“Hey guys, thanks so much for letting me take that break. I just needed to get away from the booth for a hot minute,” Katy said as she returned with four beers.

“No worries! It’s been a pretty slow day,” Dee said, arranging and rearranging the giveaway pens for what seemed like the millionth time.

Ashley doodled in her notebook, resting her chin on her hand and sarcastically said, “Oh yeah, you missed something pretty ah-maze-ing, though,” and pointed at the guy they started calling Wisconsin in the booth next to theirs.

“Oh my GOD, where did you get those?” Audrey exclaimed when she looked up and registered what Katy was holding.

The others looked up as Katy sat down, passing the beers around the small round table that was meant for in-booth meetings. She said, “Oxford is having some beer and pretzel party at their booth for Oktoberfest. I snagged a few when no one was looking.”

Ashley looked worried. She reluctantly accepted the beer and asked, “Should we be doing this? I mean, shouldn’t we be standing up and greeting customers?”

Audrey took a swig of beer and waved her free hand around in a sweeping motion. “Do you see any customers?”

Dee said, “Yeah, it’s fine. It’s the end of the day and we haven’t seen a customer in almost an hour. I think it’s safe to kick back for this last stretch.”

They sat, sipping quietly for a few minutes, each thinking about the day they had and the night ahead. They made small talk, all the while trying to avoid Wisconsin’s leering eyes. He was watching them. He had been watching them since conference set-up two days before. Dude just did NOT get the hint.

“Hey, LADIES! Where did y’all get those brewskis?” he shouted from his seat, not bothering to get up when talking to them.

They ignored him.

“HEY!” he said, louder this time, “WHERE DID THOSE BREWSKIS COME FROM?”

Katy rolled her eyes, pointed toward Oxford and said, “Over there.”

He still didn’t get up, but he continued talking. He said, “Cool, cool. What are you girls doing after this? Going out? Drinking? Happy hour? Ladies’ night?”

“No idea,” Dee said.

“Do you mind if I join you? You know, a male presence?” he asked, puffing out his video gamer chest.

“We’re good,” Audrey said.

“I didn’t mean like for protection. Like for fun. Y’all seem cool,” he yelled.

They chose to ignore that. This felt like their time to unwind and chit-chat and he was definitely intruding.

“This guy bothering you?” came a crackling voice that would become smooth and deep within the year.

They turned toward him and Ashley spit beer back into her bottle in an effort not to chortle with laugher.

He stood behind them, tall and lanky in only the way that teenage boys are, bouncing a yo-yo in his left hand, his right hand casually perched on the booth’s half wall.

Audrey had the most composure of all of them. “Oh! Yes! Yes, he is,” she said to the youth.

He rolled his yo-yo up and stuck it to the specially made holster on his belt which was completed by a buckle so large and elaborately decorated with oxen that he looked like he would fall over if he didn’t walk with his pelvis pointed slightly forward of his torso.

He said, “Hang on. I’ll take care of this,” and walked over to Wisconsin’s booth. The four women looked at one another in amusement and awe of this teenage boy who, by all counts, should be timid and shy around a group of pretty grown women at his age.

He stepped over to Wisconsin and looked him in the eye. He spoke in hushed tones, gesturing toward them before sauntering back to their table, leaving Wisconsin bewildered that some kid just gave him a talking to. Wisconsin reddened and then suddenly was very interested in organizing the flyers at his booth.

The kid took the yo-yo back out of his pocket and said, “He shouldn’t be bothering you anymore.”

“What did you say to him?” Dee asked.

“Him? Oh, I just told him that the respectful way to talk to a woman or group of women is to walk over to them and address them like they are humans. Not meat,” he said nonchalantly.

They were all pleasantly surprised. Ashley said, “Wow. Who taught you that?”

He shrugged. “Out on my ranch, that’s just how we are raised. My dad always said to respect women because they secretly rule the world.”

“Your dad sounds pretty smart,” Audrey said.

“Yeah, he’s pretty cool. But I’m here with my grandpa. He’s better,” he said, looking them all in the eye with the confidence of a man many years his older than he was.

Katy said, “Oh, that’s so nice! What brings you to the conference?”

He shrugged again. “Even though I live in Northern California, only an hour and a half outside of Portland, I don’t get to see too many new people out on the ranch. Grandpa’s way of showing me the world before college is taking me to conferences and encouraging me to talk to people.”

“That’s a pretty good plan,” said Ashley.

“Where do you want to go to school?” Dee asked.

“I want to go to agro-school to be a mechanic. Anyways, my job here is done. I gotta get going now. Nice talking to you ladies,” the kid said and marched confidently off, doing tricks with his yo-yo until he was out of sight.

They were quiet for a couple of minutes, then Audrey said, “Did that just happen?”

“That cowboy kid is awesome,” said Ashley.

“That is a lady’s man in the making,” Katy said.

They laughed and drank their beers in peace, unbothered by Wisconsin visibly sulking nearby.