50 Rodeo in Vegas
1700 Words
The trio, namely Mike, Andy, and Fitch was enjoying their stay at Noah Stream Ranch. It was almost the second week of December, and Wynn remembered something when he saw the news in Las Vegas.
They were all eating breakfast when Wynn opened his mouth to talk, “By the way, are any of you interested in attending the NFR in Las Vegas?”
Four heads looked up at him, and that includes Noah.
He halted sipping his cup of coffee, “NFA?”
Wynn nodded, “Yeah. Rodeo events in Las Vegas, Nevada.” He said it like it was something they should’ve known.
“Oh, was I not there?” Noah sipped from his coffee as Mike munched sleepily on a bagel they bought through the drive-through on the way home when they had a little drink downtown.
“I don’t know much about rodeo cowboy shows,” Fitch commented as he ate the bagel he smothered with butter.”
Noah stood and sat on the arm of the sofa in front of the window.
He watched the bright sky, the sun’s light landing on his lap.
Everyone followed him, and soon, the entire living room was occupied with their presence.
Andy was laughing about some joke from Wynn when he exclaimed that Noah almost spat the coffee on his face.
“What is it?” Noah said as he coughed a little, “did something happen?”
Andy shook his head, “How about we all go to the rodeo show in Las Vegas?”
Noah hummed. His idea wasn’t that bad. In fact, they can go now if they wanted to.
“What can you say about it?” Wynn said as he leaned on the wall near the kitchen.
The smile on Noah’s face widened when he beheld their faces, “Looks as if you’d like to go. It shows in every one of your faces.”
Fitch and Mike laughed in unison.
“Come on,” Wynn gestured his hand, “It’ll happen tomorrow. Maybe if we start traveling today, we can at least watch some bull riding competitions while we’re at it.”
An hour went by, and the four of them finally managed to prepare as quickly as possible for their trip.
“We’re going to Vegas, baby!” Mike shouted as they entered Noah’s car. This time around, it would be Wynn’s turn to drive the car.
“Everyone ready?” Wynn called.
Nancy whistled beside him. “Come on now. I want to watch all the activities that’ll happen.”
Noah insisted they bring with them the van with a capacity of twelve seats since they’re basically too much for his ranger.
When they felt the trunk close, everyone shouted with glee as Wynn started the engine and began maneuvering the gears to get them out of the Stream Ranch and head toward Vegas.
With his thick Italian accent, Andy asked, “Who will take care of the animals?” he looked at Noah and Thomas beside him.
“We have other employees we assigned the job for,” he watched as the ranch’s gate grow smaller and smaller as they moved further away from it.
Andy made an “O” with his mouth. “That was insensitive of me.” The blush spread all over his face.
Noah elbowed him gently, “Thought Thomas and the rest are my only employees, hey?”
With a faint nod, Andy chuckled a bit, “Yeah, I did. Sorry about that.”
“We’re cool,” Wynn called from the driver’s seat.
The rest of the trip ended up being Mike demanding that they pass by at a fast-food restaurant so that he can order some fries and burgers. Noah thinks he was beginning to adapt to the taste bud of Americans.
After getting some food for all of them, Noah and the gang had to look for a hotel they’d sleep in for the night.
They manage to arrive in Vegas after three hours of traveling on the road.
It was a good thing that they’re near the place so that they wouldn’t have to travel via plane and stuff. That would cause them a lot with the plane ticket and all.
When the lot of them arrived in the hotel Nancy booked for them at the last minute, they decided to head straight to the bar to eat and sing—the cowboy way.
They stopped at a local shop and bought matching cowboy hats before they headed to a restaurant nearby.
The people are obviously mistook them for tourists as most of them spoke in native Italian instead of English.
Of course, they had to quickly stop doing it since Nancy, Wynn, and Thomas had accompanied them.
After that, Thomas insisted that he wouldn’t accompany them anymore in the local bar since he’s already an old man that needed sleep.
So, they headed straight to the bar as Thomas drove Noah’s van back to the hotel.
The rest of the night was a bit blurry as the lot of them found themselves in different rooms with foggy memories as to what had happened the night before.
Nancy woke them up one by one, telling that they won’t be able to buy a ticket the night before.
With a groan and a headache, Noah said, “Let’s just go to the main event.”
A loud sigh came from Nancy, “Alright then.”
They were inside the arena for the annual National Finals Rodeo, the people cheering and hungry for some competition that’s about to happen in a matter of seconds.
Since the all of them almost overslept for drinking till dawn last night, Wynn suggested that they only watch the main event—and it’s the most-awaited bull riding, a type of rodeo sport that would involve a cowboy riding the bull as the bull attempts to mount them away from its back.
“Uhm, what are the rules again?” Andy whispered behind a yawning Thomas.
Thomas turned his head to his direction so that Andy can clearly hear what he’s going to say, “You need to stay on top of the bull for eight seconds straight,” another yawn escaped his lips, but he tried to cover it with his free hand.
Andy raised a curious eyebrow, “That’s it? You just had to—umm—ride atop the bull without falling? Don’t you think that’s a relatively easy sport?”
Nancy chuckled a bit which earned Andy’s attention, “Did I say something wrong.”
The woman shook her head, “It’s not that easy if you’d ask me and the other riders out there,” she began explaining, “you’d have to hold onto the bull with only one hand. You can’t touch the bull with your free or occupied hand, or neither fall from the bull’s back, or else you’d get zero points and all those days of training would be for nothing.”
“How can the bull unmount them if it’s that calm?” he pointed at the bull inside the bucking chutes—a place wherein they temporarily put the bull before they are released with the rider.
Nancy ate a handful of popcorn, “You’ll see. It may seem calm now, but later on, that eight seconds might even be the death of the rider.”
A chill ran down Andy’s back, “I hope not. That’s scary,” he almost said in Italian, although he couldn’t hide his thick Italian accent.
“I only watched these online, but I can’t believe I’m going to see and watch one in real life,” Fitch exclaimed as he ate the popcorn he bought at the entrance.
Andy reached his hand and grab a fistful of popcorn from Fitch’s bag, “In exchange, have some of my flavored fries.”
Fitch gladly took three or two strips from Andy’s plate.
Noah thinks the two sure are adapting well to the American’s flavors.
“Oh, God. I think I can’t watch this!” Mike said as he shut his eyes when the cowboy appeared and waved his hand in the air, the crowd cheering for his presence.
He was, as Wynn had explained, the first contender that would ride on the back of that enormous, raging bull.
The famous hat of these cowboys was waved in the air when the first contender entered the ring, the bull below him raging from the brief taunting of the men surrounding him below.
There were noticeable fences around the arena, and that’s probably for protection for the audiences in case a bull escapes and decides to rampage on the cheering audience.
“Why are they doing this to these poor creatures?” Mike said as the crowd’s cheering grew and grew like they’re about to dominate even the bigger speaker around the area.
The arena was so alive they couldn’t hear each other anymore.
“Apparently, this is what cowboy American’s do for sport,” Noah said as he tried shouting on an anxious Mike’s ear, “probably in a second now, they’d open the door of the bucking chutes.
The rider was already mounting himself on the bull. He was in his full gear: a helmet protecting his head, a protective vest beneath his cowboy outfit vest—to which Noah find odd and out of place considering he’d be putting his life on the line out there—his leather gloves—
“Gloves?” Fitch sounded surprised, “what for?”
“To protect themselves from rope burns. They need to fasten it on the riders' hand since the impact on the animal’s force from dismounting them would surely make them ache all over,” Noah said.
Fitch made a face that Noah interpreted as someone being hurt, “What the hell? That would really hurt! I can’t imagine what the rider could face within eight seconds up that animal!”
They heard Mikes’ loud scowl, “Imagine what that animal had to endure. There must be a reason why it had reacted that way when someone mounts on their back,” he said, the scowl deepening on his face.
Noah agreed. Although he enjoyed watching them as a kind of sport, he hadn’t really thought of what these animals had gone through behind the arena—what had happened to them why the constantly want to dismount a person riding their backs—it must have been cruel for them.
The rider below was preparing himself, the men surrounding them making some major adjustments to prioritize his safety above all.
Then, a hand landed on Noah’s shoulder.
When he whipped his head to look at the person behind him—
Noah gasped, his eyes widening for a second before his face transformed into a smile, “Jason?”
Jason, the man whom he bought his two most prized horses, returned his smile, “It’s been a while,” said the farmer.
Noah grabbed his arm and squeezed them tight, “Who are you with? Are you all by yourself?” he looks at three empty seats beside Jason.
The older man shook his head, “I’m with my daughters.”
Noah made an “O” with his mouth, “So, where are they?”
Thomas looked behind him, “You know each other?”
- Writer
