Rodeo Sheriff

Rodeo Sheriff Part 1 - Take that makeup off

Zander Scott who was only 6 years old watches as the most famous bull rider of his generation faces off against the most dangerous bull on the rodeo circuit. The bull's name was Diablo, his horns were considered "pure damnation" and only the most daring riders would even consider the thought of going a round on him. You see, Diablo had critically injured every rider that had ever tried to ride him. As much of a reputation Diablo had, Jason Riley Buckholt or JR as his fans would call him was just as renowned of a rider. He had won 8 consecutive rodeo championships, he was going for his 9th and as a gesture of feats, JR chose Diablo as his bull for his championship circuit.

"Zander! come sit down! JR is getting warmed up and Diablo is thrashing in the hold!" uncle Chester yelled gesturing to the TV "It's like that damn bull wants to hurt something" he said in a much lower tone.

Zander threw his toys to the side, and went and sat in front of the wooden TV set, his eyes transfixed on the promos that the TV network was running. They were treating it as if it were the bout of the century "JR vs Diablo" in a bitter fight to the end. But they had failed to mention one other combatant, a combatant that would permanently change how Zander would view things in his life.

Minutes felt like hours and the promos ran endlessly until finally, JR was in the hold, prepping to mount Diablo. Diablo bucked furiously in the hold, anxious to be released. Anxious to punish the person attempting to ride him. At best, It was going to be a violent 8 seconds for JR, and at worst who knew.

The cameras panned across the large dirt ring in which JR and Diablo were going to tussle, and sitting just on the side of the rails was a man in denim stirrups, a leather vest with a large metal badge pinned on it and a large gallon cowboy hat. He had a smile painted on his face but it could not hide the intense stare he had with the bull.

"Uncle Chester, who is that?" Zander said pointing at the person on the TV

"That's Lonestar, he's apart of all of JR's rides." Uncle Chester said answering the question

"But what does he do?" Zander's curiosity peaking

"Well, when JR falls off Lonestar gets in there and gets the bull away from him, so JR can get out safely. Look its about to start."

Zander was intrigued, something about Lonestar captured his imagination, was it the cowboy hat? or the clown makeup? it was neither. It was the shiny metallic badge glimmering under the intense stare.

"This is it folks" the announcer dramatically spoke into his microphone for the viewers at home to lap up every word "JR Buckholt's last ride of the night" he let every word glide off his tongue with a sense of accomplishment to the event he would inevitably get to bear witness to. The camera panned onto a 35-year-old man in black leather Stetson hat, leather vest and well worn blue jeans. He waited anxiously for his bull.

"The stakes could not be higher here. With a good run JR can win his 9th championship, but in order to pull that off he will have to have a near perfect run, which is an almost impossible task on Diablo"

Zander Scott grew up in a rural small town in Cincinnati.

Zander has had only one dream for as long as he could remember... he wanted to be a high profile professional rodeo clown. 

At age 6 he saw his first rodeo where his favorite rider JR Buckholt was tossed off the notorious bull Diablo. JR had been bucked uncharacteristically quick and Diablo had him in his sights, but that's when the unsung heroes of the rodeo distracted the bull and gave JR just enough time to get out of that and back to safety. After the incident JR had mentioned in a press conference he would have been a goner if it weren't for Lonestar Mccown and the sheriffs of the rodeo stepping in and saving him. At that moment a dream was born for Zander Scott, a dream he would hold onto also was never quiet about his dream either. During dream career day at school, he had managed to turn a pair of old pants into makeshift chaps and stole makeup from his mother's vanity and the next day he showed up to school as lone-star McCown.

" you want to be a clown?" One of the more bullish boys yelled out as all the kids laughed and pointed. Zander stood there in his face paint and chaps even though a smile had been painted on, he was crushed. The children and teachers laughed at him and his dream.

" a clown?" he thought to himself
"it's not like I want to make balloon animals... I want to stare down the meanest bull, and save Jason Reilly just like Lonestar Mccown the most prolific sheriff on the circuit..."
Like small rivers tearing through canyons, the tears washed through the face paint, as he ran home his mother noticed couldn't help but be surprised by the sight before her.
"erm whats wrong honey?" she asked looking at his black and white clown facepaint
Zander bit back the anger and hurt and spoke spitefully

"the kids at school said I wanted to be a clown like I'm some sort of circus act... I want to be a sheriff of the rodeo mom I want..."
She interrupted "perhaps you shouldn't wear your makeup to school honey, and where did you get those chaps from? take that off.."

A defeated Zander ran to his room, feeling like the world could never understand a kid like him. He stared at the only picture he had of Lonestar, one in which he ripped out of a magazine after he snuck away from his mom for a few minutes... it was the size of his palm and though it didn't look like much, it was his prized possession.

Like the picture, he put his dream up on the shelf and tried to let the pain fade into a distant memory. Years went by before he would ever think of the rodeo circuit again until he went to visit his Uncle Chester during the summer right before his senior year.

After being there for a couple of weeks, it was pretty uneventful. His uncle lived in farmlands but not on a farm. So to pass the time they would play spades and various other games people would play during a power outage or a road trip. Then on a Friday afternoon, his uncle told Zander he was headed to a rodeo and asked Zander if he would like to go... apparently, JR Buckholt would be taking a final ride also adding to the history of the night. It would be the first time that he and Lone-star McCown would be in the same circuit in 10 years. Diablo would again be the bull that he would ride. It would mark the first time all three would be in the same ring again, last time JR escaped with minor injuries as lone-star saved him from any further damage. JR was in the stall and Diablo was amped, it was like the bull knew who he was and was ready to finish up where he left off last time. With each erratic movement, Diablo made JR look shaken, Lonestar stared intensely at the bull and the rider. This time was different... or so he thought.
The gates opened, diablo burst out with unfiltered rage and aggression, JR stayed on a bit longer this time and Diablo seemed to know it. No one stays on forever and they knew that to be inevitable even the bull. A violent seven seconds passed like hours and then, it happened JR was bucked off and Diablo had him square in his sites or so it seemed... Lonestar sprung into action and Diablo only went after JR for a few brief moments. 

Lonestar successfully got the bulls attention, however, on an attempt to get out of its way lone-star lost his footing and diablo capitalized, tossing the sheriff high into the air like a child's toy and landed on his side the bull got a couple of good hooves on him before his deputies came in to save him but the damage had been done. Zander watched intensely as the crowd cheered when lone-star raised his arm to show that he was ok... and the dream reignited.