Mary, Queen of Dragons, Queen of the Universe

Mary,

Queen of Dragons,

Queen of the Universe

An e-Book by:

Douglas Kapin

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Smashwords Edition

Science Fiction at its best

Copyright © 2010 by Douglas Kapin

Email: OneOfTheChildren@hotmail.com

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Dedication:

To ‘The Dreamers.’

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Thanks:

I am really blessed; I have many really good friends. The foremost of my friends is my wife of thirty years, Linda. She put up with the long nights of my writing my first book, and she's never read it, never will. (It's really awful) When I started this book, I took the first few pages to her and she loved it. She's put up with my jabber about the various aspects of the story. My Cat, Gumball (She's ten) finally settled down on the table beside my keyboard and went to sleep. I worked fourteen hours a day for mostly ten days. They still love me.

If it weren't for my computer and Microsoft's wonderful Windows '95 and 'Word' program, and spell checker, this would have taken years to write. I would have given up around page ten. I now use Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Word 2010.

So then I give my special thanks to:

My wife Linda

My cat Gumball

My family and friends (Too many to mention)

Microsoft Corp.

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The bracketed notation as in {All those who didn't make it.} denote mental communications, (ESP) not verbal.

This story could have taken place anywhere, any time. But it actually took place in 1996 in Pismo Beach, California, on the West Coast of the United States. No one, least of all Mary, could have predicted the turn of events that would lead her on such an amazing adventure, to eventually end up in eternity. Mary’s friends and family could not even hope that circumstances would ever present them with such an opportunity to join with Mary in her adventure. And yes, all the work was worth it, in this kind of story, it’s always worth it.

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Mary, Queen of Dragons Queen of the Universe

Table of Contents:

Dedication:

Thanks:

Chapter 1: - Mary

Chapter 2: - Dragon, I’m a Dragon

Chapter 3: - I’m a What?

Chapter 4: - Preparation

Chapter 5: - The Concourse

Chapter 6: - The Queen Mother

Chapter 7: - A Challenge

Chapter 8: - The Final Test

Chapter 9: - Recognized

Chapter 10: - A Flag

Chapter 11: - Fun and Business

Chapter 12: - Gloria and A Family

Chapter 13: - Lots of Land

Chapter 14: - A Place of My Own

Chapter 15: - Thieves

Chapter 16: - 1-2-3 Go!

Chapter 17: - Death!

Chapter 18: - A Vacation

Chapter 19: - The Second Gathering

Chapter 20: - Level 9?

About the Author:

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Chapter 1: - Mary: - (Go to Top)

It’s hot! Not just warm, Hot! Even at eleven at night it’s Hot! The temperature is right there at ninety plus, and so is the humidity. I don’t mean to give you the wrong impression, but when you live near the beach in California, well, you learn to live with it. You never learn to love it, but since it only lasts a few days at a time during the summer, you learn to put up with it. I’m waiting for the temperature to drop, probably about one or two in the morning, so I can get some sleep. Problem is that it may drop to sixty or seventy, and that means we’ll have a heavy dew.

I’m sleeping outside on the second floor patio right off my bedroom. I have a sleeping bag laid out over the chaise lounge, and a sheet in case it gets cold.

All the lights are out in the house, and I can see the cars down on the highway. We’re pretty high up on the hill above the highway and the beach, so we don’t hear the traffic. I’ve been watching the moon reflecting off the surf. It’s easy to lose yourself on a night like this.

It being the middle of summer, we’re all wearing our summer sleepwear. For me, that’s a pair of panties. We have to be a little careful at night with the lights on in the house, but since our nearest neighbors are a block away, and they’re below us, well, we have a lot of freedom and privacy.

Oh, by the way, my name is Mary, I’m twelve. I’ll be thirteen two days before school starts in September. I’m not sure I want to be a teen-ager yet. In some ways I can hardly wait, but then, I still like being a kid. I have an older sister, and an older brother; they have a lot to do around the house. My little sister gets to do most of the little stuff, and I have to take the stinky trash out.

As I said, we live high up on the side of the mountain in Pismo Beach, California. It’s a big house. Lots of glass and deck space facing the beach. I guess you could say we’re rich. Not like Beverly Hills or anything like that, or the big houses down below on the cliffs, but we’re definitely comfortable.

Daddy works for one of the Electronics companies in San Luis Obispo. Mommy works at the college. She’s off for the summer with us, it works out pretty good. I like having her home with us. She usually takes us with her when she goes to town. Actually we don’t have a town except San Louis Obispo, we call it SLO. The ‘Five Cities’ that make up the coastal community, are more like five big shopping centers. The biggest town around is Santa Maria and its thirty-five miles away.

Daddy invents stuff; most of it’s a day late. That is, he invents it, and by the time he gets around to doing anything with it, someone else has it out on the market. He has been successful on a few things that I don’t even pretend to understand. That’s how we got the house; he paid cash for it, and the stables and horses.

I guess the most common things the kids around here do, are surf and roller-blade. With some of the best surfing beaches around, I guess that’s pretty much what you’d expect. Me, I like to ride horses. We have a stable up in the canyon, and we have horses for the whole family. A year ago Daddy bought me a big black stallion, he has some formal name, but I call him Midnight, what else would you call a gigantic solid black stallion? I can just see me riding him over the hills at night, my long blond hair flying in the breeze. He’s strong, but very protective of me, that’s really hard to understand, but we sort of communicate, if that makes any sense, we did right from the start. He won’t let anyone else ride him but me. Midnight is twenty hands at the shoulder. I had to go to a special riding school and then get a special permit to ride him. They don’t normally let twelve-year-old girls ride full stallions. Daddy wants to use him for stud in a few years. We ride in the parades and stuff now. Daddy’s hoping we’ll win some ribbons with him, so we can get more money for his stud services.

Billy, that’s my older brother, he’s a surfer nut. He’s really a pretty good surfer; he’s even entered some of the local surfer contests. He hasn’t won, but he did come in third once. He’s got the typical blond hair, tan, and build of the surfers. He’s sixteen now, and it’s good to have a big brother around when you need one.

Laura, she’s fifteen; she goes down to the beach with Billy. She likes to be around the boys. I guess she’s what you’d call a beach bunny. She’s good looking and everything, but she’s real naïve, reminds me a lot of Gidget in her first beach movie, I hope she finds her Moon-Doggie. She still thinks boys are to play with, even I know better than that, and I’m not even thirteen yet.

Cindy, she’s my little sister, she’s ten. She’s shy and doesn’t like the sun. We’re all fair skinned and blondes, but somewhere Cindy got red hair. She has freckles and the most beautiful long reddish-blond hair you ever did see. Except for the freckles, she looks like one of those kids who do shampoo commercials. I’d love to have her hair, but she can keep the freckles, I like the sun too much.

I like to ride my horse Midnight on the beach, but during the summer, and on the holiday weekends, we get overrun with dune-buggies, motorcycles, and every other kind of contraption, not to mention the people. There’s still one beach, Grover Beach, where you can drive and camp on the beach. It’s a madhouse, lots of drinking and roughhousing. Most of the locals leave on the three and four-day weekends. It’s funny, we live in a resort community, and we have to leave on the holidays. Anyway, even as big as Midnight is, they still throw fireworks at us, and try to spook him. We usually end up riding the canyons in the early morning or twilight; it’s dangerous to ride up there at night.

Sometimes I take Midnight down to the beach at night during the week, and we ride like shadows up and down the beach. Midnight likes to stretch out. Boy can he run! We finish up with a swim in the surf and then the five miles back to the stables. By the time I get him washed off and brushed it’s already starting to get light. There’s a small apartment at the stables, so I often stay there for a night or two during the summer. I like to be near the horses and to have some real time to myself. Our stables are in a group of stables. There’s a family who lives there, and cares for most of the horses. It’s a lot of work just taking care of our six horses. Sally, she’s twelve too, she lives with her family at the stables. We go riding together sometimes. They have to exercise the horses, and riding them is the best exercise, I always ride Midnight of course.

I spent last night up at the stables, and we had a real good ride. Mommy came out and picked me up so I wouldn’t have to ride my bike up the mountain to get home; it’s about eight miles from the stables to the house, most of it up hill.

There was a rustle in the tree next to the porch, followed by a dark shadow that came flying onto the porch. It landed with an earth shaking plop. Gloria! You scared me to death! It’s Gloria our big black cat. Well, she’s not really ours, but she spends most of her time with us, and we feed her and care for her. She’s a big longhaired black cat, and as you know, you don’t own cats, they own you. She just showed up at the house a couple of days after we moved in, she’s been here ever since. No one knows how old she is or anything about her. None of the neighbors had ever seen her before. She tolerates the family, but I guess you’d say she’s my cat. She has free access to the house, so this flying leap to the porch was quite a surprise. We’re easily thirty feet above the ground here, if she had missed, she would have been seriously hurt.

What’s going on down there? You having a wrestling match?

That’s Daddy, he and Mommy are upstairs in the Jacuzzi and Gloria must have given them quite a shake too.

It’s just Gloria, she jumped from the tree to the porch, she gave me quite a scare too.

That’s quite a jump, is she OK?

She seems to be fine, she’s trying to rub the skin off my feet with her face, and she’s purring like crazy.

You want to come up and soak a while? Laura just came over for a dip.

Sure, I’d love to. We’ll be right up.

Gloria doesn’t like to get in the water, but she plays around the Jacuzzi and doesn’t mind getting splashed a little. She likes the vibration of the pumps; it’s kind of like a big purr I guess.

We went inside, and up to Mommy and Daddy’s room. There are three bedrooms up there; Laura and Billy each have rooms on the same floor as Mommy and Daddy. Cindy and I have our bedrooms on the second floor. We share our porch, just the two of us, and Gloria of course.

By the time we got upstairs, there’s quite a pile of clothes around the Jacuzzi. Billy and Cindy are already there so I’m the last one in.

We’re a pretty private family; that is, we don’t interfere with each other. We all feel free to discuss what we’re doing and the day’s happenings, without the fear of being taken down in front of everyone. Mommy and daddy both trained us to know right from wrong, and we all work hard at keeping on the straight and narrow. If we have problems or questions we are comfortable talking with Mommy or Daddy and we know we’ll get some real good advice. They both use the Bible a lot in their council, and we’ve all read the whole Bible at least once.

We also know the difference between ‘family’ and ‘public.’ We don’t talk about anything that’s ‘family’ matters outside the ‘family’ or when outsiders are around. We’ve all grown up together and we don’t usually worry about pride or jealousy and stuff like that. We’re pretty lax about what we wear, or don’t wear, around the house. That is except for eating, we all wear cloths to the table and we usually eat at the table together. Daddy says that since we say prayer at the table, and we sit together, we should be presentable. Daddy and Billy always wear at least a T-shirt and shorts to the table.

We always announce company, so everyone can get proper clothes on, and we don’t embarrass someone. I guess the most trouble we have is when we have friends stay over. Everyone has to be on special behavior.

All of my close friends are pretty much the same as me. When we’re together we don’t worry about clothes and stuff, but then they don’t go parading around our house in their panties either. I guess it’s all a matter of who you’re with and what you’re doing. I went riding Midnight one night in the nude; it was a little freaky, but it won’t be the last time I do it either. I felt a little like Lady Godiva, only my hair isn’t that long yet.

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. We’re a very proper family. We girls and Mommy always dress proper. We do have French-Cut bathing suits; I mean we’re not prudes either. I guess what I mean is we’re not big flirts or teases or ‘free-and-easy’ either. When I went riding in the nude, it was dark, and no one saw me. I mean, I don’t wear clothes all the time. Hey! I don’t have to defend what I do.

It feels so good to get in the Jacuzzi. As hot as it is outside, the water is so relaxing, and then when you get out; it’s much easier to go to sleep.

Daddy and Billy are talking over their plans for their weekend camping trip. They’re taking three horses and they’ll be staying out overnight.

Cindy is staying over at one of her girlfriends for the weekend, and Mommy and Laura are going to Los Angeles to go shopping at one of those big discount places. They wanted me to go, but I begged off, and they are going to let me stay out at the stables with Sally. We’ll stay in our apartment above the stables.

I’m getting hot and tired. I gave Mommy and Daddy a goodnight kiss and headed downstairs to bed. Gloria came charging after me.

I keep special treats for Gloria in my room. I make her stand up for them, she gets two at a time and she usually gets them twice a day. In the summertime, or on weekends, she gets a noon snack too, if she reminds me.

I stretched out on the porch. The now cooler air feels so good. Gloria curled up at my feet and that’s the last thing I remember.

The sun rises over the front of the house, and our bedrooms all face west. I awoke to the sound of Daddy and Billy loading up the car. I better get ready, or I’ll miss my ride to the stables.

I showered and washed my hair real good. The Jacuzzi leaves a kind of oily film on you, and it really leaves your hair a mess. I dried and brushed my hair real good and tied it in a loose ponytail. I like the way it shines and swishes when I move. I had everything ready and down to the car before they were through loading their stuff. They put my bike up on the rack, I like to ride it out in the open, and it’s a lot better and safer than in the city. Mommy brought me a bag of groceries and stuff, and checked out my clothes. I have everything and enough for a week. I’m not sure why, but we always take enough clothes and food for a week, even if we’re only staying a couple of nights. I have to take enough food for the guys when they come back tomorrow night. They’ll be tired and hungry from their ride.

The guys will probably stay the night at the apartment, and we’ll all come back together Monday morning. They like to stop for breakfast when they’ve been out on one of their outings. They go out together three or four times a year, and they go alone. It’s one of those male-bonding things; they both really enjoy it.

We finally got the three of us in the car, all at the same time, and headed for the stables. We had to stop in town at two places, even with all the advance planning; they had forgotten some things, as usual.

We got everything unloaded, and they began saddling the horses. They borrowed a packhorse for the trip. They don’t like to use our riding horses for pack animals; they say it breaks their spirit.

I got all my stuff upstairs with Sally’s help, and before we knew it, they were riding off into the sunrise.

They are going to ride the back trails around Lopez Lake, and then out into the private land of The Pozo Land Company. Daddy has permission to go out there. There’s an old abandoned range house with a good well; they’ll spend the night there, and head back around noon. They went out last weekend, and dropped some grain and hay off for the horses.

Sally and I saddled the horses and took off for a ride. I like to ride up to the summit of the mountain and just watch the countryside. If you’re real quiet and watch close, you can see the deer and animals grazing, and the farm workers tending the fields. It’s a real quiet place, and very few people even know it’s back there.

We have our picnic lunch, and sat in the shade of a big Oak tree to relax. It’s so nice not to be rushed to do this or that, or to go here or there. We have two days to enjoy ourselves, and other than fixing meals and a little clean up, we’re on our own.

We made our way back down the mountain, and walked the horses back to the stable. We took the saddles off and groomed and fed the horses, and put them in a corral. We walked down to the creek; it’s so peaceful there. I’ve got a special place where there’s a little waterfall and a pool to swim in. It’s only about four feet deep, but it’s cool and clean. I built a platform tree house by the waterfall, I love to sleep out there sometimes, and listen to the water and the animals.

We went for a swim and just relaxed. We’re going to go for a late night ride tonight; it will be Sally’s first night ride with me.

We walked back to the apartment and watched TV for a while. We’re waiting for nighttime, and for her parents to go to bed. We ate some snacks and checked on the horses, everything is ready except the time.

It was about two o’clock when everything finally quieted down.

We brought the horses out, and put bareback saddles on them. Midnight keeps stomping his feet in excitement but he’s quiet, he knows what’s coming. We shed our clothes and mounted our trusty steeds. Then like shadows we slipped quietly out of the stable and down the road.

There are a lot of dirt farm roads that are maintained real well. I keep track of them, and make sure that there are no potholes or other obstructions. We wouldn’t want to hit one of those in the dark; it could get us, or the horses, hurt real bad. It is about three quarter moon, and the roads really shine in the moonlight.

We gave the horses their head and they took off at a smooth pace. It’s like a contest between them, and before long we were slicing through the evening air, our long hair streaming behind us like gossamer veils. The feel of a powerful horse under you, and the feel of his muscles against your legs, is so invigorating and exciting. It’s like you become one with your horse, the horse responds to your slightest command without hesitation.

We whizzed past the houses deep in slumber. The pounding of the horses hooves muffled by the heavy ocean air. We made the turn at the equipment yard; we didn’t even bother the watchdogs. We headed back toward the stables, still at a full run. Midnight is beginning to stretch out. He looks like one of those hurdles jumpers, he feels smooth as silk. Sally is having trouble keeping up, but her horse seems to be learning from Midnight. That mare just seemed to come alive, her stride lengthened until she seemed to float. Sally said later, that it was the first time she had ever felt a horse do that, she said it was like overdrive.

We made two runs around the valley and then walked the horses the last two miles back to the stable. By the time we got back they weren’t even breathing hard.

We have warm water showers for the horses. It makes washing them and grooming them a lot easier. We went right into the showers with them. Midnight really likes the shower and to be brushed and groomed. By the time we finished, we’re all sweaty again. We grabbed our clothes and headed upstairs to take a real shower, and catch some sleep before breakfast.

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Chapter 2: - Dragon, I’m a Dragon: - (Go to Top)

I went out on the deck to look at the moon. Everything is so quiet and peaceful. Something went whizzing past the deck and off into the night. I figure it was a bat. With all the fruit and bugs available this time of year, they will be out most of the night.

A few minutes later it came back and circled in front of me. I’ve never seen a bat do that before. Sometimes a sparrow will do that, when they’re drunk on the Pyracantha berries but not at night. I called Sally out to see it. We watched it flutter around and then it stopped midair, and just hung there. It’s black and about the size of my fist. The wings are very long; probably three feet from tip to tip. There is something different about it though; it doesn’t look or act like any bat I’ve ever seen.

It’s just hovering there, it’s moving from side to side like a humming bird; it is definitely watching me. When Sally came out, it backed off a couple of feet and then came right back. I’m not afraid of it, I actually feel warm toward it, kind of like I feel about Midnight, or Gloria. I held out my hand palm up toward it. It backed off then came up and looked at my hand. It flew away like a rocket and was back before I even thought of lowering my hand. It landed on my hand and folded those enormous wings up; they just seemed to disappear.

It definitely isn’t a bat!

It looks like a miniature dinosaur. It’s black; about six inches tall, mostly neck. It has two big strong back legs and smaller arm like front legs. It reminds me a lot of Tyrannosaurus Rex, only a whole lot smaller. It has a long tail with a little paddle on the end of it. The most outstanding part of it is the eyes though, the eyes are huge and shining, yet they are sensitive, and very deep, almost hypnotic. The mouth is narrow, and full of teeth like a crocodile. It has two big spike like horns on its head.

It, whatever it is, settled down in my hand and waited, we both waited. Sally is holding her hand over her mouth so she doesn’t scream. Funny, I feel real calm; I’m not shook up at all. I mean I’m excited, but not scared. I feel good and warm toward this creature whatever it is.

{Dragon, I’m a Dragon.}

Now that shook me. I’m not used to having thoughts put right into my mind.

{My name is, well, um, just call me David, you couldn’t pronounce my real name anyway, and you are Mary, and your friend there is Sally.}

I slowly slid down into a chair. This is wonderful, but at the same time, I’m not sure if I’m awake or asleep.

{I’m really sorry to shake you up like this, but I really need to talk with you. I do feel like I’m carrying this whole conversation by myself though, you can jump right in anytime you want to.}

I’m not sure my mouth works anymore. What’s going on here?

{That’s better! At least we know you can still talk. We’ve been watching you for the last couple of years, we wouldn’t have contacted you for another few years yet, but something came up that made this necessary.}

Wait a minute; I’m still back there with ‘Dragon, I’m a Dragon.’ Will you please let me get used to the idea of talking to an animal, especially to a Dragon?

{Well EXCUSE ME! First of all, I’m not an animal. I’m a Dragon! The smallest of the Normana Dragons. We are messenger Dragons.}

Please excuse me. I didn’t mean to be impolite, and I didn’t mean to demean you by calling you an animal, some of my best friends are animals. It’s just that this is all new to me, and I don’t have the slightest idea of what to say or do.

{Well, you’re doing pretty good right now. I think if you take a couple of deep breaths and close your eyes for a few seconds you’ll feel a lot better.}

I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. Other than making me a little giddy I felt about the same when I opened my eyes.

{Oh Well, so much for that, that’s what they always tell people, sometimes it works and sometimes, well. I’m just going to have to tell you, and then we’ll see how it goes from there.}

Tell me what?

{Your Father and brother are in trouble. We can’t do anything about it, but you can.}

Me? What can I do? I don’t even know where they are.

{That’s no problem, I do. I also know what to do, but you will have to be my hands. I cannot allow them to see me. The two of you are sworn to secrecy. You mustn’t tell anyone about us.}

Do you think I’m crazy? Who would believe me, and I bet if I told someone, there would be no proof either, right?

{You’re a very clever girl. Is Sally as fast as you are?}

She won’t tell anyone if that’s what you mean.

{OK, here’s what we need . . . .}

He gave me a list of stuff to put together, and he sent Sally out to gather some special weeds. We got dressed, and I got Midnight ready for the ride of his life, our life. Evidently there is something in the water out at the old house, and both Daddy and Billy are real sick. The Dragons are the only ones who know the cure. We put all the stuff in a bag, and I tied it on the saddle horn, and stuffed the cell phone deep into the bag. We tied our two big canteens to the saddle and got ready to go. Sally will stay at the apartment to wait for my call.

Midnight is stamping and snorting like he knows exactly what is going on.

Wouldn’t this be faster by car?

{You’ll be there before they could wake up and get the car started, besides that, what would you tell them? How would you explain this? Now! Are you ready?}

I nodded my head and reached for the reigns.

There were two bright flashes and we’re standing outside the little cabin. To say that I’m shook now would be an understatement. I looked around and the little Dragon is just fluttering in midair right in front of me.

{All right girl, let’s get to work.}

I unloaded Midnight, and carried all the stuff into the cabin like a zombie; I’m still in shock. He showed me what to do with the stuff. I made some kind of a tea like drink and forced some of it down each of them, and then we took care of the horses. All three of the horses are down; they drank a lot more of the water than Daddy and Billy had. We put a cover over the well, so no one else would drink from it. I emptied all their canteens and glasses I could find. I filled one of their canteens with the bad water so we could have it checked.

Will they be able to ride the horses home?

{No! They’ll all be off their feet for a week or so. They won’t need to go to the hospital nor will the horses, but they’ll need a lot of care. I suggest some homemade chicken soup.}

Chicken soup? That’s an old wives tale.

{Not really, there’s a lot of good stuff in it, but most of all it’s made and served with a lot of love.}

I get you. OK, what should I do now?

{Call Sally and have them bring out the trailers for the horses. Your father and Billy can ride back in the trucks. Don’t call the authorities or the hospital. Have your father call the people responsible for this well though, and tell them about it. They’ll be able to take care of it.}

He made like he was going to leave.

You’re not leaving are you?

{Got to. It’s getting light and they’ll be waking up soon. I suggest you think up a real good story to tell them without mentioning me. You better get it straight with Sally too.}

But how can I find you again? I just met you, and you’ve done so much for us. How can I thank you?

{All in time, all in time. If you ever need me, just call my name. You are never alone, never!}

He unfurled those big wings and hovered in midair for a minute like he was checking everything out, then when he was satisfied, he was gone like a flash.

I started a small fire, and burned all the wrappers and stuff I had brought with me. I called Sally at the apartment, and we got our story straight.

Sally went to her house and got everyone up, and they got all the equipment ready. Sally’s dad called me back on the cell phone and checked everything out with me. I told him where we are. He knows the place; he’s been here before with daddy. They’re bringing four trailers, since the horses can’t stand up for the trip.

Daddy was the first to wake up; Billy was only minutes behind him. I have some fresh coffee ready for them.

Boy! You talk about surprised and confused! What are you doing here? How did you get here? What happened?

I did my best to explain that they had gotten sick, and that he had called me at the apartment, and I had ridden right out. I told him that they are coming out with trucks and trailers for the horses.

But I didn’t bring the cell phone. I was going to, but I forgot it. I left it on the table at the apartment.

You must have brought it, otherwise how could you have called me? And here’s the phone.

I picked up the phone off the table.

Boy! You must have had some kind of night to not even remember calling me. You told me to bring water; you said there was something wrong with the water here. I grabbed a first aid kit and the big canteens and a food bag and here I am, and there you are.

He just shook