Chapter 37

After Tracy and Cheryl had been dancing to several slow country songs at the Boot Hill Nightclub, and Cheryl had learned that she could trust Tracy to lead her, some quicker country songs came on, the Bellamy Brothers…

“Redneck girl likes to cruise in daddy’s pickup truck,
And a redneck girl plays her heart when she’s down on her luck,
Living for Friday afternoon,
She’s gonna show one ol’ boy that weekend moon.

 And I pray that someday I will find me a redneck girl
A redneck girl likes to stay out all night long
She makes sweet rock and roll while she listens to the country songs
She’s waiting for that moment of surrender
her hands are callused but her heart is tender

And i pray that someday I will find me a redneck girl
Gimme a, gimme a, gimme a redneck girl
Gimme a, gimme a, gimme a redneck girl”

This song has a quicker hoppy rhythm, and funny romantic lyrics.  Cheryl and Tracy were having a good time, and so were the other couples.

Over at the bar, there were some older rancher and farmer men.  One of them said, “Do you know who that is?” to a man whose family ran the stock yards for many years.  He answered, “Yes, I do.  That boy is the son of those folks who own TnT Oilfield Service up by Belfield.”  Several older men at the bar said, “Oh”, all at once.  This was O.K. with them, they did not mind that somebody whose family was from Belfield had come down to Gillette to have a good time.  The fact that the man who ran the stock yards knew who he was, meant that he was somebody.  The bartender overheard all of this, and made a mental note of it.  It was important to know who the wealthy land owner people were out west, they had a lot of control over towns and businesses.

After one more song, Tracy and Cheryl went and sat down at their table.  More people had arrived at the nighclub, and it was more crowded, and noisier.  It was almost too noisy to have a conversation.  Tracy and Cheryl talked just a little, and Cheryl excused herself to the bathroom.

As Cheryl walked to the bathroom and past the people sitting at the bar, she caught everyone’s  attention.  She stood out because of her attractiveness, and her sophistication.  The older farmer and rancher men at the bar were very impressed with Cheryl’s appearance, but they did not leer at her.  Unfortunately, Cheryl also caught the attention of two white trash men at the bar.

The two white trash men at the bar were from Florida.  It is pretty bad when someone is so low skilled, so unreliable, so untrustworthy, so worthless, that they can not get a job anywhere in Florida with a population of 20 million people, and they have to drive all the way to the oil boom in Gillette or North Dakota to get a job.  These two white trash, for most of their lives, had been kicked out of school, apartments, trailer parks, bars, and nightclubs.  They had nothing, and nothing to lose.

These two white trash men turned their attention to Cheryl.  When Cheryl came back from the bathroom and had to walk past the bar, one of these men called out to her, “Hey, how’s it going?”, like they knew her.  Cheryl looked at them and kept going back to her table.  The old farmer and rancher men at the bar did not like this, nor did the bartender, but none of them said anything to the two white trash men.  The two white trash men got the wrong impression that they could do what they wanted.

Chapter 38

The two white trash men watched Cheryl walk back to her table and sit down with some 20 year old guy who was well dressed.  They looked over the guy that she was with, sizing him up.  He was wearing a white long sleeve dress shirt, they figured he must be some business person or sales person.

Tracy got Cheryl to come dance with him some more.  The happy Zac Brown Band song was playing…

“You know I like my chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio up
Well I was raised up beneath the shade of a Georgia pine
And that’s home you know
Sweet tea pecan pie and homemade wine
Where the peaches grow
And my house it’s not much to talk about
But it’s filled with love that’s grown in southern ground
And a little bit of chicken fried”

Tracy and Cheryl were having a good time.  This was infuriating to the two white trash men at the bar as they watched the two of them.  They had not been able to pick up any women in a long, long time.  They wanted Cheryl very badly, and they also wanted to beat the fuck out of Tracy.

Right as the song was ending, one of them slammed his beer down on the bar angrily, and headed out on to the dance floor.  The bartender looked up, the old farmer and rancher men took notice of the angry white trash man heading out onto the dance floor straight for Tracy and Cheryl.  One of the old farmers said, “Uh, oh, this ain’t good.”

The white trash man confronted Tracy and Cheryl, “Hey, I’d like a dance. Not with you, with her.  Come on now.”  Cheryl was taken aback and looked shocked.  Tracy said, “No, I don’t think so.”  The white trash man said, “So what you going to do about it punk!”

The white trash man didn’t know it, but he had hit the jackpot as far as fucking with someone in a bar.  Tracy had hated stupid ignorant construction laborers since he was very young.  Tracy’s father had had to have a talk with him about not getting into fights with the employee workers when he was about 12 years old and working with his father and brothers on construction projects.  Since Tracy was about fourteen working in his family’s oilfield service business, he had had to deal with white trash workers.  For the past two years managing the company shop and yard, he had to deal with white trash oil field workers every day.  Tracy hated oil field white trash, especially white trash from the South.

Now, at this moment, a white trash worker from the South was accosting him and his girlfriend, and ruining his date that he had to drive four hours to get to.  Tracy did not hesitate for a second to step forward and smash the white trash in the jaw as hard as he could, the second right hand to the white trash man’s cheek bone was even harder as he had fallen down a little lower and backwards onto a table.  As far as everybody witnessing this was concerned, it was not a matter of whether the white trash man was getting up, it was a matter of whether he was dead or not.  A bystander farmer out on the dance floor quickly checked to see if the man on the ground tangled up in the chairs was dead, and he quickly announced, “I don’t think he’s dead!”  And everybody was relieved temporarily.

Cheryl was in shock.  Tracy asked her if she was O.K., and he said to her come on let’s get your coat, and get out of here.  None of the nightclub staff or the patrons had any hard feelings against Tracy or Cheryl, or any sympathy for the two white trash men.  No one stopped Tracy or Cheryl as they left the nightclub.  A few of the other husband and wife couples began gathering their things to leave too, it was not that they were mad, it was just time to go now, and they didn’t want to be around any police or paramedics.  These people leaving all at once would just help the staff and the remaining patrons to say, that they did not know who it was who hit this guy, and that everybody around what happened had all left.

Out in the parking lot, Cheryl said to Tracy, “I have got to go.  I’ll be O.K., I got a hotel room in town, I want to be alone now.  You need to go now, you need to leave right away.  I will call you later.  Goodbye.”  Cheryl got in her Subaru and left quickly.  Tracy got in his Dodge truck and left quickly.

The white trash man took about fifteen minutes to get re-oriented enough to walk out with his friend.  The nightclub staff did not show any sympathy or any feeling of responsibility for what had happened, and did not say a word to him.  He did not go to the hospital this night, because he did not know that his jaw was broken and that his cheek bone was broken.