Sunshine Rider: The First Vegetarian Western (Laurel-Leaf Books) - Softcover

Hardman, Ric Lynden; Hardman, Lynden Ric

 
9780440228127: Sunshine Rider: The First Vegetarian Western (Laurel-Leaf Books)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0440228123 ISBN 13: 9780440228127
Verlag: Laurel Leaf, 1999

Inhaltsangabe

A historically accurate, yet comically offbeat story of the Wild West follows the adventures of a teenaged cowboy and his companion "cattalo"--a cross between a cow and buffalo--as they follow a cattle drive to Oklahoma in 1881. Reprint.

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Aus dem Klappentext

81. The place: Odessa, Texas. Seventeen-year-old Wylie Jackson lands a job as assistant cook on what will be his first cattle drive. Before he departs, Wylie's friend Alice charges him with taking her pet cattalo, Roselle, to her aunt in Enid, Oklahoma. Alice's father bred a longhorn cow with a buffalo and Roselle was the result: a gangly, gawky animal trained to count with her hooves and sit on her haunches.<br><br>Only days into the drive, a disastrous stampede occurs. Fearing he was the cause, Wylie abandons the drive and sets off for Enid, riding a stolen horse with Roselle in tow. Now a wanted man, he lives in constant fear of capture. Along his journey, he encounters Tim-oo-leh the medicine man, Majul Majul the electric belt salesman, Carl Merkle, infamous thief and killer, and other friendly, dastardly, and suspicious types. Wylie's story is a Western adventure, a search for self, and a sensitive portr

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I'd seen the cattalo critter often enough since Alice had made it her pet. It was, to my thinking, an awkward-looking beast, deep-chested with thin rear legs and a big block head. Not yet a yearling, her horn buttons gave no clue what would emerge. She was tan-colored with a dang white face and a goatee suspended beneath her chin. She hadn't grown up to her eyes, which were enormous brown pools of what Alice said was intelligence. "Hybrids are often smarter than other cattle," she insisted. "They take the best of both breeds."

I wasn't sure Roselle hadn't taken the worst. She had a bag of tricks Alice had taught her, dumb things like standing on her hind legs and pawing the air, or lying down and rolling over. Dog tricks. She came when called. She sat down on command, which looked pretty comical. Alice said she would tap out numbers on the ground if she held up her fingers to give Roselle a clue, but I think Alice switched her fingers to match how many times Roselle tapped.

Anyway, Alice spent a good deal of time trying to get the beast accustomed to me.

"This is Wylie Jackson," she crooned. "He's going to take you to Enid with all these nice cattle. Here, pet her head, Wylie."

I did so, feeling more a fool than I already was feeling.

"There, isn't he nice, Roselle? Now, I want you to obey Wylie, unless he asks you to do something truly stupid, in which case you can set him straight."

I shot a sideways glance around, hoping none of the drovers caught me talking to this cattalo freak. Fortunately, they were all engaged at the holding pens branding late-arriving cattle. Alice told me to back off and call Roselle. I did as instructed, but the heifer did not come.

"Go on, Roselle. Go to Wylie."

She'd sooner have gone to hell. She kept looking at me, then at Alice and shaking her head.

"Call her again, Wylie."

"Here, Roselle."

"Well, put some life into it, Wylie! Not just flat like that, like you didn't care."

I didn't. "Here, Roselle."

"Go to Wylie," Alice said, and she shoved Roselle up to me. The beast gazed at me, reflecting on my existence and concluding it was of no importance.

We tried several more times, but I might as well have been a dead dog for all the attention Roselle paid to me. For a time Alice was stumped; then she got the brainstorm.

"Turn around, Wylie," she said.

By this time I was following instructions like a spring-wound toy soldier.

"Here, take these."

I raised my hand, and Alice put the article in it. It was warm. It was soft. It was embroidered. It was Alice Beck's drawers!

I about died. "What in thunder--!"

"Oh, shut up!" Alice said, backing away. "When I'm gone, she'll think you're me!"

Alice turned and ran toward town. The cattalo heifer had its attention fastened on the drawers and missed her going entirely.


From the Hardcover edition.

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Verlag
Laurel Leaf
Erscheinungsdatum
1999
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0440228123
ISBN 13 
9780440228127
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
343
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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Hardcover