Please help me welcome Slim Randles as my Wednesday’s Guest. He’s here today with another thoughtful piece about Spring and how some of the folks that frequent the Mule Barn Truck Stop are enjoying pleasant evenings in May.
It’s been pleasant here in my corner of the world, too. Evenings and early mornings have been good times to be out walking my dog and waving to neighbors.
It was one of those evenings that makes you glad there’s a month called May. Bob Milford idled his truck in front of the Mule Barn truck stop, then changed his mind and drove the few blocks into town and parked in front of Sarah’s Read Me Now book store and got out.
The air was sweet like wine, warm and flowing over his body. The calves out on the Diamond W were healthy and frolicking all over the place and there had only been three difficult births where he’d had to pull the calves, and those were from first-calf heifers, so it was to be expected.
Earlier, he’d decided what he needed was to see how the rest of the world was handling a nice dose of spring, so he drove in from the ranch for the evening.
Sarah was just locking the bookstore up and paused to visit with Bob for a few minutes before heading home for supper. Bob leaned against the wall and kept his eye on the square across the street. Two kids were playing with the cannon, shooting invisible invaders and making the world safe for suppertime in a small American town.
Dud Campbell and his wife, Anita, were walking across the square, not talking, but just being with each other. Their hands were touching, but there was more there. They were touching each other in a silent way, sharing love and promises without words. Across the way, Doc and Mrs. Doc stood together, looking in the window of the now-closed hardware store. They looked tired tonight, Bob thought. Neither was that young any more.
Seeing these two couples made Bob a little sorry he wasn’t married, but he’d tried that once and it hadn’t worked out too well. She lived in the city now and was married to another fellow and had three kids.
Oh, he knew it had all happened for the best. He knew it. So he patted the cow dog in the back of his pickup and headed back down the road to the Mule Barn. He would order the special tonight. Maybe some pie, too.
Just the right thing for a warm evening in May.
Brought to you by A Cowboy’s Guide to Growing up Right
In addition to hosting a radio show, Slim Randles writes the nationally syndicated column, “Home Country” that is featured in 380 newspapers across the country. He is also the author of a number of books including Saddle Up: A Cowboy Guide to Writing. That title, and others, are published by LPD Press. If you enjoy his columns here on the blog, you might want to check out the book Home Country. It features some of the best of the columns he has shared with us, as well as the 4 million readers of the newspapers where his columns appear.
That’s all for today, folks. I do hope you enjoy this mid-week boost. Whether it’s humor or philosophy, Slim always has a good uplifting message. Be safe. Be well.
A few years back I met Slim in New Mexico. I need to locate his writing tips that I wrote down when he spoke in Chama.
Thanks for stopping by, Christena. I’ve known Slim for coming on 20 years now, but have never met him in person. I “met” him when I was managing an online magazine and he contacted me to see if we’d carry his Home Country columns. We did, and when I resigned from that position, I asked him if I could continue to use his columns in my personal blog. He agreed, and readers here have enjoyed his wit and wisdom. I hope you find the writing tips. His have to be much better than Dud’s, who can’t seem to bring a book to conclusion no matter how hard he tries. But the saga of Dud’s writing has brought many a chuckle when Slim shares Dud’s efforts.