The Horse You Rode In On

 

It had been raining for nearly a week straight, but on Saturday morning the sun finally came out, which was excellent since Saturday’s were Anne’s day to ride Handy. Her mom dropped her off at the ranch at 9 am, and by 9:30 she looking at the world through Handy’s ears as they plodded down the Webb Ranch road toward the San Franscisquito Creek Trailhead.

At the top of the trail Anne could already hear the creek. It sounded like it was raging, but when they rounded the next bend she saw it still looked low enough to cross. Handy plunged in without a moment’s hesitation, while Anne perched nervously on his back, but before she knew it they were safely on the far shore and making their way up through the forest. As they emerged into an open field Anne noticed the sunny day had fizzled away, replaced by heavy black clouds. Anne sighed, and as if to punctuate her frustration, the skies opened up and the rain started pouring down.

“Okay Handy, let’s hurry home,” Anne whispered to the horse as she squeezed her legs and clucked her tongue. Handy broke into a quick trot and they bounced down the trail. Slipping and sliding they made their way back to the creek, Anne tried not to worry about the sound of roaring water that was echoing through the forest, but it was hard not to notice how much louder it was.

Finally they came around the last bend, and Anne saw what she feared, the creek was no longer a creek, it was a raging river. She pulled Handy to a stop and just sat, staring at the water. Now what was she supposed to do? It would be another couple of hours before her mom came back, and by then the creek would definitely be too high to cross then. She decided she would just urge Handy towards the water, she figured he wouldn’t go in unless it was safe to cross. Handy stepped into the water, and Anne clutched tightly to the saddle horn. The horse plunged forward through the creek, and everything was going alright, until Handy stumbled. Anne was pitched forward, and started tumbling toward the raging water, she braced for impact, but instead opened her eyes to find she was still sitting on Handy’s back, but instead of the creek, they were in a white room.

“Ah Handy, thank you,” a deep voice boomed, “now you may go,” and Handy disappeared, leaving Anne all alone in the white room.

Anne’s mom had been waiting for Anne for a half an hour, and was getting quite worried about her daughter, when she spotted one of the ranch hands down at the other end of the barn.

“Excuse me,” Anne’s mom called out, “have you seen my daughter, she leases Handy, she knew I was supposed to pick her up here at 4.”

“Handy?” the man replied, “oh no, it’s happened again.”