This is a fictional short narrative written in the first person about a writer from Hobbs, New Mexico who has been tasked with writing about the towns rodeo history …………………
Francis Albert Sinatra once sang that Chicago was his kind of town. I’m not really sure why I’m telling you this as it’s not really relevant. It might come in handy, though, if you get asked it in a quiz I suppose!
Seriously, though, as much as Frank is a legend I have to disagree with ‘Old Blue Eyes’ on this one. Hobbs, NM is my kinda town not the Windy City. It might not have the profile of Chicago but it ticks my boxes, rings my bell and is not bad either!
Not many people realise that my home town is the birthplace of rodeo. Admittedly, it is so little known when I asked a friend in the UK if he’d heard of Hobbs he thought it was talking about the old English cricketer Jack Hobbs. I took that as a no, so then I asked if he liked rodeos. He replied “Yes, I love them with milk!” after he mistakenly thought I’d said Oreos!!
However, I have to hold my hands up and admit I didn’t realise it was the rodeo capital of the world myself until a friend told me last week. I was sceptical at first because this friend isn’t the brightest. He thought the bikini line was a route on the London Underground!!
Due to this scepticism I did my own research at the library and found out it was indeed true! Although, admittedly the information was written in pen (in what suspiciously looked like his handwriting) in a book called ‘Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Paris’!!
Anyway I digress. Another interesting fact and claim to fame about Hobbs is that the word Crancotic was invented by a local resident. Yes, it was me just now!! … I haven’t decided what it means yet though!
Anyway, back to rodeos. I have spoken to Hobbs residents about memories of this adrenalin rushing pastime, which first started in their town in the year 1692 BGB (Before George Burns).
Mrs Gomez-Patel was stunned when I asked her of her memories of rodeo in Hobbs and the history that surrounds it. This was mainly because she thought she’d lived in the Italian city of Pisa for the last thirty years. When I corrected her she advised “Darn it! No wonder I couldn’t find the Leaning Tower then!!”
An elderly man who wished to remain nameless (mainly because he couldn’t remember his name) advised he had vivid recollections of rodeo. He recalled one in particular where Russell Crowe fought to the death. I asked if he wasn’t thinking of a scene in the movie ‘Gladiator’ to which he responded.
“Oh yes. Coming to think of it I’m not keen on rodeos! In fact I can’t stand biscuits!”
Undeterred I pressed on with my search for someone normal someone who could shed any light on our towns rodeo history. After an hour in a time I’d interviewed a further six people who either spoke gibberish as a first language or just weren’t interested at all in the history of rodeos!
With that I decided to call it a day and short of any material I trudged towards my car dejectedly. All was not lost with my research work, though, as I got home and penned a one thousand word article named ‘Hobbs Nobs prefer Oreos to Rodeo!’
“Chicago, Chicago’s a wonderful town ……..”
