(Personal Image of Jessie Marie)
One evening Jessie took Dolly out for a ride at dusk. She never rode with a saddle, always bareback because it felt more free that way- to both Jessie and Dolly. They took off through the pasture, Jessie twisting her hands in Dolly's mane and squeezing her legs around her torso to ensure she didn't fall off, they moved as one. Her hair was rising and falling with the movement of Dolly's legs across the earth. Usually Jessie could predict Dolly's every move but tonight Dolly had something else in mind. Their pasture was surrounded by a thick forrest- with barbed wire around their land to keep in Dolly and keep out anything else (most of the time). As they ran towards the fence, Jessie was leaning to the left of Dolly preparing for the turn they always made at the end. But Dolly wasn't slowing. Once Jessie realized what was about to happen she wrapped her arms around Dolly's neck and braced for the jump. Dolly almost cleared the fence but caught her left back foot on the top wire, sending Jessie flying and hitting her head on a rock. She rubbed the back of her head and sat up dizzily, nothing was broken as far as she could tell. She looked around to find Dolly a little ways in the distance clearly spooked. Dolly limped over to Jessie and she placed her hand on her nose to comfort her, running it from her muzzle to her forehead and back again. Dolly let out a sigh and Jessie said "There, there girl, it's okay. Everything's gonna be alright." She walked around to Dolly's side to look at her foot. Her fur right above her hoof was stained red from blood but from what Jessie could tell the cut wasn't too deep. Dolly still refused to put pressure on her foot though. Jessie would have to lead her home, so they began to walk towards the gate to get back into their pasture. The sun had just sunk behind the trees and the silver moon began to light their way. She knew that at a walking speed it would take them at least ten minutes to reach home, she didn't want to push Dolly to go faster though- so they took their time.
She heard something brushing through the grass behind them and turned to look, nothing. They kept walking, Jessie wasn't worried because she always carried her knife with her... just in case. A little bit later she heard the noise again and this time Dolly's ears shot up and she held her head high- alert. This is when she saw something off in the distance, four wolves. Typically they would have run by now so they must be desperately hungry. Jessie tried to hop on Dolly but she couldn't support her weight. Surely the wolves would just give up... right? To her right she heard another noise, the sound of hooves beating the ground. A young man road through on a black horse scaring the wolves back into the forrest. He road up to Jessie and asked "Are you okay miss?" To which she replied "Yes, we were actually doing just fine. And who might you be? Daddy wouldn't like a strange young man trespassing on his land." As he dismounted his horse he said "Oh of course, I am sorry- my name is Robert Gerald O'Leary." He stuck out his hand to shake Jessie's, "Ah nice to meet you, Robert- what exactly are you doing here?" "I just moved here a week ago from California actually, I live just up the road and was going for a ride when I noticed those wolves tormenting you and your girl, is everything alright?" "California huh? Didn't know ya'll even rode there. And yes, she will be alright- the fool jumped the barbed wire and didn't clear it... sometimes she's a little overconfident." He smiled, "I wonder where she gets that from? Do you ladies need us to walk you back home? You know, just to make sure you don't get eaten or anything." Jessie laughed, "I have grown up here my entire life, I would have been perfectly fine without your help. I have the knife my daddy gave me and I know how to use it." His eyes widened, "Oh so you planned to fight off a pack of wolves with just a knife?" She stared at him confidently, "Yes. And I'm sure I could fight you off with a knife just as well."
***
The next morning Jessie woke with a headache and ran out to check on Dolly's ankle. And there he was. The boy from the night before... standing with her father? "Jessie, come meet Robert! I figured since I'm getting old, he could help out around here a bit. He just moved in right up the street."Jessie smiled, "Yes daddy, I actually met him last night." Robert boasted, "I saved her from a pack of hungry wolves, sir!" Jessie shook her head, but couldn't deny that twinge of something stirring in her gut. His green eyes caught hers- blue, as she tried to hide her smile. "Guess I'll be seeing you quite often, Jessie." he said as he shook her hand, for the second time.
Authors note:
After reading the story about Sita and Rama I wanted to write a love story. Well I always wanna write a love story. This is kinda a stretch but it's actually combined with a true story. My great grandmother's (we called her Big Granny) name was Jessie Marie. In her old age she would retell stories over and over but I didn't mind at all. One story was of a man named Robert Gerald O'Leary who was her boyfriend for a brief time in high school. She told me that every day at school he would do her homework for her, and about how smart he was. Unfortunately he married someone else and went off to war and my grandmother never saw him again before she passed. But she definitely never forgot him after all those years. I felt like it would be neat to write a story using her and him because she clearly felt some intense emotions for him (much like Sita and Rama) to be still telling their story nearly 90 years later. Dolly, was actually my Granny's pony (Jessie's daughter) because I am actually not sure what the name of my great grandmothers pony was! At the end I had Jessie's father hire Robert to relate it to how Sita's father challenge Rama to shoot the bow and arrow in order to have her hand in marriage. Hope you enjoyed it!
Bibliography:
Narayan's Ramayana, link to Reading Guide A.
Madelyn, I enjoyed the relation you made between a personal story (well, family story) and the story of Rama and Sita. I also really like the story of Rama and Sita and lately I have been exploring further love stories with a tragic or less than justified ending and thinking about how to change them into a happier story. I like this part of Rama and Sita's story in particular because it represents a beginning and is exciting and full of hope.
ReplyDeleteSita and Rama's story caught my attention too. I'm not into many romance movies, but for some reason I love the older love stories. You wrote a very entertaining story. I particularly loved Jessie's character. I'm not too much of a girly girl myself so I would much rather spend the afternoon with my horse. It would have been nice to see more parallels between the original and your story, but overall very well done!
ReplyDeleteHa, I like that it was posted on 12:27 AM. I think we share the late-night posting process. I figured I'd do the extra credit assignment and comment on your stuff every week. Is that cool?
ReplyDeleteI like that it's another love story. What's really interesting is, it has a completely different vibe then the last one. That's pretty impressive. I'm also a fan of horses, so I enjoyed all things Dolly.
When I was a wee lad, I had some family friends that had farms/ranches. I learned to ride pretty young. I wasn't great but I got by. My girlfriend in Jr. High would run circles around me. Literally. She was a barrel racer.
My favorite place to visit was this big piece of land my parent's friend's had. They had forests and fields. It was fun to go over there and just mosey around. Hopefully, it's similar to riding a bike, because I don't think I've been on a horse in almost ten years now. I should remedy that.
That's awesome that your big granny told stories. Did she have any other good ones? Any that you think you can turn into other stories? I sure hope so!
I don't really remember my great grandma. My grandma was told a few stories though. Her favorites were about her and her friends when they were young. None of them had a lot of money, so they had to get creative.
She'd tell stories about them making their own dresses. Having one nice pair of shoes that they'd put cardboard in, so they'd last longer. Here's the real kicker, they would always prick their fingers, so they could use the tiny bit of blood as lipstick and blush. I'm pretty sure my grandma had a lot of "fun" back then. It was always fun hearing her, or my grandpa, tell stories.
I'm going to count my accidental post on your favorite place as my second post for the week. Keep doing what your doing, because your stories are always so uplifting!