“Well, ain’t that a sight to see,” Matt said, scratching his sweat-soaked head, looking off into the pasture.
Kevin stopped with wheelbarrow still in hand, on his way back from the compost heap, and took a look himself. He saw the outline of a horse and a rider emerging just a short distance away. “So what? It’s just Mr. Kelso,” Kevin said.
“Looks like Old Man Kelso found himself a pet monkey.”
Matt must be hittin’ those beers again, Kevin thought, but then he put two and two together. Leonard was also riding on the back of Whisky.
Matt continued his rude comedy: “He must’ve ridden too close to the tree line, and one fell out of the oak trees onto Whisky’s back.”
“That’s it!”
Kevin dropped the wheelbarrow hard, causing the pitchfork and shovel to roll out onto the ground. The sound startled Matt, who turned to his left, just in time to see Kevin running full stride at him. Matt did not even have time to turn his feet, as he was still oriented towards the pasture, holding a feed bucket in each hand. Kevin collided with him at a full run. He leapt into the air like a tiger on the hunt and wrapped his arms around Matt’s neck, striking him off balance.
Matt dropped the feed buckets as he flipped over to his right side, rolling two full turns before coming to a stop. Kevin wrapped his legs around Matt’s waist, and with both hands firmly locked around his neck, he started to squeeze like an anaconda. Matt tried to pull Kevin’s hands apart from around his neck, to no avail. Kevin’s years of swimming had given him great strength in his arms, maybe the strength of two twelve-year-olds, and that was as good as one twenty-four-year-old man in Kevin’s mind. He had just flat out had enough.
Matt desperately tried to free his neck from the grip of Kevin’s arms. When that did not work, he struggled and eventually got to his feet. He swung his fists wildly, attempting to hit Kevin’s head, which was tucked in tight to Matt’s neck. Kevin could feel Matt’s razor stubble against his own cheek as Matt swung and punched wildly in an attempt to free himself.
“Take it back!” Kevin screamed. “You take it back right now!”
Matt could not have answered even if he wanted to. He was losing air, and the more he struggled, the weaker his punches became. Matt needed saving, in more ways than one.
Bo could not believe what he was seeing. At the same time, he knew it was as real as the dust flying and arms flailing. This was no game. As he made to put his heels to Whisky and get to the barn pronto, he felt Leonard dismounting without warning. Casting his shoes from around his shoulders onto the grass, Leonard hit the ground in forward progress, legs a blur of motion, bare feet kicking up dirt. Whisky startled at this surprise move, so much so that he failed for a moment to obey rein and heel commands from Bo. Struggling to turn Whisky and bring him under control, Bo watched as Leonard had already closed the gap between them and Matt with Kevin affixed firmly to his neck.
Whether or not Matt could see Leonard coming, Bo didn’t know, but the boy launched his body full force into Matt’s chest and knocked him back on to the ground.
“Let go of my friend!” Leonard yelled at the top of his lungs as he, too, clamored over Matt.
Kevin still had a hold of Matt’s neck and his legs were wrapped tightly around Matt’s waist. Just then, Bo saw Clint sprinting from the end of the barn and toward the cloud of dust that was now three boys flopping around in the dirt.
Bo stopped Whisky a few feet away from Leonard’s shoulder and Whisky’s head dropped down and almost touched Matt’s cowboy boots. Matt stopped struggling and started lightly tapping on Kevin’s arm. His body was positioned on top of Kevin’s like two turtles struggling to right themselves after falling off a ledge. Matt had given in; he was defeated. The combined effort of the two boys protecting each other was too much for him. Besides, Bo was there now. The fight would have to stop.
“You take it back, Matt!” Kevin shouted one last time.
Matt nodded his head in an attempt to speak.
“Loosen up on him a little, boy. He can’t talk,” Bo said.
As Kevin did this, Matt replied, “Okay, I didn’t mean it, I take it back. Are you happy now?”
Kevin released his grip and jumped to his feet, satisfied that he was the victor.
Matt sat up but did not get on his feet. Leonard stood with both of his fists clenched, watching to make sure Matt was not going to retaliate.
“That’s enough, all of you.” Bo’s voice was commanding and firm. It was all that was needed. Everyone, except for Whisky, stopped. The horse took a step forward and brushed his snout up on the side of Matt’s face, curious at the spectacle of him sitting on the ground and struggling to catch his breath.
“He started this whole thing; he jumped on me from behind and started choking me for no reason.”
“I had a reason, Mr. Kelso.”
“I don’t care what your reasons were. If you boys want to fight each other, that’s fine, but you do it somewhere else,” Bo said. “You’ll spook the horses.”
Clint had stopped just short of the fighting circle and now took a couple steps closer. “Well, I can see that the gang’s all here now. Stop wasting your time playing in the dirt and use that energy to clean the stalls. You’ve entertained the livestock long enough.”
Clint walked past the tangle of youths and glanced up at Bo with a smile so wide Bo thought he would break into hysterics. But in seconds, he was wearing that same smile. The two men were aware of the significance of this moment, these past few days, remembering similar moments from their childhood, when they became men from boys. And best of all, they knew they’d played a big role in setting this feat in motion. Bo knew Clint felt similarly, the satisfaction filling up as many empty spaces as possible in their hearts.
An unspoken but workable relationship was forged between the three young men. They each worked their ends of the barn cleaning stalls and feeding horses. Matt got used to feeding the goats and stopped complaining. He stopped pushing Kevin’s buttons. He tolerated Leonard without harm. The three to four hours of work each morning passed quickly and without incident. Clint occasionally worked the weekends alone, giving the other three some slack in their ropes to pursue other passions.
Matt’s questionable habits of overindulgence and tardiness continued, but were improving slowly. Bo kept him on. Even an ugly cow needed a herd to graze with.