Cowboy Summer - 20. The Big Bright Future

Rhydian drove up to the college with trepidation. Sam had allowed him the wheel of the truck now he wasn’t wearing his sling, Caleb and Bryce were in the back so he wouldn’t get distracted, and Rhydian had tried to think of anything other than the growing, nagging, gnawing feeling this was just all some massive and colossal joke. They were going to get there and Hunter Morris would laugh him off the campus. There was no way he of all people, could be this lucky.

The campus was only about ten minutes outside of town, and looked nothing like Rhydian had come to expect from American comedy films. The college campus was rolling, green, mountainous and strewn with thick pine woodland and buildings of all sizes but which were predominantly low roofed and appeared to be made of logs. It looked like the best kind of campsite. He managed to park sort of in a space in the lot and his legs shook underneath him when he got out of the truck.

“Babe? Are you alright?” Bryce put a hand on his chest, “You look pale.”

“I’m fine. Nervous.” Rhydian fingered the card in his pocket, trying to convince himself he wasn’t asleep, “Any idea where we should be?”

Sam coughed and with a hand on Rhydian’s hat turned his head to look at a girl leading a horse in full western tack around the left side of the nearest building.

“You know, I expect asking her might be a great start.”

Hunter Morris was standing with one foot on the boards of a circular pen, watching a young palomino being put through his paces on a lunge rein. He smiled when he saw Rhydian and his party approaching, and they all shook hands warmly.

“So how are the ribs?” Morris’s grin was huge, and Rhydian couldn’t help but like the man, “You’re up and walking. You get back on the horse already?”

“This morning,” Rhydian smiled even as Bryce shot him a dirty look, “The medics told me to wait, but Shura needs me.”

“Excellent. That’s the sort of dedication we look for in our rodeo team. Why don’t you have a look about and see what you think of the place? A lot of the seniors are back already, it’s quiet, but not dead. And if you like what you find we can go to the office and hash out some of the boring paperwork stuff, eh?”

Rhydian nodded hard and took Bryce’s hand to walk away around the circular pen and towards the stable blocks. Caleb and Sam stopped to talk a while. Morris stared after the boys.

“I recognise him. Came for a taster day when he started junior year at high school. He did well to, I expect we’ll have him next year,” Morris picked under his finger nails with a chewed up match stick, “And how are things at Iron Hill Lake?”

“Good. The tourist business is good. Lots of people coming for a week, and then moving on to go south to LA or Vegas. It’s nice. Steady.” Caleb smiled tightly, “Rhydian’s not going to have any problems competing for you guys is he?”

Morris shot him a puzzled looked, and laughed.

“You mean because he and that boy are as inseparable as any other two young lovers? No.” Morris shook his head, wiping his brow with the brim of his hat, “He can ride, and from what I know of you and the way you train your riders and your horses, he’ll have the sort of ethical husbandry we admire here.”

Rhydian wrapped his arm around Bryce as they walked. Bryce had been up here before, knew where things were and was easy but respectful in the company of the men and woman they saw. In the back of his mind, Rhydian remarked upon the fact everyone was just like him in jeans, shit-kickers and a variety of grubby t-shirts and pearl button snaps abounded. They walked into a long curved block of stables that was just as organised as Caleb’s yard back at the ranch, and Rhydian loosened up a little.

“Hey there.”

“Hi.”

The speaker appeared from behind a pretty painted horse who at some point had obviously decided he wanted his white patches to be greyish-brown and covered with dust. He smiled at them, and pointed across the yard to an open kit-box.

“Can you pass us a hoof pick outta there please?” Rhydian found the item and handed it across, “What are you boys in for today then. You new?”

“I might be,” Rhydian shook the cowboy’s hand, “Rhyder Markey. Mr Morris had sent me round to check the place out.”

“Cool. Coach Morris is a great guy,” He turned to his horse, who had become interested in the apple and molasses scent which Bryce’s shirt still seemed to be permeated with. “This dirty boy is Jango, I’m Dillon.” He slapped the horse’s neck and the gelding snorted gently, “Aren’t you the steer wrestling kid?”

Rhydian raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

“I saw you on the highlights. I was on night duty, so I missed the rodeo. I’m off for the close up party this evening.” Dillon folded his arms on the sides of the stall, “You did really well. Was it really only your first open rodeo?”

“Yeah.” Rhydian shrugged, feeling embarrassed. It wasn’t every day that people told him they’d seen him on TV, but it was starting to feel like it.

“You rocked babe,” Bryce looped both arms around his waist, “You would look great in the FR rodeo uniform.”

“Yellow?” Rhydian checked the waistcoat hanging with Jango’s tack, “You’d look better.”

“Er… you two…?” Dillon flicked back and forth between them, “Are… together. Oh, cool.”

“I’m hoping to come up the year after,” Bryce acted as though he hadn’t spoken, “I’m gonna be a senior in the fall.”

“What do you reckon then Rhyder?” Sam’s big voice filled the space behind them, “You like it here?”

“Yeah Sam,” Rhydian turned to the Texan and grinned, “I think I do.”

“Paper work time then bud,” Sam slapped his shoulder and turned away.

“Who’s that?” Dillon asked.

Rhydian watched Sam’s retreating back. A few weeks ago, the answer to that question would have been complicated. He kept his hand in Bryce’s pocket as he watched Sam leaving. He knew he’d been stupidly infatuated with Sam, and then in a slightly different way with Jase. He would worry it meant as little now, except for the frantic beating of his heart and the soft but persistent heat he felt when Bryce looked at him that way and smiled.

“Sam. He’s Caleb’s boyfriend. He’s my friend.”

Together the five of them walked from the equine unit across the parking lot and the big green area, where there were already a few staff and students hanging out and eating lunch. The price of working with animals and forestry, Rhydian reflected, was there were no weekends. Somehow, having Shura made up for the lack of Sunday lie-ins. Morris gave them a little bit of history about the place as they walked.

“The college was founded proper in nineteen eighty eight and we have about fifteen hundred students all told. If you decide to join us then you’ll be I think the first British ‘Golden Eagle’ we’ve ever had.”

“Cool… I think.” Rhydian smiled tightly, but Caleb nodded reassuringly, and that was enough for him.

“We have on site housing for students in Greenhorn Ranch,” he gestured to a building poking out back of the pine forest, “And we can certainly find space for you and your horse.”

“Horses,” Caleb chipped in, “He comes with two.”

“I mean if you prefer, you can live in the accommodations in town,” Morris nodded, “But the rodeo team tend to live on site, at least for the first year. We ranked sixth in the league last year. You’ll be a great asset to the team.”

Rhydian looked around the campus as they came up to the administration building. It was green, according to Bryce there was snow in the winter, the trees were thick, the mountains stood tall in the distance, and Iron Hill Lake was only a few miles away. Rhyder sighed deeply.

“You know, I think I’m gonna like it here.”

*

There were no new riders in that afternoon, and when they got back to Iron Hill Lake, Rhydian and Bryce found a few of the newer guests hanging around, having already ridden themselves. With his bruised ribs still aching, Rhydian chivvied them with their tack and saddles out onto the grass and they polished up the tack in the sun. Shura’s saddle with the tooled leather was in dire need of some love, so Rhydian took it apart and sat shoulder to shoulder with Bryce with the saddle over his knees, the scent of saddle soap filling the air.

“So you work here?” The guy who had spoken to him the previous evening in the hallway asked. Bryce had shown him how to work up lather on the saddle soap and he too was working his saddle leather in small circles.

“Sort of, I mean, I guess.” Rhydian shrugged, “I came up as a guest just like you guys did.”

“You’re kidding?” The guy’s girlfriend asked, “But you’re a rodeo cowboy.”

Bryce kissed his shoulder with a smile.

“Well I am now. Caleb is a great trainer.” Rhydian kissed Bryce back, and winced as he twisted his ribs, “Damn that still hurts.”

“It’s really rare for steer’s to run a cowboy down. Jase was right, it shouldn’t have happened.” Bryce grumbled.

“Christ babe,” Rhydian leaned hard into Bryce’s shoulder, “I swear if you ever get run down by one of those fucking bulls you ride…”

“I wear a Kevlar vest and helmet babe.” He frowned, “Yes. Always! I saw a guy at the PBR in New York get whacked off a couple of years ago and he got caught around the head by the bull’s horn. No way would I ride without my helmet.”

“Why would anyone ride without one?” A mature guy with a thick Canadian accent asked. He was getting in a bit of a mess with the different parts of his bridle, and Rhydian clicked his tongue and took the mass of leather to sort it out. Only afterwards did he realise he had clicked his command like he would for a horse rather than speaking.

“Some of the guys don’t like the weight, but you have to in the younger classes. Pretty much all the young guys wear helmets now in bull riding. Some of the old boys still don’t, but I think if you’re gonna do this for a living. You gotta protect yourself.”

“You can actually make a living as a bull rider?” Someone asked, sceptically.

“Oh hell yeah.” Bryce grinned like a mad fool, and starting waxing lyrical about his favourite rodeo sport. Rhydian relaxed back against his boyfriend, listening to the timbre of his voice and letting the vibration thrum up through his body. It was peaceful and relaxing in the sun with the smells of leather and soap and grass. And Bryce’s tangy apply shampoo. It was a good place and time for a nap.

Pal woke them with the dinner bell, and Rhydian oversaw all the guests putting their tack away and locked up the saddle room after the last person. Bryce was out front talking to Sam and an older cowboy who was standing with a truck and a double horse box.

“Rhyder, this is Tyler Callahan. Ty comes through twice a year on his way around the rodeo circuit.” Rhydian shook the man’s hand as he was introduced, “If Ty had been your ring cowboy, you wouldn’t have so many bruises.”

“You rodeo?”

“Bulldogging. Got stuck a bit,” Rhydian pulled up the hem of his shirt to show his blooming purple bruises. “I’ll live.”

“Rhyder can you help Ty unload and I’ll hold dinner for y’all?”

“Sure.” Rhyder lead a pretty bay mare down the ramp from the horse box and waited for Tyler while he fetched her apparent twin. They were well matched horses. They walked out to a spare paddock together.

“So, Sam was telling me you won at the County Open.”

“Yeah. Right before I fainted in the dust.”

“I wouldn’t worry. Give it another rodeo and you’ll have a nice reputation to build on. What did you say your name was?”

“Rhyder. Rhyder Markey.”

“Oh that’s good.” Tyler laughed as they took the head collars off and turned the horses out, “It’s a good choice of name. The crowds’ll love it.”

“What do you mean?” Rhyder paused with his hand on the gate, “That is my name.”

“You know what it means?”

“Huh?”

“I might have spent the better part of my life travelling the country and playing back up to a string of young cowboys, but I always loved to read,” Tyler smiled, “And I think language is a fascinating thing. Rhyder is a good name, considering what you do, but your last name is even better. You really don’t know?” Rhydian shook his head. “Old Gaelic word kid,” Tyler patted his shoulder, “Means ‘horse rider’. Like I said, a good name for what you do.”

Rhydian stared after him.

“How is it possible I didn’t know that?”

“Thousands of people wandering around in this world not knowing what their name means kid. In this regard, you ain’t special.”

Rhydian smiled to himself as he followed Tyler in towards the ranch house. His name meant horse rider, and Rhydian wondered what his sister’s face would look like when he told her. All too soon he was going to have to go back. And though his mother had promise he could come back, Rhydian knew things were going to be different once he got back to the new house. Once his mother thought he was home again, that tone would show up, and Bryce and Caleb and Sam would not be there to save him from her. Getting back here was going to be a dog fight, but Rhydian had already decided whatever he had to go through, even if it meant sneaking out and spending all his savings on a plane ticket back, was going to be worth it.

In the warm light of the kitchen, his friends and his boyfriend waited for him, and Rhyder was damned if he was going to let all this slip away. The future was bright and shiny, horse shaped and yellow, and he was going to have it whether his parents liked the idea or not.