Rodeo kisses

The rodeo is the biggest thing in our town’s calendar. The Mount Isa Rodeo, the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, is known the world over with competitors travelling from the US to compete.

The bulls are the toughest around, the broncos buck the highest and the clowns are the most daring.

I walked back to my group of friends with my two drinks. We were sitting on the grassy hill talking and laughing more than watching the bucking bulls in the arena.

The buzz was starting to hit and I was getting peckish.

“I’m going to go for a walk and grab something to eat. Anyone wanna come?” I asked, standing and brushing the grass off my jeans.

“Nah, but can ya grab me some chips?” my friend Sophie asked.

“Yeah, alright,” I answered over my shoulder, throwing the empty cans in the bin.

I lazily wandered around the stalls looking at the wares for sale. Cowboy hats, leather items, horse stuff that I knew nothing about. I only ever get the cowgirl outfit out for rodeo time.

I was looking at some cute burnt leather handbags when I saw a scruffy but good-looking guy walked in and picked up a belt. He looked like he’d just stepped off the station with dust on his jeans and a dirty Akubra. I decided on a handbag, paid, and headed off.

“Hey, I think you dropped these,” the cowboy said handing me my sunglasses.

“Thanks. I would have been annoyed if I lost them,” I said. He had light blue eyes, the colour of icecaps that I’d seen in photos.

“I’m Alan,” he said wiping his hand on his jeans then holding it out to shake my hand. It was still a bit dirty, but I took it. His smile was magnetic, and I found myself smiling and my face heating.

“Savannah,” I said adding, “how ya goin’?”

“Nice to meet ya. I’m goin’ pretty well actually but my belt broke and I don’t want to have a disaster,” he said holding his new belt up.

“I was going to grab something to eat quickly, want to join me?” he asked.

“Sure. I was actually coming down to get a dagwood dog,” I replied.

We sat at a wonky table on dusty chairs and ate chips and dagwood dogs covered in sauce.

“You from here?” he asked.

“I moved here from Brisbane a few years ago to work at the mines. You?” I asked.

“I’m on a station on the way to Boulia.”

“Jack-a-roo?”

He laughed. “Yeah among other things. Mustering and managing. More like a Jack of all trades,” he said.

He looked at his watch and swore. I raised an eyebrow.

“I just have to quickly do something,” he said, standing up.

“Ah ok. Cool. Well nice to meet you,” I said picking up my phone to hide the hurt.

“I shouldn’t be long and once I do this, I’ll have the rest of the arvo off. Can we hang out? Actually, come with me, I’ve got a pretty good seat for you.” He put out his hand and I placed mine in his.

We moved at a fast pace through the crowd and then into the open and towards the back of the arena.

“Where are we going?” I asked starting to feel a bit concerned.

“You’ll see,” he said with a wink. “Gaz! This is Savannah, can you show her a good spot?” He kissed my hand. “Back in a moment.” He ran off into the crowd.

Gaz helped me up on the fence where I could see the arena from the side of the chutes.

“Next up is Alan Shaw!”

The chute opened and the bull was bucking and jumping, kicking out the back. Alan hung on with his roped hand and waved his other. He looked surprisingly comfortable on the massive bull. The siren sounded and he nimbly jumped off the giant beast, waved to the crowd and walked straight to where I stood, eyes wide, on the fence.

As the clowns started rounding up the angry bovine and pushing him out the gate, Alan climbed up and kissed me on the mouth. He turned and waved again, then climbed over.

He put his hands around my hips and lifted me down to the ground.

“Sorry about that. I probably should have asked but I’ve been dying to do it since I met you,” he said with a grin.

“I was a bit shocked, but I’ve been thinking the same.” I could once again feel the heat rising on my cheeks.

“Let’s go get a drink.”

We spent the afternoon walking around the arena. We went up to the VIP area for a drink and some food, then went back down to my friends who had started to message me.

That fun afternoon blossomed into something more and we are happily running the station together these days.

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