Chapter 2- Homecoming
No words were exchanged on the way home. Each seemed absorbed in his own thoughts. The arrival at home was anything but quiet. As the riders appeared over the hill near the barn and rear corrals, Comet, the Palomino stallion, reared and called to his “fighting buddy”, Patches. He raced wildly around his corral. Don began talking to Patches to keep him quiet for the pony was not accustomed to such a slow entry to the home corral.
The noise and commotion from the barn and the corrals brought Teenie, the family terrier and watch dog, barking into the yard and corral area. Teenie’s barking brought Joan and Sandie. When the girls saw the antelope, they began squealing with excitement and Teenie became even more furious. The poor antelope cowered against Don in fear from all the commotion.
Dad dismounted, quieted the dog and the girls with a few words of warning and took the baby antelope from his son. Don hopped down and all trooped into the kitchen where Mother was preparing supper. She turned around and gasped in surprise when she saw what was in her husband’s arms. Baby Loreen banged her spoon on the table in excitement.
“Mom, I need a bottle and some milk right away, my antelope is hungry.”
“Your antelope? Will someone please tell me what’s going on around here?”
“I found it, Mom. Its’ mother was gone, I checked. We can’t let it die! We gotta take care of it.”
“Well, slow down and let me think.” She turned to her husband and asked, “Will the calf bucket work?”
“No, it has never been fed. We’ll need to start with a nipple on a bottle. I think there’s a nipple down at the barn. Don, go check in the tack room.”
“Joan, get that old blanket off the porch and I think there’s a big box in the basement. He’ll need to be kept warm. We can put him behind the kitchen stove.”
“Oh boy! Just like the baby chickens!” exclaimed Joan, as she ran to get the box and blanket.
Don was off like a bullet in search of the nipple. Mother placed a pan of milk on the big black wood stove that served as both heating and cooking stove in the roomy kitchen. By the time, Don returned with the nipple and an old pop bottle, Joan had the box and the blanket ready behind the stove.
The baby antelope was placed I his warm bed and the process of teaching him to eat began. Don dipped his fingers in the warm milk and placed them next to the antelope’s lips. Soon, a pink tongue was licking them, then they were in the antelope’s mouth. Mother handed the bottle to Don. With his free hand, he held it toward the antelope, gradually exchanging it for his fingers. Soon the baby antelope was sucking greedily. Dad and Mother laughed proudly as the girls squealed in delight.
When the baby antelope had been bedded down, Don and his dad went outside to tend to the horses and milk the cows. As Mother returned to supper preparations, the girls sat on the floor, gently petting the new baby who was no longer trembling. He began to relax and enjoy his new home.
The family supper table was usually a time to relay experiences of each family member, but tonight all discussion centered around the new pet. Don explained to everyone how he had found the baby antelope and brought him to his father. Father seemed pleased with his son’s careful attention to detail and responsibility in caring for an orphan of nature.
“Now that we have him, what next? How can we keep him? What shall we name him?” were all questions to be discussed. Don had apparently been doing a lot of thinking on the ride home because he had answers for all of them.
“We can keep him where he is for a few days, can’t we, Mom? Dad, let’s build a tall pen, like the chicken pen, close to the house so I can see him at night. I will call him Bucky.”
One by one, his suggestions were discussed by his parents.
“He can’t stay where he is for very long,” was Mom’s reply. “This is a house you know.”
“I think there is some chicken wire behind the chicken house. We’ll have to cut some poles. We’ll get started right after we check the cow’s tomorrow morning.”
As soon as they were dismissed from the table, all three children were back at the box behind the stove, petting and talking to their new playmate and friend, “Bucky”. Don and Joan were soon reminded of their evening chores. Don reluctantly bedded Patches down for the night and fed Teenie. Joan fed the chickens and gathered the eggs much faster than usual that evening. Sandie gloated over being allowed to stay close to the box as she “helped” her mother with the dishes. Keeping up a steady conversation with no one in particular, she planned all the things she would do with the antelope.
Bedtime that evening was met with howls of protest as the children were informed that Bucky was to stay where he was and all the children were to sleep in their own beds. “He’ll still be here in the morning,” they were assured by Father.
Bedtime prayers were said around Bucky’s bed as a concession, then at long last, all four children were safely in bed. Don was certain he would never sleep with his pet so far away, but almost immediately was sound asleep. It had been a long day.
Early in the morning, before the sun was up, the parents were awakened by a strange bumping sound coming from the kitchen. They could also hear Teenie’s low growls.
“There must be something on the porch.”
But why isn’t Teenie barking? She usually raises a fit at someone or something outside.”
They got up to see what was happening, flashlight in hand. The sight that greeted them in the kitchen made them both laugh uproariously. There, standing in the box behind the stove, was Bucky, kicking the of the box with his front feet. The expression on his face seemed to say, “let me out of here.”
However, Teenie, the watch dog, seemed to be saying, “You stay in bed, it’s not time to get up.”
Upon seeing her master, Teenie stepped back as if to say, “I’m glad you’re here, you put it back to sleep.”
“Oh my, Loreen finally sleeps all night and here we have a new baby wanting a four o’clock bottle. I hope this doesn’t last too long. What will that boy get us into next?” said Mother as she heated milk and fed Bucky. When the baby was satisfied, the parents returned to bed. Teenie relaxed on her rug in front of the big stove.
As the children arose in the morning, each one checked the baby antelope before saying a word to anyone else. When they were reassured that yesterday was not a dream, they began the usual early morning activity. They readied themselves for breakfast, but with one difference—the antelope had to be checked before finding a missing shoe or brushing their teeth. Don warmed the milk and fed the antelope without needing to be told to do so.
After breakfast, Don was reluctant to do his assigned chores and leave Bucky to the mercy of “those girls” while he helped his father check the cattle. He knew that he must because Dad would not be pleased if he neglected his other duties to care for and play with his new pet. Before they left, it was decided that Bucky should be in the fresh air. The girls would watch him in the fenced area of the yard. “Just don’t treat him like a doll!” admonished Don. He was remembering that many times, the girls had put clothes and bonnets on Teenie and pulled her around the yard in the big red wagon!
The morning passed uneventfully as the timid antelope explored his new territory. One of the little girls was constantly at his side, touching him as if to be certain he was real. When he laid down to rest, both girls played near him. Teenie, obviously jealous of the attention Bucky was getting, growled deeply whenever the baby came near her. It was going to take a while for those two to become friends.
About midmorning, Mother brought out the bottle for another feeding. The girls argued over who was to feed him. Mother said, “Each feeds half the bottle.” Never were measurements so carefully taken!
Don and his father returned at lunch time. The boy could hardly eat, he was so excited about getting that pen built, he wanted to have his pet properly cared for and in sight of his bedroom window. He ate as quickly as he could and raced out to locate the materials needed to cute poles and dig holes. He was ready and waiting when his father came outside.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so eager to work.”
Mother replied, “I’m glad he’s eager. I don’t find the bed behind the kitchen stove all that pleasing. I’ll definitely be glad to have that antelope bedded outside!”
By midafternoon, the poles were cut and piled near the area planned for the new pen. Children, antelope, and dog were eager to supervise as Father’s heavy boot pushed the shovel deep into the Wyoming sod to prepare for the setting of poles. Everyone was so engrossed in the work that they did not notice the ranch owner, Louis Newell, drive into the yard. Teenie began to bark furiously as he approached the group. Bucky ducked nervously behind Don when the newcomer came near. Don instinctively put his arm around his pet as if to protect him.
“I see you have a building project going on,” Louis remarked to his employee.
“Yes, we need a temporary pen for Don’s new pet.”
The two men talked for a while about the pet as Father explained the circumstances surrounding Bucky. The children listened respectfully and perhaps a bit fearfully. Maybe Louis would not approve of their keeping him! Would he insist he be turned loose?
Louis seemed to understand the children’s fears and recognized Don’s determination to raise the orphan. He suggested they include rolled oats in his diet as the antelope grew bigger. He wished the family good luck, patted the trembling antelope, returned to his pick-up and drove out of the yard.
“Dad, I’m sure glad he doesn’t mind our keeping Bucky here,” said Don.
“He did remind me that we need permission from Wyoming Game and Fish Department to keep Bucky,” said his father. We’ll have to talk to the Game Warden about keeping him.”
“He won’t take him away, will he?”
“I don’t think so, if we can show him that we can properly raise an antelope. Louis is going to town today. He’ll tell the Warden that we have Bucky. I imagine he’ll come out to check our system. We’d best get this pen completed and Bucky out of the house!”
Father and son worked hard the remainder of the day and into the evening to finish the pen.
“We’ll keep him inside one more night and fix a sleeping shelter tomorrow.” Father promised, as the last of the daylight gave way to evening twilight. Three tired children, an antelope, and a dog followed their father into the house for bed with no discussion as to where Bucky was to sleep. He was part of the family now. All they needed was permission from the Game Warden tomorrow. Parents and children both prayed for an understanding Warden that night.
Breakfast was strangely quiet. The usual early morning activities seemed subdued as each child was thinking about the expected visit from the Game Warden. Even the parents were wondering if he really would be so heartless as to take the baby antelope away.
Don rode the creek for strays again that morning, but his usual imaginative mind could not be captured by the wild life along the Rawhide. All his thoughts were centered around Bucky and his pen. Would Warden approve? What will he tell us about the wild pet? The boy was in definite hurry to finish his job and return to his pet.
As soon as father and son finished the morning cattle rounds, work commenced on the needed sleeping shelter. A flurry of sawing and hammering echoed across the Wyoming plains. The baby antelope followed the boy around like a playful puppy. His nose seemed to always be in the middle of every part of the building project. Father had to be careful not to bump the baby as he pounded nails to from the A-frame structure that would provide shelter from weather.
The girls were loading the big red wagon with hay to line the floor of the shelter and pen. This project was a major under-taking for their small hands. Each girl would gather an arm load of hay from the stack and head for the wagon just outside the fenced-in area. Nearly half would be lost in the trip. Finally, with the wagon piled high, they headed for the pen across the open corral and yard. As the wagon moved, hay flew. The girls made many stops to return hay to the wagon. It took at least a dozen such trips to cover the floor inside the shelter and pen.
At last, the little A-frame shelter house was secure in one corner of the pen and filled with hay. Father and sisters stood back and watched as Don led his pet into the new home. Bucky stood with his nose in the boys’ hand. He seemed to understand this was “home”. Don talked to him as if he were talking to a child. “This is your house, you will sleep here.”
Slowly the baby antelope sniffed the corners of his pen. He walked around the three sides of the little house, nipped at the hay with his sharp little teeth, crawled inside, curled up, and closed his eyes. Bucky was “home”.
As the family watched the scene, a car could be heard in the drive. They looked up to see the green truck with a Wyoming Game and Fish emblem on the side. Teenie ran barking to meet the truck. Two little girls instinctively hid behind their father as the Warden Joe Benson got out of the truck and walked across the yard. Don stood straight and tall in the middle of the pen. He found himself inching in front of his pet as if to protect him from this stranger.
The two men shook hands as Warden Benson introduced himself. They were exchanging pleasantries when Mother came out of the back door. She also shook hands with Warden Benson. Three solemn faces looked up at this man who would have the final say about their new pet.
“Well,” he said, “I see you have been busy. What are you feeding him, son?”
Don explained the formula Mother had concocted, “Cow’s milk, a little cereal, and egg in a calf’s bottle, sir.”
“Very good, I see you know what you are doing.”
“Mom helped me do this for baby calves before,” replied the boy.
“You know, I can’t let you keep him locked up in a pen. The law says he must be free.”
“We only built the pen to protect him from other animals,” explained Father.
“That’s a good idea while he’s small, especially at night. As long you allow him to roam around freely, there is no reason you can’t keep him until he’s old enough to take care of himself.”
The children began cheering in excitement, Teenie barked and the antelope came running to Don.
“Well, I can see that was a popular statement,” said the Warden.
“The children were afraid you would take Bucky away,” replied Mother.
“Well, we don’t encourage people to try and raise animals from the wild, but as long as the antelope is allowed to roam freely, I think it would be best in this case if Don were to take care of this one.”
Warden Benson turned to Don and his pet, “be very sure son, that your love for this animal does not blind the fact that he is wild and naturally will want to be with his own kind. You can keep him for now while he needs your care, but you must always be ready to turn him loose.”
Don nodded his head in agreement, but there was a lump in his throat as he ran his hand along Bucky’s back. The antelope nuzzled the boy’s pocket, searching for something to eat, nearly pushing him over in his eagerness.
“Looks like it’s feeding time, I’ll be on my way now, but I will stop by from time to time to see how you’re doing.”
As Joe Benson drove away, he glanced back in his rearview mirror and laughed. One baby antelope was being lavished with much love and affection from an excited group of children. Their tiny dog was running around the circle barking and jumping on the children. “Some days, this job feels good,” he thought.
Fireside Stories 