Between the Living and the Dead by Bill Crider Read Free Book Online Page A

on the bull, which was meandering over to the shopping cart. It was full of white plastic bags that held the bounty of the woman’s shopping trip. Rhodes wondered what was in them.
    The bull must have wondered, too, because it stopped and stuck its head into the cart. Rhodes heard it snuffling as it moved its head around the bags.
    â€œCereal,” Boyd said. “Sugar cereal. A bull would go for that. Let’s get hold of that rope while he’s not moving.”
    Rhodes wondered what they’d do if the bull started to move again, but by that time the men who’d been chasing it had all caught up.
    â€œWe can all grab the rope,” Rhodes said, looking around at them. “That way we’ll have a chance of controlling him.”
    He didn’t know whether that was true or not. There were six men, eight with him and Boyd. The bull still outweighed them by a good margin.
    â€œWe gotta be quiet and move slow,” Boyd said. “Don’t scare him.”
    The men all crept along with Rhodes and Boyd in the lead. The bull paid them no attention at all. He was munching on something in the cart. Maybe a nice box of Frosted Flakes. Rhodes got as close as he could without touching the bull and took hold of the rope. Boyd and the others followed his lead. The bull kept on munching.
    â€œNow what?” Rhodes asked. “Dr. Stanton?”
    The veterinarian was next to Boyd in the line of men holding the rope. He said, “We just hang on. Rafe Steadman should be here any minute.”
    â€œWhat does Rafe have to do with it?” Rhodes asked.
    â€œIt’s Rafe’s bull. He should be bringing his trailer.”
    Rhodes looked back toward the highway and saw a Ford F-150 turning into the parking lot, pulling a slat-sided trailer behind it.
    â€œThere he is,” Rhodes said.
    â€œAll we have to do now is get the bull into the trailer,” Stanton said.
    â€œSounds easy enough,” someone said.
    Somebody chuckled at that. Rhodes was skeptical, too, but it was worth a try. They didn’t have anything else. He watched as Steadman pulled the trailer around and started to back it toward them.
    The bull must have heard something, too, because he raised his head from the shopping cart and turned to look. He wasn’t disturbed. He went back to crunching whatever he’d found in the cart.
    Steadman stopped the truck at an angle to the shopping cart, got out, and came around to the back of the trailer. He was a tall, skinny man, dressed in jeans and a Western shirt. He wore a gray Western hat. He opened the gate and pulled out a ramp from beneath the trailer.
    When the bull heard the gate being opened, it looked around again. This time it didn’t like what it saw. It shook its head, scattering something that looked to Rhodes like mini wheat squares, and snorted. It moved forward, shoving the cart aside, and jerking the rope.
    The men all dug in their heels, but it didn’t do any good. The bull pulled them right along, and half of them fell down, letting go of the rope as they did so and allowing the bull to move even faster. It was headed toward the motor homes, some of the occupants of which had come out to watch the fun. When they saw the bull heading in their direction, they all started to go back inside except for one small boy wearing a T-shirt and shorts. He must have liked the bull, because he started to run toward it. A woman turned back from the motor home and yelled at him. The bull snorted and lowered its head.
    Rhodes and Boyd were still hanging on to the rope, but they were the only ones. They ran to keep up with the bull, but they couldn’t stop it.
    Rhodes knew he had to do something. He’d been to the Clearview summer rodeo every year for a long time, and one of the events that he remembered was the bulldogging. A horseback rider would chase a steer, a steer much smaller than the bull, lean out of the saddle, grab the bull’s horns, and