Welcome! With the spirit of the ranch as my guide, I’m launching a new format for my newsletters. Every month, you’ll receive a short story about ranch life, an insight I learned from my family, and a piece of trivia, along with a bit of book news.
Story
When I was in my late teens, five of us young cowboys made up the ranch crew. We had all been friends for years. About mid-summer, Gib, our top hand, told us that his niece was coming to the country from back East for a visit. She was about our age. When Gib walked her over to introduce us, an enchanted silence fell over the crowd.
Her silky dark hair spilled over her elegant shoulders. Her black pupils swam in radiant blue irises and shone like polished obsidian. We boys were immediately smitten. She grinned with what I saw as a cultured New York smile, knowing she controlled the conversation.
All five of us wanted to get better acquainted with her, but we knew Gib would break our necks if we got too fresh. Understanding our dilemma, she looked at us and said something like, “I’m only here a short time, but I’ll go on a picnic with whoever draws the longest straw in a competition.”
I ran to the barn to rob a fresh bale and came back with five stalks, one longer than the rest. The youngest of us, Rimrock, drew the lucky straw and ran to the barn to saddle two horses while Gib’s niece made a picnic lunch. The rest of us grudgingly relinquished the victory to Rimrock and sat around the house moping, telling ourselves that at least we were behaving like gentlemen.
The two teens rode along the Seminoe Mountains and didn’t trot back to the ranch until almost sunset. Rimrock wore the biggest smile I ever saw and it seemed to last until September. Gib’s niece betrayed no emotion on her face.
She went back East a couple of weeks later, happy and confident that she had learned something about the character of Wyoming boys. Rimrock never told us how the actual date went, but he was sure hard to live with the rest of that summer.
Insight
From Kirk, my grandfather: A clean cut heals fast.
Whenever you have something that needs to be done that will hurt another living thing, make every effort to eliminate discomfort. Learn compassion in the face of painful action.
Trivia: Did you know?
“Chaps,” the term for the leather leggings worn by Western riders over their pants, is pronounced “shaps,” not “chaps.”
Book News
I’ll be signing copies of A Sometimes Paradise at the Hanna Basin Museum on Saturday, December 14, starting at 1:00. If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you.
Exciting announcement! The audiobook edition of A Sometimes Paradise will be released on Christmas Eve across over 60 retail and library digital distributors, including Audible, Apple, Spotify, and Google Play. Perfect timing for a late Christmas present for those who would rather listen to stories than read them. It should be popular with people who like to listen to a book in their car.
Until next month,
Mark Miller
“We stood there savoring the pure silence that only rural landscapes achieve. I loved the peace it always brought me.” From A Sometimes Paradise.
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