"How tough was Tessa, the Toughest Cowgirl in the West?"

The cowpoke set aside his poker hand

and poked at the fire with the poker in his hand.

"Tougher'n you," he growled. 

"Tessa would challenge even the wildest of horses

to a horse race.  'Winner wins all the shoes',

she'd say. She loved shoes, that Tessa."

He shook his head, watching the sparks

fly upwards into a sky shot through with stars

like a roof that's been blasted with buckshot. 

"She won every race. Took every shoe.

Right there at the finish line.

But that wasn't all. Oh, no.

Just winning, well, that wasn't ornery enough 

for Tessa, The Toughest Cowgirl in the West.

The moment she had those shoes in her hand,

do you know what she'd do? 

She'd pitch them. Toss 'em. Throw 'em away."

The cowpoke shuddered at the thought of it.

"That's how tough Tessa was,"

he said, and he said it low,

like Tessa just might hear him

if he wasn't careful.