(Spring 2018 writing contest winner)
“Mother!” Andi yelled up the stairs, “Can Sadie
and I go explore the ranch since it’s Saturday?”
“Well, I
suppose, as long as you are home before supper,” Elizabeth said as she walked
down the stairs. “Make sure you pack some lunch for yourselves.”
“I’ll make
sure I’m home before supper, and I’ll pack us a lunch,” Andi said as she ran
into the kitchen. When she was finished making a yummy lunch, she ran out the
door and into the barn. “Sid, can you saddle Taffy? I’m going to explore the
ranch with Sadie.”
“Alright, I’ll
have her saddled in a second,” Sid replied with a grin.
When Taffy was
all saddled up, Andi jumped onto her back. “Thanks, Sid!” Andi yelled as she
galloped toward her friend’s house. When she arrived, Sadie was sitting on the
front porch. “Howdy, Sadie. Can you come exploring with me on our ranch?” Andi
asked her best friend.
“I got nothin’
else to do!” Sadie exclaimed excitedly, “But I better ask my mom first.” Then
she disappeared into the house. “I can go!” she yelled as she ran out the door
a minute later. “Do you want me to get my own horse, or can I ride with you?”
“You can ride
with me,” Andi said as she pulled Sadie up behind herself. “We better get
going.” Andi frowned as she looked up at the sun.
“Yeah, we
better get going. My ma said to be home before supper,” Sadie said matter-of-factly
as they galloped toward the hills.
When they
arrived at their favorite place to explore, Andi tied Taffy to a huge tree and
pulled out their lunch. “Let’s eat. I’m pretty hungry,” Andi said as she pulled
out two sandwiches, two apples, two cookies, and two canteens of water.
“This all
looks delicious,” Sadie said and grabbed her share. Then after a quick prayer,
they both started eating.
When they were
finished eating and cleaning up, they climbed up the tree that they had eaten
under. After a minute of looking around, Andi whispered excitedly, “Sadie,
look. Is that a horse on the horizon?”
“Yes, that is definitely
a horse,” Sadie replied.
“Let’s go see
who it belongs to!” Andi cried as she scampered down the tree, grabbed her
lasso, and took off running. A minute later Sadie caught up to Andi. When they
got closer to the beautiful paint horse, they slowed down.
“Andi, I don’t
know. We’re only 12. Do you think we can catch it?” Sadie asked.
“That doesn’t
matter. Let’s just see if it belongs to someone,” Andi whispered so as not to
scare away the horse. “Let’s get a bit closer.”
They inched
their way towards it. Finally, Andi and Sadie were standing next to the horse.
After patting it, Andi, who had a special touch with horses, pulled herself up
onto the horse. Then she pulled Sadie up behind her.
Suddenly, a
snake came out from behind a rock. Fast as lightning, the beautiful horse took
off. “Hold on tight!” Andi yelled. Sadie quickly rapped her hands around Andi’s
waist.
“That snake
scared this horse. It’s not wild. I saw a brand mark on its side!” Andi shouted
as she held on for dear life.
“Should we
just jump off?” Sadie asked.
“No, this
horse will tire out at some point,” Andi replied.
“Where are we?
We have been riding for the last twenty minutes. Plus, I think I’ll tire
first,” Sadie yelled back. “My arms feel like jelly.”
“Could you at
least try to hold on?”
“Sure, but I
hope this horse stops running soon because we’re lost for sure,” Sadie said,
still holding on for dear life. Twenty seconds later the horse came to a stop.
Quickly they both jumped onto the ground. “Wow!” Sadie burst into laughter,
“That was some ride.”
Then they both
looked at each other. “Which way to Taffy? I can’t leave her out here all
alone!” Andi exclaimed.
“I don’t know.
We came from that way, so let’s just start walking. We have to hurry though
because I have to be home before supper,” Sadie explained.
“We could
ride, so we get there faster,” Andi said as she pointed at the horse.
“That sounds
better. I’m exhausted,” Sadie walked toward the horse.
“Wait,” Andi
whispered urgently. “I just heard something.”
“It was probably
just the horse,” Sadie replied.
All of a
sudden, three men rode out from behind some trees. “Get away from my horse!”
bellowed the man in front.
“Who are you?
And what are you doing on my family’s property?” Andi questioned.
“We’re
catching our horse,” another man growled. “Now step aside and let us take it.”
Instantly,
Andi recognized the first man as Zach Franklin, a horse thief. “This horse
doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to Ben Harrison. He puts this brand on his
horses,” Andi said bravely.
“No, that’s my brand,” the man in the front said.
“No, it’s not your mark. You are Zach Franklin,
the horse thief. Now leave!” Andi shouted. Then quick as lightning she jumped
onto the horse, pulled Sadie up behind her, and started galloping as fast as
she could the other direction. “Let’s get outta here!”
“Get them!”
yelled Zach Franklin as he forced his horse into a gallop. “If they get home,
they will tell their parents that we’re in the area.”
A few minutes
later, Andi yelled, “Look! It’s Taffy.” Then she turned the horse toward Taffy.
“I’m going to jump onto the ground and back onto Taffy. Okay?”
“Got it. I’ll
keep riding toward your house,” Sadie replied.
When they got
closer to Taffy, Andi yelled “whoa” to slow the horse. Before the paint horse
came to a stop, Andi jumped off.
She pulled
herself onto Taffy and urged her into a gallop. Both girls and their horses
were flying across the ranch hoping to widen the gap between them and the three
men.
“My house is
right over the next ridge. Those men won’t dare come near my house with all the
ranch hands around,” Andi said. When they went over the ridge, they saw two men
about to mount their horses. One of them was Sid, the Circle C foreman. “Sid,
Zach Franklin is right behind us with his two comrades!” Andi yelled at the top
of her lungs.
Quickly, Sid
yelled into the barn, grabbed his rifle, and with a few other ranch hands,
charged at the bandits who were just coming over the ridge. “Hold it right
there!”
All of a
sudden, Mitch and Chad ran out of the house holding six shooters.
“What’s going
on here?” Mitch yelled as a bullet hit a pail next to him. “Whoa, that was
close.” Then he ducked behind the horse trough in front of the Carter house.
When the three
crooks saw all of the men aiming guns at them, they said, “Let’s get outta
here.” Then they turned their horses around and started to ride away.
Sadly for the
crooks, Chad had sent men on horseback around them, so the horse thieves could
not get away. Quickly, the rest of the ranch hands overpowered the criminals
and tied them up with rope.
Soon the sheriff
arrived and exclaimed, “These men are wanted for $350 a piece. Who caught them?
I want to know who deserves the reward money.”
No one
answered. Then Sid stepped up. “We caught the men because they were chasing
Andi and Sadie, so I think the girls deserve the money.”
“Andi, they
were chasing you?” Chad asked.
Andi looked at
Chad, “Yes, Sadie and I were exploring because it’s Saturday. Well, we climbed
a tree and saw a horse on the horizon. We went—”
“What horse?”
interrupted Sid.
When Andi
stepped aside, Sadie brought up the horse. “This one.” Andi pointed at the
beautiful paint horse.
“Andi, Sadie,
where did you find this horse?” Sid turned to Chad. “This is the horse I was
telling you about, Chad. It’s Ben Harrison’s horse. Wasn’t he offering $200 for
its return?”
“Yes, he was.
Sadie and Andi, you’re rich. You’re each going to receive $625, which means you
need to give Jesus $63. That leaves you $562 each!” Mitch exclaimed.
The girls just
looked at each other. Andi finally found something to say, “That’s a lot of
money. What are you going to do with it?”
“I don’t know.
Maybe I’ll give some of it to my pa to fix up the house or something. How about
you?” Sadie said.
“Maybe we
should give some of it to the men who helped capture the bandits.”
“Great idea,”
Sadie agreed. When they were finished handing some money to the ranch hands who
had helped them, it was almost time for supper.
The sheriff,
who had been standing by, told the girls how impressed he was with their
generosity. Then he turned and said, “I have one question for you, Zach
Franklin. Why didn’t you shoot Andi and Sadie?”
“Well, I may
be a horse thief, but I never could shoot no girl,” Zach quickly esponded.
“Well, we’re
thankful for that,” Sadie told Andi. “Can you take me home now?”
“Sure, I’ll
take you home.” Then she climbed onto Taffy with Sadie and set off for Sadie’s
house. “We each still have almost $200 left. I still don’t know what I want to
do with it.”
When they
arrived at Sadie’s house, they laughed about their exciting day and daydreamed
of how they would spend their money.
i am speechless.
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