COWBOY DAN - THE SOFT COWBOY

Dan was a nice handsome young feller, who lived a peaceful life with his ma, pa, four brothers, and lil sister. When not in school he worked hard on the land from dawn until dusk, and then rested some every nightfall dreaming of being something grand when he moved on out of home.

Dan loved rodeo. Each quarter he’d attend the local shows and watch cowboys show off their strength riding a wild bull’s spine. He would sit with eyes bulging as cowboys became tossed here and there, straining muscles to stay on, and shouting out “Heyaaa!” on every breath granted. Dan would get his heart fluttering as he watched the fighting cowboys fall and get a bit of a trampling, before picking themselves up, and challenging the raging bull to some hands on tournament. At the end Dan would jump on his seat, toss his dusted hat up, and outcry the loudest holler ever born.

On occasion when wandering the stables after an afternoon’s watching, Dan would meet a sweat-shined cowboy and be asked if he was interested in the sport.

“Nah, just a watchin.” Dan murmured, as his face blushed pink.

The cowboy would smile, toss him a wet towel, and stagger away. Dan felt exalted when those times came – however words began to form about his lack of wit. One word would spread on to the next, and then after; soon all knew Dan wasn’t tough.

Dan was oblivious of the rumour at first and felt honoured when someone dusted off his jacket, made groceries extra-light, helped him on a horse with an old thigh boost, or gave him a shot-glass of fresh lemonade. However one day as Dan was drinking down a fresh bottle of milk, his ears caught the cackles of two dressed up harem girls who loftily stood outside of a bar as they twined slimline fingers round sprigs of hair hoping to allure customers to the bar.