A Randy Story.... Happy B-day Randy

The facts of this story may be disputed by some… but, they are as clear as ever in my minds eye. As the seventh child, Randy always seemed fearless and invincible to me. This story demonstrates why I felt that way.

Randy must have been starting High School or there abouts. We lived in an old white farm house on about 100 acres. Our house was small, 3 bedrooms for 8 kids. I was so jealous because Randy, Dennis and Clyde got to sleep up in the attic. Dad installed a pull down ladder into the attic and that became the older boy’s bedroom. I’m sure there were some cold nights spent up there. I remember that they had a long tube or pipe up there and that they would stick it out the end window down to the ground and pee down this tub. I think it was so Dad wouldn’t hear them and because it was so hard to get down those folding stairs. I always wanted to pee down that tube and I never had the chance to do it.

Okay, that’s not the story. The older boys worked at a dairy that was down the road and over some railroad tracks. I had to help from time to time. My job was to move the cows between corals. I remember that I had to walk through a pen that had a thick tree that was all bent down and gnarled. This pen also had a lone bull in it. I wasn’t afraid of the bull because every time I walked through its pen it would run away from me. What I didn’t realize is that the bull was never running away from me. It was running from my brothers that I always followed around.

On this occasion, I had been sent out to move the cows alone. I was well into the bull’s pen when I realize that he wasn’t afraid of me at all. He was snorting and pawing the dirt with his head down, he charged at me. My blood when cold and if I had been wearing a hat, I’m sure my hair would have lifted it off my head. I ran as fast as my short legs could go to that gnarled old tree and made it up into the branches with no time to spare. I pulled chunks of bark and small branches off the tree to hurl at that bull thinking I could scare him away. Each attempt made the bull more and more angry.

Finally, I saw my brother Kirk walking into the pen to rescue me. Actually, he was yelling at me because he thought I was screwing around when there was work to be done. Well, Kirk got to about the same place I did when the bull charged him. Very soon I was joined in the branches by my brother. Kirk pulled off bark and branches to throw at the bull… yeah, this bull was about to explode he was so mad. So there we were, two brothers stuck in the tree and no cows moving in to be milked.

Soon after that a very unhappy Randy came out of the milking barn and hollered at us to get busy and quit screwing off. We yelled back our explanation and asked him to help us. Randy just turned and went back into the barn. A minute later he climbed over the fence and started walking toward the tree. He was pissed and he was dragging something behind him. The bull also saw Randy and thanks to me and Kirk the bull was ready to do battle with anyone now.

The bull snorted and pawed the ground. I didn’t think Randy even saw him because he didn’t even flinch. The bull dropped his head and started running toward Randy. Still not even a flicker of fear. I was convinced that I was about to see my brother trampled to death. The bull got closer and closer and Randy just kept walking. He came at Randy fast but as he got just within reach Randy pulled out this big 2X4 from behind his back and smacked that bull right over the head. It sounded like a tree had snapped off. That bull stopped dead in his tracks then quickly ran to the farthest corner of the coral as far from Randy as he could get. He never bothered me again.

That’s how Randy became fearless and invincible to me.

Happy Birthday Randy!