I Should've Been a Cowboy

Chapter 1 – Imminent Arrival

I hadn't heard from Cousin Beau or anyone in his family for a while, but that didn't surprise me. They would be busy with graduation plans, just like we were, plus they had a brand new baby boy to contend with. If I thought it was hard enough dealing with a five-year-old at my age, I couldn't imagine handling a newborn.

I guess I should give you a who's who in the family. My Pa is the oldest living Maverick, and we all call him Pappy but his given name is Beauregard. He has a younger brother, Bentley, and they both live on the property known as the B Bar M Ranch. Pappy is married to Maude, his second wife, and Bentley's wife is Elsbeth, known as Ellie, also his second wife. Me and my brother Bret are the product of Pappy's first marriage to Isabelle, who died when we were small. Likewise, Cousin Beau's mother Abigail also died when he was young.

Bret and me live on the ranch grounds proper, him with his wife Ginny and their three kids. My wife is Doralice, and we have six of them little devils. Beau is married to Dani and they live in Baton Rouge with their three babies. I shouldn't say babies. Their two oldest are about to get pushed out of college, my two oldest are leaving regular school. Theirs are twins, a boy and a girl, and ours are two girls. Beau and Dani had lost a child since we saw them last , but they'd finally had a healthy baby boy about six months ago. We'd had a tumultuous prior year; Belle had gone through the pangs of first love, and it ended badly.

Oh, and we have a friend and employee who lives on the grounds; we sold him a piece of property and then built him a house on it – his name is Dandy Jim Buckley. Well, that's pretty much it, except for Lucien, our ranch foreman, and Pauly, who is . . . just Pauly. And Lily Mae, our babysitter, housekeeper, cook and all-around savior.

That's about all, except for the ranch hands. And they change regularly. So I was surprised when I got a short telegram from Cousin Beau. All it said was 'Benny's on the way to the ranch.' I went over to Ben and Ellie's house for two reasons . . . first off Ellie makes the best coffee on the property (don't tell anybody I said that) and Ben might know more about what seemed to be Benny's imminent arrival.

Of course Ellie asked me if I wanted some coffee and I just had to say yes, so I sat down and she poured me a cup. I showed Ben the telegram and he kinda went 'pfft.' "You got more information than I do, Bart."

"You don't know anything else, Uncle Ben?"

"Not a thing. I imagine we ain't gonna find out until he gets here. Wonder how he's comin'?"

"Well, since Beau bought him a horse I assume he's riding. That means he could be here anytime."

"I guess we just gotta wait. Ellie, pour the boy another cup of coffee. You know he wants it."

Ellie grinned at me and poured. "Thank you, ma'am," I told her as I brought the cup to my lips. "God, Ellie, that's good. How do you do it?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I just make it to please Ben."

"Don't ever tell Doralice I like your coffee better. She'd skin me alive."

"She knows."

"Oh, God."

"Don't worry, Bart. We laugh about it."

"With that, I better go. She'll still have my head."

I walked back to the house and showed Doralice the telegram. "Does Ben have any more information? And how's Ellie?"

"Her coffee's as good as ever. And Ben doesn't know anything more than we do."

"Good to know."

"Have Lily Mae make up the spare room just in case. He could be here any time, and we don't know if he's comin' to stay here or at Ben's."

Doralice thought for a minute. "Our girls haven't finished their school year yet. Do you suppose Benny's done already?"

"I hope so. I'd hate to think he quit before he was through. Especially since Beau almost had to talk him in to college. But you know how us Maverick's are. We get an idea in our head and we ain't willin' to wait."

She sashayed into my arms and kissed me. "Yeah, but that's one of the things I love about you. When you wanna do somethin', you don't wait. But I'd hate to think he could this close to bein' finished with school and quit."

"Does it really make a difference if he finishes now or in a week or two? Would that make him any less educated? You know school ain't nothin' but waitin' the last few weeks anyway. Tell me anything you learned in the last weeks in school," I challenged her.

"I can't, gamblin' man, and you know it. I was in Mexico with Medina."

"Yeah, and where did that get ya?"

"It got me you, didn't it? And least it got me you eventually."

"Smart-aleck." We kissed again until we were interrupted by Lily Mae.

"Haven't you two stopped doin' that yet? That's how you got six young un's."

"Lily Mae, you oughta know by now that we're not gonna stop. Is there somethin' you need?'

"Just wanted to let you know that the spare room is made up. If Mr. Benny turns up we've got a bed for him."

Life went on as we waited to see if Benny showed up. Maudie and Belle 'graduated' from school and received their certificate of education. We had a big party for them; we held it outside and roasted a pig. Everybody brought a dish to go with the pig, and we were right in the middle of the celebration when we saw somebody riding down the road. Couldn't tell who it was at first, but whoever it was was mighty dusty. He was tall and lanky and when he got close enough I recognized him as a Maverick. It had to be Benny; there wasn't anybody else that age that was expected.

It looked like we were about to get some answers.