Issue 11
Roam
Marcia Mascolini
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Travails on Horseback
"Trail Rides, 2 hours, $35," reads the Yosemite sign.
Hah! Who can't ride a horse? A five-year-old just went by on one. I've ridden 100 merry-go-round horses and seen 1000 cowboy moves. I decide to
buy an adventure.
Walker brings out Ace, my rental horse.
"Ace is a grazer," he says. "We think he's part cow. But don't worry. When Ace puts his head down, pull back on the reins ... but not too hard, or he'll walk backwards."
We've barely started when Ace finds a meadow to graze. Pulling on the reins does nothing.
"Turn him around," Walker yells. Finally, he whistles Ace back.
Then Ace stops short in mid trail. A torrent starts behind me; mist coats my legs. I forbear kicking him the way Roy kicks a recalcitrant Trigger. But Ace is no Trigger. He tries to jump a shadow, rub me off against a tree, and finally drown me in a creek.
The adventure doesn't stop after Walker helps me dismount. My legs have grown three feet apart. Tottering back to the ranch, I soon discover a saucer-sized saddle sore.
~Marcia Mascolini
After years of teaching business writing, Marcia Mascolini retired to concentrate on writing fiction. Recent publications and acceptances include Coffee Press Journal, Cenotaph PE, Crime 55, Stone Thread, Treehouse Scriptum, Green Tricycle, Newtopia, Naked Humorists, and Retrozine. Email.
© 2003 by Marcia Mascolini. All Rights Reserved.
© Copyright 2003 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.