“Damn, Billy; when’s the last time it rained?” asked Toots.
“Hell. It had to be last June or maybe even May. It’s been a while, that’s for sure,” replied
Billy as he took a swig from his ice-cold Lone Star.
Toots reached into his pocket to grab a cigarette, realizing he left them in his truck. Toots
finished his beer, stood up from his flipped-over five-gallon bucket he was using as a seat, and walked to the edge of the porch. He was contemplating the impossible. “How much you think it rained today?” asked Toots.
“I don’t know about two or three inches. Could be four,” replied Billy. “Ole, Steve
Browne up in San Antone said we’re supposed to get more rain in the next two or three days than we’ve gotten in years. The hurricane just hit yesterday over there by Rockport, and that’s what we are getting today, and this is only the beginning of that. But then there’s a storm boiling out there in New Mexico, too. If that thing builds, we could be in for a wild ride. Might need to get the boat out.”
“So, what you’re saying is, I should go get my smokes out of the truck because we could
be here for a while,” replied Toots.
“You’re gonna get soaked if you go out there.”
“I don’t have a choice. I’m not gonna sit here and drink beer all day with nothing to do
and not smoke.”
“At least grab the umbrella from inside before you go out there,” said Billy.
“Only girls use umbrellas. I’m a cowboy,” said Toots right before he took off, running to
the truck. Instantly, he was soaked. But it didn’t take him long to run out to the truck, open the door, grab his smokes, and run back to the house.
After Toots returned to the porch, he reached down and pulled a beer out of the ice chest,
opened it up, and took a swig. Then he sat on his five-gallon bucket, pulled out a smoke, and lit it up.
“Was that cancer stick worth it?” asked Billy.
“Damn right. Hey, you know the good thing bout all this rain?”
“What’s that?”
“At least now we don’t have to worry about grass fires for a while. Getting those heifers
out of that grass fire a few weeks ago was a pain in the ass,” said Toots right before he pulled down half his beer. “That fire almost burned me up. I can guarantee you one thing. I ain’t burning up in no fire. This cowboys too good, especially when I got the Devil keeping me moving.”
“That mare is the only reason you were moving. If you were not on Devil, you would
have burnt to a crisp. Any other horse you have, and you wouldn’t of made it back. So, you
better thank me ’cause I was the one who found him for you.”
“Whatever. I’m just happy we were able to get them heifers penned up on the hill before
this rain came plowing down on us. You think the rivers gonna flood?” asked Toots.
“I’m just waiting for the call. We took care of all the cattle that we handle. For the last
two days, I’ve reached out to everyone I know. All of our stuff is taken care of. It’s them other
folks who don’t hire us to work their cattle that I’m worried about. If that river crests, which it
will, we’re gonna be out swimming tonight.”
A few minutes later, the phone rang inside the house; Billy grabbed his beer and walked
inside while Toots took another swig of his beer and puffed on his cigarette as he watched the rain pour down.
Before Toots finished his cigarette, Billy walked back outside, “That was Coffee, and he
needs our help. Looks like Mr. Whylacheckz is about to lose fifty head if he can’t move them up to dry ground. He said the river was already starting to crest, and he will probably lose
everything. We need to help him.”
Toots finished off his beer and took one last drag from his cigarette before flicking it out
in the rain. Both Toots and Billy took off towards the truck.
“Good thing we kept them horses saddled,” said Toots as he got situated while Billy put
the truck in gear and took off.
“Yeah, I knew we were gonna be getting a call,” replied Billy.
The rain was coming down harder now than just a few minutes ago. Billy could hardly
see the road even with the wipers turned up as fast as they would go. The two cowboys hurried down the road to help save a farmer’s cattle.
“When we get there, I’ll let you off, and you take Devil down to the river to start helping
push the herd up towards the road. I’m going to head down to the pins and meet up with Coffee. We will push anything we find up to the road. We should be able to make some makeshift pens up by the road to keep them safe until the water recedes. If you’re not there by the time we get up there and get the pens set up, I’ll head down there and come help you out. The main thing here is to keep the cattle from floating away down the river,” said Billy.
It took a little longer than expected, but Billy and Toots made it to Mr. Whylacheckz’s
farm. The rain was still falling with no end in sight. Billy stopped the truck, and Toots hopped
out and ran to the trailer. He pulled open the gate, grabbed Devil’s reins, and walked him out of the trailer. Toots shut the gate, hopped on Devil, and headed down to the river. While Billy followed the gravel road in front of him that would take him to the pens.
Toots was instantly soaked, and so was Devil. They rode off in the opposite direction than
Billy was going. The only relief Toots had from the rain was his cowboy hat, but it didn’t stop
anything.
A few minutes later, Toots made his way to the river, and it had already crested and
looked like it was triple the width of the river on a typical day. He could see a few head of cattle out in the water as he made his way through the river. The river was only about a foot deep, but it got deeper the farther he went in. It didn’t take long for him to get the cattle out of the water until he saw a young calf about a hundred yards away. Toots made his way to the calf, and the water was almost too deep for him. Until Devil found a high spot which was the only land he could find. And when he did, Devil was met with resistance from a nest of copperhead snakes that wanted the same spot. One bit Devil, and he reared back and started bucking.
Toots was no rookie rider; he grabbed the reins and held on as Devil began bucking. Toots held on as tight as he could, and Devil continued to buck; he held on to the reins and did his best to ride it out. Devil bucked even more until he landed in a deep spot in the river and fell over in the water. Toots’s leg was stuck under Devil in the water, and he couldn’t pull his leg out. Another snake bit Devil, and he reared up with all he had and started swimming to the shore. Toots was no longer on his back, and Devil took off running.
A few minutes later, Devil made his way up to the trailer where Billy and Coffee were
building some makeshift pens to keep the cattle away from the rising river. At first, they didn’t notice Devil come up, but for some reason, Billy looked up and saw that Devil was lying down. Billy asked, “Coffee, you see Toots come back up?”
“I haven’t seen him. I’ve been here with you.”
“Devil’s here. Where’s Toots?” asked Billy as he pointed to Devil.
Billy and Coffee dropped what they were doing without saying a word, hopped on their
horses, and hustled down to the river.
The water was still rising, and they looked for any sign of Toots. The high spot where
Devil and Toots got into it with the copperheads was now more than a foot under the water. The water was rising fast and flowing even faster. They looked for Toots, but there was no sign of him.
************
Three days later Toots was found walking on the highway with only his cowboy hat and
pants on. He had lost his shirt and boots and was over twenty miles downriver.
Thank you for the contribution, Dustin! You can follow Dustin on instagram @dustincarter512
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