Page 65 of Trickster King

“Why aren’t there any overweight ranchers, Dad? I don’t even see overweight stable hands.”

Some people would rebuke the boy for asking questions. Some viewed someone’s weight as the ultimate marker of intellect, personality, and ethics.

I viewed those people as wrong, shallow, and without compassion.

Fortunately for my sanity, I could answer the question honestly and with regard to those who didn’t match the cruelty of society’s standards. “Weight has nothing to do with anything truly important. Some people are overweight because they can’t afford enough to eat, so they gain weight. Some eat too much. Others have medical conditions. Certain medications can cause weight gain, too. You can’t look at someone’s weight and understand their circumstances. Your eyes deceive you.”

“People can gain weight from not eating enough? That doesn’t sound right, Dad.”

“But it’s something that happens to some people. It doesn’t have to sound right to you. You just have to accept this is the situation some people are in. Before I met your mother, I was pretty thin—unhealthily so. But society thought that was all right because they’re scared of excess weight. Don’t ask me why. It doesn’t make any sense to me, personally. I don’t care if someone is overweight. I care if they’re healthy. Now, in an unfortunate number of cases, those who are struggling with their weight are also unhealthy.”

“Diabetes?” Eddie asked.

I nodded. “That’s just one of many weight-related complications out there. But here’s the reality of ranchers. Ranching is hard work. Caring for horses is hard work. As long as the person working the ranch has a good diet, they’re not going to be gaining too much in the way of fat. The job is physically demanding. We make sure our ranchers put enough food on the table. Sick ranchers can’t work, and underfeeding our ranchers is a fast way to make it so they can’t work.”

“Oh. Then why are there chubby kids at riding lessons sometimes?”

“That I can’t tell you. Maybe the kid hasn’t had a lot of time or encouragement to go outside and play so they’re learning how to ride horses. It could also be for any one of the reasons I told you. I recommend you view the person as a person rather than their weight. Unless they ask you for help or suggestions, their weight is none of your business. Now, if the person needs help and asks you, thus making it your business, that’s when you might want to ask someone for help.”

“What if a classmate cries because she’s too chubby to fit into a pair of jeans she really wants to wear?”

Knowing Eddie, there was a girl who was upset about her weight, but it wasn’t a pair of jeans she wanted. I remembered wishing I would be accepted by others, an impossibility in my former caste. I suspected bullying, as kids had an unfortunate tendency to do just that. We’d tried our best to make sure our children didn’t play those games, trying to teach them to be kind, but social pressure happened. “Talk to her. Find out what’s wrong, and depending on her response, do what you can. If you don’t know how, learn. And if she is trying to throw up to become thinner, no matter what promise of secrecy she asked you to make, talk to someone about it.”

“We talked about eating disorders in class,” Eddie said, and he shifted in the saddle. “I worry for her.”

“Does she live near the ranch?”

Eddie bobbed his head.

Some problems in life were easier to solve than others, and I turned to Geoff, who had a hand with the little ones. “Make sure we have a suitable school horse at the ranch for her use. Eddie, invite her to the ranch to ride horses. If the problem is not being physically fit, that will resolve itself readily enough. If she enjoys being at the ranch, there’s no reason she can’t get lessons on riding horses and playing. If you have other friends who’d like to ride at the ranch, invite them. Just let us know how many so we can have the appropriate number of school horses there.”

“Do you mean it?”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Of course. Sometimes, all somebody needs is a little opportunity. Just try not to feel badly if she rejects your offer.”

“Okay.”

With that out of the way, I pointed in the general direction of the pasture we would be taking over for our camping adventure. “Our goal is to eat an entire cow between the two of us.”

“We can’t do that, Dad.”

“Maybe we can’t, but we’re going to try.”

Eddie refused to cooperate. I should have guessed my plans would fall apart, destroyed at the hands of a young child. As I needed to make a decision about the gelding, and I couldn’t without talking to the vet, I decided if Eddie refused to let me escape, he was ready to enter the darker world of growing up. “All right. I need to go to the barn to see to the rescues.”

“At five in the morning?” Eddie asked, grabbing my phone and showing me the screen.

“Yes. The vets ran the tests on the horses overnight, so we have a better idea of what we’re working with. I’m going to be blunt and honest with you: we are not expecting good news for one of the horses.”

“Why not?”

I sighed. “He has a fracture.”

Eddie winced. “Oh.”

“I was going to let you sleep through this, but I will talk to the vets and decide if we euthanize him or attempt to heal the damage.”

“You’re not going to use your pistol, are you?”

---