[Fiction] Friday Aug.24/07

[Fiction] Friday August 24/07


It was 8:30 before Easy walked into the Stampede wind-up dance. He had been debating all day if he would attend it at all this year but he was not looking forward to returning home and having to face the hard decisions that awaited for him there. He had not placed in any of his events and he was depending on that money to buy feed for the horses this winter. The future of his little ranch in the foothills of Alberta never looked bleaker.

The only thing that Easy accomplished was to win the Guy Weader Memorial Award for the competitor that best embodies what the cowboy stands for. Although it was a great honor to get this award, Easy couldn't help feeling that it was awarded to him as a consolation for finishing out of the money for the first time in many years. The irony of him receiving the award had not escaped him because at the present moment his ranch and the cowboy way of life were in serious danger of disappearing off into the sunset.

Easy made his way to the bar weaving through the crowd of friends and acquaintances who in many ways were the only family he had. Tough luck old man! Better luck next year. Congrats on the GWM. Each slap on the back, each shake of the hand, was a painful reminder of his failure to produce when he needed to the most. After what seemed like hours he finally made it to the bar and sat down only to find that the bartender had seen him coming and slid an ice cold Moosehead in front of him before he could tilt his hat back. Easy gave him a wide grin and the bottle salute. He then proceeded to pour the beer down his throat in one pull. He knew that the first one was on the house and he wouldn't get to taste much of it but he also knew that there would be a fresh one waiting for him when he finished.

"Buy a Lady a beer"? came the voice that made his heart skip a beat. Easy turned and looked into the coal black eyes of Beryl Macpherson.

"Wh..here have you been? I dddidn't think that you were here this year." he stammered. He always did when he was around her.

"That's because you have been looking in all the wrong places, Cowboy" she said; I am chaperoning Rebel, guarding her from all the randy young cowboys. It's her first Rodeo and I'm hoping that it doesn't get into her blood because I'm getting to old to be following her all around hell's half acre trying to keep her out of trouble. She's riding that grey colt that you sold us 3 years back, remember?"

"How could I forget" he laughed; " That Red Headed daughter of yours used her beauty and guile to practically steal my best colt.... Beryl I apologize for not attending Stan's funeral, but by the time that I heard about it, it was over." Stan and Easy had been friends and did the Rodeo circuit together for years. They travelled together to cut their expenses and even pooled their winnings to make sure each had a profitable season. They were close as any two men could be without being 'Brokeback Mountain cowboys'. They did everything together and as fate would have it, they fell in love with the same woman.


[That's as far as I can get without going too much past the time constraints and still adding some semblance of closure. The Genre that I was attempting to portray is that of a Romantic Western. I hope that it was obvious enough for you to identify it as such.]