Stars Always Shine (8 page)

“Now, that depends. Basically a bolus is just a big pill. But there are different types of boluses. Are you giving them a bolus for scours or deworming or what? Do you have a balling gun? Also, with all due respect, I suggest that you might consider putting your calves in one of the larger pastures, preferably one that has a holding pen contiguous to it. That way you can bolus each calf individually, unloading it from the trailer to the holding pen and then setting it loose in the pasture.”

Mitch caught herself and realized from the day of the interview that Jacqueline and Mickey did not like her omniscient answers and advice. She added carefully, “I realize you folks are primarily horse people. I do know a little about cattle. I can help if you want.”

Jacqueline declined as an impressed Mickey accepted Mitch’s offer.

“Let me drive down to one of the pastures to get things in position,” Mickey said, his voice rich with excitement. “Jacqueline, would you fetch my rope?”

The six calves were unloaded into a large pasture. Mickey drove the pickup with the stock trailer hitched to it out of the way, and he, Jacqueline, and Mitch watched as the calves inspected their new arrangement. These were Holstein heifers, dairy stock, and probably culls, as most dairies wouldn’t let go of a good potential milker. Mitch wondered why Mickey would purchase these calves for beef rather than the more desirable and better meat-producing, black-bodied and white-faced or Angus bull calf. But Mitch was also starting to grow accustomed to the pattern of ranch business the way the Kittles conducted it.

Mickey swung his rope over his head a few times and aimed the lasso at a fence post. After missing repeatedly, he declared he was ready. Mitch was concerned that the cattle had been released from the trailer into the open pasture all at once instead of situating the trailer close to one of the holding pens and cutting one calf out at a time, as she assumed would be done. She was interested to see how Mickey’s method would work. Perhaps there was a new way of administering medication, she thought, as she realized that she had not worked with cattle for over fifteen years.

Mickey instructed Jacqueline and Mitch to help him track down one of the now free-ranging calves. Once they were close enough, he would lasso the animal and they could drag it to the holding pen where they could restrain it and stuff a bolus down its throat.

They stalked the first randomly chosen creature all the way to the far end of the pasture until it was cornered. On the way, the calf periodically stopped, ate some grass, and would lope away a little until it felt safe from its pursuers. Then it ran into a corner and would have to burst through a phalanx made up of Jacqueline yelling “yaa! yaa!”, Mitch approaching cautiously and murmuring, “So, boss, it’s okay, boss,” and Mickey swinging his loaded lariat high over his head.

He shot the noose at the calf’s head and missed. It ran to another corner of the pasture. They tramped over to where the calf was eating, suspiciously now, and again Mickey readied his loop. Mitch signaled to Jacqueline to close ranks on her side, and when she did, Mickey hurled the lasso again. This time he grazed the calf’s head. He gathered up his rope quickly before the young animal could run to another corner. He made his loop even bigger, and running up to the calf, he mugged it by swinging the opening of the lasso over its head. Mickey grabbed the end of his rope and pulled hard. The calf choked out a grunt before lunging forward in a panic. Mitch jumped close to the calf and holding it in a headlock, tried to ease its fear with low, susurrous sounds. Mickey continued to pull back on the rope as if the animal had been sentenced to hang.

“Where’s the bolus?” Mitch managed to ask as she continued her tight grip. “You might just try it here. This baby weighs about three hundred pounds, and I don’t think it will let us drag it all the way to the holding pen. But first cut some slack or nothing will go down its throat with your rope pulled so tight.”

“I have it—right—here,” Mickey sputtered as he reached into his pocket with his free hand and tried to approach the front of the calf at the same time.

Jacqueline, seeing the impending struggle, scrambled up on the fence.

“Okay, hold on to him, Mitch,” Mickey said. “I’m going to stuff it in his mouth.”

The calf, however, did not feel that Mickey’s plan was really conducive to its own well-being. As he swung his hand up to the creature’s mouth, it switched ends on him quickly so that now he aimed for the part that was called rump roast once the cow had been butchered. Mitch maintained a fierce headlock on the calf as she dug her heels into the ground, and the bovine switched and bucked and jerked. Mickey’s legs were scissor-locked around one of the calf’s front legs now as he held onto the noose with one hand and aimed with his fist at the beast’s mouth. But the animal had much more self-esteem than anyone had realized. It stepped sideways and bumped Mickey into the fence, then switched again. In the dervish of motion, the rope continued to wrap around both the young cow’s body and Mickey’s. Mitch finally let go and cleared from the excited turmoil as Mickey rode the side of the calf while tethered to its body like Ahab to Moby Dick.

Mickey finally broke loose, and in a striking roundhouse punched the bolus into the calf’s mouth. The shocked animal ran to the middle of the pasture with the rope still around its neck. It mouthed and gummed the large pill for a few seconds, then spit it out. Mickey wiped dirt and manure off himself and shook his head quickly to regain his senses.

“A successful ride is eight seconds!” Mitch joked. “You almost had it, cowboy.”

Mickey smirked, and Jacqueline praised him. “You did fine, honey. At least you got the pill in its mouth.”

“Yeah but she spit it out too,” Mitch said pointing to the victorious calf. “That one’s been wasted. That’s why you need a balling gun. You get that bolus right down their throats with one of those.” Mitch did not wait to hear Jacqueline’s or Mickey’s response. She walked away realizing that what she had learned years ago with cattle still held true.

“Where are you going?” Jacqueline called after her.

“I have a ranch to run!” Mitch yelled without looking back and holding her arms outstretched as a way of presenting the vastness of the ranch to the owners.

Mickey determined that he would just seed the pasture with many boluses—two for each calf—and he rationalized that eventually they would walk over to one and eat it when they felt a worm coming on or had a touch of diarrhea. He didn’t remember what type of boluses the man gave him when he purchased the calves.

The weekend did not end soon enough for Mitch. Place had managed to stay busy with his regular chores and the ones that Jacqueline added later that Saturday—like washing and waxing their truck, cleaning out the stock trailer, and helping Mickey put up a large, colorful wooden sign at the entrance to the ranch that read:
STARRIDGE RANCH
in loud letters, and 1755 SWEET WINE ROAD in smaller letters. Mitch was also quite valuable by making dinner reservations for the country couple and finding out what the operating hours were in a nearby winery’s tasting rooms.

That evening, when Jacqueline and Mickey left for dinner, Mitch and Place walked out to the pasture and, leaning against the gate, they wondered how they could get the rope off the persevering calf.

In a dark corner of the stall barn, two thick and calloused hands dug deep into a sack of alfalfa molasses left by the owners of Thundering Thoroughbreds Ranch. Salvador reached into the middle of the sack feeling for the sweet feed that would be more moist than the crusty and dry edges of stale feed that filled up the rest of the sack. With two full buckets, he walked out to where Mitch and Place pondered the noosed calf. Salvador slipped between the horizontal rails of the gate and spread the feed out on the ground. He grabbed at his Adam’s apple and with a loud, convincing, and vibrating bellow, mooed for the calves. The ruminating animals looked up, and slowly they approached him as he continued to moo. Salvador watched the calves examine the feed and eat for a few minutes, and then calmly he slid over to the roped calf, patted its head, and removed the noose.

“Now that’s a ranch hand!” Mitch glowed as she looked at Salvador admiringly. “Gracias,” she said to him, bowing her head slightly in a show of respect. She looked at Place and said, “Tell him we aren’t going to tell Jacqueline and Mickey how the rope came off. Let them figure it out for themselves. We’ll leave it hanging on the gate. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t notice, anyway.”

They walked up to the ranch house and sat on the deck talking and drinking beer until they heard Jacqueline and Mickey’s truck drive up. Quickly, Salvador sneaked back to his small home, and Mitch and Place went inside, not turning on any lights, deciding they had had enough for the day.

Early Sunday morning, Mitch and Place left the ranch to eat breakfast and talk without the interruptions Mitch anticipated.

“You know, honey,” Mitch began, “I knew from the start that Jacqueline and Mickey didn’t know too much, but I just didn’t realize they were close to terminally ignorant. It’s weird because they have all the right stuff in terms of clothes and boots and that fancy cowboy’s Cadillac they drive around in. But as far as any animal savvy or basic ranch know-how, those two could be classified as remedial or even preliterate. They know just enough to be dangerous.”

“When you have money it doesn’t matter,” a cynical Place commented. “Too bad ignorance isn’t against the law.”

“Well, it will matter. They need to get with it. I can’t see those two coming onto this ranch and running a boarding facility. You know, I never did find out what kind of trainer she was. And it’s funny, she hasn’t mentioned a thing about it, either. Then they brought those calves up and plan on making them live on just the pasture. Those young ones need other feed. But I didn’t tell them that. I’m just going to buy my own. You know what happened last night after I finished making my final rounds? Jacqueline told me that she and Mickey weren’t quite satisfied with our progress.”

“What?” Place asked as he suddenly stopped chewing his food. His face grew a darker shade as the anger filled his cheeks and shot through his eyes.

“You were already in the house,” Mitch explained. “Jacqueline and I had talked about the ranch work earlier, and I thought I had pointed out what she needed to realize. But last night as I was coming in, she ambushed me and wanted to talk. So she, Mickey, and I sat out on the deck, and I gave them our side of the story.”

“What do you mean ‘our side of the story’?” an increasingly angry Place asked. “We don’t have a side of a story because we don’t need one. A side of the story implies that we need to offer excuses or something like that. Let’s just get the hell out of this whole thing! I promise I’ll find work someplace.”

“Now wait, honey,” Mitch urged. “I did talk to them, and they seemed to understand. I told them you’re putting in some long days with only one break. I suggested that maybe they hire Salvador. And I did tell them to give us our walking papers if they’re dissatisfied. Nobody has to get mad about anything. Look, they’ll be up next week. We’ll see what they’re like then. You just keep working.”

Mitch stopped speaking as she looked at Place and he looked down at his plate, his tired face resting on a fist as his elbow pointed into the table. She dipped her head and pushed it forward, thinking it would give her a better look at what was running through Place’s mind.

She began again in a cautious tone. “Honey, look, I’m thinking they’ll stay away for awhile. You know, it’s kind of like when a kid sees a toy he has to have and then once he gets it, it doesn’t quite fire his rocket like he thought it would. Well, this ranch is like a toy they bought. Everything’s new to them. Jacqueline even asked me what the strong smell was when I was walking her around the ranch. I just pointed to the dairy across the pastures without saying anything. Ranches do have smells. And I think that Mickey grew up watching too much
Rawhide
or something. Let’s just ride it out, honey. When our year’s up, I’ll go back to lawyering. I decided that last night.”

Place ate quietly. He could feel a growing despondency flow through his mind. Indignant, raging thoughts coursed through his brain. Violent images flashed before him. “Can we go out to the coast after breakfast?” he asked. “I need to clear my head.”

Mitch drove north on a desolate country road before heading toward the coast. “We belong there,” she said as Place looked out at the land. As they approached the coast, Mitch looked for a special turnout, one that would accommodate only their vehicle and them. The couple leaned against the truck holding hands and looked out to where the water met the sky. Together they listened to the whip of the wind converse with the wash of the waves.

Mitch and Place returned to StarRidge Ranch in the late afternoon. They had hoped that Jacqueline and Mickey would be gone or close to leaving when they arrived.

As they drove onto the property, Jacqueline was standing in front of the little house gesturing to Salvador, who nodded his head understandingly.

“What do you suppose she’s talking to him about?” Mitch asked.

“She’s probably reminding him about when he has to leave,” Place responded.

Mitch and Place waved to the two as they drove by. Salvador waved back, and Jacqueline continued with her hand signs and did not acknowledge her new ranch managers.

As they walked into the house, Place commented sardonically, “I think she’s telling him to take the next pitch and then bunt.”

Moments later Jacqueline’s forceful knock resonated through the large and mostly empty ranch house. When Mitch answered the door, a proud Jacqueline informed her that she had made it clear to Salvador that he would receive no money for his help. Mitch stared hard at Jacqueline. She thought to herself that she would not even tell Place about this part of the discussion and would probably filter much of what Jacqueline had to say to her before she apprised Place of any new developments. Jacqueline was quite pleased with her assertiveness, and she informed Mitch that she was starting to get the place in shape.