Cowboy Camp

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By Angie Bromeland

Brad lived in the city, but dreamed of having horses and cattle. When he got the opportunity to attend Cowboy Camp, Brad couldn’t wait.
 “Sun’s up!” came the wake-up call on the first morning of Cowboy Camp. “Stop robbing daylight, cowboys. Let’s go!”
Brad happily leapt out of bed. A few of the other campers were moping around like they didn’t care if they’d get to rope cattle or ride horses today. Brad stepped outside and breathed in deeply. He smiled at the communion he felt with the ranch.
Then, the camp director pointed out a few cattle bobbing away in the open field. Brad watched as two cowboys roped the cattle and brought them back in the gate. He couldn’t believe it. He knew roping cattle was difficult, and these guys made it look easy.
Afterward, one of the cowboys came loping over to Brad and tipped his hat at him. “Morning,” is all the man said.
“Wow, mister, that was really something!” Brad said.
“Well thank you kindly,” the man said with a smile. “Want to learn?”
“I’ve been hoping to!” Brad said.
The cowboy said to call him Speedy. Then he pulled a hay bale onto the ground and set a bucket on top of that. “That’s supposed to be the steer’s head,” Speedy chuckled.
Brad was already groping at the rope, but Speedy showed him the right way to hold it. Brad practiced swinging the rope in circles above his head. He tried tossing the rope at the bucket on the hay. Instead, he ended up lobbing it right at Speedy.
“Sorry, mister,” Brad apologized. But Speedy only laughed.
“Reminds me of my first time trying to rope a bucket,” he said. Brad smiled. Cowboy Camp was going to be even better than he had hoped.

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