Page 19 of On the Mountain

“Here, let’s give it a shot.” He took the stiff rope from the boy’s hands and looped it on one hand until it formed a large noose. In his other hand, he coiled the remaining rope. “The key to roping is all in the wrist. First thing you want to do is make sure there are no kinks or knots in the line.”

He handed the rope back to the boy. “Go ahead and take hold of it making sure not to hold your wrist to stiff. Go on, right, now go ahead and give it a swing over your head.”

The boy took hold of the rope as indicated and proceeded to swing the noose above his head, but only resulted in tangling himself in the noose.

Wade sighed and came to stand behind the boy, taking his small wrist in his much bigger hand. “More like this, but keep your wrist loose. Hell, boy, loosen up. You’re far too tense. You need to relax and allow your body to move with ease when swinging your noose.”

Standing with the boy’s back tucked into his chest, he stood inches below Wade’s shoulder, but he still was able to detect the shampoo in the boy’s hair from the cut the day before. Mingled with this scent was an earthy but refreshing fragrance that Wade wasn’t accustomed to smelling on his wranglers.

Against his chest, he could feel the boy grow rigid. He chose to ignore it along with his unexpected awareness of the boy’s scent and concentrated instead on instructing him on the finer details of centering his wrist and forearm to create a revolving wheel with the noose. Taking the boy’s swinging arm, he drew it from back to front and cast the rope into the air.

Satisfied, Wade stepped back and had the boy cast his own noose. His first few attempts failed, but Wade was pleased the boy didn’t give up so easily. He kept at it for several more tries until at last the noose rose high above his head and sailed through the air.

“That was terrific, kid,” Wade gave him a pat on the back and went to coil the rope. “Now all you have to do is rope something and you’ve got it in the bag. Here let’s give this post a try.”

The boy nodded, taking the rope from Wade’s hands, then proceeded to try and lasso it over the post next to Wade. Again, his attempts met with failure, but once again he did not give up. He kept at it, rope after rope until at last his noose landed squarely over the post.

Pleased, Wade gave the boy a friendly smile. He was startled when the boy smiled back. It was brief and he almost missed it, but Wade felt a rush of delight knowing he was able to bring an ounce of joy into his life. Even if for a brief second.

“I think you’re just about ready to try something living,” he said and turned toward the paddocks, gesturing for the boy to follow.

There were three paddocks all together on that side of the barns. Joe was in the one furthest away from them, the middle one was occupied by a young filly they were breaking, and the last paddock Sty and some of the other horses were pasturing. When they approached the gate to the last paddock, his lead hand looked over and Wade could still see his displeasure.

“The boy’s a natural,” he said in an attempt to build the boy’s confidence rather than soothe his wrangler’s ill feelings. “He roped that post good and strong.”

“Dandy,” the man grumbled. “He’ll be great help when our fences decide to up and flee.”

Wade smirked to himself, but turned away as to not let the cowboy see. “Now remember kid, it’s all in the wrist.”

Giving his shoulder a reassuring pat, he stepped back and watched as Joe positioned the young calf. From up the hill near the homestead he heard someone call his name. Cranking his neck, he looked back to see Prescott waving toward him. He turned his attention back to the boy who was off to a good start concentrating hard on the calf. Gesturing to Joe he indicated he would be back shortly, then headed for his brother. As he got closer he noticed a single sheet of paper in his hand.

“It’s Kathleen.”

* * *

Anna drew her brows together as she focused hard on the calf. Thinking of the pride in Wade’s voice had her wanting to do a good job. She raised the rope and twirled it until it rose high over her head. A sense of confidence filled her as she made eye contact with the anim

al. The youngin’ stood on wobbly legs and stared back at her with big brown frightened eyes.

Anna hesitated.

The poor creature let out a mournful bleat, calling for his mother and Anna’s heart cracked.

“What the hell you waitin’ for boy, throw the damn thing.” Joe shifted angrily on his feet, growing impatient.

She really wanted to. The look of disappointment on Wade’s face nearly had her throwing the noose, but in the end she couldn’t do it. She dropped the rope.

Naturally, she didn’t receive a pleasant reaction from the lead hand. He growled loudly and shot his eyes heavenward. She thought she heard the word ‘pansy’ muttered under his breath before he marched crossly toward her. Instinctively, she backed away, but something caught his attention and stopped him in his tracks. Her eyes followed his gaze and spotted the horse in the stall next to them.

“Listen, kid, we can come back to this later. Ain’t no rush,” he said, far more forgiving than she trusted. “Why don’t we concentrate on your riding abilities?”

She looked at the horse standing so peacefully in the next stall and thought that sounded a lot more doable.

”Ever ridden?”

She nodded.

“You ever schooled a horse before?”

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