“Garran,” said Inda, “I’ve one hour free.
At ten I’m on watch, so finish for me.
No tale that runs till the cattle grow wings.”
“Those,” I said, “are excellent things.”
Rulen pulled up a log to the flame.
“Let me put one in. I’ll improve your game.”
I said, “This is fiction. I made up the fight.
Now give me a ring and a moon for its light.”
My cowboy was Ludo, who’d won every bout
he cared to recall, with the lost ones left out.
He rode to a cactus as tall as a shed,
with two crooked arms and a flower on its head.
The cactus was Jack, and it moved when it pleased.
Its roots were great boots, and its spines shook when it sneezed.
“I’ll beat you,” cried Ludo. “Then people will know
I’m the best in the country, above or below.”
Jack bent to look at the man on the ground.
His wide yellow flower made a soft rustling sound.
“Three rounds,” said Jack. “But agree before we start:
no punches at my flower. It’s my favorite part.”
“I can win without that,” Ludo told the tree.
“Cactus,” said Rulen. “Let the plant be what it’d be.”
I nodded and gave Jack a pair of red gloves.
“They’re stitched out of clouds,” I said. “Things that he loves.”
Jack won on points, as you’ll presently see.
But give Ludo time. He will disagree.
Round one began with a bell in the sky.
Ludo raised his fists and gave a battle cry.
Jack leaned down so they could meet face to face;
Ludo swung hard at the freshly empty place.
For Jack had bent sideways, slow as a gate.
The cowboy kept turning; his boots moved too late.
He spun like a wheel that had lost its cart,
then sat in the sand with his feet far apart.
“Give Jack a sneeze,” Rulen said from his log.
“A sneeze that blows stars through the sky like a fog.”
“That’s not in my story.” “It can be,” said he.
Inda said, “Put it in. That part is for me.”
So Jack took a breath and his blossom shook.
The stars jumped about like dust from a book.
Ludo ducked low while the whole night shone.
“I wasn’t knocked down. I sat on my own.”
Jack won on points, though Ludo said no.
Round two had begun. There were two rounds to go.
Ludo jabbed left at a glove worn by Jack.
He jabbed right too, but could not pull it back.
His glove brushed a spine and stayed where it caught.
Jack looked at the glove, then the man, deep in thought.
“Do you want that back?” “Well, of course I do!”
“Then pull it toward yourself. Don’t tug me toward you.”
Ludo pulled hard. His hand slipped free.
The empty glove hung from the cactus like a flag on a tree.
Ludo leaped up to reach where it lay.
Jack moved his flower gently out of the way.
“No blows at the blossom. You gave me your word.”
“I want my glove!” “Then that is what I heard.”
Jack bent his arm and set the glove down.
Ludo put it on with an enormous frown.
“I let him take it! That’s how that round went.”
“It snagged,” Inda said. “It never was lent.”
I said, “You’re judging before I’m done.”
She said, “You’ve given your cowboy none.”
Rulen grinned wide, and I had to grin too.
My tale had acquired a better crew.
Round three was a shove, for Ludo was tired
of all the clever turns his boxing required.
He ran at Jack with his head held low.
Jack lifted one root, a boot with a toe,
and stepped to the side as he’d done before.
Ludo ran through and came back for more.
He tripped on his own boot, rolled into the ring,
and lay looking up at the great yellow thing.
“Do you give in?” Jack asked from above.
Ludo stood up and shook sand from his glove.
“Your roots are too big. Your arms are too wide.
And when I attack, you move to the side.”
“Yes,” said Jack. “You could do that as well.”
Then he raised his flower to ring the last bell.
It opened like sunshine above the red gloves.
“Still whole,” said Jack. “That’s the part that I love.”
Jack won on points. Inda said it for me.
“Points for the boxing, and spines, you can see.
That is your ending. Don’t box him again.
I’ve got to be going. My watch starts at ten.”
So Jack offered shade for a rest after noon,
and Ludo said, “Fine. I’ll come back to you soon.
But don’t offer a seat on that prickly knee.
I have finished the fight. Don’t begin it for me.”
Inda got up. Her watch time was near.
Rulen said, “Next time the cattle appear.”
I laughed and made room for him close to the fire.
“Give them good wings,” I said. “Make them fly higher.”
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