My Oxygen Is Exhaust Fumes

Chapter 5

Still August 27,2015

Josh’s P.O.V.

When the excitement of Jennies ride dies down, the bull riding starts. Sense I’m fifth from last I’ve got a while to wait, the disadvantages of having a last name neither the end of the alphabet.

    Mark’s bull turns out to be not so nice. And someone just happens to get him extremely mad before Mark’s ride...needless to say...Mark doesn’t hold on until the buzzer. Max stays on, for 6.8 seconds. Jim stays on surprise surprise, first time ever. But he gets stepped on, he’ll be okay though. Tim gets a 5 second ride, but his bull was not in a good mood AT ALL. Jack gets a 7.9 wish makes him mad. His girlfriend about dies when he hits the ground, like lady get used to it...this happens a lot.

    Before I know it, it’s my turn to ride. My friends start getting all excited, like they do every time we know someone who’s about to ride. But when I climb into the chute all the seriousness comes back. They are gonna be watchin’ out for me. I know they will be. I’m always doin’ the same for them.

    I take a deep breath and get ready, wrapping my hand. Another deep breath, and it’s show time.

The gate flies open, and we fly out. I dig my spurs into his sides, let’s hope they don’t slide. I grip tighter and put my arm up. Time stops for just those few seconds and it’s just me and the bull...no one and nothing else matters. I know time is about up, and lucky for me I’m still on. I hear the buzzer and make a break for it. When I hit the ground, I’m instantly back on my feet and runnin’ to the side. I see the people shooin’ the bull back into the chutes, and I grin. Ha, I stayed on the whole time.

I turn to see my friends, they are smilin’ and hollerin’. Best support team ever. Honestly, I couldn’t ask for better friends. Let alone to do this with. They aren’t even really friends, they are brothers. Family.

I go over to them, and like always it goes back to the happy go lucky people that my friends are. Sam gets in,  he’s ready to go. When the gate flies open for him, there’s a big grin on his face. He’s always smiling during his rides. He stays on for 7.2 seconds, but he doesn’t even care about his times. He does it just cause. After his ride, he comes back to sit with us. We all start talkin’ crap and watch the best of the riders.

I watch as the rider that goes after Sam comes off and flies into the wall. Ouch, I even feel the pain on that one. Before they can get the bull out of the arena, his friends have already jumped the wall, ran across the arena, and have him surrounded. now, that’s the kind of friends that people need in life right there. The paramedics run over, telling his friends to leave, but it appears that they refuse. My friends and I start lookin’ around, but mainly at each other.

Jim leans over so we can all hear him, “Hey guys, this would be us if something like that happened,” he whispers.

We all immediately answer, all our answers are just a slur of yeses, seriouslys, and for sures. They take the rider out on a stretcher. Well we will remember to pray for this guy when we leave.

The next rider gets into the chute, and I take off my hat, rubbing my face. He has a 7.8, and punches the wall cause he didn’t get an 8.

When the rides are over they thank everyone for coming, and announce that Jen won the barrel race. I stand up, and stretch and groan. Then jump down off the gate. We are all talkin’ crap, walkin’ back to the truck when we see the girls. They just so happened to be posed on the fence just as we came around the corner. Like please we’ve seen this 100 times before. Clean up your act.

Jim and Tim stop and talk to them, but the rest of us head on back to the truck. We grab drinks and I pull out my phone to text Tim and Jim. ‘Be back at the truck in 30, or find your own ride home.’ I send to both of them.