horseback riding

One of our most enjoyable pastimes while living in Mineral Wells was renting a couple of horses. I told you that the country side was flat and uninteresting. That was until you met Roland, the horse owner. He could show you little streams and canyons with delightful greenery clinging to the trees trying to get a foot hold in the sandy soil. Once he took us to a wide sandy beach. We tried to find the place on our own the next time we were riding. We never found it. We searched maps to find any body of water big enough to sport such a wonderful beach. Afterwards we wondered if Roland could have invented the place and put us in some kind of trance. We asked him, and he smiled.

The other unique thing about Roland was his teeth. Any weekday he had a beautiful set of teeth, but on Sundays he had two large shiny gold teeth in the front of his mouth. And on Sundays his smile was wider than on weekdays.

Another fascinating thing about him was his use of the word PURCHASE. I knew what the word meant. But his use of it was creative. You have to have a better purchase on the horse. For a minute I thought he was trying to sell us the horse. It finally dawned on me that he wanted for me to get a better grip on the horse with my knees. English is a beautiful language, but when people make up words and meanings it is difficult for a foreigner.

When the end of August came, S got his orders to report for duty in Maryland. He also got promoted to first Lt. We separated at his camp. And you know the trip I had to take to NYC. I had elected to go back to my old job at The Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled. We had found an apartment to sub lease. I felt in NYC one could be busy 24 hours a day and consequently would not suffer too much from separation complex. I had also signed up for a class in Spanish at the Berlitz. S wanted to go to Lima, Peru after the war to work with his best friend getting rich selling Bat Guano.