A warm July afternoon at the Beach Grove Stockyards finds wrangler Don Benson standing on the catwalk above dozens of pens. Below cattle, sheep, horses, and many other spieces stand or mill about waiting their fates. Some will be sold to meat packers while other may find their way to farms as breeding stock.
Don's job was to direct the younger wranglers below to open pen gates allowing the animals into the auction barn and so on.
The dust, stench and sounds mixed with a hot summer sun and heat. Don was wipping his forehead with a hanky when from down in one pen came a yell.
Stepping quickly to see what was up he almost triped. Stumbling along he grabbed a support post rather than fall into a pen filled with nervous animals.
"Hey Don!" yelled Frank Sims a young wrangler college student working a summer job.
Kneeling down Frank looked over the edge to see his young worker. There standing about a group of steers and bulls was Frank as he held up something bright and golden.
"What you got Kid?' asked Don.
A flick of the Kid's thunb sent a golden ring up to Don.
"Where did this come from?" asked Don looking at the bright golden ring.
"I saw the thing down her in the dirt! Hey maybe it was lost by that Lady who fainted up there last month, remember? You remember she toppled over and fainted! Oh and when she revived her ability to speak was mixed up like she'd had a stroke or something. I bet she lost the ring and it's her's!" stated Frank.
"Your probably right Kid, I'll give it to the manager for return to her family!" said Don.
"You won't give it back to her, why?" asked Frank.
"Cause, she went plum crazy and they had to put her in an asylum! She never could speak again and only made sounds like some lonely bovine. Yup she went crazy alright, poor lady!" replied Don as Frank turned again to his business at hand.
Don was about to put the ring into his shirt pocket when he remembered his cluttzy ways a few minutes before. A quick look back toward Frank and Don slipped the ring over his pinky finger for safer keeping.
The call from another pen sent Don on the run as he had yet another college student working in a pen full of hogs.