The Best Place in the World

 by Rebekah Barger

As me and my horse, whose name is King, trotted down the narrow dirt path,  I watched all the little birds fly by. This was my favorite part of any day, riding my horse in the open country to my favorite fishing hole, where my siblings were waiting to have an ultimate fishing contest. Normally I am the winner, but now my little sister Clara, who is 9 years old, has been sneaking off to come here and practice while we are doing the farm chores.

As I saw the narrow gap in the evergreen trees, a smile crept onto my face. There, sitting like a handsome man, was my best friend and loyal companion, Partner. Partner is Blue Heeler, and is the best dog we have on the farm. As my siblings  ran up the dirt path to me, they called out saying “Partner caught a turtle!” 

I was thrilled! Now we would have a turtle! “Ok!” I said,  dismounting, “that's great! But now it's time to get to work. We have fish to catch!” And with that, the contest began. 

Once our lines were cast, it was time to wait and be quiet, not to disturb the fish.  John, who's my littlest brother, caught the first fish, then I caught the next. We had to re-bait the hook and cast out our lines as fast as we possibly could, because after all, this was a contest. The afternoon went as fast as an August breeze, with lots of giggles and sunshine.

After heading home we counted our treasured fish, and this time Clara won. We caught a total of fifteen fish, all catfish. Once all the fish were cleaned and in the makeshift smoker, my siblings and I all hopped on our horses and rode back down to the river, once again to watch the sunset and rinse off.

The river, not far from our farm house, is my favorite place in the whole world because it is always quiet and is where I learned to fish, which is one of my favorite pastimes. As I watched my siblings swim, I climbed my favorite tree, a weeping willow tree, where I enjoy writing in my journal.  I love that the weeping willow tree has soft leaves, like the feathers of a bird. As my little siblings started to come out of the river and dry off, I smiled as they talked about how many fish they saw.

Soon, I was out of my tree and remounting King. We had a race back to the house on horseback, and me and King won, because he is the most fit horse out of our herd. As I think back about the day, a smile creeps onto my face. I love our farmstead in Sonoma, California. I love the fishing pond and the sunsets. Our farm is the best place in the world.