The trail along the river was a pleasant walk on a nice late summer’s day. It was close to the college and just a comfortable walk at an easy pace to get to the trail head. It wasn’t a long walk, and soon the trail came to an end in the downtown area. “Not a bad walk,” Robin commented as they found a park bench to sit on before heading back. “It’d be a nice day to be out with Vidalia.”

“Vidalia?”

“Oh, Vidalia’s my horse. I’m going to miss her. I hardly ever get the chance to ride her as much as I would like, and now it’s going to be too long before I see her again.”

Cam shook his head. “You never mentioned having a horse. I thought you lived in town.”

“No, I’m a country girl. We live about three miles out of town. We’ve always had horses. Dad’s into pulling. He bought Vidalia when I was just a little girl. She never worked out as a pulling horse, but she turned into a great saddle horse. I’ve got half a roomful of ribbons and stuff I’ve won showing her.”

“I know what you’re talking about living outside of town. We live about three miles outside of town ourselves, but we’ve never had horses or anything. When I was younger I used to mess around with a family who had them, and I learned to ride a little. I always wanted to do more.”

“You know, it’s strange. Wychbold is more or less a country town, but there weren’t very many kids in school who were into country stuff. I mean, I did all those 4-H shows and I never saw anyone I went to school with. I mean, I guess kids knew we had horses and stuff, but they didn’t think too much about it.”

“I guess there aren’t many country kids anymore. I mean, there are kids who live in the country, and there are country kids. They aren’t the same thing.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that. I think I’m one of the former kind, but I tried to tune in with country life at least some.” For some reason Cam was uncomfortable with the topic, so decided to change it a little. “So what kind of horse is Vidalia?”

“Oh, she’s a Clydesdale.”

“You’re kidding! A Clydesdale? You mean like the Budweiser commercials? Those things are gorgeous, and huge!”

“Vidalia is gorgeous,” Robin grinned. “She’s actually a little on the small side for a Clyde, but she’s still a big horse. I can’t get on her without help getting my foot in the stirrup. I need a ladder or a boost or something.”

While Cam was no expert on horses, he had a good idea of how big a Clydesdale was: big! Robin was a small girl, certainly not a lightweight, but he figured a horse that big would scarcely notice her presence. “I’ll bet you don’t barrel race with her.”

“Oh, I have,” Robin snickered. “Vidalia is no thoroughbred and doesn’t exactly turn on a dime, but she’s faster than most people think. What she is, is powerful. She’s not like a sports car, she’s more like a big diesel pickup. Like I said, I’m going to miss her while I’m here.”

“I can see you are,” Cam grinned. “I guess I never figured you for being a cowgirl.”

“I look a little more like it when I’m wearing jeans, a western shirt and a cowboy hat,” she laughed, and then began to sing in a sweet alto voice, “I want to be a cowboy’s sweetheart. I want to learn to rope and to ride …”

“Wow, you sound better than Patsy Montana ever did,” Cam grinned.

Robin’s jaw literally dropped. “You know about Patsy Montana?”

“Well, not a whole lot,” Cam laughed. “She had that real shrill voice, and her music was very primitively produced compared to what we have today, but there are still a few people who respect the vision it carried with it.”

“Cam, are you telling me you actually like Western music? I don’t mean Country-Western, I mean real Western?”

Cam smiled at her and began to sing, “I’m back in the saddle again, out where a friend is a friend …”

“Ranger Doug and Riders in the Sky, right?”

“I prefer to think Gene Autry, the guy who wrote it.”

“Jesus, God, Cam,” she sighed. “Where have you been all my life? Patsy Montana, Gene Autry? You even have a voice a little like Gene Autry, as well. I’ll bet there wasn’t one other kid in Wychbold High School who has ever heard those names! I just about grew up on that stuff. Both my dad and mom love it.”

“There is a line in ‘The Last Cowboy Song’ that sums it up. “The end of a hundred-year waltz … another piece of America lost.’ I heard that one time, and somehow it struck me that I ought to find out something about that piece of America. You remember those two girls last night, all wrapped up in the ‘Twilight’ series? Lost in a fantasy world?”

“Sure. Something that doesn’t exist, but they imagine wanting to be a part of it.”

“Westerns are the same thing, just a different era. The vision of the western is very different from the way things really happened. The Magnificent Seven is just as much a fantasy as Slave of Sinsy or Lord of the Rings. J. R. R. Tolkien filled pretty much the same place in our psyche as Louis L’Amour. Dad and I talked about it a lot over the years. He understands what fantasy really is, more than most people. He’s the one with the degree in literature, so he understands the underlying meaning better than most people.”

There was another reason Cam’s father understood fantasy better than most people, but Cam decided to keep it to himself for the moment – Aunt Shae being Shaella Sunrise was enough for anyone to swallow in a day.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. People had an idea of the old West being something different than it really was. I guess most people preferred the dream to the reality.”

“Some things don’t change. Anyway, I got interested in the vision, and one thing led to another. If you go back and check out old Gene Autry films, and there are a few on the net, it’s pretty damn clear that they didn’t represent how things really were. But their vision was fun. Well, that got me interested in the music. I’m no great shakes as a musician, but I like to fool around with some of that stuff.”

“Guitar?”

“Mostly. I’m more rhythm guitar than lead, but you don’t need much more than that for a lot of those songs.”

“Cam, by any odd chance did you bring your guitar to school?”

“Yeah, I was hoping I might have time to fool around with it a bit.”

“What would you say to walking back to the dorms? I’ll get my guitar and we can jam for a while.”

“To tell the truth, I can’t think of anything I’d enjoy much better.”

Cam noticed that Robin walked a little more quickly heading back to the campus. This was a totally unexpected development – he’d never detected any interest in horses or Western music in Robin, but then, on the other hand, he hadn’t hinted at his own interest, either. It wasn’t overwhelming passion with him, but he did have an ongoing intellectual interest in it. He knew enough about cowboys to think he didn’t want to be one, but they represented an enviable attitude and a way of life that had faded – a world in which cancer, Islamic terrorists, and falling World Trade Centers were not even bad dreams.

Besides, playing a little music with Robin looked like it would be fun. He’d felt lonely and a little at loose ends ever since Aunt Shae had dropped him off the day before, in spite of meeting some new friends. For some reason he couldn’t put his finger on, this was different.

*   *   *   *   *   *

OK, I’m starting to run aground on this one. I have a few more mild scenes in my head, but nothing much, and I’m still lacking a real plot and goals, other than Cam finding a girl and some goals. I’m not sure Robin will be the girl. Latasha might be, but doubtful. Jodi, well ???? – very doubtful, but could be fun. I have yet to mention Lorelei by name, Robin’s roomie, but it’s not inconceivable she could get involved. Someone else would be a possibility.

I’m not sure of the scope of this story, other than I have to speed it up.

Among scenes that could be worked in:

♦ Reveal of Dave’s writing.

♦ Meet Lorelei at breakfast, possibly the next morning. “Lured any sailors onto the rocks recently?” “Huh?”

♦ Suggestion to roust Lorelei out in the morning with Ride of the Valkyries.

♦ Cam warns Howie against cribbing a paper from Wikipedia. Several other kids get frogged, but Cam’s warning saves Howie.

♦ Gotta have some football, maybe the next Saturday.

Anyway, I’m going to break off for now and work on something else, in hopes some better ideas will emerge.

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