Trent Reedy - Divided We Fall

I climbed over the arena fence, trying not to notice Short Cowboy clapping and whistling behind me, then walked off into the shadows away from the crowd. I’d been bucked off before. Every cowboy has, but I used to get absolutely pissed about it. After disqualification, I’d keep my cool until I was out of the arena. Then I’d cuss up a storm and kick at the dirt.

Tonight was different. Even though this was the first time I’d been bucked off in years, the first time ever while wearing my lucky cowboy hat, I wasn’t very mad. Tonight bull riding felt like building forts in the woods as a kid: huge fun back then, but not so important now. Rodeo used to be a big part of my life, but now I knew it was part of my old life. And after everything that had happened, after the fight tonight, I knew my old life wasn’t coming back.

Eventually I found my group out by Mr. Wells’s truck, which is usually where we met up after events. JoBell put her arms around my neck and kissed me. “Sorry, baby. But hey, you haven’t been in a rodeo all summer. It’s bound to take a while to—”

“Get back in the saddle?” Sweeney asked. Cal and Becca groaned.

“Well, yeah, I guess,” JoBell said. “If there were saddles in bull riding. Still, you must be bummed.”

“I’m okay.” I shrugged. “There’ll be other rodeos.”

Then JoBell took a closer look at my face. She frowned. My cheek stung as she touched it. “When did you get this?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. I got it in the bull ride.”

“Danny, I think I would have noticed if you hit your face.” She stepped back and folded her hands over her arms. “Trust me, nobody is watching your bull rides as closely as me.”

Why couldn’t she ever leave anything alone? If I told her what really happened she would make a big deal out of it. Maybe try to find the police to arrest those three idiots. Who knows? The thing about guys is that most of the time a good fight settled everything. Whatever issue had caused the fight was over when the fight ended. JoBell had always said that that system was barbaric, but it sure seemed to beat the way girls would drag every conflict out through a long battle of words and gossip for months and months.

“Well?” she said.

“We got in a fight,” Becca said. “These three cowboys—”

“Total jackwads,” I said.

“— were mad about the Boise thing. They tried to jump us out here when Danny was brushing down Lightning.”

“Whoa, you and Becca took on three guys?” Sweeney asked.

“Aw, man, awesome,” Cal said.

I couldn’t hold back my smile. “Yeah, Becca swung Lightning’s bit and nailed one of them right in the nuts!” The guys laughed, and even Becca and her father looked amused. JoBell did not. “What?” I said to her. “What were we supposed to do? They attacked us.”

“It’s not that. I wish you would have told me.”

“I was going to—”

“When?”

“I don’t know.” I threw my hands up. “Sometime when you wouldn’t get all mad about it.”

“I’m not mad about the fight. I only—”

“You sure seemed pissed to me.”

Sweeney took a step forward. “Hey, you two, can you—”

“I’m tired of being kept in the dark about everything, Danny!” JoBell shouted. “You just tried to lie to me again about how you hurt your face, and I’m tired of being the last to know what’s really going on. How long did you wait before you told me about Boise? Who else knew before I did? Now this? I mean, what other secrets are you hiding?”

“Nothing! I didn’t want to tell you about it because I knew you’d act like this!” I yelled.

Becca put her hand on my forearm. “Danny, it’s okay. There’s no need for everybody to get so upset.”

I shook my arm out of her grip and took a step closer to JoBell. “I’m tired of you being mad at me about this Boise shit!”

JoBell opened her mouth like she was going to say something else, but she stopped and pressed her lips together, blowing out through her nose. “That’s so not the point. I’m done with this right now.” She started for Becca’s dad’s truck.

“JoBell, come on,” Cal tried.

“I…” She waved her hand behind herself as she walked away. “Not now.”

—• Look, the bottom line is that the federal government has enough evidence to prove that Daniel Wright was involved in the Battle of Boise. Now yesterday he and his friends were practicing shooting military-style semiautomatic assault rifles, a weapon presumably purchased before the assault weapons ban was passed. He threatened to shoot at a news copter-cam! This kid is clearly dangerous, and this has gone on long enough. If the news media can find Wright wherever he is, what’s keeping federal authorities from bringing him in? Are Idaho border checks that effective in keeping Fed agents out? It’s funny, Idaho is a state that traditionally resists a lot of background checks for the purchase of firearms, and yet the state has now instituted its own background checks for weapons purchases to make sure any undercover FBI agents can’t get guns. So, some credit might go to Montaine’s effort to obstruct justice, or as he says, to protect his soldiers, but I think one of the main factors holding up these arrests is that the president is simply afraid to fail again and further complicate this situation. •—

—• passed the Texas House and now it looks like the measure might narrowly pass in the Senate. With us on ABC’s Sunday in Washington are Speaker of the House Jim Barnes and Senate Majority Leader Laura Griffith. Mr. Speaker, Senator, it’s an honor to have you with us today. Thank you for joining us.”

“Thanks, Rachel.”

“It’s a pleasure to be on the show.”

“Mr. Speaker, with the ongoing crisis in Idaho, what will it mean for America if Texas votes to nullify the Federal Identification Card Act?”

“That’s an excellent question, Rachel. As you know, I voted for the act, but the version of the bill favored by me and by most of my Republican colleagues was different in key ways. The law as it was passed was a result of bipartisan compromise, and most of the components of the law that Idaho and Texas are objecting to were added by Democrats. Am I entirely happy with the law? No. Do I believe that nullification is the answer? Absolutely not. But what are we as Americans going to do about this situation that the president has allowed to drag on for so long? Look, like I promise in my campaigns, I believe in commonsense solutions, and I think the commonsense solution here is to delay implementation of the law while Congress comes up with revisions that are more manageable, that help restore unity. Now the Republicans in the House already have a plan for—”

“Excuse me, Mr. Speaker. Senator, you’re shaking your head. You disagree with Speaker Barnes? Why am I not surprised?”

“I do agree with the Speaker that nullification is not the answer. Let me make this absolutely clear. Nullification is unconstitutional and illegal. It is a dangerous crime that threatens the way this country works, the way it was designed to work over two hundred years ago when the Framers wrote the Constitution. It will not be tolerated. It is really insurrection, and should be treated accordingly with all due swift and immediate force. But I’m telling you right now that I will resign my Senate seat before I allow any compromise legislation to pass the Senate.”

“Proving Democrats are impossible to work with!”

“Spare me your partisan cheap shots, Mr. Speaker. The federal government does not change its laws at the behest of state legislatures. It’s the other way around! I will not allow any state to hold us hostage by throwing a little nullification fit. I trust Texas will come to its senses and stop this nonsense immediately. And I have a message for Governor Montaine. You do not have infinite time, Mr. Montaine. You will comply with legal federal demands, you will obey the law, or you and the members of the Idaho legislature who are cooperating with you will face serious penalties.”