Free Cowpokes and Desperadoes by Gary Paulsen Page A

from smiling. “I can see why it might be better for you to go out of town for a while.”
    “Yeah, I hope it’ll give my parents time to calm down. I think they will, unless they listen to my sister. Amy says this is her big chance. She’s going to try to talk them into moving to another part of the country while I’m gone.”
    “Don’t worry, Amos. She’s probably kidding.”
    “I don’t know. You should have seen the gleam in my dad’s eye when she first suggested it.”

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    Amos arrived at Dunc’s house the next morning right on schedule. He was wearing a black cowboy hat that kept slipping down over his ears, boots that would have fit Ronald McDonald, and a belt buckle the size of Montana.
    Dunc scratched his head. “That’s quite an outfit.”
    “Thanks. I borrowed it from Ernie Weller. His older brother used to work for Cowboy Bob’s Pizza Palace. I didn’t want to show up at your uncle Woody’s ranch looking like a dude.”
    Dunc picked up Amos’s suitcase and headed for the car. “You look like a realcowboy, all right. I think it’s the gold pepperoni pizza on the front of the buckle that does it.”
    At the airport, Mrs. Culpepper insisted on pinning name tags on them and kissing Dunc good-bye right out in public where everyone could see. She started for Amos, but he ducked under her arm and headed for the plane.
    A flight attendant named Cindy showed them to their seats. Amos took the one by the window.
    “Parents are so weird,” Dunc said. “They let us go all over town by ourselves doing whatever we want. But when we are confined in an airplane, thousands of miles in the air, with no possible means of escape—suddenly they get all mushy and worried and pin a name tag on a guy, like he was some kind of a baby.”
    Amos leaned back in his chair. “Who can figure parents?”
    Cindy came by to make sure they were comfortable and find out if they wanted anything.
    Amos ordered a soda, peanuts, and a pillow. “That Cindy sure is nice. I bet Melissawill be a lot like her when she grows up.”
    Dunc yawned and closed his eyes. “My mom probably bribed her to keep an eye on us. I’m going to take a nap. Wake me when we get to New Mexico.”
    Amos looked around the plane. No cowboys. Real cowboys probably don’t ride in airplanes, he thought. He would have asked to be sure, but Dunc was already snoring.
    Amos took his hat off and loosened his buckle. Another thing he needed to find out was how cowboys sit down wearing these big buckles and breathe at the same time.
    He picked up a magazine and thumbed through it. Directly behind him he could hear two male voices talking in low tones.
    “… it shouldn’t be hard. We’ve got him right where we want him. Everything’s all arranged. That Culpepper character will soon be history.”
    Amos sat up. Culpepper? History? He grabbed Dunc’s arm and started shaking.
    Dunc’s eyes flew open. “What?”
    Amos put his finger to his lips. “Shh! Listen.”
    The voices continued. “Culpepper’s an oldman. He hardly has any real hands left who’ll work.” The speaker laughed sharply. “We’ve managed to convince them all to leave.”
    “Amos,” Dunc whispered urgently, “we have to go to the bathroom.”
    “We do? I don’t think so. I mean, maybe you do, but I don’t—”
    “Come on.” Dunc pulled him down the aisle.
    There was barely enough room for both of them to stand inside the tiny rest room. Dunc locked the door. “Amos, what did you hear before you woke me up?”
    “Not much. They just said everything was arranged and Culpepper would be history. For a minute there, I thought they were talking about you. I guess it must have been somebody else.”
    “Don’t you get it? Those guys weren’t talking about me. They were talking about my uncle Woody—Woody Culpepper.”
    “Why would anybody want to hurt your uncle? I thought you said he was a nice guy.”
    “He is. I can’t figure why anyone would be after him.