*** Since Monty had been to the Cattleman's Day celebrations before, he knew the drill and putting his hand lightly on Laura's arm just above the elbow, guided her through the gathering throng so that they ended up very near the front of the line which was forming for food. She was impressed by how he managed to get them there so quickly without giving any appearance of being pushy, even pausing for a moment to say hello to someone he knew, then moving on until they took their place at the end of the short but quickly-growing line of couples. Then they relaxed and for a moment just took in the scene. A far cry from suburban backyard barbeques, these were heavy metal bins about 4 feet wide and 10 feet long holding the glowing oak coals. Insulated metal fenders protected the 4 trailer tires from the fierce heat of the fire. Vertical frames in an inverted V shape at each end supported a long axle turned by a spoked metal wheel attached to one end. That allowed raising and lowering the large grate, suspended by chains, so that the right temperature was always maintained for the dozens of 5- or 6-pound chucks of prime tri-tip beef slowly cooking on each of the half-dozen setups. Mixed with the mouth-watering aroma of the basted meat was the not-unpleasant smell of the smoke from the oak wood fires, and the smoke created a light haze as it filled the arena on its way to ventilator openings high in the rafters.
"Hey, Monty, how'd an ugly old boy like you get to stand beside such a good-looking lady?" was the boisterous greeting from a big man who stepped out of the crowd and shook Monty's hand. A bit older and not quite as tall as Monty, he outweighed him by considerably more than 50 pounds and his barrel chest and huge arms threatened to pop the snaps on his Western shirt. His deeply-tanned face under the brim of his big white Stetson wore a huge grin that said he was happy to see a familiar face in this crowd who had come from all over the Western states.
"Laura, this is my neighbor Curtis Williams, and you'll have to excuse his manners - they don't allow him to wander off the ranch and into the city with civilized folks very often," was Monty's good-natured retort. "And Curt, I'm not just standing beside this good-looking lady, she actually agreed to accompany me to this event. We happened to have seats together at last night's show."
The implication that this was their second night together wasn't lost on Curt, but despite Monty's jibe, he was well-mannered and didn't comment on that further. Instead, he tilted his hat as he took Laura's offered hand and said, "Pleased to meet you, Laura. I may be married, but I still notice pretty girls and I'm sure I've never seen you around before. What part of the country do you hail from?"