Chapter 17 ~ Page 245
I really had to face reality. Colette definitely was sick. Tagalong was tired. The country ahead was extremely rugged. Roy Dudley, from Stevenson, had offered to drive up and pick up Tag at a moments notice, if needed. Just call. I did.
Colette cried when I told her my decision. Roy was willing to leave within the hour. Ken White insisted that Colette stay in his home until her ride arrived. My mother decided she was going shopping right away for school clothes. And that, was that. We left Colette, Tag and Daisy and rode on into the mist.
After two thousand, three hundred miles of determination, I couldn't bear to listen to Colette's tearful, "Oh please let me stay with you."
To avoid dragging out the pain of parting I used the excuse that we had to find grass for the horses. I didn't want my daughter to see that I too had tears in my eyes. I should have, I realized later, for this also should have been part of being a family—sharing tears together.
Colette cried when I told her my decision. Roy was willing to leave within the hour. Ken White insisted that Colette stay in his home until her ride arrived. My mother decided she was going shopping right away for school clothes. And that, was that. We left Colette, Tag and Daisy and rode on into the mist.
After two thousand, three hundred miles of determination, I couldn't bear to listen to Colette's tearful, "Oh please let me stay with you."
To avoid dragging out the pain of parting I used the excuse that we had to find grass for the horses. I didn't want my daughter to see that I too had tears in my eyes. I should have, I realized later, for this also should have been part of being a family—sharing tears together.
|
|
|
Text and Photographs © Barry Murray 1971-2007 Mac&Murray Multimedia