Open Range

(Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Open Range. I just like the movie. Got most of this conversation from the deleted scenes. Thought it was very beautiful and interesting.)

Discussing Button's Future

The sun was nearly to the horizon so the drive stopped in a suitable place where the cattle had plenty of grass and water. Supper served and finished Mose washed the tin plates and cooking pot with hot soapy water, dried and was putting everything away when Boss sat down with Charley for a cup of coffee and a smoke to relax in the cool evening as dimming beams of sunlight played in the trees.

"Button," Boss told the young man, "Just ride easy like through the herd out there just to keep an eye on 'em."

"Yes, Boss," Button stood up setting his black hat on his dark hair and mounted his dark stallion that was near by. Boss watched as the boy ease his horse through the quiet herd. He kept looking towards Boss and Charley. As long as neither of them said anything he knew he was doing the right thing. Both men could be hard on him. He hated to disappoint either of them, especially Boss.

"In a couple of years he'll be a pretty good hand," Boss said to Charley as they both watched the boy in the distance.

"He's pretty good now, Boss," Charley replied taking a drink of his coffee.

"Well, there's more to life than lookin' at the back end of cows."

"Maybe in a few years he'll take him a wife. He's livin' better now than when you found him," Charley was referring to the brothel Boss had told him about a few days earlier.

"Maybe so. But this ain't what a young feller ought to do."

"You can't make up another man's mind for him, Boss.

They were both watching Button walking around the cattle leading his horse. Button kept looking in their direction like he'd much rather be with them than where he was right now.

"He ain't no man," Boss scolded Charley. "He's a boy and he's growing up as wild as a cougar. You've seen him here in the crik. Tell you the truth, Charley, this kind of life ain't been good to either of us. What have you got to show for it?"

Charley snickered softly. He knew Boss meant the best and he admired him for it but sometimes he could sound down right mean. "Hell, Boss, you got a fortune in cattle! You're livin' alright."

"Button should have more than a couple of saddle ponies and a saddle to ride," Boss pointed out.

"Well," Charley was getting aggravated with the old man, "don't need more. Don't want more," he stated sharply and got up from his place on the ground grabbing the reins where his horse had been tied up close to him.

.

Boss knew he'd stepped over the line with Charley. "No insultin' intended, Charley," he looked up at the man. "Point is we've gotten just about everything we'll ever get out of this damned life. But Button, hell, he's ripe for better things."

Charley stopped for a moment and took a deep breath to compose himself than mounted his horse. "Too bad you never had a son," he looked at Boss now atop his ride. Sometimes there was just no talking to the old man.

Spurring his horse on he rode over to where Button, now mounted on his horse, was watching the herd, his back to them both. Boss watched both men, the light from the peach colored horizon lighting tracing their silhouettes. Charley said something to Button and then handed him a jacket to put on to protect himself from the cold night air. As Boss watched he felt pride swelling in his chest and he felt as though both men were his own sons.

THE END