APRIL 7, 1861
Melissa seemed to be fine around him, Jesse thought. It didn't seem like she was mad at him any more. At least not since the day him and Michael had taught her how to rope calves. Jesse was on his way over to Michael's. He figured he needed all the practice he could get. He wanted to make sure that he beat the other kids in the calf roping contest. However on his way over Jesse ran across Ted who was trying to rope a bunch of bottles. Jesse sat upon his horse for a while watching him. He couldn't help but laugh when Ted jerked on the rope and the bottle hit him in the arm. That's when Ted noticed that he was being watched. He turned around to see Jesse a few feet away.
Since he had been seen, Jesse asked, "Whatcha doing?"
"I'm practicing."
"For what the bottle roping contest?" Jesse laughed. "As far as I know they're not having that type of contest at the rodeo. Or are you going to get them to add it in."
"No, I'm trying to learn to lasso things, so that I can enter the calf roping contest." Ted solemnly said as he took the bottle off the rope.
"Hey why don't you come along with me. I'm going over to the Johnson's to practice roping calves. You could practice, too." Jesse offered. Ted didn't at all seemed to pleased to accompany Jesse. "I'll even help you. It's better if you practice with the real thing instead of bottles. So finally Ted agreed. He mounted Reflections and followed Jesse to the Johnson's homestead.