B.T.'s HubNugget Roundup

Welcome to the HubNuggets Roundup! It was another crazy week for the HubNugget team. If you missed last week's adventure, it was a fantastic trip! We got to meet the Beatles, and our beloved and fearless captain, Shirley Anderson, got up close and personal with the one and only John Lennon. It was a happy day for everyone, right up until Cap'n Shirley told us she was going to run off and marry John, and retire from the team.

Now don't get me wrong, we're all thrilled that Shirley finally got herself a Beatle. She's been talking about it for years. But things just haven't been the same since she left us. We sure could have used her help with this week's adventure.

Here's what happened…

Shirley and John's wedding was amazing, and apparently I had a better time that I realized. I woke up groggy, and I wasn't sure if the clackety-clackety-clackety sound I was hearing was real, or if it was coming from somewhere inside my head. The way I felt just then, it could go either way.

"Tickets! Tickets, please!"

An older gentleman was walking toward me and, by the look of his clothes, I could tell that the Mirror Crack'd had struck again. But where did it leave us this time?

The man stopped beside me. "Well, aren't you a might odd lookin'?" he said. "Ticket, please."

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Where am you? Now why'd you go and get yerself on a dad-burned train without knowin' where it was goin?"

"I'm on a train?"

The old man shook his head. "Son," he said. "You're kinda givin' me the heebie-jeebies, here. Why don'tcha jus' gimme yer ticket so's I can punch it and git on my way?"

Patty, Zsuzsy and Redelf came stumbling over from the next car. They looked around, confused.

"Holy cow!" Patty said. "I feel like I've been hit by a train!"

I looked at the team and said "You're close, Sci-Pi. I think we were hit by the Mirror and landed on a train."

"Yeah, but…where are we?" RedElf Asked.

The old man, obviously the train conductor, said "Oh, fer the love of… Looky here. You kids are ridin the world famous Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line and, judgin' by this little feller's ticket, yer getting off at the next stop."

"And that would be where?" Zsuzsy Bee asked.

"Arno, Texas," the conductor informed us, "Population zero."

He thought about it for a second, then added "You city slickers could be in fer quite a show. I hear tell there's 18 head of HubNugget Wannabes there, just waitin' to be herded over to the HubNugget Ranch."

And that's when we realized the ride was about to get bumpy.

We got off the train at Arno and soon found that the entire town consisted of 18 HubNugget Wannabes and a rundown post office. It was an honest to God ghost town. Our Wannabes were actually right outside the rundown post office, in an equally rundown corral.

I looked from the corral, to the train, and back to the corral. "Ladies," I said, "I think this is going to be easier than we figured." I quickly explained the plan, then RedElf ran off to persuade the conductor to hold the train for a few minutes longer. Patty, Zsuzsy and I started herding the Wannabes toward the empty car at the back of the train.

With all of the wannabes loaded up, I told the conductor that Hoss Menayan, from the HubNugget Ranch over in Dime Box, would settle the bill at the other end. Yup, I was feeling pretty proud of myself as the train pulled away from the station.

As the last car moved away, we looked up and couldn't believe our eyes. Right there, on the other side of the track, were 12 of our wannabes! There must have been a pretty big hole in the side of that train car for these Wannabes to have escaped, because there they were, just staring at us.

As the train was leaving the station, the engineer blasted the train's whistle and that was all it took to get the Wannabes moving. They were spooked and headed east, Hellbent for leather.

There were no stables in Arno, so all we could do was follow on foot and hope we could catch up. At least 6 of our prized Wannabes had made it onto that train, and here they are for you to read. Make sure you vote, too!

We lit out after them, but they were too fast for us to keep up. All we could see was the dust cloud they were kicking up in the distance. Within a mile or so, we came to a river.

"That's just great!" I said. "What's this, and where did the Wannabes go?"

"That's the Pecos River, friend." A voice said from behind us.

We spun around to see a grizzled old cowboy who looked like he had stepped right out of some old legend. He was at least 7 feet tall, but his hat made it look more like 9. We were also relieved to see that he had six of our Wannabes, all safe and sound.

Patty said "Our Wannabes! Thank you so much, Mr…ummm"

"Name's William." The stranger said. "But folks all up and down the Pecos just call me Bill."

"Well, Bill," Zsuzsy said, "you've saved our Hides for sure! We lost 12 wannabes and now, thanks to you, we can post at least 6 of them right here and now!"

"I might be able to help you with the other 6." Bill said. They jumped smack into the Pecos before I could grab 'em, but they swam across on kept on headin' east. Far as I could tell, they were runnin' straight toward Dime Box."

"Dime Box!" RedElf exclaimed. "Smart Wannabes. That's where the HubNugget Ranch is!"

I said "Wannabes are smart, all right, but I'd feel a whole lot better if we could find them and make sure they got there safe and sound."

"Well," Bill said, "I don't reckon I'd mind too much if you took a couple of my horses. Just leave 'em at the HubNugget Ranch, and I'll collect 'em later."

"Cool! I want that one!" Zsuzsy said, pointing at a beautiful appaloosa, named Patches.

Patty and RedElf decided to share a proud looking black mare that Bill hadn't named yet. There was only one horse left that I was tall enough to mount. Fleabiscuit was a sway-backed old nag, but she was all mine.

We said our goodbyes to Pecos Bill and crossed the river. We rode all out toward Dime Box, and our lost Wannabes. Well, the rest of the team rode all out. Fleabiscuit just sort of wheezed and lurched along, stopping every few minutes to catch her breath. As we passed a few herds of wild hubs, we watched closely, hoping to see our Wannabes mingling in the herd; but they were nowhere to be seen.

We eventually made it to Dime Box, where Ripplemaker greeted us with lemonade.

"You guys must be parched!" she said.

We went onto the grounds and found the Cartwright twins, Maddie and Simone, tending to the final 6 Wannabes. Check 'em out below!

With everybody safe and all the wannabes accounted for, I decided it was time to break the news.

"Hey guys," I said, "It's been a real honor working with this team, but I'm afraid this was my last ride."

"What?" they all asked in unison.

"I think I've found my true calling, here. Me and Fleabiscuit are gonna ride the open range. I'm gonna be a cowboy…err…cowjackalope."

"Come off it, B.T." RedElf said. "I think you've been watching too many movies again."

"Nope." I said. "Sometimes a jackalope's gotta do what a jackalope's gotta do. You guys have been like family, but it's time for this jackalope to ride off into the sunset."

I turned Fleabiscuit toward the east and headed out to start my new life.

"Umm…B.T.?" Maddie said. "You do know the sun sets in the west, right?"

"Oh yeah," I said, "I knew that." I made a right turn and headed out. The team was waving frantically, trying to tell me something; but I'm not one for long goodbyes, so I just kept going. That was 3 days ago, and I still haven't seen the sunset, and everybody in this new town seems to speak Spanish. Oh well, I guess I'll get the hang of this cowboy thing sooner or later.

You Wannabes be sure to promote those hubs! It's been great fun being a part of the HubNugget Team and meeting great new people. Happy trails!