Rodeo Clowns

On Amy and Paul's first date, Paul gave Amy strict instructions that she was never to allow him to buy a ranch or go into the cattle business. He explained that three generations of Bankhead men have lost their fortunes during midlife wannabe-cowboy crises. Amy has followed those instructions well, but even so, one of Paul's lifelong sorrows is that his children won't get to ride horses and rope cattle the way he did as a kid. His consolation is the annual Salinas rodeo, our one chance to wear cowboy hats and western shirts with button snaps. It's the closest these Silicon Valley kids will get to the ranching lifestyle.