February 17, 2019
Hubris and I were riding out of the little border town where we had met Howie, the owner/manager of the high priced coffee shop (where Hubris had found his favorite cookie) when we came around a big boulder and almost ran right into a giant wall!
We were headed back to Lefty’s saloon but I guess we had lost our way through the big rocks. Now, we had a wall of what seemed like gigantic size and impossible to get around! Telling it true, I really couldn’t even figure out which side of the wall Lefty’s place was on because I hadn’t seen that wall ever before. Worse, Hubris didn’t like the wall and wouldn’t get anywhere near it. It was a scary shape. I couldn’t figure out whether it was meant to keep people out or keep them in. Only rattlesnakes or scorpions could get through it and any bird could fly over it but horses, cows and humans would find it very, very difficult—if not impossible— to get to the other side of it. It was a mean and nasty wall! Only a mean-spirited and nasty person (or government) could have put that wall there. Another element that worried me was that people on both sides of that wall really liked each other, in spite of their differences.
Hubris and I had no choice but to set out west long the wall and hope we could find Lefty’s place or get lucky and find a way through the wall, if Lefty’s was on the other side. We had gone quite a distance –and almost half the day—when some familiar boulders appeared on our side of the wall. We were greatly relieved when we realized that Lefty’s place was close by.
When we got to the hitchin’ post in front of Lefty’s, we realized that he had installed a watering trough double the size of the trough we has last seen. Lefty was goin’ all out for business! What we couldn’t understand was that the front of the trough was branded ‘AOC’ and neither Hubris nor I had the slightest idea as to what those initials stood for. We hoped it meant ‘Alcohol On Credit’ or, at least, ‘Alfalfa On Credit’. I dismounted and left Hubris at the trough. He seemed to like being there.
Of course, I went into Lefty’s bar and ordered my usual double ‘Loutini’. I was a firm believer in the theory that ‘drinking’ advanced life experiences and, in my old age, I wasn’t about to give up my bad habits, much less, errant theories. One ’Loutini’ deserves another, so that’s what I ordered. When I got worried about Hubris, I stumbled out of Lefty’s and got on Hubris as if nothing strange had happened. After I had mounted Hubris, he turned to me and gave me a look that said, “Where’s your brain, my friend? Let’s go back to Howie’s place and get another of those good cookies!” I couldn’t argue with him.
So, with another shout of, “Hi Ho Hubris, Aaawaay” we were off to another adventure!
Copyright, Louis J. Christen, 2/17/2019