Rodeo Rider (9 page)

“Sure thing, Eli,” Derek said. “Sure thing.” Derek dismounted to lead his horse to the trough for a drink of water. It was only when he was walking on the ground that Stevie noticed he was wearing the same kind of duster that the wranglers had worn at The Dapper Dude. She liked the way it looked. It was old-fashioned and practical, designed to protect the rider. At the same time, it was very stylish.

“That’s really kind of cool, isn’t it?” she said to her friends.

“Think we should wear dusters instead of T-shirts?” Lisa asked.

“No, not really. We probably shouldn’t take a chance on anything getting in our way when we race. But they are cool,” Stevie said.

“Definitely,” Carole agreed.

Once Derek’s horse had had his fill, Derek remounted and rode off the ranch. He tipped his hat ever so slightly as he passed the girls. Stevie thought that was cool, too.

“I’
M
FINISHED
WITH
my front!” Stevie announced, holding up her red T-shirt for everybody to admire. It read,

FINEST DUDES AROUND

“And I’m done with my back,” Lisa said, holding hers next to Stevie’s. It was simple. It just said,

That was the branding symbol that meant Bar None, so that the full message of their shirts was that they were the finest dudes around, bar none. That seemed to all of them to be an appropriate message.

“You think Jeannie would wear one of these?” Carole asked. “I mean, the more people who are wearing them, the more people will become familiar with the ranch. It’s kind of like a walking advertisement, isn’t it?”

The girls agreed that that was a great idea. Phyllis Devine had bought some extra shirts, so they proceeded to put their design on them.

“I’m done first, so I’ll do Jeannie’s,” Stevie offered. She selected one that looked as if it would fit, ironed it so it was completely wrinkle-free, and began to paint it carefully. Stevie was good at art. It was one of the few
things, aside from horseback riding, that she had any patience for. She chatted as she worked. “You know, talking about Jeannie makes me think about Eli. And thinking about Eli makes me think about Derek. He’s cute, isn’t he?”

“Cute, maybe,” Carole said, “but
good
, no way. He could cost Eli the event.”

Lisa looked up from her shirt. Her friends had reminded her of something she wanted to ask them. “You know, I didn’t get what you guys were talking about today when he was roping the steer. What was wrong?”

“Well, he was so
good
at it,” Kate said.

“So?” Lisa knew she was missing something, but she didn’t know what. Kate explained it to her.

“Roping that well is hard, really hard. It takes a lot of practice. Hazing is a little tricky, but it’s not very difficult. So the question is, why is somebody so good at the hard part and so bad at the easy part?”

“I see,” Lisa said.

“But the
real
question,” Stevie pointed out, “is, why did Eli go all the way to town and find a stranger to do his hazing when he’s got an adoring and able fan named Jeannie Sanders right here who is an expert rider, as we saw yesterday, and who could do it for him perfectly well?”

There were a few seconds of silence as the other girls looked at each other.

“That certainly is a real question,” Christine said at last.

“It hadn’t occurred to me, but you’re absolutely right,” Kate said.

“I’ll bet you anything it’s occurred to Jeannie,” Stevie said.

“So, why didn’t she offer?” Carole asked.

“Maybe there’s some kind of rule,” Lisa suggested. “You read all that stuff, Christine. Did you see anything?”

“I remember that only men are allowed to compete in most events except barrel racing, and that’s girls all under eighteen. But a hazer isn’t a competitor. There shouldn’t be any reason why Jeannie couldn’t do it.”

“Except there is a reason—one reason—and his name is Eli. When it comes to Jeannie, the man is blind, totally blind. Now, if only there were a way to open his eyes …”

“Hold it, Cupid,” Carole said, interrupting Stevie. “This is none of our business.”

Stevie thought about what Carole said. She really liked both Jeannie and Eli, and she hated the fact that Jeannie was so crazy about him while he didn’t notice her at all. Carole was right, though. That wasn’t their business. But there was something else to consider.

“Some of it isn’t our business, but the part about Eli’s hazer
is
our business,” Stevie argued. “After all, we’ve made it our business to make The Bar None look good at the rodeo. Derek could ruin it for both Eli and The Bar None. Jeannie would do a much better job, so we should see to it that she does it.”

“Swell idea, but how?” Kate asked.

The question hung in the air, unanswered. Eli had the right to choose his own hazer, and he’d chosen Derek. Stevie shook her head. She didn’t have an answer. Resignedly, she picked up the brush and continued working on Jeannie’s shirt. That was something she
could
do something about.

I
T
WAS
TIME
. Lisa couldn’t believe it. It was finally Saturday morning. She didn’t think she’d ever been busier than she’d been for the past few days, practicing, polishing, talking, planning, hoping. Now it was time. All the work was behind them. The parade was about to start. The rodeo was about to begin. And in just a few hours The Bar None Riders would find out whether all that practice had done them any good.

But first, the fun.

“Everybody sit up straight. Smile! Give those people out there a show!”

Lisa reached down and brushed a small smudge of
dirt off her boot. She smoothed her Bar None T-shirt and adjusted her hat. She sat up straight. She was
ready.

The Bar None Riders were all together in a row in the parade. In fact, their team had been selected to lead the barrel-racing section. Kate even got to hold a banner. Lisa glanced at it. She knew that it was just chance that their team’s name had been selected to lead, but it still made her feel special, and she wanted to look that way. She wanted to give the people a show!

The parade was more of a grand march than a parade. All of the contestants were in it, dressed in their fanciest, best cowboy clothes. Their horses were as shiny clean as any horse-show horses The Saddle Club had ever seen. The whole place was afire with bright colors, gleaming leather, and lively horses. It was wonderful!

“Barrel racers, go!” the Master of Ceremonies yelled out.

Kate touched her spurs to Spot’s belly and the horse spurted through the gate into the arena. Carole, Stevie, and Christine followed, and Lisa brought up the rear. Behind her, three more barrel-racing teams pranced into the arena. The last was the team from The Dapper Dude. Lisa had noticed them in their stylish cowgirl outfits when they’d arrived. Then she’d decided that the less she thought about them, the better she’d feel. It wasn’t easy to not think about them. It
wasn’t easy to feel good, either, until she entered the arena.

As soon as she was in, she forgot everything but the parade and the crowd and the rodeo. It was magical!

The parade was planned to snake all around the arena in a complex design, marked out by rodeo judges. The line of horses crossed itself several times, meaning that the riders had to take turns going through the crossing point. It was the sort of exercise Stevie, Lisa, and Carole had done a lot of when they’d worked on their drill-team routine. They were pretty good at it and not one of them made a mistake in the parade. The crowd cheered. The riders waved. Lisa spotted Kate’s and Christine’s parents in the stands. The Bar None Riders waved at them especially hard.

The parade organizer had designed the route so that they all rode around the arena single file and then exited, circling outside the arena, and then reentered in ranks of four for the finale and the singing of the national anthem. The first section of the parade was done at a lope, the final entry was at a trot. And all of this was done without any practice at all!

It seemed that the parade was over in no time. Before she knew it, Lisa was sitting in the saddle with her hand over her heart, singing with the crowd and gazing at the American flag. When the last note died out, the parade moved out of the arena and the rodeo began.

*   *  *

T
HERE
WERE
SIX
main events in the Two Mile Creek Rodeo. First, there were the men’s events: saddle-bronc riding, bareback riding, calf roping, and steer wrestling; then came the girls’ barrel racing, and finally, bull riding. There was a lunch break between calf roping and steer wrestling, and during the lunch break, there would be demonstrations of nontraditional rodeo events—wild-cow milking, buffalo riding, and clowning.

“I can’t believe how much is going on today!” Christine said, checking the timetable in the program. “And we’ve got to corral our horses right away so we can be back in time for Eli’s first event.”

Carole smiled to herself. Ever since they’d registered for the barrel-racing event and the woman had handed them the schedule, Christine had been like a mother hen. It wasn’t so bad, though. After all, somebody had to know everything that was going on and get them to places on time. It seemed that the woman had known what she was doing when she’d given the materials to Christine. Carole hated to think what would have happened if she’d given them to Stevie!

The girls put their horses in their assigned corral, stowed their tack, and went to find Eli so they could cheer him on.

“… and he’s out!” the P.A. blasted. The first saddle-bronc rider was on his way.

The girls ran over to the fence to watch. The horse sprang out of the gate, bucked and twisted sideways, and the cowboy flew over his head and into the dirt.

“Eli can do better than that,” Kate said. The other girls agreed.

The next cowboy did better. He stayed on his bronc for the full ten seconds, but the horse wasn’t giving him much trouble, either.

“According to this,” Christine explained, once again consulting the booklet they’d gotten from the registration lady, “the cowboy and the horse are both judged equally, so the cowboy who is on a wild horse can get a lot more points than a rider on an easy horse. All the riders want the toughest horses. That’s true in saddle-bronc and bareback riding.”

“Bull riding, too?” Stevie asked.

“I don’t think so,” Kate said. “From what I’ve heard, all the bulls are hard to ride. They are
mean.
”

“I’m glad Eli’s not in that one, then. I wouldn’t want him to get hurt,” Lisa said.

Just then the girls spotted Eli. There were only a few riders left ahead of him. They walked over to cheer him on. He was talking with another cowboy, while Jeannie stood at his elbow.

“I rode Jester two weeks ago at a county rodeo,” the other cowboy was saying. “He’s a good one. Bucks straight, true, and hard. You can score on him. Watch out, though. He’ll yank at the rope, so you got to let him have some length or you’ll end up eating dirt.”

“Thanks,” Eli said, and Carole could tell he really meant it.

“Don’t mention it,” the cowboy said. “You’ll do the same for me.”

“That’s nice of him,” Kate said to Eli when the other cowboy left.

“Everybody around here seems like that,” Eli told her. “Everybody’s got advice for everybody else and most of it seems to be good.”

“Four eighty-three—you’re up next!” a starter said, calling to Eli.

Jeannie yanked at his arm. Carole noticed that she was being a bit of a mother hen herself. As usual, though, Eli didn’t seem to notice one way or the other.

“Push your hat back a bit,” she said.

“Then it won’t stay on my head,” he protested.

“That’s the idea, see. If your hat flies off, it makes it look as if you’re riding out the tough bucks, no matter what’s happening.”

Eli grinned. “Clever!” he said, pushing the brim of his hat up, just a bit.

The girls all climbed on the fence of the saddling area where Jester was being prepared for Eli. Faster than they’d ever seen a horse tacked, the wranglers cinched the saddle and put on the halter with the lead rope that Eli would hold.