Bullheaded

hands and sharing a dish towel with Cody, Johnny sat down and dug in. Even though he didn’t have much to say, merely sitting and listening to Cody and his parents talk made him feel comfortable. It was nice they didn’t try to make him talk.
    The two ranch hands were as opposite as two men could be. Although they were both in their fifties, RJ was huge, a silent mountain of a man, especially next to the slim and talkative Travis. Maybe that was why they got along so well like one big family. In fact, Johnny realized, the Graingers didn’t think of them as hands. Even Cody acted as if they were his gay uncles. It was rare Johnny had ever seen any exchange of physical affection between them, but there was some sort of psychic glue that seemed to mark them as a couple. At least, it was obvious to him.
    The fact that Travis and RJ were a couple never seemed to fluster Val or Davis Grainger, and maybe accounted for the way they took Cody’s homosexuality in stride. Having a gay son, it probably didn’t make any difference to them if their hands were also a little light in their boots. Johnny wished his family could have been a bit more like that, but it was what it was.
    After serving himself, he shoveled it in while he listened to Davis playfully rag his son about the weekend’s performance. Talking over the week’s ride was the only time he ever saw Davis get worked up like that. Or maybe he was just excited and relieved whenever Cody came home in one piece.
    “What the heck were you thinking getting hung up in the short round on the first night? I taught you better’n that, didn’t I? Maybe pick a bull you know you can ride to make the points to move forward, but don’t risk getting blown out of the competition by getting injured. Every ride doesn’t have to be a brand new Mt. Everest.”
    “Yeah, Dad, you did, but sometimes the bull can’t find a rhythm and you’re just hanging on for the ride. And besides, I don’t want to bore the fans by picking an easy bull over and over.”
    “Like you’re ever going to pick an easy one.”
    “I like the rush.”
    “You weren’t using a Brazilian rope, were you?”
    “No, Dad, I wasn’t, but their rope is just as good as ours, just different—in fact, it gives you a little edge when you pull it from the other direction. Something to lean your hand against on the inside.”
    “You gotta wrap up careful if you don’t want the bull to tear your arm off at the shoulder,” Davis interrupted him. “You don’t want to end up with a bum rotator cuff.” He circled his own shoulder and stretched his neck.
    “It all worked out. I got loose and scored the buckle,” Cody said.
    “Yeah, don’t kid a kidder. It was Johnny got you loose. I got eyes and I saw it all on the TV.”
    “It was a good ride,” Travis put in. “I thought the judges shortchanged you a might though. That was a 90-point ride at least. They must have been leaving room for some other cowboy to score high. Trying to be fair to the rest of the pack and not make it look like you walk away with every round.”
    “I didn’t win the long round,” Cody pointed out. “But that bull sure was a rank one. Up and down, and side to side. He was all over the place. I think he cleared the fence on the first jump.”
    “He did on the last one when he almost stomped you into dust,” Travis said. “But you made up for it on Sunday, that ride was textbook. Break at the hips, keep the free arm up, and your outside leg raking—”
    “Keep it loose. That bull on Saturday knew how to mix it up and not fall into a predictable pattern. But you rode better on Sunday,” Davis said. “No one else came close to your score.”
    “Aw, come on, Dad. There were other good riders there that night. Dub gave me a run for my money.”
    “He was good, not the best.”
    While Cody and his father got serious analyzing his ride, RJ turned to Johnny, and as always the quiet Aussie accent took him by surprise. “You did a bonza job out there.”
    “Thanks.” It was nice to get that simple commendation. Cody was a flashy rider and as a mere a bullfighter Johnny was used to not having much notice taken of his performance.
    Travis immediately horned in on the new conversation. “See you’re still all in one piece.”
    “Yeah, nothing fell off.” Johnny made a muscle and grinned.
    “Don’t break your neck over Cody, Johnny. He can take a hard fall. We love you too, and we don’t want to see you hurt,” Val