Lone Star - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Big Thing’s encounter with Asphalt kept reeling in his mind. The fact that a wandering semi came to the gas station, at a time he never worked, and told him to step up the search for his parents enthralled him. It gave Big Thing chills thinking about it, since he felt that Asphalt might have known something he didn’t. Sadly, he knew he was never going to find out what that was.

He still had yet to start searching, since he didn’t know what path to take to even start. Finding cars whose faces and names were unknown to him was presenting itself a challenge to Big Thing. He decided that if he saw any window of opportunity that would allow him to start searching, he would take it.

That afternoon Big Thing was driving down to the Keeler’s feed store to pick up some grain for the hogs. He was on a quiet back road, and the heat of the day was making heat waves on the asphalt. He kicked up dust behind him as he drove, since it had not rained in the past few weeks, making the dirt and air very dry. Drought was a something Big Thing feared while working on the farm, since they could potentially run out of water for the animals if the well dried out.

On his way to the feed store, Big Thing passed by old man Jensen’s cattle farm that was set a ways back from the road. As he passed, loud whoopings and hollerings could be heard from the farm, which made Big Thing stop in his tracks. Someone sounded like they were having a good time, and Big Thing wanted to go investigate. He decided he had all afternoon to get grain for the hogs.

As he drove up the farm’s driveway, he could see large clouds of dust being kicked up near one of the pens. He could just make out two trucks parked on the outside of the pen, and one truck was inside it. As he got closer he started to recognize the trucks, and when he did it made him want to turn around and get the hogs grain as he should have been doing.

However, it was too late. The trucks picked up on his presence, and it was none other than Beau, Luke and Austin. Austin was currently the one in the pen, and he drove up to get a closer look at what the other two trucks had seen, since the dust had been so thick.

“Well, would you look who it is! It’s the city boy!” Beau yelled out to Big Thing, who was ready to drive away at that moment without hesitation.

“What do you think you are doing here?” Austin hollered, and coughed a little after taking in some dust.

As much as Big Thing wanted to drive away, he didn’t. He had been curious what they were doing, and wasn’t willing to show that he was afraid of them. He turned around to Beau, looking him directly in the eye.

“Was curious what y’all were doin’, that’s all,” Big Thing tried to say nonchalantly, even though he feared another onslaught of insults from the trucks.

Beau let out a short laugh. “Well, we’re doin’ something you have probably never heard of, city boy. We call it cutting.”  

Big Thing raised an eyebrow. For once Beau had been right, he had no idea what cutting was.

“Should we explain it to him?” Luke asked apprehensively. He wasn’t very willing to share his country roots with a car from the city.

“Hm, it wouldn’t hurt I guess,” Beau replied, giving Big Thing a smug smile. “Come here city boy, we’re gonna show yah how it’s done.”

Big Thing was amazed they hadn’t insulted him yet. However, there was no doubt that they would take the chance to insult him if the opportunity presented itself.

“Now, cutting is an ol’ cowboys sport,” Beau started, and nodded to Austin to start cutting. As Big Thing came up to the pen, there were a few heads of cattle in the corner huddled together.

“Now watch Austin, he is pretty good at this stuff. He cuts in a few rodeos every now and then. So what you do is try and separate a cow from the herd. You go for the middle of the herd, since that’s the most challenging place to pull a cow out of. Once the cow is separated, you try and keep it from returning by blocking its every move to get by you.”

Big Thing watched Austin go into the herd to get it moving, and from there he selected a young calf that had strayed. He kept it from the herd, blocking its every move, chasing it left and right. At one point he kept his back tires planted to the ground and used his front ones to jump back and forth, blocking the cow best he could. Eventually the cow slipped by him, returning safely to the herd.

Austin soon joined them on their side of the pen, and his breathing was hard. Big Thing could tell this was a physically draining sport. It required a lot of small and fast movements, which was very difficult for a car with a truck or SUV body.

“Can I give it a try?” Big Thing asked.

Beau and Austin looked at each other and smiled, trying not to laugh. Big Thing picked up on it and gave them an annoyed glance.

“Well?” Big Thing asked again.

Beau attempted to get himself under control to talk to Big Thing, and Austin drove away to the other side of the pen to talk to Luke. He told him Big Thing’s request, and Luke tried to keep from laughing as well.

“Alright, you can give it a go, city boy,” Beau finally answered. He opened the pen to let Austin out and Big Thing in. As Big Thing drove past the Ford, he shot him an unimpressed glance; he did not find them mocking him funny.

As Big Thing drove over towards the cowherd, the three trucks clustered together on one side of the pen, watching Big Thing intently.

“Bet yah he can’t even separate one from the herd,” Luke said at a whisper.

“I’m surprised he’s even getting dirt up in his rims,” Austin mentioned in a mocking tone. Beau let out a short laugh.

Big Thing was now facing the cowherd. He tried to ignore the trucks mocking him behind his back, and focused on selecting a cow. He knew his performance wasn’t going to be stellar, since it was only his first time. However, he wanted to show the truck boys he could do it nonetheless, and that he wasn’t afraid of a little dirt. He hoped this was going to be the chance to prove himself, as Buck said he would.

Big Thing drove into the middle of the herd, moving the cows away from him. He selected a cow, a Black Angus calf, and cornered it towards the back of the pen. The rest of the herd moved away from them, and then it was only Big Thing and the cow.

The Angus tried to move to the right, and then Big Thing moved to the right. The cow tried to move left, and Big Thing moved left. His eyes were directly on the cow, not moving, the world disappearing around him as he put his entire focus on the animal in front of him.

The cow tried to dart across to the other side of the pen. Big Thing chased after him and cut the cow off in its tracks, his tires sliding as he came to a stop. A large cloud of dust was sent up around him, clouding his vision. The dust did not stop him.

The cow moved right, then left, and then right again. Big Thing blocked each move, his back tires planted into the ground, his front ones jumping from one side to the other. Dust was being sent up into the air with each move, blocking out the hot Texas sun.

The cow moved right again and began to run, but Big Thing wasted no time. He drove right after the cow as it started turning towards the herd, blocking it again, his front tires sliding into the dirt and his front bumper almost touching the ground.

Big Thing was getting into it, his breathing was hard and his tires were now brown instead of black. He continued cutting the cow, and realized he was having the most fun he had had in a long time.

“Big Thing! Big Thing, that’s enough!” Big Thing heard Beau call out. The truck’s callings were almost faint to him, since he was so caught up in the cutting.

He finally let the cow slip by him, and it returned to the herd. The dust around the pen was thick, making it seem as if a red cloud had descended upon them. As he drove over towards the truck boys, Big Thing continued to kick up dust, coughing as he got some of it in his mouth.

He was now caked with dust, and Big Thing looked as if his paint job was reddish brown instead of green. He spit out some dust as he drove up to the boys, his breathing still hard as ever.

“So? How was that?” Big Thing asked between breaths. He had no idea how well he had done, but he felt he did decent for a first timer.

When the dust started to clear, he could see a look of shock on each of the truck’s faces. He got no response at first, and asked them the question again. There was still silence, until Austin finally piped up.

“Who are you?” Austin asked, an astonished look in his eye.

“Honestly, I don’t really know who I am,” Big Thing replied, becoming slightly irritated. The trucks had still not answered his question.

“That was some of the greatest cutting I have ever seen,” Beau said quietly, still in shock over Big Thing’s performance.

“You must of done this before; you gotta be lying that you are from the city,” Luke said, still in shock as well. Big Thing shook his hood “no” in response; he really had never done it before.

Big Thing was glad to prove to the boys that he didn’t mind getting dirty, but did not expect to cut and then be told he was one of the greatest cutters they had ever seen. He didn’t even really know where it came from, but as soon as he had the cow in front of him he knew what to do.

“He must have been born with a cow sense,” Austin said.

“How can a car from the city be born with a cow sense? That doesn’t make any sense,” Beau exclaimed defiantly.

“ ‘Cause maybe he wasn’t born in the city,” Luke added. The three trucks turned to stare at Big Thing, not being able to comprehend the truck in front of them.

“Okay, okay, I’ve had enough of your speculations, you can do that on your own time. I really need to be getting to the feed store now,” Big Thing called out, angrily shaking his hood. He didn’t want to be around cars that were going to be continuously speculating his origins, when they really knew nothing about him.

“Aw come on, man. Don’t leave us just yet, maybe you could show us another round of cutting? Then after that maybe we can get a drink at the gas station?” Beau asked, interested in seeing Big Thing take another go at it again.

Big Thing revved his engine, starting to get angry. Now they wanted to have him hang around, when just a few minutes before they were mocking him behind his back?

“Oh, so now y’all are being nice to me, just ‘cause I can keep a cow from moving back into a herd. Sorry Beau, I’m not accepting your offer. I heard you guys mocking me while I was in the pen, and I don’t suddenly form friendships with cars who think I’m nothing minutes before.”

Big Thing angrily spun his back tires, kicking up dust into the faces of the three trucks. They all closed their eyes and shook their hoods, cursing as the dust blinded them. Big Thing took off, flying down the driveway and out onto the main road, leaving the trucks in the dust behind him.

“They want to be friends now? I’ll see the day when that actually happens,” Big Thing mumbled. As he drove, his mind began to clear and the anger soon left him. As he pulled up towards the feed store, a random thought crossed his mind.

If he was born with a natural cow sense, was he actually not born in the city? Was Houston not his original home, as he was always thought to believe?

He shook his hood to get the thought out of his mind. How he pulled off a great cutting performance without ever knowing how to do it was enough to think about.