Joy - A Short Story

“There are some moments you never forget,” my grandfather said as he stood by the stove. He stirred the pot of chili with a sodden spoon. The saucy tang of the meal warmed the air around us.

”Some years will pass but you remember moments with such vividness, its like you can replay them again and again. It was that way with my time at the ranch. Out in Colorado, I had just turned 18. My dad wanted my to enlist in the army but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. You know, I always thought guns and war were terrible. Like a terrible kind of stain on humanity that we had to deal with. I didn’t want to touch it. No son, not me. So I hitchhiked in a farmer’s car to a ranch out in Colorado. It was only 80 miles from my hometown, but luckily it was far enough. 

The ranch sat on the rocky plains of that state. The sun would rise early and set late. Only your hat would give you shade. Some days were unbearable. But I learned a lot out there. Moving cattle around and how to care for livestock. You see, when we would go to move the cattle, we would drive them for miles. Sometimes all day in that hot, hot sun. So we would try to find places to cool off and let the cattle drink. 

My mate Henry was the foreman of the farm. He was the guide that would lead us as we moved the cattle from place to place for grazing. Henry would always say ‘Looks like it’s gonna rain, today, sport.’ He always said it. It rarely ever rained. 

When I first arrived at the farm, the owner, Mr. Rothstone, was not too keen on keeping me on. You see I was greener than grass, never had done any ranching in my life. But Henry gave one look at me and said to Mr Rothstone, “It’s worth keeping the green grass, it means water’s about.’ 

Apparently that was enough to keep me on. From there I learned everything you needed to know about ranching. And my biggest takeaway was that you needed to sweat. Sweating is the only thing you can count on. 

Henry was a cryptic guy. He rarely talked in normal speech and instead made up his own metaphors to explain his thinking. He was toughened by the land. Gray hair as long as my mamas ran down Henry’s back. He always kept it braided. And there was never a day I didn’t see a cigarette in the side of his mouth. 

There were other boys like me. Hired on for a season. The group of us formed a kind of band of brothers so to speak. There was Tommy, a fat kid from Montana, Jimbo from California, and Tyler from Wisconsin. They all were like me, they had made their way to the desert of Colorado in hopes of seeing more of the world and leaving behind things they wanted to forget.

Tommy always talked about Lucinda. His ex-fiancé. She had decided to become a nun. We all said it was because she knew Tommy too long. He would get so mad, those red cheeks of his rising with anger. 

Looking back we should have laid off the jokes with Tommy. the was too easy to tease. Henry would say, ‘Stop taking candy from that baby.’

One day, in mid July, it was blazing hot. The rocks were starting to bake and you felt like you were in a stone oven, cooking up like a pizza pie. The sweat would drip down your back in waves. As we were riding, the cattle and horses lugged along. They really started to slow and Henry was worried we wouldn’t make our next feeding ground. So we stopped to take a break from the heat.

The water in my canister was hot. Felt like I was drinking hot tea. Let me tell you, it ain’t refreshing but I drank it anyway. Tyler kept saying “It’s like nebechnezzar’s furnace!” That lead Jimbo to start calling Tommy, Shadrach. Of course that made Tommy angry so then we all started calling him Shadrach. Then we hear Henry, “Fools, the water’s mighty fine!”

We all rushed over to see him climbing over rocks and down a little ravine. On all fours like a monkey he made his way down. We rolled him and found Henry standing by a small pool of water. Boy did we shout, Hallelujah!

I ran head long in to the pool with all my clothes on. Tyler and Jimbo followed suit. Tommy took off his hat and then joined us. We all started splashing each others faces, enjoying the water. The pool was about waist deep and the most glorious thing. 

Tommy started singing a made up song and his voice echoed off the rocks. Jimbo said, “Come off it Sinatra!” And tried dunking him under the water. We all laughed so much because the water felt so refreshing. Tyler said “I found a fish! I caught a fish!” When he lifted his hand above the water, it was a slimy old boot. 

Henry said, “A treasure hunter in the making.” We all roared in laughter. Tommy threw the boot and joined in the laughing.

I remember saying, “This is like paradise on earth.” Jimmy agreed. And Tommy started to sing a song about our watering hole. Jimbo successfully dunked him under the water mid verse. We hooted and hollered even more than before. So much I accidentally drank some of that water. Even Henery joined in getting his feet wet.

Man, we has so much fun that day in the small pool. Just finally able to cool off after that terrible heat. I never had laughed so much in my life. A good memory. Still think about that time. Too much fun we had splashing around. Henry was good enough to let us stay there for a while before we moved on.”

My grandfather paused, lost in his own thoughts. He continued to stir the chili.

”I can’t imagine how hot it was,” I said. “Hotter than this chili?”

Granfather smiled, “No way, I added 6 chili peppers and even some of my secret spices. This chili will be hotter than blazes. Now go grab the bowls, it's ready to serve.”

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