Beneath the Tombstone (The Tombstone Series) (14 page)

When
Jason landed it startled the upside-down heifer and as a result he received a
hoof to the chest, knocking him back, directly into the older cowboy who caught
him, pushed him down then forward as he instructed, “Stay down. Go in low and
get up under her.
Y’all
got to lift her hind-end
clean off of this other one.”

Jason
still didn’t see how that would help. If they actually could get the top one
lifted off of the other there was no way a single man could drag the bottom one
free.

“Push!”
older cowboy ordered. Jason lunged in beside the kid and began pushing for all
he was worth. “Good, were clear,” the older horseman spoke in a quick and
excited tone. “Hold ‘
er
right there,” he said with a
grown as he dug his heels in and began to pull. “She’s hung up. Keep holding ‘
er
,” he spoke as he stuck his head around Jason’s leg and
squeezed between the two calves. In position, he began trying to pull the
bottom calf’s hoof from the spot where it was wedged.

Jason
felt something warm began trickling down his back. “She’s peeing on me,” he
cried out in horror.

The
younger cowboy chuckled, “Peeing
ain’t
all she’s doing
on you.”

Jason
wanted to run away and puke, but the older cowboy’s words of encouragement made
him keep holding his position. “Drop ‘
er
on me, we’ll
both be sorry.”

A few
moments later, Jason felt the cowboy’s hand jerk as the hoof came free.
Crawling out, the big man set his boots solid into the ground and began to pull
again. His face turned red, veins stood out in his neck, and he began to make a
deep growling sound from the strain. The heifer began to move.

Finally,
the one on the bottom was pulled clear. “Okay boys, let ‘
er
down.” Jason let out a grown as he and the younger cowboy lowered her back
down. She just lay there on her back with her knees bent.

“Is
she dying?” Jason asked, voicing his concern.

“
Naw
,” the kid replied, “she just a little dazed from laying
on her back for so long.” He paused as he looked over at the other calf that
had been on the bottom. “That’s the one we need to worry about dying,” he said
as he indicated towards her. With that, he turned and gave the dazed one a
nudge with his boot. She began thrashing around. The sound of her hooves
kicking against the sheet metal made an awful racket, and Jason was sure she’d
be stuck there for good. But, finally, she got her feet worked back under her.
She was even pointing in the direction of the trailer when she stood.

“Step
back,” the kid instructed Jason as he stepped to the side of the chute where he
was less likely to get kicked and grabbed the heifer’s tail which he then
kinked up over her back. She bawled and kicked backward at the air before
lunging forward, up into the trailer.

With
that done, they all turned their attention back to the yearling that was still
down. She hadn’t even tried to pick her head up. “If we don’t get her up soon,
she’ll just lay there till she dies,” the kid said gravely. “Give me a hand,”
he instructed Jason as he began trying to hoist the heifer up by her tail.

Following
suit, Jason grabbed the tail just above the kid’s hands, squatted down and
began lifting. The older cowboy grabbed the calf by the ears, and together they
all began pulling her to her feet. With a distressed cry, she trembled, trying
to get her legs stiffened out straight beneath her. Soon the heifer was
standing on her own, though she was swaying side to side like a drunken sailor
in the midst of a tropical storm. Finally, she began to stagger back down the
channel, the sheet metal popping loudly as she smashed into first one side then
the other.

“She’ll
have to catch next month’s load out,” the older cowboy said, “if she don’t decide
to die on us, that is.”

As
Jason strode alongside the two ranchers, with his previously spotless dress
shirt now stained with cow manure and pee, he had never felt such a sense of
pride swelling up in his chest. These hard men, who very obviously took
nonsense from no one, seemed to have accepted him to some extent.

The
older of the two looked at the back of Jason’s shirt, and his mustache moved
with his cheeks as he grinned. “You may have to move that shirt over to the
work pile,” he commented. Jason wasn’t about to admit it, but he didn’t even
have a work pile.

“Yep,”
injected the younger cowboy in a laidback voice as he pushed his cowboy hat up
with his index finger, “not bad for a city boy.”

At
any other place, coming from any other person, any other time, Jason may have
taken offence to the comment, but now he accepted it like the tough looking
young man had meant it… as the highest of praise.

They
opened a gate leading into a small shaded pen with water and feed before gently
herding the weak calf into it. As soon as they had closed the gate on her, the
older rancher turned to Jason with an out stretched hand. “I’m Tyler,” the man
said, introducing himself. He towered several inches over Jason, and his grip
said that he was strong, knew it and didn’t have a thing to prove.

“I’m
Jason,” he responded. After he released Tyler’s hand, Jason turned to the
younger man. “Jason,” he spoke his name again.

“Rye,”
the kid responded, giving Jason’s hand a firm shake.

After
greetings had been exchanged, a forgotten voice interrupted the small talk that
was being made between the three men. “Somebody, let me down… please,” the
distraught trucker begged. “Please, let me down. I’ll stay in the trailer.”

Jason,
Tyler and Rye all quickly turned and looked in the direction from which the
pleas had come. A look of surprise came over each of their faces as remembrance
registered on their faces. The image before them was rather sad, regardless of
what crime had been committed. The truck driver had managed to somehow coil his
way, in sit-up fashion, up to his feet which he clang to desperately.

“You
better go let him down,” Rye spoke to Tyler in a concerned voice.

“Yeah,”
Tyler responded slowly, “to be perfectly honest with you, I forgot he was
there.” As he spoke, it appeared as though a glimmer of humor may have sparked
in his eye. Jason had to admit, he was starting to find it a bit humorous. It
would’ve been one thing if the guy had done nothing deserving of his
punishment, but he had practically begged for what he got. Jason followed the
two other men as they climbed over several fences, making their way towards the
dangling man.

Tyler
came to a stop by a small barn. “Would you mind grabbing Jason here a hotshot
out of the shed while I go over and release the prisoner?” he asked Rye before
turning to head off towards the hanging man.

A
thought seemed to stop him in his tracks, and he spun back around to the two
men with an astounded look on his face. “I’m sorry, Jason,” he apologized as he
shook his head. “You don’t even work for us, and here I am ordering you around
like an old hand.” He paused a moment. “We’re short-handed. The guy who usually
cleans the stalls and does most of our foot work went back to Mexico. I don’t
know why you’re here, but if you’ll help us get this other truck loaded, I’ll
pay you good money.”

“Sure,”
Jason spoke. “I’ll help you.” Really, the tall ranchman didn’t even have to
offer money. Jason hadn’t felt so good about doing something in a long time.
Plus, with a new challenge before him, it was nice to be able to put down, if
only for a brief moment, the things that were behind.

Tyler
gave him a thumbs-up as he headed back over towards the trucker who still clung
to his feet like his life depended on it. Jason followed Rye into the shed
where the young man plucked a hotshot from its place on the wall before handing
it to Jason.

When
they rounded the corner to watch Tyler free the hanging man, to Jason’s
surprise he almost ran smack-dab into the tall cattleman.

“Let
me have that hotshot,” Tyler instructed as a sly grin spread across his face.

Jason
asked no questions. He just handed it over.

“Come
on, Tyler,” Rye spoke with concern. “Don’t you think you’ve put that poor man
through enough without electrocuting him?”

“I
ain’t
gonna
electrocute him,” the
tall horseman said then paused, his grin widening, “but I see no reason for him
to know that.”

The
kid let out a sigh of despair before falling in step behind Jason who was
following Tyler. The two paused a short distance from the hanging tree and
watched as the big man approached his victim. He pushed the button on the prod
and stood there for a moment seeming to access how to best go about the task at
hand. A buzzing sound, caused by voltage looking for a path of travel, could be
heard all the way over to where Jason was standing.

“You
look stuck,” Tyler commented dryly as he gazed at the truck driver.

“I
am,” the man cried. “Please, let me down.”

“Well,
actually that’s why I’m here,” the big cowboy spoke solemnly. “I’ve come to
help you set yourself free… by the same method you used to help them two
yearlings. Now let me see… what were your exact words?” he asked then paused
for a moment, contemplating. “Oh yes. You said ‘If you give anything enough
inspiration it’ll set itself free.” Tyler smiled as he added, “It would appear
that you are now in the same predicament that those two heifers were in. I
assume that you’d like for me to show you the same courtesy?” He raised the
hotshot to the trucker’s side and began inching it closer to him.

“No,
no, no! Please no!” the man bawled. “I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it! I
don’t know why I kept shocking them!”

“It
wasn’t because you thought that they could get up?” the tall cowboy asked in
surprise.

“No
sir.”

“Then
why on earth were you shocking them… even after I told you to stop?” Tyler
asked like he still could not comprehend such willful disobedience.

“I
don’t know, sir. I honestly don’t know,” the hanging man sobbed while shaking
his head.

Tyler
ceased his integration and stood silent for a moment before commenting in a
much more peaceful tone, “I guess the important thing is that you
ain’t
gonna
do it again… right?”

“Yes
sir. I mean, no sir. I mean, I won’t do it again sir… not ever. I, I won’t even…”

“I’m
sure that won’t be necessary,” Tyler injected quietly as he walked over to the
spot where the rope was tied. Reaching up, he snagged the end of it and pulled,
releasing the slipknot. As he unwrapped the rope from around the tree, the
trucker began to slip towards the ground. Tyler sat back on the rope and
checked his victim’s rapid decent before hollering to Jason and Rye, “
Y’all
come catch ‘
em
.”

They
both rushed over and placed their hands on the shoulders of the shaking man and
eased his landing as Tyler began lowered him on down. Once they had him laid
out flat, the older cowboy walked up and began to remove his rope from the
trucker’s feet.

After
that, Jason began trying to help the poor guy up but Tyler stopped him. “Drag
him over to the tree trunk, and let him sit there for a while ‘til he gets some
feeling back into his legs.”

What
surprised Jason the most was the fact that the big rancher seemed to no longer
hold any animosity towards the man who had made him so angry only a short while
before.

- - - - - -

The
next hour or so flew by as Jason squatted down, manning the hotshot at the base
of the loading ramp where the guy they had dangled from the tree had been a
short time before. Both of the cowboys seemed to be happy with his work. It wasn’t
anything extremely complicated, and Jason had always possessed the ability to
learn new things rather quickly… when it was something he was interested in,
anyways.

Finally,
all of the cattle had been loaded, and it was time to check on the driver they had
left sitting over by the fence.

“You
think you can walk and drive now?” Tyler asked as they approached the trucker.

“Yeah,
I think so,” he replied as he began to work his feet up under him.

Tyler
lengthened his stride as he extended his hand. The truck driver gratefully
reached up and grasped it before being helped up to his feet. He stood there on
wobbly legs for a bit before taking a few unsteady steps, like a newborn animal
learning to walk.

As he
walked away, Tyler sighed and adjusted his cowboy hat. “Well, maybe he learned
somethin
’, anyways,” he spoke with a hint of satisfaction
in his voice. “You can’t buy good
learnin
’ like that
from a school.”

“Yeah,”
Jason chuckled, “he’d better just be glad you carry a rope instead of a gun.”
Jason paused a moment, leaving an empty spot for their outburst of laughter.
None came. While it wasn’t the funniest thing he’d ever said, he still thought
it was rather humorous. Was that a look of remorse he saw in Tyler’s eyes? And
why was Rye looking at Jason like he couldn’t believe he had said such a thing?
It was nothing more than a little light hearted jesting. What was the big deal?