THE HORSE RACE

One Saturday in early winter, two buddies, Patsy Berry and Jimmy Wells, met at Patsy’s house to saddle her steed, Brownie, and spend the day the way they spent most Saturdays, riding all over Madison County, tracking rustlers and other varmints. Patsy was eight years old and Jimmy was six months younger. They caught Brownie, and while the two were getting him ready to go, Jimmy noticed a piece of chain on the ground. After careful examination, the two agreed that it couldn’t be very important so they threw it away. Only later, was it identified as Patsy’s curb chain—the part of the bridle that makes the horse stop. The two pals mounted up, Patsy on Brownie and Jimmy on Daisy. The combined age of Brownie and Daisy was close to half a century. Jimmy lived on the adjoining place, so the dynamic duo decided that on this day they would look for the bad guys in Jimmy’s Dad’s pasture. After they arrived at Well’s house and before they opened the last gate to start their quest, Mr. Wells, stopped them for a few minutes to make them promise they would not run any races… and to be sure they closed every gate they went through. Of course, they crossed their hearts and hoped to die! Finally!!! They could get started before the posse beat them to the rustlers. As their stalwart steeds climbed up the bank and out of the creek, they were already in a long trot. Well, Daisy got her nose in front of Brownie. No self respecting horse or rider could allow that, so Brownie and Patsy struck a lope. Daisy, not to be outdone, ran a little faster. The lead went back and forth between the two horses and riders, and soon the race was on, crossed hearts forgotten about. As they topped the hill, Patsy realized that Brownie was headed straight for the fence and she hauled back on the reins, but with no curb chain, she made little impression on her horse. On they flew, and Patsy dropped down low over her horse’s neck, fully expecting him to jump the fence, even though it was probably two feet taller than either horse or rider. At the last minute, Brownie, put on the brakes (he wasn’t dumb), and Patsy flew over his head, straight into the barbed wire fence. After hitting the fence, face first, and bouncing back under Brownie’s feet, Patsy got up, caught her horse and got back on as if she had planned it just that way. Jimmy rode along side and told her that she had scratched her face. She wiped her chin on the shoulder of her jacket, asked if it was bad, and after being assured it wasn’t bad, just a little blood, the duo continued their search for the bad guys. A few hours later they got hungry, decided to take a break and went to Jimmy’s house to get some grub. They went in the back door discussing strategy for the afternoon. Betty Wells, Jimmy’s mom, got a really serious expression on her face and proceeded clean Patsy’s scratch with Peroxide. Then she told Patsy she better go home. Patsy and Jimmy were crushed… they still had half a day of daylight and lots of ground to cover. Patsy climbed back on Brownie and, with her lower lip quivering, slowly rode off. Betty had never sent her home before. At the Berry spread, Brownie was unsaddled and turned out in the pasture. Patsy, dragging her feet, was met at the back door by her mom and dad. It seems Betty Wells had called ahead. Ebb and Lois Berry got white as sheets when they saw the “scratch” on Patsy’s face. They each grabbed one of the small girl’s arms and didn’t let her feet touch the ground until she was plopped onto the examining table at Dr. Heath’s clinic. The scratch was about 3” long and ran along her left jawline. The hours that had passed since her face had gone through the barbed wire combined with the fact that Dr. Heath was no plastic surgeon ensured there would be a significant scar. Patsy’s mom was horrified that her darling little girl would always be scarred, but Patsy was proud of her mark of courage and talked so much about it that she pulled some of the stitches out. Hey, there were some really tough hombres out there on that Saturday, but the good guys won.