Little Texas On the Pecos

By Don Perry

After being left behind there by his mother, ten-year-old Randy Davis now lives at the ranch where his dad, Jake, works as a ranch hand. Fitting in and winning the love of his father, a rough and stern man, is turning out to be a struggle. Ranch life is very different from his former life in Crane, Texas. Each day brings new challenges and trials.

For example, Smitty, the alcoholic fence rider of the ranch, attacks Juanita, the ranch cook, but is caught by Randy, causing more strife at the ranch. Hank, the ranch foreman, finds a rescue horse and a puppy for Randy at the sale auction in San Angelo. Meanwhile, the capture of a wild rodeo bull while Hank and Marty are away at the auction tries Jake’s skills and patience and almost takes his life as he struggles to bring him in.

While Randy learns quickly what it means to be a cowboy, he and his dad discover a mutual respect and love for each other through the trials and hardships of ranch life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483411392

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Copyright © 2014 .

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1140-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1139-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014938685

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 04/18/2014

Contents

About the Author

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Chapter 2: A Mystery

Chapter 3: A Horse

Chapter 4: Jake’s Bull

Chapter 5: Bring Him In!

Chapter 6: Puppies, Horses and Bulls

Chapter 7: Reward

Chapter 8: Red

Chapter 9: First Snow

Chapter 10: Money for All

Chapter 11: Christmas

Chapter 12: Saddle Up!

Chapter 13: Fight!

Chapter 14: I Need a Hat

Chapter 15: Party

Chapter 16: Getting Free

Chapter 17: Out of the Ashes

About the Author

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D on Perry grew up outside of Crockett, Texas, and later moved to Fort Worth. After many years in the aviation field, he retired and moved to a small farm outside of Ada, Oklahoma. Don married Barbara Burleson in 1965, has two children, Melissa and James, and three grandsons. Since his retirement, he writes short stories of life and times during his youth, geared toward the young adult and teenaged audiences. Many of his short stories show the humorous and whimsical side of the 1950s life and are often autobiographical in nature. He is currently writing his next novel in the western genre.

This book is dedicated to Barbara, the love of my life.

Without her, I would be nothing.

Chapter 1

New Beginnings

"W hy you got to be so hard on the kid? You’re all the time riding his ass. Hell, Jake, lighten up a little bit. He’s just a kid."

Jake looked across at Monty and snarled, Yeah, he’s my kid and I’ll raise him like I want to. You ain’t got no say in it.

Monty pulled back on the reins, stopping in the middle of the trail. Nick, his horse, danced sideways and tried to continue down the trail, but Monty pulled back a little harder and sat back in the saddle. Damn it, Jake, he’s just ten years old. That weren’t no way to treat a kid. Hell, I skipped chores all the time when I was his age.

Jake reined in his horse and turned back to Monty. Yeah, and look at you now. You ain’t nothing but a two-bit cowhand. You got no education, no home, and no truck. Hell, you got to bum a ride into town on Saturday night. You ain’t got squat.

The horses danced around in circles while the two ranch hands looked at each other. Jake pulled back harder on the reins and looked at Monty, but Monty continued, I was just saying.

Well, don’t say nothing. Get your own kid if you want to raise one. I got troubles enough without you butting in.

As he rode down the trail, Jake began to reflect on the events of the last week. His mother had simply dropped off the boy at the ranch. She had told Hank, the ranch foreman, that she had raised him half way and now it was Jakes turn. She turned around, jumped into her old Packard four-door sedan and sped off down the road in a cloud of dust. Hank never even got a chance to reply.

When Jake got in that evening, Hank met him in the front yard of the ranch house. He was now faced with the problem of getting Randy settled. Hank had already shown the kid to the bunkhouse and gave him a bed right next to Jake’s, but there was no place to put his clothes. Randy just sat there on his suit case, looked at the stark way the bunkhouse was furnished and cried all afternoon, until Jake walked through the door.

Jake walked over to his bunk, sat down and looked over at the kid. You’re Elsie’s boy, ain’t you?

Randy tried to hide his tears, wiped his nose with his sleeve and looked down at the floor. Yeah. She doesn’t want me anymore.

Sir. You say ‘sir’ when you speak to me.

Randy looked up at Jake and said after a pause Sir. I have no place to go. My momma said that you’re my daddy.

Yeah, I suppose that’s so. Don’t you have an aunt living in Abilene?

I don’t know. I’ve never been to see anybody in Abilene. Why can’t I stay here? I won’t be any trouble. I promise.

Look, I got no time to raise a kid. While you’re here, you stay out of my way. You got that? I’ll figure something out. Just give me some time, but you got to have respect for your elders here. We got rules out here and you got to pull your own weight if you’re going to stay around here. Now you get yourself together and go over to the house. There’s a woman named Juanita over there. You ask her if you can help in the kitchen. Go on, now, and quit crying.

Randy got up and headed towards the door. He paused at the door and looked back at Jake. Is she coming back for me?

I don’t know. She always was a strong-headed woman. It looks like this is it. You go on now and remember, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ go a long way around here. You say ma’am and sir to everybody and it’ll get you a long way down the trail. Go on now.

Randy headed out the door and Jake sat on the bunk, wiped at his face. Damn! Damn it, what do I do now?

As the sun sank below the horizon, the ranch began to take on a peaceful feel, but Randy looked at his surroundings with a sense of loss.

The ranch house was a large two-story house with a porch running all the way around. Light shone through the windows giving the house a nice glow. Inside was a large living room with a fireplace and several padded chairs and a sofa. The living room was decorated with a western décor. A large painting of an older man hung over the fireplace. At the bottom of the painting was a small brass plate inscribed with the name J. R. Mayfield.

Randy spotted the dining room off to one side with the kitchen beyond that. Through the door came a young Mexican woman wearing an apron and carrying dishes. She stopped when she saw the boy standing there. You must be the new boy I heard Hank talking about.

Yes, ma’am, my daddy said for me to come over here and see Juanita.

Juanita set the dishes on the table and said, Well, that’s me. Here, set the table and come into the kitchen. What’s your name, Niño? Then she turned and went back into the kitchen without waiting for a reply. Randy placed the dishes around the table, and went into the huge kitchen, where Juanita was cooking supper. Juanita held up a large spoon and said, Stir the gravy and don’t let it boil over. When it comes to a boil, pour it in the bowl, and bring it in to the table, boy.

Randy took the spoon. Randy, my names Randy Davis. She was busy putting things in bowls and headed toward the dining room with the food.

Everyone came in and sat down at the table. Jake introduced Randy to the group. Everybody, this is my boy, Randy. I guess he’s going to be staying with us for a while.

Then turning to Randy said, This is Monty, Hank and Smitty and you’ve met Juanita. Each man nodded as his name was called except for Smitty. Hank runs the place. You got that? You take orders from him. We’ll get you set up and you can help out around the house.

Everyone was busy eating. There didn’t seem to be much conversation and it was evident that if he was going to get anything to eat, he had better grab something before it all disappeared.

Later, Hank, Monty and Jake sat out on the front porch smoking and talking about the next day’s chores. Smitty came out and, headed to the bunkhouse for his usual night of drinking tequila. It was evident that he was an alcoholic and a loner. He didn’t say anything as he passed the men.

The men were work hardened ranch hands. Each wore the western clothes of his trade, with his pants legs stuffed into the tops of their boots, as was the style of most cowboys. The day of wearing a gun belt was long gone. That era had faded with the passing of range wars and such.

As the men sat, conversation drifted toward horses, going into town, and women. Hank asked Jake, What’re you going to do about the boy? He can stay here if you want, you know. We’ll have to get him into school and he can help out with chores.

Jake didn’t look up, but seemed to be in deep thought. After a bit, he said, Hell, I don’t know. This ain’t a great place for him to be. He needs to be with his mamma, and I ain’t got time for no kid.

Hank sat back in his chair and looked at the brilliance of the night sky, drew heavily on his pipe, exhaled a large cloud of smoke, and said, Well, who knows? Maybe it’ll all work out. Things got a way of working out. Just give it some time.

Monty rocked slowly back and forth in a wooden rocker that creaked every time it moved and quietly said, Yep, time will tell. Who knows?

The next morning, Jake got up and started to get dressed for the day’s work. He looked over at the sleeping form in the bunk next to him and his heart softened for just a moment. The kid had nothing to do with his predicament and couldn’t help what had been thrust on him. He reached over, touched the boy’s shoulder, and gently shook him awake. Randy? Wake up, boy. It’s time to get going.

Randy rolled over and stared at Jake as if seeing a stranger standing over him. Suddenly everything came back to him. Still half asleep, he tried to sit up and get his bearings. Jake turned back to his bed and began the chore of making it. Without looking up, he said Get on up and make your bed. When you get dressed, come on over to the house and get some breakfast in you. We got a long day ahead of us. Then he headed out the door.

Juanita fixed huevos rancheros, ham, and mexican hash browns with a large bowl of hot sauce on the side, along with homemade biscuits. She was just getting it all on the table when Randy came through the kitchen door. She stopped just long enough to say, Bring that pitcher of milk, boy. Then she hurried on through to the dining room. Randy picked up the pitcher and headed into the dining room. Everyone sat down and passed bowls of food around. They were so busy eating and passing food in such a hurry that Randy hardly had a chance to get anything. Smitty sat just to his right and every time a dish