SMALL TOWN BIG CATCH

del pulled off the county dirt road into his front yard. he had a 40 acre home place. it consisted of a two bedroom one bath house, a small barn and a corral next to it for his 3 head of horses. the rest of the property was fenced as a pasture for his horses. as he pulled up to the barn a black and white border collie came out of the barn grinning and shakeing his pleasure of seeing him home. he backed his truck into the door of the barn then shut it off and got out he rubbed pete behind the ears and talked to him. then he went into the saddle room. he grabbed his shoeing box which held all his tools and slid it into the truck bed, then his anvil and stand for it. back inside he found a cardboard box full of new horse shoes of different sizes. these went into the truck also. looking at pete he smiled " well now we are loaded for tomorrow. ill grain the horses and we can have supper." while pete trotted along behind he took a bucket full of rolled barley into the corral and poured it the length of the feed trough then banged the tin bucket a few times. three head of horses loped into the corral from the pasture and lined up at the trough.a bay, a grulla and a sorrel all about the saame height and weight. the hair was worn short over their loins where the saddle skirts rubbed from lots of work. clean legged heavy muscled they were stock horses to be envied.del was extremly proud of those horses. it had taken a couple of years of hard searching to find them and get them bought. all three were five years old and gentle but knew cow work . for the past ten years del had worked like a african feild hand to pay for this little out fit then to buy the horses. he had no debts. everything was paid for. he sent his sister money to help out. and he could afford to be pickey about who he worked for. but he wasnt. he was the most affable man in the area.

SMALL TOWN BIG CATCH

it was just a small arizona agricultural town. the population was around 500 full time residents. one main street ran right through the middle north to south. on one side was the post office and a small one room building next to it that was a braanch for a state wide bank. it had one teller and a manager. on the opposing side of the streeet was a cafe, a general merchandise store and a auto parts, hardware store. back behing in a small residential area sat a school. 8 eleimentary grades and 4 high school grades. it waas a quiet peaceful town. farms grew up around the edge of the city limits with desert ranches spread in every direction. a town of any real size was 30 miles away. but the folks who lived there were content with their lives.one deputy sherrif patroled daily, mainly to keep the rambunctious high schoolers under the speed limit. from the post office stepped a man of medium height. he had a denim shirt, denimum pants with the cuffs over the tops of black olathe boots that were scuffed and scared. a straw hat was pulled down snug on his brown hair. he watched the few cars on the street and threaded his way accross to the general mercantile store. he stepped in side the open door to a chest that was a soda machine. he fished a quarter from his pocket and fed into the slot, lifted the lid and removed a strawberry barques soda. he poped the lid on the opener mounted on the side. takeing a long swallow he stepped back out side onto the shaded porch and plopped down on a padded bench, he pushed his hat backand took another swallow. he was del green. he was a horse shoer and part tim day labor cowboy for the area. everone knew him and he had no know detracters. from out of the store came a young woman. she stood next to del for a moment. without looking up at her del raised the soda bottle to her. she took it and drank a swallow. then walked around the front of del and sat down on the bench next to him. she took another swallow then handed the bottle back. he gave the near empty bottle a appraising glance then turned it up and drank what was left in it. he still hadnt looked at the pretty young girl. " del? when will you take me out? maybe to a movie."the girl asked. " bobbie jean, do we have to through this again?he turned to look at her. she was slender with brunet hair syled at shoulder length.he once again admitted to himself she was very attractive. " bobbie, your 17 years old, ime twice your age. we look at the world from different eyes. i know dean green has been wanting to take you out. why have you set your cap on me?" del tried to be kind but firm. " he is just a boy!your a man. you lived, you have been around. you understand life," bobbie blurted. " understand me bobbie, you need someone who you can learn all those things together. you would get bored with me real quick. so please put me out of your thoughts." del was firm. bobbie stood, tears in her eyes" you will be sorry some day, ill show you!" as she walked by him del handed the empty soda bottle to her" put thaat inside will you?" bobbie snatched the bottle and stomped into the store. just as del stood up a white chevey pickup rolled to a stop in front of him a older man got out smilling " i been looking for you. i got three to shoe tomorrow. then a couple three days, maybe a week horseback. can you make it?" "ill be there at sunrise jake. thanks."del smilled at the older rancher. as jake drove away del stepped down from the porch and started to his truck. he was content with life right this minute. he had a little money in the bank, work lined up, and had just mailed some cash to his sister across state. she had a little boy and her husband had took off and let her. he was thinking about going and bringing them back here. he was whistling a merry little cowboy tune as he got in his truck. he better go load his shoeing gear for tomorrow.