News From The Walking X Ranch

The Names We Answer To


 

 

I was the youngest of six and quite a lot younger than the main herd. Like all families, my Mom would get upset with someone and go through all the other names before coming up with the right one. My cousins were very close, so sometimes their names popped up to. The standard name when I was in trouble though, was SteKaDaLiBoJan. Exotic sounding as it was, by the time she got to the Jan part she’d really have her blood up. It may have been a slight advantage to be one of the kids closer to the front of the list, but I’m not sure of that. I’ve done the same with my own too, so I know it’s common. I’ve even brought up the dogs and cats, so Mom did better than I did to at least keep it kids.

Being much younger and kind of scrawny for my age, I was the family “runner”. It was fortunate that I was fleet of foot as I spent a lot of time running. We’d be working cattle out at the chute, my siblings each on their assigned job, me waiting for orders. Dad would suddenly need something from the house, barn, pickup, whatever. I was nearly 12 years old before I knew my real name wasn’t Run-to-the. He’s say “run to the barn/house/pickup and get the…” He didn’t mean mosey either. I set off like a cheetah, race to the location, grab the needed item, and race back. I’d skid to a halt in a small cloud of dust and hand it to him. He’d nod and put the item to use. No back pats or thanks, it was my job. I was proud to be able to help.

I was always the one that had to “run to the freezer” and get the ice cream. The freezer, a truck sized behometh in the basement, held all kinds of delightful foods besides ice cream. I was always glad to have ice cream, but, that basement also held the occasional bull snake, so being sent to, what in my mind was the snake pit at a reptile exhibit, was terrifying.

Never mind that I trod amongst bullsnakes, garter snakes and rattlesnakes as I roved the ranch. Having a bullsnake in the basement was an invasion of the worst kind in my mind. It was INSIDE the house. Creepy. So I’d go into high speed to race down the steps, grab the ice cream, and race back up, hopefully without seeing a single slither. I promise you the ice cream hadn’t melted a bit on the journey.

I now answer to Jan, Mom, Grandma, Aunt Jan, but I’ll bet I’d still snap my head around to the names StekaDaLiBoJan or Run-to-the. Of course, being the youngest kid, I would still answer to Dummy too. Some things never change.

Leave a Reply