A Real Cowboy
by
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The night before the big rodeo was to start, Jack Barney, the rodeo arena bull handler, came to work drunk, and got hurt. The boss fired him and sent him packin'. He needed a bull handler for the next day, and didn’t know where to find one at a time like this. So Will, just clowning around, said jokingly, "If I had a pair of those new-fangled baseball shoes with the nails in the bottom, I think I could out-run them bulls. I did pretty good at out-running the big bullies back in school, and I sure didn't do too good at riding."
There was a big laugh all around, but the boss showed up with the shoes later that night. Where he got them at that time of night no one knew, but they were brand spankin’ new.
Will tried on the shoes, then looked down at them. He was thinking to himself, Why in the heck did I say something like that? I don’t know anything about bull fighting. But the boss had got the shoes so Will felt he had to try.
Since Bill and Bonnie knew the story about what happened back in Illinois, and the man at the chicken farm had called Will a coyote, they nicknamed him Coyotee. But they pronounced it with more than one e, Coyotee. Or howled it like a coyote, Coy o teeee! The name stuck, and the boss and the announcer picked up on it.
While they were waiting in Houston for the new stock, Will, Bonnie, and Wild Bill and some of the others went to see the circus that was in town. Since then Will had been mimicking some of the things that the clowns had done, so Bonnie thought they should get some paint and make him look like a clown. They did, and he became Coyotee the Clown.
The first time Coyotee walked out into the arena as a clown the crowd really went wild. They laughed and hollered, and stomped their feet, but as Will looked around he knew that they had made the arena bigger. When he looked at the fence, it seemed like it was clear across Texas. He swallowed hard and stood his ground. That first bull appeared to be charging like a freight train. Only this bull was bigger than a train.
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About the Book
Through action, humor, sorrow, and romance, Don weaves the story about a young man just 18 years old leaving Indiana in the early 1920’s to go west to be a real cowboy.
Will Miller had dreamed of going west to be a cowboy; so, after finishing school, he headed west. During his travels, he is forced to work to have enough money to keep going.
Things started out good with an old car and homemade trailer, but Will soon finds out there are a lot of pitfalls along the way; such as, farmer’s daughters, trying to become a cowboy by riding in a rodeo, getting over the Rocky Mountains, and coming face-to-face with all kind of critters, two- and four-legged.
Will makes a lot of new friends and then loses his best one in a rodeo accident. Will has never been a lady’s man or had much to do with girls, but they and their troubles keep popping up in front of him. He befriends a pretty girl; then meets a big rancher and his beautiful daughter who will change Will’s whole life.
About the Author
Donald Miller grew up and spent the first 32 years of his life in Indiana dreaming of being a cowboy, but, being born in 1940, he was a little late to go west and be a real cowboy of the old days. He bought an Arabian-cross colt which he raised, broke, and trained by himself. It was his horse and is the same one used in this story. However, the only horse he owns at this time is a miniature horse. Don lives on his three-acre ranch near Spencer, IN, and also has a house and 43 acres in Arizona. He has also lived in Texas, Missouri, and Florida.
Look for upcoming books by this Author: The Lady Bounty Hunter, The Black Horse Quest, and Race.