Sunday, March 15, 2020

Baxter Black: Boys Will Be Boys

“Boys will be boys,” reflected Jack, as he told me a story from his youth.
Seems when Jack was a teenager back in Ripley, Oklahoma, he and his teenage friend were serious about becoming bull riders. They had helped fix up the local rodeo arena and that gave them chute privileges.
One week they replaced a chute gate. They had made the replacement themselves out of oilfield pipe, painted it and hung it up.
As they were admiring their handiwork Jack remarked it was too bad they couldn’t buck a real bull out of there for the inaugural ‘grand opening’!
His pardner, Jack (also named Jack and hereinafter referred to as Jack Two) said, “Ya know, my dad just bought a brand new Charolais bull, I’ll bet that sucker would buck!”
Jack One agreed that it would sure be better than practicin’ on the buckin’ barrel and wasn’t it a coincidence that Jack Two’s dad was outta town for a couple days.
A quick trip to the ranch and back soon had the big polled bull standing in chute number one. Jack Two set his rope and called for the bull. Jack One swung the new gate wide and Jack Two had a pretty good practice ride.
They ran the bull back around for another ride but he was not nearly as cooperative in the chute. Matter of fact, he rammed his head sideways between the pipes and lifted the heavy gate right off the L – hinges on which it hung.

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