Page 60 of River Ride

She rummaged through the kitchen cupboards looking for something to eat—she’d even settle for a stale cookie—but there was nothing.

The house had been professionally cleaned. Eldon had mentioned it and she had forgotten.

Not wanting the neighbors to see her pull out of Eldon’s driveway in the Freightliner, Tammy walked downtown to the main street looking for food.

Her new leather purse slung over her shoulder, Tammy grabbed a cart at the small market. She bought enough food to last her for a few days and paid at the checkout with a credit card from Darryl’s wallet.

The bags were getting a little heavy by the time she walked all the way back to Eldon’s house. She hurried down the driveway and went into the house from the back.

Tammy unpacked the groceries on the kitchen counter and made herself a ham and cheese sandwich. She sat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar and drank a cold Coke wondering how much longer it would take Eldon to get to Midway.

Where is he? He should’ve been here by now.

Columbia Falls Rodeo. Montana.

The crowd was huge and getting bigger by the minute as we got to the fairgrounds. Travis joined the lineup to get in and we waited our turn.

Second round of the competition. All the lesser competitors had been eliminated and today the times posted on the scoreboard would be quicker, and the events would be harder to win.

Every contestant would be doing their absolute best to post their best score and possibly break a record. Jacks always tried for records. Rowdy had taught him that.

Rowdy taught other kids too, but only if they were good enough to compete on the circuit and if they could afford him. Rowdy Butler was the highest paid rodeo coach in the business. For up-and-coming guys over eighteen and for wannabee kids.

Mick stuck with Davey and talked to him non-stop. Funny because Mick only talked to Davey and to Annie. Once in a while he said a word to Rowdy, but no long conversations.

Virge ate more than any of us. Every time I lost sight of my brother, I’d look around and see him lined up at a different food truck. For sure he would be puking on the way home. I couldn’t wait to laugh at him while he hung his head out the window.

Travis took me and Virge on a stroll through the tables of vendors who had guns and knives for sale. He showed us what made a good knife and let us each pick out a new one. He bought both of us beautiful blades made with the best steel and quality grips.

We had like the best dad the fuckin Fates ever made and we knew it.

Me and Virge wore our new knives on our belts for the rest of the rodeo. When the competition was over, Jacks and Davey both won their classes and Rowdy was all smiles. He took every win the kids had as a personal win for himself. In a way it was.

Travis bought all of us rodeo T-shirts to celebrate the winners and we wore them home, happy and laughing and having fun.

Best day ever.

Whataburger. Dallas. Texas.

Hungry at lunchtime, Bobby pulled into Whataburger. Years on the road turned him into an expert on where to eat. He ordered a double burger for himself and for Cleo, but only fed her the meat and tossed the bun.

Bobby laughed at how fast she gobbled up the meat he handed her. “Chew your food, Cleo. You don’t want to go to the vet, do you?”

Heading south out of Dallas after his lunch break, Bobby kept an eye peeled for the sign for the I-45 cut-off. It came up faster than expected and he had to crank the wheel to make the turn.

The tires on the Wrangler squealed as Bobby slid around the bend onto the ramp and almost ran over a girl hitching a ride. Standing right on the curve was a fuckin death wish, but there she was.

Bobby couldn’t stop dead on the turn and cause a pileup, so he gave the girl a wave and drove on. He stopped as soon as the highway straightened out and he could pull over onto the shoulder.

Backpack on her back, she ran to catch up and opened the passenger door to jump in. Bobby was in the process of getting Cleo to jump into the back seat and she wasn’t cooperating. She liked sitting up front and didn’t want to move.

She growled at the girl and Bobby had to speak firmly to her to get her to jump into the back seat.

As soon as Cleo was out of the way, the girl jumped in and tossed her backpack into the footwell. “Thanks for stopping. I’m Emma. You have a huge dog.”

Bobby winced. This girl had the same name as his dead wife and that wasn’t easy for him to deal with.

I wish she had a different name.

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