Friday Fictioneers * Rochelle Wisoff-Fields *
* Photo prompt by Madison Woods *
“Cowboy Camp” * 100 Words * Angela Shaffer * 23 April 2016
Cowboy Camp
Summer camp looks like heaven when daily life drags on. However, if one winds up in the desert-mountains, eating carmelized-in-the-can pork-n-beans, surrounded by Christian-rock hymns – you quickly realize this is Cowboy Camp. Illusions of fun evaporate. The ruins drew my curiosity. I was eleven. I left the herd, took up with the Natives. I met kids who would love the beans I ignored. Starvation. When I cut the wire, the stupid cows stared at me, wouldn’t budge. One didn’t make it, but the rest of the cows trotted across the bridge I made from a plank. They used it all.
Dear Readers and Fellow Writers ~
Apologies for the day late post and absence last week. As soon as I saw Madison Wood’s photo I immediately thought of my childhood experience. “Cowboy Camp” is based on the cult-like event Mother thought would be good for my “bad” attitude. I wanted to set the cows free because in my mind I thought the Native Americans could benefit. In truth, I could not find anything strong enough to cut the wire. Even if I had, the real cowboys would have corralled them back. I did, however, take what food I could sneak from the chow tent. The saddest part was that I had to go back to camp eventually. Though we did not speak the same language, we connected.
Thank you to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for weekly fiction fun and special thanks to Madison Wood for the photograph. Click the Blue Frog below to read and/or contribute to Friday Fictioneers weekly Flash Fiction challenge.
curiouser contemplations 
Inspiration comes from a lot of sources. Amazing how something simple as a fencepost can do that. I liked the bridge. Cows do stare a lot, I know that for sure.
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That’s funny, the staring cows…I wonder what they are thinking. Thank you for the comment!
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Great take on the prompt. Those cows certainly had an adventure!
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Thank you for the comment, Laurie!
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I like the humanity of the story… actually more the beans than the cows… how things we hardly can eat would be loved by anyone starving.
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Thank you, Bjorn. Yes, it was a humanizing moment – really put life into perspective for me. I was a “poor kid” but at least we had food.
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I quite like the idea of being out in the open eating beans 🙂 Though after a day or so I expect I wouldn’t any more.
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I made my own fun. The biggest challenge was sidestepping the whole creepy-re-education, complete with songs, morbid “parables,” and threats that “Jesus sees everything you do and think!” – with the implication that I was thinking wrong. The counselor said God would help the Natives if only they would believe. As a child, I thought, how cruel.
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Mmm, sounds a bit full-on.
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Dear Angela,
I love where you went with this. It’s definitely a unique take on the prompt. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I love this. Great connection and an excellent lesson for life, just not the way those campers and your mother wanted. I’m a bit surprised that you don’t speak the same language, though (I’m not American).
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That’s wonderful. Your masterfully mixed your life experience with your fiction. Nice.
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Sounds like one hell of a camp. Very interesting source of inspiration, thank you for sharing. And beyond language we share one bond- being human. Great story.
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