when you come to a horse in the road

before we ever got the washer and dryer, charlie and i spent considerable time at the scuzziest laundromat on the face of the earth. it was returning from one of these laundering trips that we came upon something unusual. once you get off the state road, the rest of the roads out to the holler are hilly, twisty, and narrow. at one point, you come to a little colony of sorts where eight or so houses are clustered and it is here that we make a turn by a dilapidated red barn. we were driving the blue truck, which has a turning radius little better than the average aircraft carrier. once i maneuvered it around the corner, we were met with a humorous sight. smack in the middle of the road, just as if she belonged there, stood a beautiful red-brown mare. it was a good thing she was near between a major curve and a turn off, or surely someone coming from either direction would have hit her. i rolled down my window and said, “what are you doing here, buddy?” and she gave me a look that plainly said, “i live here. what are you doing here?” ultimately, she moseyed most of the way off the road, at least enough so that i could drive around her. when i looked back, i saw she had resumed cropping the side ditch and enjoying the sunshine.

i found the whole situation so remarkable that i had to tell someone about it. i dialed my parents from my cell phone. reaching their answering machine, i left this message: “this is your ‘things you don’t see every day’ update. driving home from the laundromat, i turned the corner and found a horse in the middle of the road.”

the following day, my parents were meeting us at our old house to follow us down to the holler to see our new place and help with whatever they could. it was late in the afternoon when we came through town, and eventually turned that same corner.

there she was again, just a little further from her previous position, standing for all the world as if she belonged in the middle of the road. i turned to dad and said, “well, i guess it’s something you do see every day.”