Chapter 34

The horse shook its head and danced sideways as a result of the horsefly. Oscar leaned over and patted the horse on the neck. The horse calmed down. Looking over at Debbie and Georgia on their horses, he said, “Tell me again how it is that you know how to ride.”

Debbie rolled her eyes and said, “I’m a girl, girls love horses, and I grew up in the country. Add all of that together and you get the fact that it was absolutely necessary for me to learn how to ride. That was when I was a little girl.”

“I took riding lessons because riding a horse made me feel real good,” Georgia answered with a grin. She winked at Debbie knowing that she would understand exactly what she meant by feeling real good.

Wanapitz, an elderly man who appeared to be in his early eighties, looked over at the trio and said, “It is time we hit the trail.”

“Okay,” Oscar said staring at his horse with an edge of distrust. Wanapitz nudged his horse forward expecting the others to follow behind him. Debbie and Georgia followed behind the elderly man. Oscar looked down at his horse and said, “Go.”

When nothing happened, he tried to nudge the horse with his heels. It moved forward three steps and stopped. Oscar leaned over and said, “You and I are about to have some problems.”

The horse ignored Oscar in the manner of all horses that are unimpressed with their rider. Oscar kicked the horse a little harder and it moved forward a couple of more steps. When it went to stop, Oscar used his heels just a little harder. Deciding that it had enough of that, the horse bucked.

Georgia happened to look back at Oscar in time to see the horse attempt to get rid of its rider. It was an unsuccessful attempt as were the several attempts that followed. Oscar relaxed and rode the bucking horse. When it finally calmed down, he nudged it with his heels. The horse turned its head and looked back at him. Grinning at his troubles, Georgia called back, “Quit playing with the horse.”

Oscar glared in her direction and said, “I’m not playing. This horse is broken. It doesn’t go where I tell it.”

Debbie and Georgia turned their horses to watch Oscar try to get his horse moving. They laughed so hard that they were practically falling out of their saddles. Frustrated, Oscar climbed out of the saddle and walked in front of the horse. Pulling the reins, he led the horse over to where the two girls were waiting for him.

Wanapitz turned and looked back at the trio. Riding over to them, he asked, “What’s the matter? Did it throw you off?”

“It’s broke,” Oscar said.

Concerned, Wanapitz climbed off his horse and went over to Oscar’s horse. He examined the animal with great care and said, “I don’t find anything wrong with it. What’s the matter?”

“It’s broke. It doesn’t go where I tell it to go.”

Wanapitz looked at Oscar as if he were an alien from outer space. Raising an eyebrow, he said, “You don’t know how to ride, do you?”

“Well, not exactly,” Oscar answered feeling a little embarrassed. He had assumed that the Gods and Goddesses would have given him the skill to ride a horse.

“Get on the horse,” Wanapitz said sounding a little frustrated. They should have left an hour earlier, but the trio seemed to have frittered away their time getting ready. Once Oscar was on the horse, Wanapitz grabbed the reins and led the horse over to his horse. He climbed up and nudged his horse forward. Oscar’s horse followed along without complaint. He muttered, “I’m getting too old for this.”

Georgia and Debbie rode beside Oscar. Georgia said, “Little Oscar can’t ride.”

“Poor little Oscar,” Debbie said with a little pout on her face. Smiling at him, she added, “The horsy doesn’t want to play nice.”

Oscar grumbled while holding onto the saddle horn. He didn’t appreciate the humor of the situation when the pair of women started laughing. Turning to them, he said, “It wouldn’t start for me.”

The two girls burst out laughing again. Even Wanapitz turned and looked at Oscar like he was crazy. Unable to believe that he would ever have this conversation, Wanapitz said, “It is not a car, it is an animal. You don’t start an animal.”

“So how do you make it go?” Oscar asked.

It took the rest of the day, but Oscar finally learned enough about controlling the horse to ride it without being led. Debbie and Georgia had enjoyed the entire afternoon. It was more than just the entertainment value provided by Oscar. The rubbing of the saddles had a pleasurable effect on the women. Of course, the saddle had just the opposite effect on Oscar. When he got off of the horse when they stopped for the night, he walked like a horse was still between his legs.

Looking around the campsite, Oscar said, “We are definitely in Kansas.”

“It’s so flat,” Debbie said. She turned around looking at the horizon. There was a farmhouse and a telephone pole visible in the distance. She said, “There’s nothing out here.”

“What are we doing here?” Oscar asked. All he knew was that Wanapitz had said that he would be shown one of the great spiritual sights of the plains Indians.

“You will see tomorrow,” Wanapitz answered.

“You said that we would see it today,” Oscar said.

Wanapitz replied, “That was before we found out that you didn’t know how to ride a horse. We would have been there two hours ago.”

“Sorry. How was I supposed to know that there was more to riding a horse than staying on it?” Oscar asked.

The four of them went through the process of setting up a camp and preparing dinner. They finished eating just before sunset. While the sky was getting darker, Oscar said, “I didn’t realize you enjoyed camping, Debbie.”

“It is okay. I much prefer roughing it in a four star hotel,” she replied with a smile. She had gone camping several times as a girl scout, although it wasn’t under conditions this rough. There were pleasant memories of eating S’mores around the campfire with the other girl scouts.

Leaning back onto his sleeping bag, Oscar pointed up in the sky and said, “The stars are starting to come out.”

“There will be a lot of stars this far from civilization,” Georgia said. It reminded her of the night sky in Afghanistan. It had been isolated there and the stars had covered the sky. When the moon was full, it was bright enough to read a newspaper.

“It reminds me of Afghanistan,” Oscar said.

“I was just thinking that,” Georgia said with a laugh.

Listening to the two of them compare their impressions of that far away land, Debbie wished that she had a chance to share that time with them. Georgia always had a very special tone in her voice that spoke of longing when she mentioned Afghanistan. She sighed and said, “It must have been wonderful there.”

Georgia laughed and said, “It was anything but wonderful. It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I’ll never forget the dust. The dust was year round.”

“Still, you speak of it with such fondness,” Debbie said.

The truth was that Georgia had enjoyed being a warrior. For the first time in her life she had felt complete and able to explore aspects of herself that civilization had denied her. There had been very little about her at the time that was lady-like. She dressed in fatigues, wore combat boots, and, at times, carried a gun. Georgia answered, “You wouldn’t have recognized me back then.”

“What was it like?”

Looking over at Oscar, Georgia said, “We were alone there. With just the two of us, we tended to seek comfort with each other at every opportunity.”

Debbie was quiet for a moment and then asked, “Are you unhappy that I...”

Shaking her head, Georgia interrupted, “Not for one minute. When I said that we were alone there, I meant that we were alone there. Even though we were training people, most of the time we were the only ones in camp. We were both lonely for much of the time.”

“You had him to yourself,” Debbie said pointing to Oscar. She noticed that he had fallen asleep.

“Now we not only have each other, but we also have you. I think that is an improvement,” Georgia answered. She turned to get confirmation from Oscar and saw that he was sound asleep. Chuckling, she said, “It’s at times like now that having you around is a real advantage.”

They left early the next morning. After riding for two hours, Oscar felt that they had officially reached the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t a human structure to be seen anywhere. Wanapitz said, “We’ve finally made it.”

Turning to the old man, Oscar asked, “You say we’re there?”

“Yes,” the old man answered. He climbed off his horse and stretched. There were times when he truly felt his eighty years. Walking over to a bare patch of ground, he squatted and grabbed a short stick that was lying on the ground. Holding up the stick, he said, “This is the place. Come here.”

Dismounting, Oscar walked over to where Wanapitz was squatting. Even after just two hours of riding, he was walking bowlegged and wondered if he would ever walk right again. Looking at the stick, he said, “You say that we came all the way here to look at that stick.”

Chuckling at the comment, Wanapitz rose with a general creaking of bones and handed the stick to Oscar. He said, “Hold this down so that it touches the ground.”

Oscar followed the instructions looking over at Georgia and Debbie feeling like a fool. The old man shook his head and said, “Hold it out as far from you as you can while still touching the end of it to the ground.”