Jasper Jeopardy

The old yellow truck rattled along down the two lane dirt road .

At the wheel the old country farmer tried his best to avoid the multitude of potholes and washboard bumps that were ever present on these old rural lanes , while his old dog , " Rosco " tried to nap on the far end of the bench seat and the younger dog "Polly " sat ever vigilant in the center , next to Frank , watching out through the windshield , occasionally he was even successful at avoiding the worst of the craters and " Thank you Ma'ams " as his mother used to call them .

Frank West glanced in his rearview mirror at the plume of dust that rose in his wake . He noticed the swirl of tiny bits of hay that rose and fell in the slipstream that flowed over the cab and into the open bed of the old Ford .

He had just dropped off ten bales of hay to Margret Hayes place , she had been a neighbor for decades , a good neighbor at that , he knew that she was running short , everybody was this year it seemed . Frank left them at the end of her drive way anonymously , as was the way things went in these parts .

A few years back Margret had dropped off a carton of home canned vegetables , carrots , and , String beans and such , and two loaves of home made bread , when Frank's wife had passed away .

BANG ! , Frank's mind had wandered a bit and his truck hit one of the big ones , hit it hard . Rosco made a bit of a grumble at having been disturbed so rudely from his nap , and then went back to his nap , Polly seemed to hardly notice at all .

That was when Frank noticed the small pickup truck parked at the side of the road , A Ford Ranger , with a cap .

The tailgate was down and the cap's rear door was swung up .

Frank slowed down as he passed , There in the field near that old oak , was his big bull " Jasper " , just a few yards beyond the fence .

To Frank's surprise , he spotted a couple of kids , up in the branches of the old oak tree .

Well not children actually , but youngsters .

Frank continued on towards home , He would come back to " save them " although the were really in no danger at all , Jasper was as gentle as a lamb , but of course those two kids up in that tree had no way of knowing that .

Frank drove on down the road another half mile or so and pulled into his driveway where the gate was standing open as it always was , it was more of a symbol really , than it was a security measure .

The left half of the wrought iron gate had the word " WEST " worked into it , and the right half said " FARM "

He crested a small rise and his home came into view , the house in the middle , the barn to the east and his workshop to the west . Frank pulled up into his door yard in front of the barn . He parked the truck , got out from the drivers side and walked around to the passenger side to let the two dogs out . They would never get out on the drivers side for some reason . but would sit there and wait for him to let them out from the other .

Rosco and Polly jumped down from the truck and headed for the house , but as soon as Frank started heading for the barn , they were right at his heels .

The barn had a single large wooden door that was hung from a metal rail by three steel wheels . Frank slid the big door to the left and went inside , He grabbed a slab of hay from an nearby open bale , and tossed it in the bed of the utility trailer that was already hitched to his ATV , which was parked just inside the door .

He slid into the cab and turned the key , put the machine into gear and headed out . As he pulled out of the barn his dogs followed close behind .

On the East side of the barn was a large corral in fact it was nearly a full acre , double fenced , and there lived Hugo .

Hugo was Frank's other bull . The twin brother to Jasper , but the two were nothing alike other than appearance .

Hugo was larger for one thing , and he was very aggressive , unlike Jasper who wouldn't hurt a fly .

Hugo , was definitely not a gentle soul .

As Frank drove the ATV out of the barn , Hugo let out a bellow , and then a snort .

Hugo had earned his keep as a rodeo bull in his younger days , 127 rides and only 7 times did the rider stay on for a full ride . nowadays Hugo kept his worth in stud fees .

But Hugo was safely locked away in his pen , It was Jasper that was making a nuisance of himself .

Frank headed out down the fence trail , a well worn path that he traveled every few days to ensure that the fence was intact .

Aside from Hugo and Jasper . Frank West had a little over two hundred head of free range cattle that roamed about freely , on a bit over two thousand acres of grassland . but they were currently up to the north and grazing happily nearly a mile away .

That number was down considerably from just a year before when he had a full thousand plus head of beef critters , but he had sold off most of the herd at a fine profit just over a year ago , he used that windfall to finally pay off his mortgage and all of his outstanding debts .

The ATV had been a bit of a whim when Frank bought it with the last of the money from the big sale , It was a John Deere " Gator " a two seater with a full cab and a cargo bed , as well as a utility trailer .

He glanced behind him , his two dogs were following along behind him as they always did . They never rode in the little truck while on the out bound travels , but would happily catch the ride back .

Frank rounded a corner and the big oak came into sight .

There was Jasper grazing peacefully near the foot of the tree .

He drove the gator right up near the tree , shut it off , set the brake and climbed out .

" You two can come on down , Jasper ain't gonna harm ya none "

The two made their way down from the tree .

" Thank you Sir " , said the girl , " I'm Roxy , and this is Michael "

" We're awful sorry to bother you like this Sir " began Roxy .

" We were just hoping to get some of these marigolds , My Grandma planted them years ago , she used to own this place ."

" Why I know who you are ." said the farmer , " Your one of Wilma Cooper's grandkids I reckon , Sarah is it , or Mary ?

" I'm Roxanne sir , Sarah and Mary are my cousins . "

" Oh I see , Your Dad must be Josh Taylor then ? Married Wilma's daughter Carol

" Yes sir , he is , I sorry to trouble you "

" Oh it's no trouble , I was sorry to hear of your gramma's passing , she was a good neighbor ."

" I grew up on the next farm over , I bought your Gramma's place after she passed and just , well combined the two ."

" You must be Mr. West then "

" That's right " , he said , and turned to face Michael , " and who might you be ? " He asked of Michael , as he stuck out his hand .

Michael Shook his hand and replied , " Michael sir , Michael Lewis "

The three of them chatted a few minutes longer , Frank offered to put them up for the night , but they respectfully declined , having already booked a room at Hooper's motel . which was just twenty miles back the way they came , in the next town over .

Frank Picked up the two shovels and Roxy and Michael carried the buckets of Marigolds back to the fence .

Roxy and Michael crawled back under , and Frank handed shovels and buckets over the fence to them .

They said their brief goodbyes , and Roxy and Michael drove off the way they had come .

Frank walked back to his ATV , He grabbed the slab of hay and offered it to Jasper , Frank let jasper have a taste and then put it back into the bed of the trailer , and got back into the ATV

this time the dogs hopped in with him , and he drove away as well .

With Jasper following close behind , hoping for a little more of that tasty hay .