Whew! It’s a hot one already! 

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Nan looked out from under her bandana to see D’s truck pull up.

What in the world is he doin’ here at this hour, she thought. 

D hopped out and ran around to the passenger side and opened the door. Nan could feel a blast of cold air from the air conditioner in the truck blowing full blast. 

D turned around with a huge calf in his arms. 

“He needs some lovin’ momma.” D called out to Nan. 

What in the world? She thinks to herself. 

“He’s in a bad way, but I think you’ll get ‘im goin’!” he tells her.

D laid the calf in the pen and waved goodbye to Nan. 

She put her hands on her hips and accessed the calf. 

The little calf is wet from the belly button down, his hooves are bloody and there’s blood in his slobber. She leaned down and pet the li’l guy. “What in the world has happened to you…” she whispered aloud.

He looked at her with big calf eyes and says, “Maa.’

“Yep, I guess I am li’l guy. I’ll be your Ma for about a year anyway. Be right back, you stay put.”

Shortly, Nan is back with a bottle and the calf takes to it right away. Darn near finishing the whole thing right on the first try! 

“Well, you’re gonna be an easy one I figure!”

Later on, D came home and filled Nan in on the little guy’s story. Seems that buzzards found him and took some lunch off him before he was finished bein’ born! Ate part of his tounge and the bottom of his hooves. Poor little bugger. 

“Well, he’s a fighter.” she said. “I’ll call him Buzz-short for Buzzard.”

Pretty soon, Buzz was running around and bucking. “He’s a feisty little guy! I’ll bet he’d make a great bucking bull!” Nan joked.

Buzz grew fast and ate everything he could. He could knock out a bottle of milk in less than a minute. Eating on grass was next and as soon as Nan and D introduced him to grain, he jumped right over the calf grain and chomped on the cow cake! 

Buzz had big legs and a big attitude. He wanted to play with everything. Butting his head on the fence and the barn and Nan, he loved to play and spar with D. Even the dog had fun running in circles with Buzz. 

Buzz didn’t like to drink from the little trough, he reached into the big trough, “I’ma big boo!” he said. “I’m not a baby boo, I’ma big boo!” he hollered in his little voice, dropped his head and bucked in a circle. 

Nan and D had fun watching Buzz grow. 

It didn’t take long before Buzz was too playful for Nan. When she went to put feed in his bucket, he’d sneak up behind her and throw his head between her legs lifting her off her feet! 

The other cattle wondered about Buzz. “Who does he think he is?” they mooed to one another.

Cloris was excited! She wanted him! She heard him from far off and came running! Once she found him she tried to lick him through the gate. 

But Buzz didn’t want Cloris, “Ima boo.” he told her. “A what?” She asked. “A BOO!” he said. 

“You’re a baby.” Cactus told him. “NO I’m not, I’m not a baby boo, I’m a BIG boo!” he yelled.

Annie looked at him and under her breath she said, “You may be a bull, but you ain’t a big bull.” and walked off. 

Cactus laughed, “Oh, hahaha, a bull. Now I get it. Ha-ha.” And he sauntered after Annie out to the round bale of hay.

But Cloris stayed. She gently mooed to Buzz. “Hey little one, you’re precious. I will take care of you and love you and clean you and teach you things. I’ll protect you forever and ever!”

“Nah, I’m good.” Buzz said. “I’m a big boo and I can take care of myself.” 

Right then Nan threw some hay over the fence and Buzz jumped high in the air and turned around to see what was attacking him.

“Yeah, good luck with that baby boo.” Cloris said to him as she turned to follow the others. 

Wide eyed Buzz cautiously approached the yellow animal that had jumped over the fence to eat him. 

“It’s okay Buzz, it’s hay. You’ll like it, it’s sweet.” Nan told him.

Buzz walked closer, then ran away bucking. 

Days went along and Buzz continued to grow and settle in. Nan and D wondered what they would do when Buzz wasn’t a baby bull anymore and became a big bull like he thought he was. 

Would he be a famous bucking bull? Time would only tell. 

Then one day….

Nan hurried with her chores and began getting ready for the rodeo. Excitedly she chattered away at D while he was taking a shower. 

I just can hardly wait to see Buzz. I wonder if he’ll remember me now that he’s a big and famous bucking bull! 

For the past few months Nan and D had been watching Buzz buck on TV. He had grown into a beautiful ball of muscle, and just as they thought, he loved to buck. Just watching him twist and turn while he kicked his feet high in the air and then lunging high in the air anyone could see he was having a blast. Buzz always did love to jump around and play, now he was able to do it all the time! 

Today Buzz was being featured in a big rodeo not far from D bar D Ranch where he grew up. Nan and D were driving out to watch him and their excitement was explosive! 

Sitting in the passenger seat Nan could hardly contain herself. D was driving fast enough, but it just seemed like they were moving in slow motion. She wanted to be at the rodeo grounds right then! 

Finally they pulled into the parking area. Nan jumped down from the truck and headed for the pens. She just knew that she would find Buzzard and he would come right to her looking for a good scratching on the head. 

D gathered their things and hurried after her.

Sure enough, Nan called out, “Buzz!” and a huge black head popped up. “Hey Buzzy!” Nan called through a great big smile. 

Buzz nodded his big ol’ head at her and trotted over to the fence where she was waiting. 

“Oh, Buzz, you’re a big boo now! What a handsome boo you are.” She cooed to him while scratching his face and the top of his head. Just like he did when he was a baby boo, Buzz turned for her to scratch that spot on his back just above his tail.

Buzz wasn’t a furry little calf anymore. He had become a big, strong bull. His muscles bulged out everywhere and he was shiny as an ebony sculpture. Just beautiful she thought to herself. 

“Hey Buzz, let’s have kisses.” she told him and he reached out to lick her on the cheek. “Yep, it’s you. No mistakin’ that spot missin’ from your tounge where the buzzards got ya.” 

Pretty soon it was time to get to their seats, so D and Nan told Buzzard bye and wished him luck.

As they made their way through the crowd, they noticed a line of folks and stopped to see what they were waiting for. There at the front was a huge banner and below it was several t-shirts and hats hug up for sale, all adorned with pictures of Buzzard! 

“Buzzy is famous.” Nan said to herself grinning as she found a place in line. 

She selected the t-shirt that had Buzz in a graceful pose with his head twisted to the right and his hind end way in the air. Buzzards were circling in the sky and the bull rider was in high action. “BUZZARD” blazed across the top in orange letters. Nan clutched it proudly, like it was a photo of her oldest child and headed for her seat. 

D was already there, “You just about missed the whole thing, Nan!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss Buzz’s outing for nothin’!” She said. 

Sure enough, Buzz was the next bull to go. 

The cowboy looked shaky as he eased down onto the wide back of Buzz. Buzzy just stood there like the mature bucking bull that he had become. Nan imagined that he was excited and probably hoped that the cowboy was good enough to hang on so he could get his wiggles out. 

Finally the cowboy nodded for the gate and it flew open. 

Buzz leaped out of the chute and stood on his nose. Then his stong legs lunged him into the air before landing on the front hooves that had once been eaten away by the beaks of buzzards and he twisted and jumped and turned and bucked like no other bull Nan had ever seen. 

The cowboys legs flipped and flopped and he flew through the air. Buzz kept bucking until he got to the clown barrel and went to town head butting and playing with that barrel until it fell onto it’s side, then he rolled it all over the arena. The crowd went nuts cheering and laughing as they watched Buzzard play. 

After the Bullfighters called Buzz away and the cowboys began swinging their ropes, Buzz knew his playtime was over and he turned to go back to the pens. 

The crowd stood up and stared chanting, “Buzzard! Buzzard! Buzzard!” 

Buzzy strutted slowly toward the alleyway, nodding his head high to the left and to the right. Loving his fans all the way back to his place in the pen where his cake and big trough of water were wating for him.