Paul

“That was awesome,” I said grabbing the popcorn off the table.

“Yeah, I had no idea a cartoon about talking sausages could be that disgustingly filthy and fun,” Debbie replied.

I ate a handful of popcorn and offered some to her. She declined.

We’d been sitting there wasting the afternoon away watching stupid things on television and having a blast. I thought when I got out of the hospital I would be so happy because I didn’t have to sit still anymore. Well, I was, but then it turned out when I tried to do anything that involved movement my ribs hurt so bad I could hardly breathe. The doctor had assured me that it would get better in time, but I wasn’t so sure.

I had yet to pick up my prescription painkillers and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Granted they would have made me feel better, but I’ve always hated medication. I hate medication almost as much as I hate hospitals and doctors.

“So, what do you want to watch next?” Debbie asked.

I thought about it a moment and realized I did not feel like watching anything. I wanted to get out and have some fun, pain be damned.

“Nothing,” I said. “I’m taking you out tonight. We are going to celebrate the end of the Janice ordeal, for lack of a better term.”

“What? You can’t bullshit me; I can see how much pain you are in. You grimace just walking to the fridge.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Out of the two of us which one knows how I feel?”

“I do,” Debbie said. “You can’t lie to me; it’s all over your face. I know it’s hard for you, but you need to take it easy.”

“I don’t care; I’m taking you out,” I said. “What about that place called Flemings? The one over in Elridge. I’ve heard it is great, and they have live music.”

Debbie looked at me with wide eyes as if I was nuts. She might have been on to something…

I knew that it was probably a bad idea and the next day I was going to be paying for it, but I was going so stir crazy that I was about to shit a brick. Plus I did feel like we had something great to celebrate. Finally, Janice, that psycho woman was out of my life for good.

It made me smile to think about her in a women’s prison, wearing an orange jumpsuit, rotting away for the next ten years. She deserved it and a lot more in my opinion. But it wasn’t for me to decide. I was done wasting my mental energy on her.

“Ok,” Debbie said. “But I’m driving.”

“Ok, if you really want to,” I said.

An hour later we were sitting in Flemings having a great time. I’d heard about this place from some guys at work and they were not kidding. They had a lively atmosphere, a great rock band playing, good food, and excellent drink pricing.

“So, how is that steak?” Debbie asked me.

“It is perfect, nice and medium rare,” I said. “I hate it when it comes medium well. That is not a steak.”

Debbie laughed.

“It doesn’t look medium anything to me,” she said. “It’s practically bleeding.”

I smiled.

“Yeah, that is the idea,” I said. Truthfully it was actually a bit rarer than I enjoyed usually, but it was delicious.

I finished off the steak and leaned back with my beer. God, this felt good. I had only been in the hospital for one night and two days, but it felt like I’d been locked away for years.

“I keep feeling like I have to go to work tomorrow,” I said. “It’s weird on a weekday having nothing to do.”

“I get that,” Debbie said. “I think sometimes you are your own worst enemy.” She giggled and shook her head.

I cracked a smile and enjoyed the comfort of having a woman who seemed to genuinely care for me.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” a voice came from behind us.

I turned to see a man and woman I did not recognize walking up to our table. They seemed friendly enough, the guy wearing a wide eyed, almost goofy looking grin.

“Oh, my God!” Debbie squealed as the young woman wrapped her arms around her and squeezed.

“It’s been forever!” The young woman said.

She appeared to be the same age as Debbie. She was pretty with long blonde hair, and a bubbly attitude that was oddly contagious. I got the impression that spending time with someone like that would turn that frown upside down real fast if you were in a funky mood.

The guy she was with was kind of tall with shaggy, sandy blonde hair, and his goofy grin seemed to be almost plastered on his face.

They seemed nice enough.

“Hey, Debs,” the man said. “It’s been too long.”

“Yes it has,” Debbie said. “I want to introduce you to my boyfriend. This is Paul Henry. Paul, this is Logan and Wanda, two old friends of mine from school. I haven’t seen them in a while since they moved over here and decided they were too good to hang out with our old crowd.”

“Oh, that is not true,” Wanda assured me. “We’ve just been so busy with work and everything that we just haven’t had the time to turn around, let alone get together with old friends.”

I shook Logan’s hand and then Wanda gave me a quick hug, squeezing my still tender body much harder than I had expected. I tried not to wince.

“You should join us,” Debbie said. “We just got here and there is plenty of room.”

I moved my chair over a bit allowing Logan to sit beside me while Wanda scooted in on the other side of Debbie. Well, this had officially turned into a party. I’d expected a nice, almost romantic date with Debbie, but this would be fun too. After all, any friends of hers were friends of mine now, right?

“So, what have you been up to? You guys still have the denim store?” Debbie asked excitedly.

“Yeah, we are still trying to make a go of it,” Wanda said.

“How are things? The business picking up?” Debbie asked between sips of her drink.

“It’s been rough, but things are starting to come around,” Logan said. He spoke with a slow draw to his voice, almost as if he was from the Deep South, but I got the impression he’d grown up around here with Debbie and Wanda. I made a mental note to ask about this later. I’d always wanted to visit the Deep South, and the southwestern United States, especially Texas and Arizona. I was a bit of a Wild West buff and there was a lot of history in those areas I wanted to explore one day.

“That’s great news,” Debbie said.

“Denim store? I’d love to check that out sometime,” I added. “I was thinking I need a lot more denim in my wardrobe.”

Logan gave me a strange look as if trying to decide if I was joking or not. I smiled at him warmly to let him know I was. He nodded and took a sip of the beer he was holding.

“Yeah, you should definitely stop by. We can offer you guys the friends and family discount,” Logan said. “Of course we need to find a way to curtail the five finger discount a lot of our regulars have been getting lately.”

“Why? Are there security issues?” I asked.  “My uncle used to work in the theft prevention and security for a large shopping mall close to where I grew up. I could ask him for some pointers for you.”

“Thanks,” Wanda said. “That would be appreciated.”

Logan added, “Yeah, I mean we thought we had everything covered with the cameras and alarms systems, but somehow these high school kids keep finding a way around it. I swear it’s like they all are sleight of hand magicians.”

I laughed. Well, kids today had all the YouTube instructional videos they needed to pull off things like that didn’t they?

“So, you grew up close to here? I picked up you said you aren’t from around here,” Logan asked.

“Yeah, I grew up a few hours from here,” I replied. For whatever reason it was making me a bit uncomfortable talking about where I was from with these bubbly people I’d just met, Debbie’s friends or not.

“Great,” Wanda said.

The waitress came and Wanda and Logan ordered some food and more drinks for themselves.

It was then that I noticed Logan’s right hand was bandaged. The dressing was stained pretty heavily with some blood.

“What happened to your hand?” I asked interested.

Logan laughed. “I was thrown off a bull and my hand got caught and tangled up a bit. It doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as my lower back does.”

I knew the feeling about lower back pain, thanks to my run in with those goons Janice had hired to give me a message.

“You do bull riding?” I asked suddenly interested. “I used to do a bit of that back home.”

“Really? You never told me about that,” Debbie said.

“Well, you never asked,” I teased. “Yeah, I was actually pretty good at it. I was thinking about going pro with it but my folks really needed my help on the farm and eventually I just didn’t have the time for it anymore. And some of the passion had run its course. I guess sometimes if you do something you love too much, the appeal starts to wear off.”

“That’s great,” Wanda said. “I’ve always had a thing for bull riders. There is just something so sexy about a man dominating such a huge beast between his legs.”

I almost choked on my beer. Wow, that was not something I expected anyone to say right then.  

I glanced over at Debbie who was laughing hysterically. And I thought Lara was outspoken…

“We just met the man…” Logan said shaking his head.

“What? I’m just honest,” Wanda laughed.

“Hey, if you are interested,” Logan said. “Over in Buxton they are having a big statewide amateur bull riding contest. The grand prize winner will get one hundred thousand dollars. Can you believe that? One hundred grand. You should enter. That’s what I was practicing for, but now that I’m a bit banged up I’d say I’ll probably just sit this one out.”

I couldn’t believe what Logan had just said.

“A hundred grand?” I asked excitedly. “Wow, what I could do with that money…”

“You and me both,” Logan agreed.

“You should do it!” Debbie urged.

The thought was growing in my mind. It would be fun to be back on a bull again. Thoughts began racing through my head about what that money could mean to me and my family. I knew my parents were having a bit of trouble keeping their farm above water, but that was a problem of ninety-nine percent of farmers in the country. Still with money like this they could take it to the next level. Hell, maybe my dad could hire a full crew to take over the heavy load for him. I still felt guilty about leaving them short one man. If I even gave them half the prize winnings I could help to offset that.

And I could use the rest to pay my bills while I got my book finished. It would be a game changer that was for sure.

But did I really have what it took to win?

“I think I might, but I haven’t been on a bull in years. I’d have to practice, and hard.”

“You can do it,” Debbie assured me. “I know you can do whatever you set your mind to.”

I loved the way she had so much faith in me. Sometimes I could get a little down on myself, but when Debbie said things like that it really made me feel that I was capable of doing whatever I really wanted to do.

And I wanted to do this.

“Where would I practice?” I asked.

“My aunt and uncle just happen to have a ranch with a bull riding arena,” Debbie said. “My dad and uncle used to be really into it. I practically grew up out there watching them ride.”

“Really? Do you think they’d let me practice? I’m not sure I can afford to pay them much right now.”

“They will let you practice out there for free,” Debbie said.

“That sounds great,” I said. But the charity made me very uncomfortable. I sat there a moment trying to work out the figures in my mind of what I could afford to pay them.

I was coming up with nada. But, if I won that prize money I’d definitely toss some their way. It was a long shot, but I knew I had a shot at it. A real shot.

I just had to get my groove back.

“Do you think you can do it with your injuries? That is what I’m most worried about,” Debbie said with a concerned look in her eyes. In her excitement I guess my battered body had escaped her mind.

Mine too.

I thought a moment about it. It was true that I was in a lot of pain and I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I was a hundred percent again.

“When is the tournament?” I asked.

“Um, three weeks from tomorrow,” Logan said.

I thought about the timeline. The truth was I was probably going to need closer to six weeks to be even close to a hundred percent. Hell, I’d probably be sore for at least another two weeks and the doctor would have a heart attack if he knew I was even considering such a thing.

If I took a big thump on the head I was going to end up with a severe concussion.

But it was worth the risk. For that kind of money, I was willing to do whatever it took.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured Debbie.

Logan and Wanda were giving us curious looks. Debbie and I explained briefly what had happened to me outside the gym a few nights ago.

“That’s crazy,” Logan said. “Well, glad you made it through and all that is taken care of. People like that need to be behind bars forever.”

“I agree,” I said.

We spent the rest of the evening eating great food, drinking even more beer, and just having a great time with Logan and Wanda. They were my kind of people and I wanted to get to know them a bit better.

All the while in the back of my mind I kept thinking about and dreaming of the tournament. It had been a while since I had been this excited about something. It was something that I’d forgotten about myself, something I’d kept locked away inside the recesses of my mind as if it was part of another person’s life. It was old and forgotten. A passion like that when it’s put out of your mind as if it isn’t even a possibility anymore it kind of lingers somewhere deep inside of you, eventually though the right circumstances will draw it back out and you will get the urge again.

I couldn’t believe I had let it go so easily all those years ago. Was it that I was just burnt out or was it just easier to let it go quickly and almost forget it had ever meant so much to me just to keep it from hurting so much?

I wasn’t sure, but I really felt that by the day of the tournament I would have my answer.