Rodeo Rocky Read Online Free Page A

brief smile.
    “Hmm.” The rodeo organizer turned over the offer in his mind, while in the center of the arena, a team of paramedics worked smoothly to get the injured Fenney Brooks safely strapped onto the stretcher. The quiet crowd watched intently for signs that one of their favorite riders was going to make it through the accident.
    “Well?” Kirstie’s mother pushed for a reply.
    “This is a great horse we’re talking about.” Wade’s tone had changed. The sneers had gone and he turned on the smooth talk. “He has a good head and eye, and a mighty fine, deep chest.”
    “Sure,” Sandy agreed. “And two thousand is a good offer. You can take it or leave it.”
    Kirstie squeezed her eyes shut.
Please, please, please say yes.
    “I reckon I could get two and a half thousand in the fall,” Williams said. A shrewd tone crept into his high, nasal voice and his eyes narrowed.
    “Sure thing!” Jake Mooney encouraged.
    “Maybe, maybe not.” Sandy Scott was on a level with Williams when it came to making a deal. “Sure you could if the horse does well on the summer circuit. But if he doesn’t, you won’t get more than a thousand for him in Denver. Whereas, if you do business with me, you take the nice, fat check home with you tonight.”
    “Hmm.” Wade grunted and pulled nervously at his mustache. He glanced quickly at the saddled bronc, then along the line at other horses trapped in chutes, awaiting their turn in the ring. “Take horse number twelve,” he snapped at Jake without looking at him, and reached out a hand to shake with Sandy over the deal.
    Yes!
Kirstie raised her clenched fists in front of her. Then she ran to the bay stallion and leaped onto the fence. “We bought you!” she cried. “Mom paid a fortune. You belong to us!”
    * * *
    The check written, the show went on without Rodeo Rocky.
    “I sure as hell hope this check don’t bounce!” Wade Williams sneered at Sandy as he pocketed the check.
    “It won’t.” Kirstie’s mother was already looking around for help to take the stallion out of the cruel chute and get him fixed up for transport back to the ranch. Lisa had watched the sale of the horse from the edge of the arena and had volunteered to run and find her grandpa to see if he could oblige.
    “D’you know what you’ve taken on here?” Williams couldn’t resist talking down to Sandy. “It don’t take a lot of savvy to figure out that you’ve just bought yourself a whole bunch of trouble.”
    “But you just said yourself that Rocky was a great horse!” Kirstie protested. In the background, she could hear the yells start up as, in place of Rocky, Jake rode a pure white horse into the arena.
    “Sure: a great
rodeo
horse.” Williams stepped aside to let Kirstie and Sandy get a full view of their bargain. Inside the chute, Rocky still kicked and battered himself against the bars of his cage. “Meaning wild and mean.”
    “Only because he hated it in the truck!” Kirstie claimed. “And because he’s been tied up and prodded and forced to do what he doesn’t want to do!”
    “Yeah, sure.” Satisfied with the deal, the organizer shrugged. “Come back and tell me that in a couple of weeks, after you’ve tried to break him in.” He turned his back and strolled off, leaving them to back their horse out of the squeeze and deal with him as best they could.
    “Don’t listen to him!” Kirstie told Sandy.
    Hadley was nowhere to be seen, and they were still waiting for Lisa to show up with Lennie Goodman and a solution to the ride home with Rodeo Rocky. Meanwhile, two of the wranglers had stepped in to help them back the wild horse into the empty corral. After a few difficult minutes, they’d succeeded in getting close enough to open the back gate of the chute and let him find his own way out. Rocky had backed up, kicking and writhing, then lashed out with his heels when he found himself free of the trap. He’d run himself to a standstill around the corral and stood