Springtime means calving time again on the ranch. Father spent many hours checking cows and the new babies. During school hours, Bucky followed Father around as he rode among the cattle. It seemed strange to outsiders to see a yearling antelope following a man as though he were a dog. Bucky seemed to know every cow on the range and formally introduced himself to every new calf. Occasionally, an angry mother would bawl at him and start a chase as if she thought he was too rough on her baby with those new horns. Father brought home many funny stories about Bucky’s antics among the cows.
No matter where he was, Bucky still ran to meet the kids as they came home from school. His white tail erect and head held high as he bounced across the sagebrush to meet them.
Don worried every afternoon that maybe today would be the day he wouldn’t come. The boy had seen so many herds of antelope nearby this spring, he knew it was just a matter of time.
Bucky saw those herds too and stopped to listen. Head high and tail erect, but always he ran back to his beloved family.
It was a beautiful May morning. School had only a few days until it was over. Don woke up to the sound of robins in the tree outside his window. The patch of sky was brilliant cloudless blue. “I sure would like to skip school and just ride Patches with Bucky at my side,” thought the boy.
Mother’s call to get up jarred his thoughts back to reality. “Oh, no! School again!” He dragged himself out bed, put on his clothes, brushed his teeth, and went out to feed his animals. Something seemed strange. Bucky was not at his stump. Teenie whined at Don’s feet. “Maybe he’s followed Dad to the barn,” thought the boy. He ran to the barn.
“Have you seen Bucky this morning, Dad?” he asked in a low voice when he could not see him at his usual spot waiting for milk.
“No,” replied Father.
Frantically Don ran all around the barnyard then out among the sagebrush. He ran all the way to his ‘secret spot’ looking for Bucky who was not to be found.
Joan came outside to feed the chickens. She noticed Bucky was not eating breakfast at the stump as usual. She ran to the barn to check there too. She shouted and called his name.
Sandie joined the search. She shouted and called. Bucky did not reward her by running toward her with his head down. Tears streamed down her face. “He’s gone!” she cried.
When Father came to the house from the barn with two buckets of milk, he discovered three glum children sitting around Bucky’s stump.
“He’s gone, Dad. We can’t find him anywhere,” they aid in unison.
“I guess he left in the night to go find a girlfriend,” said Father.
“He will be happy with his own kind. We were only here to help him grow you know. Let’s go have breakfast.”
None of the children ate much. Mother wrote a note for the teacher to help her understand if she caught Don and Joan looking out the window too much that day.
On the way to school the children gave Patches ‘his head’ and he took them to school along the familiar trail. They both kept their eyes straining across the prairie for a sight of their beloved pet. For some strange reason there were no bands of antelope along the trail today.
The day at school stretched on and on for both children. Others in school were sympathetic. They even helped in search parties around the school during recess.
Finally, late in the afternoon, the teacher suggested they all take a hike into the foothills. The hills there were high enough to see much of the valley along the Rawhide.
Joan fell on the way up and filled both knees with cactus stickers, but they climbed all the way to the top. Far off to the north some light brown specks reassured the children that an antelope band was there. Maybe Bucky was with them. They returned to school and started the ride home.
Neither child spoke, but each was secretly hoping Bucky would greet them at his usual spot. He did not. Tears were streaming down Joan’s face by the time they rode into the yard. Don was stony silent. “Big boys don’t cry” was his motto. “Besides,” he told himself, “Bucky needs to be free.”
“Dad, I think we need to go tell Warden Benson he’s gone when we go to town on Saturday,” said Don as he was putting Patches away. He kept his head down to hide his own tears. Joan searched all around the barnyard and behind the garden in the hopes that her friend was just resting somewhere.
“I looked there six times today,” said Sandie, as she followed her sister toward the ball field.
As the children prepared for bed that evening, Mother joined each of them for their prayers. By the time she joined her husband in the living room, she too was crying. “Every child prayed that Bucky would come back,” she said.
“The next few weeks will be hard for them, but they’ll get over it in time. We did everything we could to prepare them for this. They really do understand,” he answered as he put his arm around her.
For many weeks, the children kept the sardine can filled for Bucky. It became a favorite feeding spot for the birds as spring wore into summer. News traveled fast along the Rawhide. The ranchers all watched for the little antelope. Many reported seeing him, but no one could really be sure. Bucky never did return to the ranch.
Mother had to watch Sandie very carefully. She wandered away every chance she got “to look for Bucky”. Grandfather came to visit. He and the little girl spent may hours roaming the prairie in search of a glimpse of that ‘pesky antelope’.
Don rode with Father as usual that spring, checking the brush for calves. Somehow it was not as interesting to him. There was an ache inside of him for his friend.
One day they came upon a band of antelope not too far away. A beautiful buck stood in the middle of the group. He stood very still, turned his head toward them, stood motionless, hesitated, started to take a step toward them, then thinking better of it, bounded off in the other direction, his band following him.
“It’s him!” whispered Don.
“Did you see his ear mark?”
“I sure did!” replied Father.
“I can’t wait to tell the girls we saw him. He sure did seem happy and proud of his band. Boy, Dad, we sure raised a big one.”
“Aren’t you glad we let him go?” asked Dad.
“You bet!” answered the boy happily. Somehow, the ache in his chest was gone.
Fireside Stories 