Chapter 27

When I went over to the shooting area Paul Grant was in position. He made a snide remark about the new kids not being able to show up for work on time. I was about to say something when I decided to ignore him. I couldn’t change the way he thought, so fight the battles that matter. This one didn’t.

In this scene, we were at the end of the cattle drive and whooping it up in town. That was a little strange because we hadn’t even started the drive yet, but that is how they did things. I and several others would be firing our pistols on cue into the air.

We did a walk through and were ready to film. Mr. Wayne wasn’t in this scene but he was on the sidelines to my right watching.

As we were getting into position I heard someone say, “What the heck!”

I looked to my left and saw a coyote standing in the street.

The coyote had a problem, a real problem. It was foaming at the mouth.

Someone yelled, “Rabies!”

That started the stampede. Everyone started running past me as quickly as they could.

The coyote saw everyone running and took off after them. That left him coming straight at me. I drew my pistol and time seemed to slow down and my vision tunneled in on the coyote.

He was coming straight at me and was starting to leap. I fired when he was in midair. The armorer was correct it was loud, the flame did shoot out the barrel and there was a cloud of smoke. I hit the coyote in the throat and it knocked him down.

He was down, but not out so I cocked the pistol and shot it in its ear from one foot. That ended the coyote.

To say there was pandemonium on the set was, to put it mildly. The director told us all to go home. Studio security took custody of the coyote and my weapon.

Did they think I was going to shoot someone? I found out later it was to prove there were only blanks in the pistol. There had been some nasty accidents over the years.

Paul Grant was the one who caused all the real commotion. He stormed off the set saying that he had been promised security and that the studio was now in violation of his contract so he was done.

Several people came up to me and thanked me for what I had done. Mr. Wayne had an odd comment.

“David Niven said your mother has a lot of grit, I see you have it too.”

“He said he knew her in the war.”

“You could put it that way.”

You could see Mr. Wayne almost jerk himself like a running dog that had reached the end of its rope. I wonder what he had been going to say.

Los Angeles County Animal Control appeared on the scene and wanted statements from everyone. When they heard that I was the one that tangled with the critter they examined me closely for any sign of bites. Of course, there weren’t any. They took the coyote with them to have it tested for rabies, but it sure looked classic to me.

John Wayne approached me again with the Director and Producer in tow.

“Rick, am I to understand that if this movie is canceled that you would be willing to work with us on another one?”

“Yes, Sir I would.”

“It looks like the time isn’t right for The Cowboys, we will make the movie someday but it doesn’t look like now. You are not old enough to play the lead and it would take too much to bring someone else in. We will have legal battles with Grant and might have to pay him over this incident today, which ruins our budget.”

“If we could have you lead in another movie at a lower price we could use the assets we have and still make a profitable movie.”

‘Sir, I’m having dinner with a prospective agent, I will talk to you tomorrow.”

“That sounds good partner.”

It was late enough I went to lunch by myself. While eating at least twenty people came up to me about the coyote. They all wanted to know how I had been able to stand there calmly while it charged.

I thought that said something about the movie industry. They played the parts of heroes but couldn’t understand how someone could face up to a problem in real life.

One person was very persistent in their questioning. They wanted to know where I was in relation to Mr. Wayne. He was on the side away from the coyote. When it was over he was next to me.

“So John Wayne charged into the trouble.”

“I guess so, I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Where was Paul Grant when the coyote was sighted?”

“His place in that scene was next to me.”

“Where was he after you shot the coyote?”