the unknown.
Eight excruciating hours later, the surgeons gave the news to the family. The doctors had stopped the hemorrhaging, which was their first concern. Then they’d fixed his collapsed lung. After that, they began surge
ry on his leg and inserted an intramedullary rod down the center of Wolf’s thighbone. Wolf was in intensive care, in stable condition. With physical therapy, he’d walk again. Even ride a horse. But the doctor’s prognosis for Wolf continuing his rodeo career even part-time wasn’t good. Wolf had a long road of therapy ahead of him. Months. Eka heard all of this information secondhand from Lucy and Benny. He had tried so many times to get her to go to the family’s waiting room. He keeps saying your family, Eka, they will be ok. Wolf will want you there to know firsthand what’s happening. He’s going to be pissed when he wakes that you’ve been here alone. She just stared past him at the brownish white-washed walls of the waiting room down the hall. It had brown carpet, a gurling water cooler and a TV that only had a fuzzy picture and a hum that would wake the dead. She liked being hidden away down here by herself. Away from all of them, their disapproving stares and the words of anger for a shunned girl who was never to be allowed back inside the Cherokee reserve again.