By Chance: Day 2

Word Count: 12,033

Summary of Events:

Steele watched the events of the Hanna Rodeo that preceded his own before going back to where his horse was to get ready for his event, which was the second-last of the night. He went fairly early in the competition and set a time good enough for second place, but with the two ropers he was duelling with for the final slot in the CFR yet to go. The first one, who was holding the coveted slot going into the rodeo, got a time penalty for breaking the barrier, meaning he was out before the calf was released, while the second one set a time only fractions of a second slower than Steele's…

Excerpt of the Day:

Sighing Steele reached forward and rubbed the gelding’s black neck. For being an inferior among superiors, he’d done well, but even though Steele was entitled to greater prize money than the man who’d just gone, Steele wouldn’t get in.

In fact, he’d been unwelcomely presented with the math that told him that if he got third place and neither of his rivals beat him, he would’ve qualified for the finals by a matter of ten cents. If he got second and neither of them beat him, it would’ve been a few dollars advantage, but if one of them got third, he’d be out. If he won and neither of them beat him, it would be a healthy margin of advantage, but if one of them even got third he would be beat by a dollar or two.

As a result, unless the last man to go — who was actually fighting through a minor shoulder injury to finish the season — could get a third-place time, even though he’d do well at his ‘home rodeo’ Steele wouldn’t be in the finals.

Considering he was fighting through a shoulder injury that’d come from being bucked off a young horse he was starting on his farm a couple weeks ago, Steele didn’t anticipate that he was going to be able to come up with the required result, as he’d not done well at the preceding rodeos which had come after the incident.

Nevertheless, he watched as the horse — a chestnut gelding with a broad white blaze down his face and long white stockings up his legs — backed into the corner, then surged forward, the rope sailed through the air, soaring around the calf’s head.

The time was visibly quicker than Steele had expected to see — not that he had, in fact, expected to see a time at all, if he was honest — but Steele had no idea if it was going to be good enough, considering he’d expected the time of his rival to beat him, only for it to fall short of his time by two tenths of a second, not that he did any timekeeping to check against the official timing.

As a result, Steele startled when the announcer proclaimed that the time which had just been set was one scant tenth faster than his own, meaning that he finished the competition down one place from where he’d been, but also pushing the other roper out of the money and sealing his place in the Canadian Finals Rodeo, to be held in just over a month’s time.

This fact was summarily highlighted by the announcer, which prompted a particularly loud and enthusiastic cheer to rise from the partisans in the stands. Steele felt dumbfounded.

The ropers nearest to him in the sideline cluster immediately slapped his back and offered their congratulations, and he belatedly acknowledged the cheering by a raising of his hat before reaching down to rub the neck of the gelding. Somehow they’d actually pulled it off, and Steele couldn’t honestly say that he was entirely processing how it could’ve happened.