The Rodo Gang Series: Part 1

Chapter 5

(This chapter has not been edited!)

Asher's pov:
I had just woken up and picked up my phone to look at the time. 8:42. Not bad I thought. I rolled over to my left side to look for Brad sleeping on the floor. He wasn't there. So I got up, put my sweats over my spandex shorts and went downstairs. I could hear voices as I was walking down the hall into the kitchen. I noticed Brad was cooking breakfast and my parents were sitting at the bar talking with him. All I could think about was how last night Brad was worried about my dad getting mad that he spent the night while he was away. I wonder if I'll get in trouble?

"Hey Sweetie!" my mom greeted.
"Good morning mom, how'd you sleep?"
"Oh, we didn't sleep at all. We drove all night so we could make it home in time for the jackpot,"
"My typical parents," I thought.
"Asher, I was just talking to your mom about you and Brad roping together today. How does that sound?" My dad asked us.
I looked over at Brad who was plating the food he was making. He walked over to my parents and set a plate in front of each of them. I grabbed a couple of forks to help and set them next to their plates. He made biscuits and gravy with bacon on the side.
"Well Brad, I'm in if you're in,"
"Sounds like we've got the winning team right here!" He said high giving me. "Hey now, lets not get too carried away. You two both know that me and Bryan will beat you!" My dad warned. "Oh please, we can take two old farts any day! Isn't that right Brad?" We all chuckled and I turned around to look at Brad. He stood there awkwardly like he didn't know if it was smart to agree with that. Not too many dad points on that if you know what I mean. "Of course we will Asher!" He came up behind me and put his arm around my waist. This was one heck of a team right here. My parents were laughing at our big pretend egos. "Alright kids, I'll call the rodeo coach after breakfast is done to tell him to enter two teams." "Thanks dad."
•
•
•
A couple of hours later.

It was about 11 o clock and Brad and I were just loading up our horses for this afternoon. He left to his house to bring all his tack and his horses and just drove through our archway leading up to our place. I was opening up the trailer door when Brad ran up and asked,
"hey so which horses are you bringing today?"

"Well I'm for sure bringing Pete and I was thinking about bringing Luka,"

"What? Why would you bring Luka? Isn't he crazy?"

"He was crazy a few months ago when we bought him but he's gentle and has a good head now. I started him on barrels last week and he did just fine."

"Okay well barrels is one thing because you're just running around barrels but roping is a lot on a horse, especially if he's not used to it."

"He is used to it though, his old owners used to head off of of him a lot, so I think I'll be fine riding him," I spat out. Brad is super sweet and I love him, don't get me wrong, but he is so protective! I realize he just wants to make sure I'm safe but he can back off every now and then. Pete will never hurt me. I've been riding on him since I was a baby. He's the sweetest horse on the planet. He's a big quarter horse, a bay and is sixteen hands high. He's my dad horse, but I ride him the most so over the years he's slowly become mine. Luka on the other hand we haven't had for long. He was our neighbors' horse but never got rode. So when our neighbor died, we decided to buy his horse at the auction. He is a stallion and is a light palomino with a white blaze going down his face. I always used to pet him from across the pasture fence growing up. Because of that, I'm the only one he'll let get on him. All those years he hadn't been ridden have made him a little spooky.

One time when I was about ten years old, I noticed he was caught in some wire in the corner of the pasture. I brought an apple with me and wire cutters. I cut the apple in half with my pocket knife and slowly walked up to him. He tried breaking free but he didn't succeed. I finally reached him and gave him the apple slices. I petted his back and worked my way down his leg. The wire had cut him all over his leg and blood was slightly dripping down. There was a lot of blood dried and clumped up. I pulled the wire cutters out of my hoodie pocket. I have only used these a couple of times but I had the assistance of my dad to help me. Now I was in my own. I opened them like how I was showed and put a piece of wire in the cutter and squeezed. By golly it worked! I put another string of wire through and squeezed. It wouldn't work this time. I tried again. Nothing. I had to get smarter. I put one half of the barbed wire in the cutter and squeezed. One half was done, now for the other half. I cut the other half and it unraveled most of the wire from Luka's leg. I finished the rest of the cutting before heading back to my house. I got to the fence and started to climb over when I realized that Luka had followed me across the small pasture. I quickly ran to the barn and grabbed a halter and lead rope set and headed back over. I brought another apple with me so he would lean down enough for me to halter him. It worked like a charm. I opened the gate and led him over to the wash rack. I was going to need to get help for this part. I quickly tied him up and ran as quick as I could to the house.
"Mom! Dad! Where are you?" "My dad ran out from the living room with a worried look on his face. "What is it Asher?" "Daddy Luka cut open his leg from wire," "where is he now?" He started putting on his boots. "He's at the wash rack, I cut the wire off and tied him up to the wash rack," "in impressed, you were able to do all that?" "Mhm," I nodded my head. We went out to the barn area and I was told to call Jamie. Jamie was a vet student who always comes out whenever we need assistance. Him and my dad always rope together. I went in the office and made the call. I walked out to find my dad. He was spraying water on the cut. His cuts were on the only leg that is pure white. Ironic, right? "Did you talk to Jamie Ash?" "Yeah he said he'll be here in fifteen minutes." "Okay, can you try to keep Luka calm while we wait for Jamie to show up?" I nodded and went to his left side's face I stroked his cheek and told him everything was going to be okay. My dad was on the phone with his owner. He can barely leave his house he is so old. He told us to do what we have to and to charge the vet bill to him and he'll take care of that. Luka ended up only needing to me sewed up and and wrapped to help heal faster. About a week later we turned Luka back out in his pasture and cleaned up all of the spare wire laying around. That week that I had to take care of him definitely strengthened our bond and I knew I had a friend for life.

I loaded up Luka and Pete in my trailer first followed by Bo$$ and Rockstar. Brad put the rest of his tack in the front of the trailer and off we went to the rodeo grounds.
•
•
•
Three hours later

Brad and I ended up placing second and our dads got first. They're so hard to beat! We just loaded up our horses and we're about to hop in the truck when Bryan came over to us.

"Hey kids, you guys roped really good out there!"
"Thanks sir," I replied.
"Not good enough," Brad pouted.
"Well son, we have been doing this a lot longer than you guys have. But I'll tell you what. Brad, why don't you guys make your way up to the house and pack some camping gear so you can take Asher up to the cabin tonight?" Brad looked at me to see if I was up for going. "That sounds amazing!" "Okay I'll meet you up at the house dad." We climbed in the cab and headed home.

Once we arrived at Brad's house, we went in the garage to grab some totes full of supplies we may need while we are up there. I stacked them all in the back of Brad's truck along with my suitcase. Brad was now inside packing his own bag to take. I just received a text from Brad.

Hey can you bring an empty tote in the house?

A minute later I went inside with the container and went to find Brad. He was changing out of his dirty jeans and was shirtless when I walked in.
"Hey," I greeted. I walked up to him and gently hugged him from the back. "Hey babe," he leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Are you going to let me finish?" He laughed. I assume he was referring to him putting some clothes on. "Nah, I like you better like this," I teased. He picked out a new pair of wranglers from his closet and pulled them on. I grabbed his belt and started to loop the belt through his belt loops. As I was walking to the back with the belt, he slid on a Billabong t shirt. Once I was finished, he zipped up his suitcase and slipped on his ropers.

We went out to the kitchen and packed some food such as eggs, milk, bread, potatoes, cheese, water, Gatorade and ham. I was just finishing putting the food that needs to be chilled in some thermal bags with some ice packs to keep cool. We loaded up the rest of the stuff when Bryan came out to set us off. "Well you two, here's the key to the cabin. Be safe I love you both and don't get too wild up there," Brad smirked as he said the last part. "Don't worry, we won't," I promised. He gave us hugs and we got in his truck for the final time. "Are you sure we won't?" Brad asked. "Huh?" "You said we won't get too wild when we're up there alone," "we'll I just said that because he's your dad," "ahh okay. Makes sense. I don't make any promises though," he gave my knee a squeeze and gave me a wink. We both laughed. I can't wait for this weekend!

I would like to thank Auphe-Leandro  for letting me help wish his girlfriend a happy birthday! 🎈