Short Story: Rosie And The Cowboy Rulebook

Rosie and the Cowboy Rulebook

…“Jeb, when do you think Pa will let me get a horse?” Rosie asks. Jeb shakes his head. “Girls don’t get horses. Only cowboys do. You gotta stay home and do chores with Ma.” “Then I wanna be a cowboy!” Rosie insists. “Well, you gotta do what cowboys do. And no girl can do that,” says Jeb. “You don’t know that. I bet I could do all the things that cowboys can do too!” “You can try. But just look at Pa. He’s big and tough and you’re small and girly. If you wanna be a cowboy, you gotta do all the hard stuff like Pa does.” Rosie stops and thinks. Then she says, “So if I can do all the things that Pa does, I can be a cowboy?” Jeb scratches his head. “I guess? But I’m telling you, ain’t no girl that can

They never walk on their feet unless they’re in the house.’ This is what Pa does. He rides more than he walks. Rosie likes horses. So she bets she can too. But the problem is Ma and Jeb. “You can’t ride on Bessie all day long,” her Ma scolds. “You have to get off of her if you want to play with your brother on the ground.” “But Pa never gets off of his horse,” Rosie replies to her Ma. “That isn’t a horse, that’s a mule,” Jeb grumbles. Ma shushes Jeb. Then she says, “Well, you can’t play games if you’re far from the ground. How will you get the ball to play?” Rosie supposes she’s right. So she gets off of Bessie and leads her to the stable again. She’s wouldn’t ride Bessie just for today. The next day, Rosie writes, ‘Rule #2: Cowboys always spit everywhere and anywhere they want.’ Pa spits all the time when he’s home. He can spit a foot away from the spittoon and she even saw him spit in the neighbor’s eye once. So Rosie practices to spit just like Pa. “Hey! Why’d you do that?” Jeb yells, when she spits at him. Rosie shrugs and says, “Cause Pa does it all the time.” “Just cause Pa does, don’t mean you should do it. ‘Sides, ladies don’t

He looks annoyed. “Jeb needs to learn how to be a man, that’s why he’s going. Stay at home with your Ma. And for God’s sake, stop trying to take out the mule for a ride and be a girl for once.” He leaves without even saying goodbye. When Jeb passes by, he sticks his tongue out and says, “I told you girls couldn’t be cowboys.” When they’re gone, Rosie pouts outside while Ma hangs the laundry. Ma asks, “Why do you want to be a cowboy so bad, Rosie?” “Because Jeb says only cowboys get to have horses and ride with cows all day but ladies have to do all the chores.” Rosie says, pouting. “Well, I can ride horses and I’m not a cowboy.” “But ladies have to do chores. That’s boring, Ma.” “I do the chores because it’s what needs to be done, not just because I’m a lady, Rosie. Besides, if I didn’t cook dinner or tie his lassos, your Pa wouldn’t be herding any cows or eating any barbecue. Somebody’s got to keep an eye on your Pa. Even if he is a cowboy.” For the rest of the day, Rosie helps Ma with the chores and thinks. When Pa comes home, Rosie still greets him. Pa doesn’t say much, as usual. He just grunts whenever Rosie talks. She writes it down. ’Rule #4: Cowboys don’t talk.’ When Rosie looks at the rules she wonders about Ma’s words…(Page