Once in a Blue Moon (33 page)

He bolted to one side
and sprinted the half-circle to the middle of the corral, passed
the bull, and darted across to the other side.

The crowd screamed
advice.

The bull pivoted its
huge body in the center of the makeshift arena, lost sight of him,
and stopped.

Richard stared at the
animal’s backside--exactly the view he wanted to see. Muscles
bunching, the beast moved, walking slowly toward the release gate
as the others scrambled out of its path. Heart pounding, Richard
lightly ran back to where he’d started, taking care to stay out of
the bull’s line of vision. Richard liked his own hide just the way
it was and planned to keep it that way.

The bull tossed its
head, bellowed aggressively, and trotted around the edge of the
corral, the loose skin at its throat swaying. It looked in
Richard’s direction once more.

Evil incarnate.

The hair on the back of
Richard’s neck stood up.

Suddenly, the bull
charged one of the other contenders, and the young man immediately
jumped the fence and was pulled over by spectators.

The disappointed groans
in the crowd revealed who the youth’s supporters were.

Richard let out a breath. One opponent down, three to go. He
took a moment to size up the competition. One boy looked terrified,
the other two jumpy, but self-assured.
He
could win this
!

The noise from the
throng escalated, and the bull tossed its head twice and made a
wide sweep of the arena before coming back toward Richard and two
of the other young men who ran toward the end of the corral. One
boy wore a red shirt, poor sap. The bull lowered his head and
picked up speed.

Oh,
boy
.

All four of them
scattered--Richard and one boy to the right, the other two boys to
the left. Richard slipped on the slick dirt--not a good idea--and
grabbed at the edge of the corral. A man leaned over the rail and
screamed in his ear, the words unintelligible.

Richard looked around
wildly, but thankfully, the bull ran after a boy across the
arena.

He
regained his balance and headed toward the gate. He couldn’t
believe he was doing this. He couldn’t ever remember doing anything
so stupid. So dangerous. So
fun
!

A
contender sprinted passed Richard, stumbled and fell. Richard
grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked. “Get up!
Get
up
!”

The boy shot him an
incredulous look. “What do you think I’m doing?” He ran past
Richard.

Switching his gaze to the bull, Richard laughed. What
was
he
doing
here?

The bull ran at one of
the others and the guy jumped over the edge of the corral just in
time to avoid being skewered. Many hands helped to haul him over.
His friends berated him.

Two down, two to
go.

The bull stopped in the
center, snorted and looked around.

The crowd quieted as
they waited to see what the animal would do.

“
Richard
!”
Melissa’s voice was loud and shrill. “
Get
out of there
!”

Richard turned and
scanned the crowd, looked at the bull, then scanned again. Melissa
was standing on a fence rail with the kids. She looked worried. So
did Jessica. Jeremy, grinning, looked awe-struck. Richard smiled,
waved. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m going to win this!”

The crowd laughed. Some
booed.

The bull trotted toward
Richard and another guy. Richard went one way, and the young cowboy
wearing a red shirt went the other.

The bull got closer,
and at the last moment, chose Richard as victim. What? The other
guy wore a red shirt! Why didn’t the bull go after him?

Richard maneuvered in a
circle around the bull and managed to get away. Barely. Sweating,
shaking, he backed away from the now motionless beast.

He heard his name
shouted along with words of encouragement. The other two men had
friends who egged them on also. He could see bets being placed.

The bull ran at one of
the others and the guy was quick. The bull lost sight of him;
stopped.

The bull turned on
Richard. Pawed the dirt.

Oh, boy.

Richard ran, darted to
the left, and the bull’s attention turned to another man. It was
like playing a game of pass off.

Richard bent over,
leaned his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.

The bull charged and
the young man jumped out of the arena; didn’t have a choice.

Three down.

Now it was just him and
another guy: the kid with the red shirt. Richard’s heart pounded.
He was going to win this! He could feel it!

The bull turned toward
him.

Richard ran to get out
of the bull’s line of vision, but the bull saw him and twisted its
body to give chase.

Richard circled
once--the bull followed--twice--he couldn’t lose him, and would
swear he felt hot breath on his neck. He ran for the fence and
jumped out of the arena, barely in time; the bull’s horn scraped
the side of the corral.

Richard’s so-called
friends pulled him over the fence and he landed on the ground with
a bone-jarring thud.

He’d lost to a guy
wearing a red shirt.

He smacked the
hard-packed dirt with his open hand.

James grabbed the back
of his shirt. “Lord almighty! You almost won!”

“Almost doesn’t count,”
Richard grumbled.

Tex helped to heft him
up. “Ya put on a good showing. Did us proud.”

“Yeah, you did good.”
Merrill slapped his back.

Willie punched him in
the arm. “At least you wasn’t out first or second. You did
good.”

David threw him a grin.
“You didn’t embarrass us. You didn’t win us any money, but you
didn’t embarrass us.”

Richard’s heart started
to slow. He nodded, accepting their congratulations, and turned to
see the winner standing on top of the fence, crowing.

Melissa pushed her way
through the crowd. “Are you all right?” Her face was white.

Richard grinned. “Yes.
Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Melissa slapped his
face, turned and walked away.

Oh, boy.

Heart in her throat,
Melissa marched through the crowd, needing to get away from
Richard. She was so mad at him she could scream.

What did he want to do?
Die here? Leave her and the children in the past? Alone? Tears
gathered in her eyes.

Didn’t he realize she’d
be devastated if anything happened to him, no matter what time they
were in? She choked on a sob. And she’d wanted a divorce?

Hannah struggled to
catch up, and Melissa belatedly realized Hannah was upset too.

Melissa tried to rein
in her own feelings. To remember her responsibility toward Hannah.
Melissa reached out and took Hannah’s hand. “Come on.” She dragged
Hannah along behind her, pushing her way though the crowded
park.

Laughter rang in the
air, and Melissa could hear people discussing the size of the bull;
discussing Richard and his close call. Her anger rose a notch.

“Wait! Hey! Melissa,
wait!” Richard caught up, the kids trailing behind.

Ignoring them, Melissa
walked faster, weaving her way around people before coming to a
clearing.

Jeremy, oblivious to
any emotional undercurrents, loped up beside her and pointed in the
distance. “Mom, we’ll be over by the pond, okay?” He was grinning,
excited.

Melissa nodded, not
trusting herself to speak.

The twins quickly left
in search of entertainment.

Richard put a hand to
her shoulder and tried to stop her, to turn her around.
“Melissa?”

Melissa didn’t even
slow. She jerked her shoulder away and kept going, determined to
walk all the way home.

“Honey? Lissa? What’s
wrong?”

He
was
such
an
idiot! Melissa let go of Hannah, stopped and turned around. “What
do you think?” She waved a hand in the air. “You risk your life,
with no thought to me or to the kids. What were you doing?” She
nodded. “I’ll tell you what you were doing! You were trying to
impress a bunch of backward yahoos by acting like one yourself.
Tell me, was it worth it? Do you feel macho? I’ll tell you what.
The next time you have this uncontrollable urge to die, let me
know,
and
I’ll
kill you myself
!”

Hannah whimpered and
her hands went to her face. She looked around as if searching for a
way out.

A crowd was gathering.
People making their way back from the corral stopped to listen.

Melissa took a deep
breath and tried to push her emotions down to a calmer level for
Hannah’s sake, but her eyes filled with tears. “What did you think
you were doing?”

“Aw, honey.” He went to
take her in his arms.

Melissa hit his hands
away.

Sully caught up with
them and slapped Richard on the back.

“You sure know how to
put on a good show.”

Jed, his muscular size
an advantage, easily pushed through the gathering crowd. “You sure
do. You did us proud.”

“I’ll say,” said Henry,
forcing his way into their circle. “You almost won.”

At
the words, at the pride in Richard’s smile, Melissa’s anger
escalated again. “You three can
butt
out
.”

Henry’s eyes widened
and he hit Jed. “Yeah. Butt out. Who asked you anyway?”

Jed glanced at Hannah,
then hit Henry back. “No one asked you either.”

The men got into a
friendly tussle, smacking each other openhanded, no real damage
being done.

Melissa rolled her
eyes. This was all she needed right now.

Hannah’s hands clenched into fists and she pushed them into
her cheeks. She was
very
agitated. Panicking.

Melissa’s brows
tightened and she put a hand out. “Hannah?”

At the same time,
Richard put his hand out toward Hannah too. “Hey, are you
okay?”

Hannah, eyes glued to
Jed and Henry slapping each other, started to sob.

Melissa was appalled.
She hadn’t realized the extent of Hannah’s upset. She tried to get
to Hannah, to reassure her, but people blocked the way.

Mrs. MacPherson pushed
into their group, immediately saw Hannah, and went to her.

Hannah threw herself at
the widow and clung to her, her sobs escalating.

Melissa shoved through
the crowd and put a hand on Hannah’s arm. “Hannah, are you all
right?”

The widow took a deep
breath and started to say something, stopped, and shot Melissa a
venomous look. “If you will excuse us, Mrs. Kendal?”

Melissa was stricken,
both by Hannah’s emotions and the widow’s criticism. She just
couldn’t handle this on top of everything else. “Hannah? Is there
something I can do?”

Hannah shook her
head.

The widow glared.
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” She led Hannah away.

Mouth dry, Melissa
watched them leave, and the earlier triumph of the day turned ugly.
Her heart beat hard in her chest. It was the first truly altruistic
thing she’d ever done, and it hadn’t worked out.

Trickling away, the
crowd continued on to the park.

Jed was alarmed.
“Where’s Hannah going? What’s wrong with her?” He moved to
follow.

Melissa put a hand to
Jed’s arm and shook her head. “Not right now.” She’d like to get
mad at Jed and Henry for this, but had only herself to blame.
Hannah had been her responsibility. She glanced at Richard for
support.

He put an arm around
her, pulled her close and gave her a reassuring squeeze. The much
anticipated day had turned to ashes.

* * *

Melissa lifted the curtain and looked out the window. Another
cabin was
still
in the way and she
still
couldn’t see the ranch house. She paced back to
the stove, rinsed and wrung out a cloth in the wash pan and
re-cleaned the kitchen table.

Richard sat in a chair,
busy working on a piece of leather. He looked at her but didn’t say
a word.

Melissa’s fist clenched
on the cloth. “If they would have just shown up at church this
would have been so much easier!”

“Mmm hmm.” Richard
continued his mending.

She
rinsed the cloth again. “I had it all planned out. I would have met
Hannah and the widow in the churchyard afterward and everything
would have been casual. I’d say ‘Hi, how’s it going.’ Hannah would
say, ‘Oh, hi, sorry I acted so weird yesterday’, and that would
have been
that
.”

She washed the stove
again. She just wanted to resolve this conflict and talk to Hannah.
She didn’t like feeling upset; guilty. Especially when she hadn’t
even done anything wrong! “Why didn’t they just go to church?”

Richard eyed her.
“You’re right, they should have been there.”

His agreement irritated
her. She glanced around looking for something else to clean. She
eyed the blackened wall and ceiling behind the stove, but decided
trying to clean the soot off the logs would simply smear the black.
She sighed and glared down at the floor.

The problem was, she
was nervous about talking to Hannah. Did Hannah blame her for
something? Was she angry? She probably hated Melissa and no longer
considered them friends. And what about the widow? No doubt she’d
ream Melissa at the first opportunity.

Richard tightened the
leather strap he was working on. “Maybe you should just go see her?
I could go with you if you want.”

Melissa turned on him. “
I’m not a
coward
.
I don’t
need you to hold my hand
.”