THE LONE OLD TIMER 6

all the rest of the week buck roamed the ranch.he did his best to keep the cattle drifted away from the road to the head quarters and the nesters house. he found no more problems except a water trough with a broken float which he was able to fix on sight.. it could have been broken by a cow rubbing on that part of the float so he didnt think much about it. he had caught it before it had wasted much water. the western part of the ranch ran up into the foot hills of the dragoon mountains. while not steep they were rough and brushey in places but there was a good stand of grass therebuck had been saveing that pasture until all his cows had calved but now as he rode along the fence line that divided the hills from the rest of the ranch he thought maybe he could start putting the cows with calves up there. he would need some help but it might discourage his neighbors from helping themselves to his calf crop. sunday morning he cleaned up and loaded ole baldy in his trailer and headed into town. when he entered town he drove to cleos house and parked in the street. as he walked up the side walk to the house cleo pushed her screen door open and smilled at him. "i was afraid you got lost or forgot where i lived " she said " nope, just makeing a lot of tracks at home. you want to go to the ropin with me today? ill buy ya supper if they dont clean me out." he laughed. " we got time for me to clean up?"cleo asked, "yep, but how you gonna improve on perfection?" buck asked as he came in the house. " oh you silver tounged devil, i think ime gonna like being with you," cleo laughed" the coffee is on the stove help your self while i scrub up." buck walked into the kitchen and found a cup and poured himself some coffee. he like cleos little house. it was well aportioned and clean she had lots of cowboy pictures and trinkets. he felt comfortable there. soon she came out of her bedroom, she was a bright beam of sun light to buck her hair was styled, she had a white blouse and snug wrangler pants that showed off her figure. "ok cowboy , lets go see how well you can catch a cow." she bubbled. bbuck got up and started to the door, she came behind him and pulled the door shur behind them. "well if i dont catch enough of them you may well go hungry" buck opened the truck door for her. " well i know how to cook, supper, and breakfast" she hinted. " this is gonna be good" buck said to him self as he walked around the truck. the local arena sat just outside of town. it belonged to a roping club made up of ranchers and different people around town. they had a jack pot ropeing once a week there. in the winter months on sunday afternoons and in the summer on saturday nights. they allowed nonmembers to enter which added to the number of teams and raised the pot pay off. when buck pulled into the parking area there was already a half dozen rigs there a tracter was working the arena ground smoothing it up. two other men had thirty head of roping steers in the chute putting horn wraps on them. buck unloaded baldy and tied hime to the trailer then got a brush and curry comb from the truck and started grooming the good soreel. cleo sat on the trailer fender and watched, when baldy was failey shinning from the brushing buck started saddling him and checking his gear. while all that was going on more rigs rolled in crowding the parking area. a ford car pulled thru the crowd right up to the edge of the arena and a woman dressed in a dress with a flared skirt got out and pulled a box and cash box out of the car. she carried it all up into the announcer stand." shes the book keeper and announcer."buck explained to cleo." theres a ice box down by the back of the chute by the storage shed. it has beer and soda. its on the honor system just help your self. ill pay for it when we are done." " i drink soda while ime ropeing. but you get what you want and keep track of how much." buck slipped a silver mounted garcia bit ito baldys mouth. then slipping the reins over his head buck hung a coiled rope on the saddle horn and mounted," theres a lawn chair in the back of the truck. ill be in the arena warming up." buck rode away into the arena. cleo watched him go thinking how when he got here his whole attitude changed. serious and all buiness. she pulled the lawn chair out of the truck and as she walked by the ice chest pulled a soda from it and walked on around until she found a spot that suited her. there were a lot of ropers warming up. looked like it was going to be a long afternoon.