by Julie Carter
You know the type. You’ve undoubtedly met a few. There are
some people who are the most inconsiderate humans that ever lived. Frequently
that trait is tied to money and most of them could go further on a nickel than
anyone you might know.
Sam owned a big, very remote spread that was a half-day’s
drive from the nearest civilized settlement. He lived in that little town so as
to keep an eye on his numerous other investments that included a partnership in
a nearby feed yard and pasture cattle scattered around the landscape.
When it was cattle working time, he’d round up a crew from
his neighborhood to help with the job. He had a foreman residing at the ranch
that handily had a wife who would cook a meal for any crew that Sam brought to
the ranch. But that didn’t include breakfast.
The collected cowboy crew would load up their horses and
head out to the ranch the night before the cattle working, utilizing a
ramshackle camp trailer to roll out their bedrolls for a few hours of shut-eye.
Long before daylight they’d rise and breakfast was usually
something as substantial as a candy bar. One time the candy bars had been
forgotten, so after a head count, the package of store-bought sweet rolls was
shared. Each cowboy got one and a quarter roll for breakfast along with some
instant coffee.
Still in the dark of the early morning, they’d headed to the
backside of the pasture and started gathering pairs. About lunch time they were
back at headquarters with the cattle. The foreman’s wife was up to her elbows
in getting lunch ready to set out when Sam says to his foreman, “Think we ought
to take these cattle on to the hill pasture before lunch?”
With the smell of brisket, beans and fresh bread out of the
oven wafting through the air and homemade pies waiting on the counter, the
foreman begrudgingly agreed they could move the cows now so as to be done for
the day and then eat.
One of the cowboys on his first trip to Sam’s place thought
this pasture was probably not far off and likely his grumbling stomach would
survive a little longer.
They drove the cows, drove the cows and drove the cows,
crossed a creek, drove them down the creek bed and finally got them up the
other side and continued driving them.
It was several hours later before they finally arrived where
they were going, settled the cattle and started back. Sam decided to take
another route on the return to headquarters and the new cowboy was thinking,
“If there’s a shorter way back, how come we didn’t bring the cows that way?”
As it turned out, the route home was longer and no one
really knew why Sam decided on that route except likely out of pure meanness. It
was near on 5 o’clock when they finally got back to headquarters, took care of their
horses and at last, got to eat. The morning’s sweet roll and a fourth was more
than long gone.
The foreman’s wife fed the crew “pretty darn good” and there
was plenty of it. However, it became abundantly clear why there were always new
faces at the table every time Sam brought a crew to work. The new cowboy on
this trip determined he had made his last trip.
Even though a cow boss or two can sometimes give
“inconsiderate” a higher level of meaning, ranch hospitality is legendary,
second only to Southern hospitality. It just sometimes takes a little longer to
get to the place where one can enjoy it.
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