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With his attached lead line in my hand, I tuck my crutch under my armpit and limp back into the hallway with Sonny in tow.
I drop the lead line, and he stops immediately. On a ranch that’s over two thousand acres, it’s really important that our horses learn to ground tie during their training. When you’re out in the middle of nowhere, camping overnight while gathering cattle, there’s not always something to tie off to. And the last thing you want is to wake up and find out your horse left your ass there to walk.
The grooming brushes are in a container on the floor of the hallway, and with a locked-out brace, that’s a bit of a problem. I turn back to Sonny and smile.
“Guess you’re just gonna have to be dirty today, bud.”
He huffs a puff of air out of his nostrils, and I take that as his agreement, leaving him to stand in the hall and working my way over to the saddle pad and saddle in the tack room.
I’m walking back out the door when a voice calls out from behind me.
“Rhett? What in the hell do you think you’re doin’?”
I close my eyes and sigh, not bothering to turn around.
“What’s it look like, Tiny?”
“Looks like you’re about to strap yourself to a doomed rocket ship like in that movie Armajellin.”
“Armageddon,” I correct with a roll of my eyes and finally turn to face him. “The movie’s name is Armageddon, Tiny.”
If there’s one thing Tiny, one of our oldest ranch hands, is really talented at, it’s giving his own pronunciations and names for things. And oddly enough, he looks a whole lot like Steve Buscemi, one of the actors in the very movie he’s trying to reference.
With his small frame, big eyes, and a slightly crooked mouth, if we tossed a cowboy hat and some dirt on Steve Buscemi, he and Tiny could be twins.
“Well, whatever,” he says. “That one with Bruce Wills.”
“Bruce Willis,” I correct with a nod. “I know the one.”
“If you know the movie, then why the hell are you tryin’ to recreate the ending?”
I shake my head. “I’m hardly sacrificin’ myself to an asteroid,” I contest. “I’m taking my horse for a ride in the arena with my daughter.”
“I have to say, I don’t think Tex would like this too much.”
“I don’t care if Tex likes it,” I say with frustration, tossing the pad and saddle up on Sonny’s back. “He’s my daddy, sure, but Tiny, I’m a grown man. I can make my own choices.”
“Don’t really seem to me like you’re actin’ like you’re grown. What happens to the ranch if you hurt that leg even more and end up back in bed? We got a whole lot of shit comin’ up. Guests for the summer, hostin’ the Fourth of July Extravacanta thingamabob. I know I’m pretty, but you’re the face of this place, son. Without—”
“Enough!” I explode. “If you don’t want to watch me do this, go somewhere else, all right?”
Tiny shakes his head and backs away slowly, turning and leaving the barn with a scowl. My chest rises and falls with the overzealous clash of emotions going on inside it.
The battle between what I want and what I’m expected to keep in mind is violent and tumultuous, and these days, it feels a lot like it never ends.
The weight of responsibility on my shoulders is heavy enough already, but with the addition of my injury, it’s become awkward to carry.
But I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up my freedom.
And I don’t give a fuck what my doctor or Tiny or my dad or any-fucking-one has to say about it.
Tex
“Tiny, I swear to God, if you walk past my door one more time without gettin’ your ass in here, I’m gonna go nuclear.”
He jumps at the sound of his name and walks at double the speed as he steps inside my door and closes it behind himself.
The good thing about getting as old as I am is that your reputation means something. And Harry “Tiny” Minnow has been working on my ranch for long enough that he knows I don’t make idle threats. I don’t say something unless I mean it, and I always follow through.
To run a ranch of this magnitude, it has to be that way. You need thick skin and a quick mind, and you need to be ruthless when necessary. There are always a million and one problems to be solved, and everyone is looking to you to solve them.
It’s a big responsibility, but it’s also a huge honor and it has been for the last fifty years—the pride of my life. But I’m getting old. I’m pushing seventy and I’m ready to retire. Ready to spend some time with my wife and play with my granddaughter.
