Bill, the calf and the ride down the road
By
John A. Roof
July 10, 2010
Staples, Texas
It was an unusually warm spring in Texas in the year of 1955. The pecan trees were blooming early and so were the spiderworts and all the other wild flowers along side the roads.
Our father, Russell Roof, was busy in his shop building furniture for one of his customers. My brother, Bill, was with his best friend, Troy riding their bicycles. Bill had gotten his bike for his birthday last April. We lived in a small village called Staples, not far from San Marcos, right on the San Marcos River. Our community was known for its field of winter wheat and Lowman Popcorn. The boys headed down the road towards the San Marcos River on FM1977. Here is where begins their story about their big adventure.
As Bill and Troy rode past the Swift Ranch just across the river, they looked at all the new calves in the pasture with their mothers. Bill spotted one small calf looking at him. She had a perfect star in the middle of her face. This calf was strange for it followed them very closely with her eyes. Then out of the blue, the calf tore off from her mother at a full run right towards them and the fence.
Troy shouted, “Look at the calf run will ya?”
As Billy and Troy continued down the road on their bikes, the calf ran along side the fence with them till she had to stop at the fence line. Bill and Troy rode on up to Mr. Swift’s barn to ask Rancher Swift about the strange calf. He told them she had been born during the night under a shooting star and because she had a perfect white star on her face, he named her Star. Rancher Swift told the boys Star was different from the other calves. He had never seen a newborn calf stand so fast and be so eager to run.
Every day after school, Bill and Troy rode their bikes by the pasture and Star would run to the fence and follow them. No matter how fast they rode their bikes, Star stayed right alongside them till the end of the pasture. Bill would come home and tell us about the strange calf named Star, and how she seemed to wait for them every day and come running when she saw them.
One day, Bill and Troy approached the fence and gave Star a rub on her nose. She looked at them with her big brown eyes, turned herself in circles, then ran down the fence line and then back up again. She repeated this until Bill and Troy got on their bikes and rode on down the road towards their homes.
“Troy, don’t you think that was strange, how Star would run down the fence line, return, and then run down the fence line again?” Bill asked.
“Yeah, I know. I've never seen a calf do anything like that before. I think she got a marble lose,” answered Troy.
“I wonder if Star is trying to tell us something?” Bill said.
“Tell us what, that she likes to run, or she likes to chase her tail like a do?.” Troy said
“Maybe, I don’t know but it is strange," Bill answered.
The following day they returned to the pasture. As they walked to the fence, Star again welcomed them. Then she repeated everything just like she had done the day before. That night at home, my brother was especially silent at the dinner table; mom even asked him if he was feeling okay.
“Yes, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about Star and wondering why she's acting so funny,” he said.
Bill told us all about how Star would run to them, turn in circles, and then run down the fence line and how she repeated it over and over. He said she wouldn't stop till he and Troy got on their bikes and rode on down the road. She would run along side the fence and follow them till she came to the end of the pasture.
“Dad, do you think Star is okay? Do you think something is wrong with her?” asked Bill.
“I don’t know, son, but I do know this. We were put here for a reason, man or animal, and I'm sure the Lord has a reason for Star to do what she does. You just need to find out what that is. That's your job William,” our father answered.
The next day was Saturday and Bill and Troy spent the whole day sitting across from Star’s pasture watching her. She would look at them, come over to the fence, turn in circles, run and then come back.
“Let’s go, I'm bored and hungry,” Troy said.
As they walked over to their bikes, Bill noticed something very strange. Star's ears perked up and she became very excited. As Bill approached her and leaned his bike against the fence, Star seemed very interested in his bike. She came right over, poked her head between the fence’s boards to nose and lick the bike.
“That’s it!” Bill yelled. “She wants to ride our bikes!”
“What? Now you got a marble lose," Troy yelled back.
“I'm telling ya, she wants to ride our bikes! She wants to go faster than any cow has ever gone before,” Bill explained.
“Okay, let’s say that's what she wants to do -- ride our bikes -- how do you get a calf on a bicycle?” asked Troy.
“I don’t know yet, but I do know that is what Star wants and we have to think of a way for her to do it,” said Bill.
For the next few days, Bill and Troy tried to think of a way to put Star on their bikes. Finally it came to them.
“Let’s make a trailer!” they both said.
We can pull her behind our bikes, just like you would behind a truck. That night Bill went to his father and asked if there was any old lumber he could have.
“What do you need lumber for?” asked Father.
“Troy and I are going to build a tree house in the woods by the river for the summer,” Bill fibbed.
“There's some old lumber in the back shed you can use,” said his father.
The next day, Troy and Bill began to build the trailer. They found a couple of old wheels in a shed on Lowman’s popcorn farm. They asked if they could buy them. Mr. Lowman told the boys the wheels were from an old wagon his son had and they could just have them. The plan was to be finished on Friday and take Star for a ride early Saturday morning. They worked in secret all week after school in the shed behind Bill’s father shop. They made sure to always return his father’s tools and to be very careful with them. They sawed and hammered all week till as late as they dare. When Friday night came, Bill couldn't sit still. He kept asking if it was time to go to bed yet. He told his father to make sure he was up early so he and Troy could go work on the tree house.
“Ok, but what have you and Troy been building in the shed out back?” Father asked.
“Nothing, just getting all the lumber cut before we take it to the woods,” answered Bill fibbing again to his father.
Early Saturday morning, they went to the pasture and opened the gate closest to the road. They found Star, put a halter on her and led her out of the pasture. Star’s mother was not too pleased and she began to raise quite a ruckus. The boys took Star to their bikes where the trailer was already attached. They checked the ropes one more time. When star saw the bikes and the trailer, she immediately walked to the back and climbed into the trailer. She knew just what to do.
“Look at that! Star knows what to do,” Bill said with an excited voice.
“Are you ready, Troy? Are you ready, Star?” asked Bill.
With that, they were off. Knowing Star was far heavier than what they were used to, they put their bikes on a little hill near the pasture. In the background, Star’s mother was still raising a ruckus. So was Star, yet she was mooing for joy. Bill and Troy were peddling as hard and fast as they could.
The two bikes hauling the trailer began to move down the road faster and faster. Rancher Swift heard all the noise and came running. What he saw was something that took his breath away. Before him were two boys on their bikes peddling as fast and as hard as they could down the road with a calf riding in a trailer behind them. To this day, Rancher Swift tells everyone that Star was yelling, "Yipppppppeee!" all the way down the road.
When the ride was over, they saw a small crowd had gathered, including the boys’ fathers. The boys saw that Star was returned to her mother, who sniffed her over to make sure all was well. She then calmed down immediately. Both Bill and Troy knew there was going to be heck to pay for this stunt. They saw Rancher Swift and their fathers talking. They had taken a calf out of the pasture without getting permission first.
Rancher Swift came over to the boys followed by their fathers. Rancher Swift looked at the both of them with a hard frown on his face -- but there was a smile in his eyes. Rancher Swift and their fathers had already decided that Bill and Troy were going to have to be punished. They would have to work for Rancher Swift all summer helping keep his barn clean -- and they would have to take Star for a ride every day in her trailer.
That summer, people from miles around came every afternoon to watch my brother and his best friend Troy and a bike-riding calf named Star. Rancher Swift never sold Star. She stayed in Staples and watched my brother and Troy ride up and down the road for many years.
