Free Ghetto Cowboy by G. Neri

here?”
    Tex looks over at the Ritz. “Got to. No place to put him until we get that roof closed up. He’ll be okay.”
    Boo looks like them homeless guys you see on street benches, all dirty and scruffy, hair going every which way. At least he outta the rain.
    I run into the clubhouse and find a coupla carrots in Tex’s stash. When Boo sees me with them, he gets all excited, tugging on his rope. I hold them out, and he chomps them one at a time. I pet him on his neck as he chews away. He calms down and starts chewing slower, just looking at me. I tell him he be all right. I think he believes me.
    I’m standing next to him when he finishes, and then he moves his head until it’s resting against mine. We just stand there, listening to the rain fall on the metal roof over us.

I hear a shout. The wind kicks up, and someone jumps off the ladder that was going up to the roof of the Ritz.
    Harper.
    A blue tarp up top whips about in the wind. I hear him shout to Jamaica Bob, “That roof ain’t gonna hold me. I’m too heavy to get up there.”
    Bob’s trying to look up into the rain and wind. “We can’t fix it till this rain stops! But we got to get that tarp tied down.”
    Suddenly my mouth opens. “I can climb up there.”
    Harper, Tex, and Bob all turn and look at me. They wouldn’ta been more surprised if Boo had spoken up. I don’t know why I opened my big mouth. Maybe I was just trying to show Harper I ain’t totally useless.
    But they don’t say no.
    Bob shrugs. “Kid might be light enough. We could tie a rope to him.”
    I can see Harper thinking hard, and it feels like maybe he don’t want me to get hurt. But then he asks me, “Can you climb?”
    I think,
Yeah, I can climb. I hopped enough fences in my time. I can climb up onto a old barn.
    I nod.
    Next thing I know, Harper is tying a rope to my waist. Tex stands there, holding up the ladder leading to the broken roof. The blue tarp whips about, the rope ties flying in the wind.
    Harper leans in close. “If you feel like you’re falling, jump. I’ll catch ya.”
    I give him a look, like,
Yeah, right,
but it’s better having him down here than not.
    I grab on to the metal ladder. It’s cold to my hands. I feel like one of them fire-rescue guys, only there ain’t no flames.
    Bob give me a thumbs-up, but he starting to look worried. He trades words with Harper, who seem even more worried. They stare at the tarp whipping around and shake their heads. I know they gonna change their minds, so I start climbing before they can say anything.
    About halfway up, I feel the rope tugging on me. Harp is yelling something, but I can’t hear him ’cause the rain and the wind is so loud. I wave him off and keep going.
    The ladder is shaking from the gusts. I hold on tight, afraid I’m just gonna slip off. The rain keep blowing in my eyes and blinding me. Them cowboy boots I’m wearing got no grip, so they keep slipping off the ladder too. Then there’s the tarp and the ropes, snapping around my head like whips. I think one of ’em might cut my head off.
    What was I thinking?
    I look back down. Everyone’s staring at me. But I don’t wanna wuss out.
    Once I get up to the edge of the roof, I can see why Harp jumped. The hole looks like someone dropped a car through it. I look down into the void and see Boo’s stall, crushed by the missing piece of roof. Man.
    What’s left up there seem real rickety. I can hear it squealing as it moves around in the wind. A big gust hits me, and I almost lose it — grab on with all my might and shut my eyes tight. When they open again, I can see the three guys holding the ladder still and Harper waving me back down.
    I look away. I can see the lay of the land from up here. The whole place is a mess, like it’s been hit by a tornado or something. But the worst thing is seeing that dead horse lying there in the mud — this is the tarp they was using to cover it.
    I take a deep breath and pray for the wind to die down for a