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John was quietly observing
the crowd when he noticed a very beautiful woman walking toward him. In
her hand she held the reins to lead a horse that rivaled his own. She was
red headed and had twisted her hair up into a knot with a switch of it
hanging down her back. Her milk-white skin was shaded by a
wide-brimmed-hat. Soft gloves covered her hands. Joe felt she was out for
a morning of riding pleasure rather than here on the dusty, front line
where up to 75,000 people were getting ready to race for land.
“Shore is strange
at how peaceful ever thang is.” The pleasant woman who was in the race
was making conversation, too.
“Yep. I imagine it will
stay that way. My uncle Marshall W.C. Jones head up the Kansas and
Oklahoma law enforcement. He and his deputies work at it. There are the
United States troops stationed here, too. I’m sure ever’ one has their
mind on one thing and that is getting to staking a claim. That makes his
work easier.”
“Do you mind if I line
up here beside you?” The woman sweetly smiled up at John.
“I’d be pleasured, Mam.”
And this was no lie. He noted the easy way she stroked the reins of her
horse, how she was continually working with him and the way her psychic
was at one with the animal. Mentally and emotionally she and her animal
were as prepared for the race as he was.
‘Over the years John
told and retold the story of the race beside the red headed girl that day.
He always held a sad, far away look in his eyes as if he were visualizing
the event again each time he told it. The realness of the story registered
on the minds of, first his children, and then, years later, his
grandchildren.’
“Yes sir! That red
headed woman was something else. She rode beside me as easily as if we’d
been working our horses together for all our lives. Sometimes, I glanced
up and there she was, just a grinnin’ like a ‘possum. She staked her
claim close to where I staked mine on the 4-D creek. Her mother and father
had to prove it up, though, ‘cause her beautiful horse died that night and
she died the next day. What strong hearts they both had but they just
burst right in two with the fierceness of the run.”
‘And that more than
anything else this told the story for everyone. It was a story to tell
about the circumstances of the Oklahoma land run and it was little
different from what each and every person was experiencing that day. It
wasn’t just running for land but it was striving for a place where their
children could grow with hope for a better future. There was a one time
only, sure fire gambling chance for winning a dream and there it was,
right there in front of them.’ |
