My Pal Apache - page 2
My
spirit became renewed on that blue-sky Saturday morning as we made our way
towards Bluefields, Virginia. Yet it didn’t take long before the busy highway
we were forced to ride beside became interesting. Cars and trucks began honking
and waving at the crazy horse and rider. Luckily, Apache acted like he was used
to all the attention and didn’t even flinch at the noise and commotion.
We
had been on the road a while, when off in the distance I saw dark clouds and
lightning heading our way.
“Oh, great”, I groaned.
Looked
like the dishwasher could be right about that rain. I no sooner had the thought
than my blue-sky Saturday disappeared as quick as hot coffee in a cold cowboy.
Clouds started rolling towards me and the mustang faster and faster. Being a
smart Long Rider I reached around and grabbed my trusty duster from behind the
saddle. Better put it on before I got wet, which is how it had usually worked
out in the past. Apache kept walking towards the dark storm, while I slipped my
arms into the long coat.
“Ah,
lots better.”
I
had no sooner got the coat on and felt comfortable in the saddle, when the soft
patter of rain started coming down. The first big clap of thunder rolling across
that black sky made me remember a game of we used to play as children. As soon
as the thunder struck, we would say, “One, Mississippi. Two, Mississippi,”
and keep counting until we saw a bolt of lightning light up the sky. The longer
the count, the farther away the lightning was. It was a kid’s way of measuring
the unknowable.
The
rain kept falling. The thunder kept rolling. The lightning kept flashing and I
kept counting. “One, Mississippi. Two, Mississippi. Three, Mississippi.”
Meanwhile,
patient Apache kept walking.
Thirty
minutes of hard rain came down, then it slowed to a drizzle.
I could even see a patch of blue sky up ahead.
“There”,
I told Apache,” that wasn’t so bad, now was it”?
But
even if I tried to sound confident to my skeptical horse, I wasn’t sure in my
heart if the storm was really over yet.
A
few minutes later we came up on some road construction. Here we discovered that
two lanes going west-bound, and two lanes headed east, had been forced into a
single two-lane knot of a road. This bottleneck was where the cars and trucks
were forced to slow down and then go through. Yet off to one side, some of the
old road still existed. The dirt had been rolled smooth and looked like it was
ready to be paved.
I
wondered for a quick second how Apache and I should thread our way through this
mess? If we followed the single lane road straight ahead we would risk being hit
by a car. But if we rode on the other side we would leave hoofprints in the
newly completed lane. The construction workers might be a little upset with me
if we did that. But there were no road workers anywhere in sight, just lots of
wet construction equipment parked here and there. In the end, Apache and I
decided to simply carry on in the lane that had been torn up during
construction, even though it was muddy and looked like tricky going.
The
minute we started across, Apache’s hooves left a trail a blind man could see.
“Oh
well, nothing a few minutes work with the steamroller can’t fix,” I told my
horse.
Besides,
I was keeping my eyes on the road, watching where Apache put his feet, when a
strike of lightning snapped across the sky just south of me. This time the flash
of light was so large it looked like some kid in science class had got carried
away with his experiment. But I didn’t have a chance to comment because
suddenly the sky was lit up again and again. Branches of lightning began
flicking across the sky. Only this time the flashes of light stretching across
the black sky were as big as skyscrapers and just as wide.
Then
just as suddenly the lightning stopped and the rain came down again, only this
time it was pouring. Not the kind that hurt when it hit your face, thank
goodness, because there was no wind helping it. Still, the rain came down on me
and Apache in buckets. In a few minutes I could feel the water sliding down
my back, finding its way inside my duster. The coat tried to protect me but the
storm still managed to get me wet.
That
was a John Wayne kind of rain storm – the type you see in a movie that only
the Duke can put up with. So what could I do but follow his example. I pulled
down on my cowboy hat, buttoned up the top button of the duster, hunched my
shoulders and hung on, ‘cause it was raining like a bitch.
At
one point Apache glanced back at me. The miserable look on his wet face clearly
asked, “Are you sure we’re having fun?” It was obvious he wasn’t and a
lean-to would have fit just fine into his plans. For some reason I thought about
motorcycles and remembered how their riders would sometimes take shelter under a
highway overpass until the storm passes. However, overpasses come up quicker on
a 60 mile per hour motorcycle, than they do on a slow, wet four miles per
hour horse. Me and Apache were making progress. You just couldn’t call it
fast. Besides, there were no overpasses anywhere in sight.
Well
at least the lightning has subsided some, I told myself. The rain was still
ruthless though. When I moved my toes, I could tell that both my boots were full
of water. Then the rain backed off, turning into a light drizzle again and
giving us some relief. But if things were getting dryer, they weren’t getting
any safer. Suddenly the lightning came back, only this time it was striking more
often, sometimes “Two Mississippis” away, sometimes only one.
I
tried to sound unconcerned when I spoke to Apache. “Hell, we made it through
the worst part. Quit looking at me like that!”
The mustang didn’t appear to be convinced but he at least he kept walking.
"We
had been on the road a while, when off in the distance I saw dark clouds
and lightning heading our way. “Oh, great”, I groaned. "Looked like the dishwasher could be right about that rain." (Click on photo to enlarge it) |
All
during the storm we had been pushing on, so now the construction was well behind
us. Even the occasional passing traffic seemed to take pity on the crazy man and
his half-drowned horse who they were sighting unexpectedly on that wet road. No
one was honking now. In fact, once in a while some of them actually slowed down
and drove by us carefully, as though they were trying to help us in some way.
Most of the cars and trucks flew by like rain soaked memories, covering us with
spray and leaving us half-drowned.
Me
and the muddy mustang kept trudging on. A long guard rail now ran alongside us,
trapping us between the speeding cars and its metal length. It was a real bad
situation. Vehicles were so close I could have reached out and touched their
mirrors. But I didn’t. I was wondering where we were going to find a dry spot
to spend the night.
Then
all of a sudden I felt as though someone had hit me with a sledgehammer harder
than humanly possible. My jaw clenched. My shoulders flew backward. My head
snapped forward and my fingers closed into a fist on the reins. Then I lost all
body control whatsoever. I started to shake all over. I know now that it
couldn’t have lasted more than a second, but the pain felt like it went on
forever. Thinking back at it, I can’t remember many sensations from being hit
by the lightning. I didn’t smell any burning hair, or see any bright light, or
taste any bitterness. In fact the overpowering effect was that I suddenly went
totally blank. One second I was riding my horse, the next instant I was zapped.
I had no idea what had happened, and it seemed like an eternity before I could
regain control over my body. But it was one of those hurts that was so painful
that I couldn’t measure it because it was off the scale.
Meanwhile,
Apache had his own problems.
The
lightning had hit the metal guard rail we were next to, running its length, then
jumped in our direction. That’s when it found Apache walking on the wet ground
in his metal shoes. Because both of us were already soaking wet, Apache and I
were perfect conductors.
The
only thing that saved our lives was that the lightning bolt had not struck us
directly.
Then
awareness of our surroundings hit Apache and me at the same instant. Suddenly I
was sitting on top of 1,200 pounds of horse that was totally freaked out. Poor
Apache had no idea what to do. Run? Buck? Jump? The tough little mustang did a
little of it all, with cars and trucks flying by just inches away from me and my
frightened horse.
“Whoa
Apache! Whoa Boy!
We’re all right,” was what I kept yelling, even though I was not
quite sure about the “all right” part.
I
didn’t know what to do, so I did what came natural, started pulling the reins
back with my left hand, while reaching down with my right hand to touch
Apache’s neck and offer some reassurance. All the while cars and trucks kept
flying by, almost brushing us with death.
We
had been through a lot, that horse and I. Up
to this point Apache had always trusted me. But during the trip we had built an
incredible bond. Because of that bond, Apache began to calm down.
As
soon as I got him to a walk, I started laughing and laughing, sort of funny at
first, but then uncontrollable.
“We’ve
just been hit by lightning,” I shouted, to my still-rattled horse.
Then
I started crying.
A
range of emotions came over me when I tasted the salty tears that were streaming
down my face. Only then did an incredible thought seize me.
Even
though I had almost died, I had never felt so alive!
And
I had shared this incredible experience with my horse, my friend.
In
that moment Apache and I were one, and neither of us were alone.
I
refused to wipe those tears from my face.
“If
I’m going to have tears, I am going to be man enough to feel them”, I said
to myself.
Besides
they came with a lesson.
There
is a special trust between man and horse that is an admirable bond. When that
lightning struck us, I knew in an instant what Apache was thinking and feeling.
Though he didn’t understand what had happened, some instinct told him that the
pain he was feeling hadn’t come from me.
I
know this understanding is what saved both of our lives. Even though he was
terrified, this silent bond that went deeper than words had kept Apache from
throwing away both our lives under the wheels of one of the on-coming cars only
two feet away.
But
that’s what I had come to expect, from my pal Apache.
Editor’s note – Mike and Apache pressed on but soon afterwards the gallant little mustang got his leg tangled in a picket rope and came up lame. Not wanting to quit, Mike bought another horse, a one-eyed outlaw named Pride who had left a trail of injured owners in his wake. Mike and his new horse made their way into the heart of Appalachia, where they survived numerous adventures, all the while witnessing a rural way of life that had supposedly disappeared one hundred years ago. But those adventures, and the tale of how Mike transformed his new mount from renegade into close companion, are another story. Yet we finish off with this bit of news. Mike contacted The Long Riders’ Guild by phone as we were finishing this issue of The Guild website. He called to say, “I will be in the saddle again soon, but this time I’ll be traveling with both Apache and Pride together. We all miss the adventure of a Long Ride – lightning or no lightning”!
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