Behind the Grindstone: Cross Words

Buck and Roy both hired on
To ride for the Bar B Q
They both rode the range
The way most cowboys do

They’d split up in the mornings
And ride the range all day
Then meet up in the bunkhouse
Where the rest of the crew would stay

Now Roy was right intelligent
He could read and write and spell
That he’d been educated
Was sure easy enough to tell

But Buck had a problem
His IQ was somewhat lacking
And if his job had depended on it
They would have sent him packing

But he loved crossword puzzles
And tore them outa the Cow Country News
Then filled them out as he rode along
With the stub of a pencil he’d use

He’d lay the paper on his saddle horn
And fill in the missing word
Though his writing was somewhat shaky
And usually quite blurred

But many times he’d get stumped
And have to wait till night
To read the question to Roy
And get a word that fit just right

One night he was stumped
And had been all day
So he hollered at Roy
To see what he would say

Cause Roy bunked at the far end
On an old army cot
And the boys sleepin’ in between
Sometimes got a little hot

And they had threatened him
That there would come a day
They’d make him eat his crosswords
And they’d take his pencil away

And though he knew the boys were sleepin’
And had put in a hard day
The answer kept buggin’ him
So he hollered anyway

“What is a word that begins with W
And ends with a D”
Roy yells, “Does Not!”
“Why don’t you try a T”

At least, that’s the view here from behind the grindstone.