Boot Scootin’ Weekend

Janelle Meraz Hooper

   This is a companion piece to my novel: A One-way Cruise to Africa, Terror on the Internet… 

Weekends off for the three cowboys were rare. This time, as usual, they headed for a nearby Idaho town that had everything necessary for two days off from herding cattle: an affordable motel for resting with an attached restaurant, and a nearby tavern that has western music and boot scootin’ line dancing with plenty of cold beer.

The next morning, the three cowboys strolled into the restaurant and waved to Louise, their waitress. “Hey. Louise,” Tom said to the waitress that he’s known for years. “You goin’ boot-scootin’ tonight?”

Louise laughed, “No, I’m afraid all of my boot-scootin’ friends are on Boot Hill.”

The men, after a night of line dancing and flirting with the pretty girls at the Western Tavern down the street, order eggs and elk sausage the restaurant is known for. As they wash it down with their long-necked bottles of beer they shake their heads. Through the large plate glass window, they watch Drake’s beautiful sister out in the parking lot flirting with some cowboy she’s never seen before.

“What am I going to do with Tina?” Drake worries. “She’s just eighteen—too young to be acting like that. Dad would have a fit if he were here.”

“Maybe, we should leave her home next time,” Don says, “We like her, Drake, but weekends with her are turning into full-time babysitting jobs.”

“I’d like to, but she’d raise such a fuss that we’d end up having to tell dad about her flirting, then she’d never forgive me.”

Roger looked at her cooling breakfast, “Well, her eggs are getting cold. I’m going to eat them, and she can order more when she comes in.”

“Where are they going?” Drake says as he scoots back his chair and heads for the parking lot. He is alarmed, at how fast the stranger has talked his sister into following him toward his car. The other two men jump up and follow the distraught brother.

Charging across the parking lot, Drake shouts, “Tina! Your eggs are getting cold.” Reaching the young woman in time to grab her arm, he says, “What are you doing?”

“We’re just talking,” the young woman says as she turns to her brother. “Go back and eat your breakfast. Clint has new puppies in his car. I want to see them.”

“Oh, yeah? We’ll both look. What kind are they?” he asks the stranger who is starting to panic. By now, the other two men who had been eating breakfast with Drake walk up, dangling their beer bottles loosely from their hands. “What’s up?” Roger asks.

“Uh, I’m late, I have to go,” the man says as he turns to rush toward his car. He panics when he looks over his shoulder and sees three angry men following him.

“Oh, no! You can’t go until we see the puppies. What kind did you say they were?” Drake asks.

“Snickerdoodles,” Tina says. I’ll bet they’re cute.”

By now, the stranger in the parking lot is beginning to sweat. The men look through the car windows and see nothing but empty fast-food wrappers in the backseat. “So, where are they? In the trunk?”

“I completely forgot. I left them at home today,” he say as he races to the driver’s side of his car.

“Not so fast. I think you owe this little, underaged girl an explanation,” Tina’s brother says.

“I’m, sorry, I thought you were a lot older…” the man stammers.

Reality is finally dawning on the young woman, and she says nothing as the three men take turns tossing him against his car a few times before he tears himself away, dives for the front seat of his car, and races off.

Drake is much too shaken to scold his sister. All he can say is, “Tina, your breakfast is getting cold. We’ll talk about this later.”

Embarrassed and ashamed, Tina hugs each man but before she can thank them, the tears and sobs catch up with her. Inside the restaurant, a waitress brings Tina a cup of coffee and murmurs, “Let me know when you’re ready to eat,” then hastily retreats before the fireworks start.

As she is walking away. Drake calls her back to order three more beers and breakfast to go for Tina. Then he looks at his friends, and motions that they need to go back to their rooms. Terror surfaces on his expression now that the danger is over.

As soon as the beers and Tina’s breakfast arrive, the three cowboys quickly throw some bills on the table, grab the bottles, and head for their rooms, pushing Drake’s sister in front of them.

“I thought he was just a cowboy like you guys,” she says softly.

“Just because a man is wearing a big belt buckle, doesn’t mean he’s a cowboy, Tina,” Drake says, his voice shaking. “Didn’t you at least notice his boots? They were construction boots!”

Just then, a sheriff’s car pulls up to the restaurant door.

“I completely forgot!” the waitress apologizes as she runs over to the group, I called 911 when I saw that man put his arm on your sister. I guess it was just a mom’s reaction.”

“That was a good idea, thanks, Louise,” Drake says.

The sheriff comes in the door of the empty restaurant and heads straight for the sobbing young woman.

He introduces himself and asks what happened. All of the questions were routine with routine answers until the sheriff asks Tina if she’s ever seen the man before.

“A couple of times,” she admits. The three cowboys at the table choke on their beer.

“Where? When?” Drake demands to know.

“Well,” Tina says, the first time was at the Boot-Scootin’ Tavern when we were dancing last night. He was watching me. He asked me to go outside with him so he could get a smoke, but I was having too much fun dancing to leave. The second time was this morning.” Surprised, she says, “He was hanging around my door. I didn’t think anything about it, and I knew you guys were waiting for me, so I was in a hurry.”

“What happened then?” the sheriff asks.

“He followed me and then started telling me about his cute little snickerdoodle puppies that he had in his car…” she looked at her brother with shock, “Drake, I don’t know how he did it, but before I knew it, he had me outside and we were headed for his car. I don’t even know when he grabbed my arm. It all happened so fast, and I was just so interested in seeing the puppies.”

The sheriff’s CB pings, and he motions for everyone to be quiet.

Embarrassed, Tina whispers to her brother, “What’s the big deal? Men flirt with women all the time. No one ever calls 911!”

“Folks, I’m sorry but I have to ask you all to come down to the station and fill out a formal report. My deputy picked up that guy racing out of town. When he pulled him over, he brought up his license plate and discovered they were looking for him in two other states. The reports gave him a legal right to search the car. Inside the trunk, they found duct tape, rope, and handcuffs. He also found some rags that look like they might have blood on them.”

As she buries her face in her brother’s shoulder Tina looks at Drake and begs, “When this is over, can we go home? She looks at the other two men and pleads, “Do you mind?”

Roger looks at Tina and says, “Tina, we can be saddled up and ready to boot-scoot out of here before you can pack your make-up.” Tom nods his agreement, “The sooner this weekend is over, the better.”

Note: Sex trafficking is up all over the nation. From cities to reservations, young women are disappearing. Teach your young adults to be aware of who and what’s around them wherever they are.