He Rode Tall

excerpt

Opening the letter from each of the companies, he clearly saw
that they both shared the same theme: pay up not just this current
bill but also all of the outstanding bills before the end of the
month or they would cut off his services. Quite a double-
whammy. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was just the
power or telephone bill, but both of them arriving on the same
day made Joel feel as if the companies were ganging up on him,
and in a short few seconds, he became overwhelmed with helplessness.
What could he do?
Stepping up into the cab of his truck, Joel was just about to pull
away from the barren patch of earth that served as a parking lot next
to the mailboxes when Buck Smith drove his shiny black beast
alongside Joel’s rusty old half-ton. “Just what I need,” Joel thought.
“Howdy do,” offered Buck with a big grin on his face.
One thing about neighbors in the country, Joel thought, is that
you have so few of them that after a while you even find yourself
spending time with the ones that are least likable.
Joel and Buck chatted for a good ten minutes about everything
from how dry the weather was to the price of cattle. It was a good
distraction for Joel. When Joel sensed the conversation was winding
down, he said, “Just thought you would want to know that I
found three of your heifers in my pasture today. I chased them
back in for you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that. With the place getting so big these
days and running all of the head we do, it is tough to stay on top
of everything the way we would like to. I’ll have one of the boys
run by and take a look at the fence. Just to check it out.”
“Good talking to you, Buck” was Joel’s response as he gently
pulled the old half-ton away and steered down the long and dusty
gravel road heading for the Circle H. For the first time in many
years, Joel felt as if he was heading home, perhaps with a bundle
of headaches, but he knew that he had arrived. What he had to do
now was figure out how he could stay.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

He Rode Tall

excerpt

Not knowing what had happened, he phoned Carolyn’s parents
to see if they knew where she was. She was there. Using the
safety of the distance between them, Carolyn told Joel that she
was leaving him. It was only a few weeks later that the heart-broken
Joel then heard that his wife and daughter were now living
with Carolyn’s former boyfriend in Boston. Joel was shattered,
and it was at this point in his life that he started drinking very
heavily.
For a few years he had kept in touch with his ex-wife and his
daughter. It was awkward. He would fly thousands of miles to be
with his little girl, but once he got there he was so out of touch
with her life that the visits were difficult and after a while he just
stopped visiting. Sure, once his daughter was old enough to write,
they exchanged letters for a while, but even that had stopped. As
Joel drifted deeper and deeper into his alcoholism, his distance
with his daughter grew to the point where he didn’t even
acknowledge her birthday. So sad. Funny thing, the choices
people make.
Once, in his darkest moments during the last few months in
Hong Kong, Joel had phoned the most recent number he had for
them to find that it was no longer connected. He searched the
Boston telephone directory could not find them, and when he
phoned Carolyn’s parents, he discovered they were no longer at
that address. Would he ever see his daughter again?
There were three things that Joel was starting to see about his
own behavior; the quiet solitude of the prairies could sure start a
man thinking. Looking in the mirror, Joel knew that he wore
armor to protect his heart so he would never be hurt again like he
was with the loss of his wife and daughter. Secondly, he recognized
that he had become very good at building walls to keep people
away so that they wouldn’t see his hurt and pain. And the
third thing that was staring Joel in the face was how he had used
words as weapons to hurt others. Armor, walls, and words. Now,
Joel knew that he needed to change his behavior. He needed to
strip off the armor so that he could let others in …

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

He Rode Tall

Excerpt

“Well, that may have worked best for Dad. After all, he knew
the value of his horseflesh. For myself, without his knowledge, I
think it would be better if I auctioned them off. That way I would
know I was getting a fair price.”
“But we’re saying we will take them right now. You could stop
riding today. You wouldn’t have to worry about arranging an auction
and promoting it and hoping that people showed up. We
could save you a lot of grief. If I were you, I would play it safe and
take us up on our offer.”
What they didn’t know was that Joel had “played it safe” for
most of his life, and now he just couldn’t afford to “play it safe”
any longer; not if he wanted to be the man that he knew he could
be and should be. The kind of man that he wanted to be.
“Gentlemen, I amnot you,” Joel replied.With a curt “good day,”
Joel turned and headed up to the ranch house for his lunch and
some quiet. As he approached the house, he could tell that the two
visitors were not happy with the treatment they received by the way
that they drove out of the yard. Stepping inside the ranch house,
Joel thought, Rounders are rounders. There may be city rounders
and there may be country rounders, but either way he didn’t want
any part of them. If you don’t shoot straight, Joel just didn’t want to
have anything to do with you.
After a quick bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup seasoned with
two dashes of Tabasco sauce for lunch, Joel decided to pull out
his father’s old briefcase and see what kind of dollars his dad had
been getting for the three-year-olds. He found everything he
needed in one little black book. Written in pencil, his dad had
carefully recorded the name of the horse, the sire, the dam, who
he had sold the horse to, and for what price. Looking over the last
few years, he could see that his dad had seldom sold a horse for
over 3,000 dollars, and if he did, it was never over 4,000 dollars.
Seeing two names repeated year after year, it was easy to spot the
two trainers who had just paid him a visit. They had never paid
over 2500 dollars for a horse. Joel was pleasantly complimented
by the generous offer they had just made him before they left …

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

He Rode Tall

Excerpt

“Well, yes I am. It is a little more than I was hoping for but it
will sure come in handy.”
“I know how that can be. When I lived on the farm with my ex
it seemed that there was never an end of places to spend more
money. What with all of the expenses, it’s a wonder that anyone
stays in the farming business these days.”
“You moved off your farm?”
“Yes I did. It sounds strange to even hear someone ask that
question. Around here everyone knows everyone else’s business
so I just assumed that you would know, but, of course, why
should you even care?”
Awkwardly, Joel hemmed and hawed for a moment, and then
Mrs. Jones reached down, pulled a check out of the printer,
signed it, and handed it to him. “There you go, Mr. Hooper, have
a nice day.”
“Joel,” he responded.
“Pardon me?”
“Joel. My name is Joel.”
“Oh yes. Well it is good to meet you. My name is Cindy.”
With that, Joel turned on his heels and headed to the truck. On
his way, he caught the eye of Harry who was leaning by a corral
and together they walked side by side across the parking lot. Just
as they reached the truck and trailer, Joel noticed the new owners
parading the palomino mare in front of a small crowd and someone
was taking a picture of them. Bud shouted across the lot,
“Thanks again, Mr. Hooper!”
“You’re welcome. I got a lot more like that when you need
some more,” Joel replied as he climbed into the cab of the
half-ton.
Joel missed the look of amazement on Bud’s face as he
exclaimed, “Really!”
With the check tucked into his wallet, Joel and Harry headed
home. They must have been a good twenty miles out of town
when Harry broke the silence and asked, “So what do you think?”
“Think about what?”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955

He Rode Tall

Excerpt

“Good, I guess. Just met him, but Harry seems to be a good
man.”
“Don’t trust him,” came the unsolicited advice. “Just don’t
trust him. Don’t know what the hell old Edward was thinking,
but when things got as desperate for him as they were, I guess you
just can’t be too choosey. Beggars can’t be choosers. Isn’t that
what they say?”
Joel could tell that he wasn’t going to like this man. If not for
his tone then certainly for his volume, and if not for his volume
then certainly for his opinion, and if not for his opinion then certainly
for the fact that he was hiding behind a pair of mirrored
sunglasses. If Joel couldn’t see a person’s eyes his level of trust
plummeted; even the heavy tint of the truck windows had sent
him into a cautionary mode, but now combined with the mirrored
shades, he knew that his internal early warning system was
on full alert. Somewhere in Joel’s mind lights were flashing and
alarms were ringing.
Walking to the passenger side of his truck, Buck opened the
door and reached into the glove compartment. He pulled out a
silver flask. “Want a drink?”
Without even thinking, Joel replied, “No thanks.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” said Buck as he hoisted the flask to his
lips. “I wanted to talk some business with you, Hooper. Your dad
and I kind of had an understanding that when he went I would
buy this place. A half-section ranch isn’t worth much, heck,
really not of any value to anyone, but I feel a bit of an obligation
to old Edward. He sold me all of his other land, you know? I was
thinking that, judging by the number of times they tell me you
have been home in over thirty years, you really don’t want this
place. So I was thinking that we could make it real easy for you,
Joel. I drove over here this morning to write you a check. How
does 60,000 dollars sound?”
Right there, right then it sounded to Joel like he’d been offered
60,000 dollars more than he had to his name.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897955