Lost his knife

Way back before I was married I used to hit the amateur rodeos pretty hard. There were three or four guys I used to rodeo with. We would try to find rodeos that most of the tough ropers didn't go too. We normally could make a little more ducking off to some of the lesser known rodeos. A lot of the Oklahoma and Texas guys hate rodeoing in Arkansas and Missouri because the roads are crooked and there are a lot of mountians. We used to joke that the road surveyor must have been drunk or mad at the state when they surveyed for the roads to be built, they are sure crooked in some places.

We usually went as far down I-40 or I-44 as we could. So hopefully we wouldn't have to drive those crooked roads very much.

Pretty much all rodeos start at eight PM, so we would stop and eat somewhere along the way about six. Usually we would eat at a fast food type place because the horses would get really hot in the trailer while it was parked. So anyways, one time we got our fast food and then headed on to the rodeo. We were in my buddy Red's truck and trailer. Red has always been a little OCD about cleanliness and so forth. His truck had one of those campers like all the rodeo guys had back in the eighties and nineties. It had a roof AC, shower and two beds. However, it did not have a toilet. Now Red, he couldn't use the public toilets. They were always too nasty for him. So he bought a lid type thing that snapped down on the top of a five gallon bucket. That was his port a pottie in the camper. He would sneak it out and dump it when no one was looking at whatever rodeo grounds we happened to be at.

So we arrived at the rodeo and proceeded to go pay our entry fees and saddle our horses. Red suddenly had the urge to use the port a pottie. He answered nature's call and being we were parked alongside and old fence row he dumped the contents of his port a pottie in this old fence row.

He proceeded to saddle up and get all his gear on his horse. Red also carried a custom made Spyderco knife. That knife was engraved with sterling silver and all kinds of cowboy designs. It was about time for us to get on our horses and head to the arena. When Red said have you seen my knife? No it's always in your back pocket and I haven't paid attention to what you do with it.

He looked and looked. Finally, he decided it had to have fallen in the port a pottie when he answered nature's call. So, he got a small stick and went over to the fence row to look through the contents he had dumped earlier. He looked a good while and never did find that knife.

I couldn't help but sneak around and tell the rodeo announcer what happened. That dang rodeo announcer brought that little incident up all summer each time Red rode into the arena to rope his calf. That announcer would say, “Red had lost his custom made knife and if anyone has found it please wash it off before you return it.” The crowd laughed every time all summer and Red never did figure out who told the announcer…….

James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.