Why... Me?

Exploring's awesome, isn't it? \(^.^)/

"Sweetie, sweetie, get up, we're here." Momma says, shaking me awake.

"What?" I yawn, sitting up, stretching, and looking out of the window. I feel my eyes grow wide. This house... This house is a three story cabin with wraparound porches on all levels.

"Momma... what kind of wood is this?" I ask, awed by the beauty of this place.

"Cypress, I think is what they told me." she replies. Just then I see a car pulling in behind us.

"Momma, who is that?" I ask.

"That? Oh, that's Hank the butler, the owners wanted to thank us somehow because they were getting to old for this place to take care of it." she tells me, glancing into the rearview. I sigh, I guess I should get used to this, huh?

"Hey, Momma, where's the barn at?" I ask, hoping to see the horses before midnight. Momma does that little sigh-laugh thing and shakes her head.

"Its directly behind the house, Camrynn. Be inside before ten, though." Momma laughs.

"Yes Mamma!" I laugh, my southern accent coming out strong. I check my phone, 4:3- wait, I haven't set it for the time zone here! Oops...

I set my phone to the time zone for my location right now and then check the time; 6:52. I 've got about three hours... and if I'm lucky, and Boy's here already, I'll tack him up and go exploring. The wierd thing is, people who aren't arpund horses might not know it, but they have personalities too, and mine and Boy's could not be anymore alike. I round the corner and see the kind of barn that your told about in all the stories. This thing is red, with white paned winows and doors, with the middle section rising up higher than the rest, and a black, shingled roof. I walk up to the doors and pull them open and inhale the musky scent of the barn and sigh, thinking of home. I walk down the row of stalls looking for Boy and smile when I find my lazy Quarter Horse. He nickers when he sees me, and his eyes light up happily, but I can still see the confusion in his eyes.

I start to feel bad for him, I mean, he's lived at my ranch his whole life! This is something entirely new to him, but then again, it is to me to... I guess we need each other more than ever now, huh?

"Hey, Boy." I say quietly, walking up to rub his muzzle, another wierd thing? My horse and I are so close, I think he understands me at times. You horse people out there know what I'm talking about.

"I've gotta go look for the food and stuff, okay? I'll be right back." I tell him, and yes, I talk to my horse. I walk off down the aisle and see a door labled: Feed Room, in bold letters. Well, they couldn't have been more obvious, could they? I push open the door and look around. There are barrels full of food, with lids of course. I grab a random bucket from the wall marked with: Feed Buckets, geeze, did these people not have any common sense? And, no, normally I do not grab random brushes and stuff for my horse, back at home, each horse had his own supply of stuff.

Yeah, it sounds harsh, but most horses can tell if something is their's or not by the smell. I did say most, not all. Tomorrow I am going to the local supply store and getting my horse the stuff he needs, only the cheap stuff to begin with, like the brushes and stuff, because good saddles cost anywhere from $500-$1,000. In the meantime, all of the other horses are out in the pasture, so all I've got to worry about is my horse. I scoop the amount of food Boy needs into the bucket and sit it outside the door then go to the next room in the row of two rooms. Guess what this one is labled! You guessed it! The Tack Room, in the same letters as the previous room. I push the door open an walk in to find rows of English saddles and bridles, and brushes, good Lord at the brushes! I grab a curry comb and body brush and head out towards Boy's stall.

"Here Boy." I say, opening his stall door and sitting the food in one corner and his brushes in the other.

Boy sticks his head into the bucket and I walk off to get a bridle and clean it. After I clean the bridle I walk back to his stall and hang the bridle on the hook beside the stall and go in to curry him down and brush him off. I bet you noticed that I didn't get a saddle. Well, I haven't ridden bareback in awhile and I've never really used an English saddle, sooo, yeah. I sit in the corner and close my eyes for the few seconds that I can while Boy finishes his grain. I jump when Boy nudges me, and open my eyes to see his over-sized brown ones looking at me with curiosity. I laugh and get up, rubbing Boy's muzzle as he turns forward, ready to go. I don't have a halter, but ever since I did the join-up with Boy,  I haven't needed one. But, to be sure, I slip the bridle on him then walk him to the mounting block and get on. I cluck my tounge and lead hum out of the barn, but stop him as soon as we exit the building to check the time. 7:10. Almost three hours.

I squeeze my legs and make a kissing noise, my signal to Boy telling him to run. We take off down the driveway, and turn to the right. Its still light enough that it could pass for midday for some reason, so I let Boy loose and let him go as fast as he wants.

You see, Boy is a runner, he absolutely loves it, but he'll still listen to you. So as I let loose and let my horse really run, I tighten my legs and sit up, throwing my arms into the air and let out a fun-loving scream. If I hadn't tied the reins together before we started riding, that would've been a disaster! Boy's starting to slow down, but by now, we're in the middle of a huge feild and I ain't got a clue where we're at.

I sit back down and stop Boy, one; to let him catch his breath, and two; to look for a road to follow. I spot one and dismount, flipping the reins over Boy's head and walking him as slow as I can to the road, seeing as how he's still breathing hard.

We must've gone a good ways, because usually, Boy isn't even breathing hard when we stop... At least this road is made of dirt and isn't busy at all except for like, one car every thirty minutes. I guess we really are back in the country after all.

We reach the road and are walking for awhile when I see a somewhat short driveway compared to my new one, since you can actually see the house from the road. I'm about to turn down the driveway when I see that big tour bus that was at the airport. I can feel my eyes grow wide, and I begin to walk a little faster. I get about three quarters of the way when I start to hear shouts of happiness, joyfullness, and just plain fun. I figure these shouts must be from the guys I saw at the airport, because their voices sound mature for some reason. I round the corner of the house and see him crystal clear, mostly because he runs smack into me, making me fall flat on my back right in front of Boy, him on top of me.