Guardian Angel
25 Rescue
I THOUGHT we’d be left alone and maybe get some serious kissing in, but only twelve of the thirty-some campers were on the trail. Of course, when Hal made such a big production about us working the horses, a dozen of the other kids followed us into the barn to watch. I noticed that Larry, one of the summer staffers, was in the barn and just sat up on a rail to make sure nothing bad happened in the barn. I made Jennifer and Courtney take their own saddles to the stalls, but I didn’t make them try to put them on.
With the other kids watching, though, I talked through the process and showed how I pulled the cinch and off-side stirrup up over the saddle before I threw it over the blanket so they wouldn’t get caught under the saddle. There was a wooden step stool that I stood on because Jingo was so tall. I could just about see over him now. Jennifer and Courtney scrambled to get the blankets on their horses while I tightened up my cinch. Then I saddled each of their horses.
“Should we mount here so you can adjust our stirrups?” Jennifer asked.
“No. You never mount in the barn. It’s a confined space and there are rafters and doors. You always want to mount where you’ve got plenty of room. Besides, we don’t have their bridles on yet.” The kids who were watching were more amazed at my putting a bit in Jingo’s mouth than at the whole saddling process. Jingo, of course, was an old hand at this and took the bit with no trouble. He even lowered his head so I could slip the headstall over his ears. After the horses were ready, we led them out of the barn and over to the arena. Larry checked the cinches and nodded before he went to sit on the gate at the end of the arena. He motioned the kids who wanted to watch into the bleachers.
We led the horses toward the mounting block. Jennifer stopped short.
“I want to use that other method of mounting you told me about,” she grinned. Courtney looked curious and watched us. Our horses were turned away from the stands so I figured what the heck. I stepped over next to Jubal and bent my knee.
“Okay, put your left foot on my knee and take hold of the saddle with both hands. When I say ‘go’ jump and pull yourself across the saddle.” Jennifer turned three-quarters away from me and put her hands on the saddle and her foot on my knee. My knee was not nearly as high off the ground as the stirrup, so her seams groaned a little when she raised her leg but didn’t cry. She almost did, though, when I put my left hand inside her left thigh and my right hand on her butt. “Ready, set, go!” I said and launched her up onto Jubal’s back. She looked back at me with her eyes wide and grinned.
“You guys are so bad!” Courtney whispered.
“You can use the mounting block, Court,” I said.
“No way! I want what she had.” I stepped around to the left side of Lady and gave the same instructions. Courtney took the position and I grabbed her leg and butt. “Wait!” she said before I could push her in the saddle. I froze. She wiggled her butt in my hand.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I just… wanted to enjoy that. Okay.” I tossed her up to the saddle and she almost went over the other side. I adjusted the stirrups for both horses and then led Jingo to the mounting box and got on.
After we rode a little just to get used to being in the saddle, I started giving instructions, starting with, “Fasten your helmets.” Then I called out different paces and turns. I pulled Jingo out of the line and watched them and told Courtney to take her hand off her leg. “Just relaxed and hanging at your side,” I said. When we’d worked for about forty-five minutes, I heard the first group of riders returning and a bunch of kids ran out to switch places. In a few minutes another batch was in the arena watching us. I trotted over to Larry, who was still sitting on the gate.
“Uh… Larry, you don’t know me, but I’m Brian. Hal said not to do any racing without a staff spotter. I was wondering if you would spot us while I teach the ladies how to ride barrels.”
“I wondered when you were going to get around to asking me,” he laughed. “Make sure you take them through all the steps. You still need them to work on changing leads.”
A canter, which is a horse’s natural running gait, has four beats. The first is the outside hind leg. The second is both the outside front and inside back hitting the ground. The third beat is the inside front hitting the ground and the fourth is all four legs off the ground. It's what you hear when people are trying to mimic a horse with clapping—or coconuts. The lead is based on the last beat, inside front. If you lead right, you should be turning right. Leading left is turning left.
In barrels, the horse has to make the first turn leading right. Half way across the arena from barrel one to two, he has to change back to the left lead. He stays on the left lead for the last barrel and tucks into a gallop home. A gallop is really only two beats as the two front legs hit and then the two back legs hit and propel the horse forward. It took me a few minutes to explain the lead changes to Jennifer and Courtney and how to cue them. By that time, most of the kids had gotten bored and left. I noticed that Kevin, Barbara, and Leslie were still watching. I had Jennifer and Courtney follow me around the barrels at a walk and then trotted through it. Larry came over and stood just out of the pattern between barrels one and three. That was the one place that a horse was least likely to pass but was close enough that the spotter could rush to a thrown rider. Unlike gymnastics, the spotter can’t really save a falling rider. He’s there to administer first aid.
I took Jingo through the paces at an easy lope and then told Jennifer to do the same thing. She didn’t get the lead change and Jubal almost stopped getting around the second barrel before he picked up the correct change for the third. Courtney did better, but I had a feeling that Lady was so well-trained on the barrels that she cued her own lead changes. I knew Jingo was that used to running barrels and the cue to shift was so subtle hardly anyone noticed. We had fun and didn’t try to set any speed records.
“Brian, will you rescue me?” Courtney asked. Yeah. Something else I’d done with Jennifer and not with Courtney. I trotted out and talked to Larry. He moved to eleven o’clock, just behind and to the left of barrel three as you looked at it from the start—the most likely place for the rescuee to fall if she missed the horse. I walked out to the barrel with Courtney while Jennifer held our horses. She was a little smaller than Jennifer and when I put my hands on her waist, she jumped and I lifted her to the top of the barrel. I mounted and trotted out to her. I circled the barrel and she grabbed my offered hand and swung onto Jingo’s back behind me, grabbing me very firmly around my waist. We repeated and then I lined up to do a simple run. I signaled with my hat and then charged toward the barrel. Courtney screamed when she saw Jingo bearing down on her, but she caught my hand and swung onto the horse.
“That was so scary!” she said. “Jennifer! How did you do it without peeing your pants? I think I leaked a little.”
“Courtney,” I whispered, “hasn’t anyone explained to you that that isn’t pee?” She gasped as I trotted her back out to the barrel. When she reached to switch from the horse to the barrel, she kissed me on the cheek.
“I think you’re right!” she whispered.
I ran the full barrel rescue the next time and Courtney was whooping and waving her hat by the time we crossed the finish line. I heard a whistle and Larry waved us over to the pen.
“You need to rub down your rides and let them rest before your go out on the trail. Then go up and pick up your lunch pack from Cookie.” We did as we were told.
Kevin, Barbara, and Leslie were waiting for us when we finished and walked to the chow hall. It was cute. Both girls were holding Kevin’s hands just like Courtney and Jennifer were holding mine.
“Uh… Jennifer, how does it work? I mean you and your girlfriend sharing Brian? We think… well, we are going to try it, too.” Barbara asked the question but Kevin was beet red. Leslie had turned her face into Kevin’s shoulder. Jennifer looked at me with wide eyes like she had no idea what to say.
“We’re… not very experienced,” she stumbled out. “I mean this is the first we’ve tried it. Courtney and I have been best friends forever, but I think Brian is still a little overwhelmed.” We all kind of giggled at that. I decided to toss in my two cents worth.
“Kevin, you just have to remember that you treat each girl with the same care and respect as the other. If you see me kiss Jennifer…” I paused and tenderly kissed my friend, “… then you know that at the next opportunity I’m going to kiss Courtney.” I turned to the shorter friend and kissed her just as tenderly. “It’s not like you have to keep score or anything. We just have to make sure that each of us feels equally part of the group.”
“And you can’t be jealous,” Courtney said when we parted. “I’m a little envious when Brian kisses Jen because I want to be kissing him, but I’m not jealous. I know Jennifer loves me and Brian has shown that he cares for me just as much as he does for her. I know I’ll catch up eventually.” There was a new one for me. Jennifer loves Courtney and Brian cares for both of them. I hugged both of them to me. They knew there was a difference and that it was okay right now.
“Kevin, that goes for you, too,” I said. “You can’t be jealous that Barbara and Leslie spend time together—even if they sleep together—and you can’t. All things in their time.”
Our ride with Hal was great. I rode drag and watched Courtney and Jennifer bounce in their saddles. They weren’t really supposed to bounce quite that much, but it was fun to watch. We had a great ride and lunch on the far side of the lake. After the ride, we monitored the campers in the ring instead of riding the paces we’d done all morning. And Hal had me ride barrels before Theresa did her big demo. She’s so cool on her horse and such a friendly person, too.
Then Hal had Jennifer get on the barrel for rescue and I rode to the end of the ring. The story Hal told this time wasn’t the old Indian princess story he usually told. This time he actually told everybody how I’d caught Jennifer when she fell off her horse and then rescued her on the barrels to set a new arena record. He flagged me and I raised my hat. Twenty seconds later, Jennifer and I rode around the ring with our hats waving. We took our horses to the barn and Hal corralled the two girls. He told them they had to learn how to properly stow the tack and cool their horses. He winked at me as I ran for a shower and then to the chow hall.
When Jennifer and Courtney came in for dinner, I was standing there with Cookie and the rest of the campers with a cake and fifteen candles. I thought Jennifer was going to knock me over with her hug before she got around to blowing out the candles. There was a bit of chaos as everyone fought for places at the tables. I glanced over and saw Rochelle sitting at the table where we were this morning with her back to the rest of the room. She was alone. I nodded toward her and Jennifer and Courtney both sighed. We picked up bowls of food for our table and walked over to Rochelle. I sat on one side and Jennifer and Courtney sat on the other.
“Are you okay, Rochelle?” I asked.
“No.” Well, that was to the point. I handed her the mashed potatoes. When she didn’t move, I put a scoop on her plate.
“Can we help?”
“Did you really do all that?”
“Uh… do what?”
“Um… Brian? We kinda told a little about what you did last year,” Jennifer said. “Not everything,” she hastened to add as I looked at her. “Just about saving that girl from getting raped and how you stood up to the gang that beat you up.”
“Then that cowboy said you rescued Jennifer last fall,” Rochelle said turning on me. “Did you really do all that?” I sighed. I’d have to talk with Jennifer and Courtney or I’d have to start limiting what I told them in my letters. It had been such a relief to write all that in a letter to someone who wouldn’t spread it around my school.
“I’m not going into any details because it’s really personal,” I said. Jennifer flinched. “I’m not going to call my dear friends liars, either. I’ve learned two things. You do what you have to do to protect the people you love—even when you don’t know you love them yet.” Both Jennifer and Courtney looked at me with tears in their eyes. “And you always try to treat people with kindness and respect.” Rochelle looked at me and was fighting back tears, but she faced me straight anyway.
“I’m sorry,” she choked out. “I’ve never said that to anyone. I’m sorry I’m mean and tried to pick on you.” She turned to Jennifer. “I’m sorry I made that awful comment this morning. It was rude and hurtful.” She continued to Courtney. “I’m sorry I called you names and tried to show I was better than you. I’m so miserable I’m going to kill myself.”
Oh fucking hell!
“Rochelle, who are you trying to get back at? We just met this weekend. Do you automatically hate me so much that you’d try to make me feel guilty because you killed yourself? Are you trying to make Courtney and Jennifer as miserable as you? Who are you trying to hurt?”
“Everyone. I don’t have any friends. Everyone hates me.”
“Liar.” That shut her up. “You’ve got three friends at this table and none of us hate you.”
“But you don’t know how bad I really am.” I turned in my seat and hollered.
“Kevin, Barbara, Leslie, come here for a sec would you please?” The three young friends got up and came straight over. Rochelle stiffened. “Guys, you know Rochelle, right?” They all nodded. “Do you hate her?” I was walking out on a limb a mile long with an angry beaver at the other end, but I really had faith in these three. Kevin proved it out.
“We don’t hate Rochelle. Sometimes she’s a little mean to us who are younger, but she’s no worse than my sister and I’d kill anyone who tried to hurt her. I’m just sorry we haven’t been better friends at camp this year.”
“How long does camp have to go yet?”
“Two weeks.”
“Well, you’ve still got time to be better friends, right?” They grinned.
“See you later, Rochelle,” Barbara said. “I know we’re little kids compared to you, but I’d like to be your friend.”
The three went back to their table. A minute later a kid I recognized from my cabin came to our table, but I couldn’t remember his name.
“Hi. What’s up?”
“I’m Phil. Happy birthday, Jennifer. That was a cool ride you did. I heard you guys were looking for people who hate Rochelle.” Oh shit. This is not what I wanted.
“That’s not…”
“I checked around and couldn’t find anyone,” Phil continued. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Rochelle, you and I have been in the same class for seven years. We used to be really good friends, but I turned into a smelly boy and you turned into a stuck-up girl. I got pimples and you… stayed perfect. We kind of went different directions, but I want you to know that I’ve never hated you. I’ve always been a little sad that we didn’t stay good friends. Well, that’s all. I just thought I’d say it while I had a chance.” He turned and walked away.
“Who is it you want to hurt now, Rochelle?” I asked.
“You really are a hero, aren’t you?” she answered. “Thank you.”
We headed for the campfire and Jennifer and Courtney and I managed to sit against a log in the back row of the circle while everyone sang and made s’mores. Kevin, Leslie, and Barbara sat on the log in front of us and two other boys and a girl sat beside them. The result was that we couldn’t be seen by anyone else at the circle. We took advantage of the opportunity and kissed long and hard until people started getting up to go and we heard the “Cabins in ten, lights out in twenty-five” announcement. We got up and I walked them back to their cabin. We kissed again around the dark side of the cabin and a minute before the cabin call, Rochelle came around the corner.
“We’ve got to hurry,” she said. Then she went right down the line and kissed each of us on the cheek before she rushed inside. The girls kissed me on each cheek and I swatted them on their butts as they ran inside their cabin and I ran to mine.
When we were all bedded down and the lights were off, I spoke one last time.
“Thanks guys. You all did really good today.”
I’d never felt like a leader before.
The morning was chaotic. I was hoping I’d see the girls in the barn, but there weren’t horses to get ready today. After breakfast, there was an awards ceremony and I was proud that I wasn’t recognized for anything. I’d always been real competitive at the dude ranch, but this time I was happy to see all the kids from the camp get awards. Jennifer, Courtney, and I sat together and just watched and applauded.
Of course, there were a bunch of games organized after awards. I still sucked at volleyball, but I threw a pretty good game of horseshoes and all the practice I’d been doing to strengthen my arm after it was broken was paying off on the basketball court. It was a light lunch and then everyone ran to get their packs and sleeping bags. The campers were loaded on the bus in ten minutes and were gone. The three of us were the only ones left and I knew it would be one o’clock before my folks got there. We went for a walk out on one of the trails and found a spot under a tree to just sit.
“You know I still can’t be your boyfriend,” I said. We all sighed.
“We know. We’re going to be sophomores and sophomores rule.”
“Yeah. Rule all us freshmen.”
“That’s not the real reason. We know that we’re too far away to date. But we’re so glad you could come to the ranch. Let’s try to do it again next year. Maybe twice.”
“I’ll try, but I don’t have any more free trips. I gave my paper route to my girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend.”
“Brian, I feel like I broke your trust. I had to share your letters with Courtney but I should have told you. We shouldn’t have bragged about you in the bunkhouse. But… you really are a hero. Please don’t stop writing to me. To both of us.”
“Can I write to the two of you in one letter to one address since you are going to read each other’s mail anyway?” I teased. They nodded. “I really like you two. It meant a lot to be able to write and tell you things I couldn’t tell people who were around me every day. And Courtney, I wish I’d known that… well, that you didn’t hate me. I don’t know how this works, but I like you both.”
“Do you mind if we sort of tell people at our school that we’ve got a boyfriend up north?” Jennifer asked. We all laughed and kissed again. I was really getting to like kissing. Hell yeah!
“I’m a little jealous,” Courtney said. She turned onto her hands and knees and crawled up to me where I was stretched out under the tree. Jennifer giggled.
“Why?”
“I was hoping I’d be the one who got to crawl naked into your sleeping bag this time.” Courtney laid a kiss on me that bent my cock in half against my tight jeans. I had one hand on her butt and the other cupping a very full breast. She stayed in that position and held the hand on her breast as Jennifer pulled my other hand to her breast and kissed me just as passionately.
“Court? It’s a good thing you didn’t do that.”
“Why?”
“You’d have ended up one ahead of Jennifer.”
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