Pretty Paint, The Cowboy Fairy, and KC

Karoline Calliope, nicknamed KC by her dad, lives on a ranch in the mountains of Montana. Today is her birthday. When KC and her dad went out to do chores this morning, her present was standing in the first stall of the barn.

Thinking back on this morning, KC remembered that at breakfast, her dad seemed to have an unusual gleam in his eye. When she commented about it, he simply said, “Guess you’ll have to figure it out on your own.” “Umph,” she thought, seems like I figure a lot of things out on my own these days.

Ever since her mom, whose name was also Karoline, had gotten so sick last year and had to go away, “…to ride with the wild bunch in the sky,” as her dad kept saying all the time; KC didn’t really understand everything about those events last fall. She just understood somehow that her mom was gone and wouldn’t be back to see her grow up to be, “the extraordinary woman,” she was so fond of telling her she’d be someday. About now, KC wasn’t feeling very extraordinary.

KC’s dad kept telling her, “…time will heal,” and mom was, “…sure enough in a better place on that big spread up yonder.” Whatever that meant! KC thought less and less about her mom these days, but even so, she remembered the last conversation they’d had the night before she, “…rode away.”

She said, “Karoline, (she always called her Karoline, despite her dad’s nickname) I have a little something for you that I want you to have as a going away present. It belonged to your grandma when she was a young girl, and when she passed on she gave it to me for safekeeping. Since I’m going to see her soon, I think you should have it, to keep you safe, until it’s your time to come and see us.”

KC didn’t really understand the importance of such a small trinket, but she told her mom, “I’ll keep it safe for you always mom, until like you say, I come to see you and grandma someday.” “Oh honey” her mom said, “I want you to keep it safe alright, but you need to understand, this little guy has the power to help you out in times of need. Like when you have lessons to learn and I won’t be here to help you along.”

KC wanted to ask her for more information but her mom was getting very weak and was having a hard time talking. “Just know, as long as you have this little guy with you, Karoline, I will be with you too, helping and guiding you throughout your life. Trust me, I’m only leaving this world in body, like you see me now. I’ll always be with you in spirit and, someday, you’ll understand exactly what I mean.”

That was the last time KC got to talk to her mom because the next day neighbors, friends, and relatives started coming to the ranch and to make preparations for the big party that they were planning to send mom off to the “…last roundup in the sky.”

Anyhow, back to this morning in the barn. KC had thought maybe her dad had forgotten her birthday, what with all the work and worrying he’d been going through. When they walked out to do the chores this morning, there had seemed to be a little extra bounce in his walk and KC thought, “Gee, how could he have forgotten my birthday and still be so happy?”

As they walked into the barn, right there in the first stall was the most beautiful black and white, painted pony KC thought she’d ever seen in all her life. He was even her size and had the biggest red ribbon she’d ever seen hanging around his neck. At first, all she could do was stand in the barn door staring at him, then from someplace deep in her tummy, she could hear a squeal of delight like she’d never heard before coming out of her throat and making her dad almost fall to his knees laughing. “Is he mine, daddy, all mine?” “Yes he is, KC, all yours for your birthday present. I’ve been workin’ on this a long time now and was having a real hard time keepin’ it a secret until today.” All the while, his eyes were gleaming and now even looked a little like he might start crying. “Oh daddy, she’s completely the most beauteous pony I’ve ever seen in my life and she’s all mine. Do you think mom can see him too?” “She darn sure can KC, she helped me pick her out for you last summer, before she got so sick. We couldn’t pay for her right away, but the man who sold her to me said I could just keep givin' him a little money now and then until she was paid for, and then he’d deliver her right here to the barn. By golly, he did just that last night, right after you’d gone to bed.”

“Oh daddy, is that what you’ve been so worried about lately? I thought maybe you were having trouble with me, being so little and all, and course, with mom bein’ gone, and you havin’ to take care of me by yourself, jus’ seems like you have an awful lot of things to take care of all alone.”

“KC, I don’t want you to ever think that havin’ you to take care of alone is ever too much for me to handle. I grant you, there’s a lot of work to be done everyday on this ranch, and sometimes I don’t know if I’ll ever get ahead of it, but you are the one thing in my life that brings me so much joy and strength. I think you are the greatest gift your mom left me when she passed on.”

As KC listened to her dad, she looked deep into his misty eyes and saw that the gleam she had seen earlier was still there but somehow had gotten even brighter, and she knew without him even saying it, that he truly loved her more than anything in life.

“Daddy, can I ride her? Right now, by myself?” “Sure, you can ride her but not by yourself. You’re still a little too small to be ridin’ alone, and for sure not until we get these chores done this morning. I’ll saddle her up after lunch and you can ride her around the corral.”

KC was so disappointed that she nearly started to cry. Then remembering that she had responsibilities and her chores were at the top of that list, she bucked up and went to the tack room for a bucket to grain the other horses in the barn like she was supposed to do.

While she was taking care of the horses in the barn, she kept slipping back to have another look at her beautiful new pony. All of a sudden, it occurred to her that since she was, after all, a year older than she had been yesterday, ridin’ by herself ought to be part of her birthday present. It was with this thought in mind that she started to make a plan. She’d have to be careful though, if her dad caught her, he’d be awful mad at her. She sure didn’t want that to happen.

So with her mind busy making a plan, she finished feeding the horses and cleaning out their stalls. That was one of the rules KC’s dad said was important to follow. “If you can’t take care of your horses the way you’d like to be taken care of, then you don’t deserve to have’em at all.” She knew from experience that the horses comfort came before her own, since they worked hard everyday and deserved every kindness she could offer them.”

As she finished up her chores, she realized she’d been so busy making her plan to ride the new pony that she’d forgotten to think up a good name for her. “Well”, she thought, “I can do that while I’m riding her.” Dad always says, “Get to know’em a bit before you try to hang a name on ‘em that doesn’t fit.” That’s what she’d do then; get to know her a little bit before she decided on a name. Just the right name and it would fit her just perfect.

Now, to carry out her idea and ride her new pony. Dad wouldn’t be done checking the cows for a while yet, in fact it usually took him ‘til almost noon to check ‘em all, so she’d have plenty of time to go for a short ride in the corral and get her pony back into her stall before he got back. He’d never know she’d even been out of her stall, and he’d think she was so smart, ‘cuz she’d already have a perfect name for her too!

KC went to her new pony’s stall and opened the gate. As she stepped into the stall, the new pony dropped her head and reached out to touch her hand with her soft little nose. Gosh, thought KC, she’s so friendly already and she doesn’t even know me yet. This looked like a great start to a long relationship with this new little friend. KC had been saying a little prayer every night that somehow she might have a friend to play with and talk to while her dad was working all day.

First things first, the pony didn’t have a halter on and KC didn’t know if she’d be big enough to reach a bridle in the tack room. She’d have to crawl up on the saddles, she supposed, to reach the bridle, and then somehow get the new pony to let her put it on. Then, how would she ever get on the pony to ride without someone to give her a leg up? Well, she’d figure that out once she got the bridle on. Off to the tack room she went and shinnied up the saddle to get the bridle from the peg where it always hung. Being very careful not to knock over a bunch of other things while she teetered on the seat of the saddle, she finally got hold of a bridle that looked like it would just fit the new pony.

She crawled back down and scurried like a mouse back to her new pony’s stall. Slowly and gently, she walked up to her pony’s head, just like she’d seen her dad do hundreds of times. The pony stood quietly, waiting for her, and as she got close enough, she dropped her head down to just the right height for KC to put on the bridle. Wow, KC thought, this is going much easier than even I thought. In just a couple of minutes, KC had the bridle on her new pony and was ready for the next step. How in the world would she ever be able to get on the pony? Even though she was small, about half the size of the other horses, she was still too tall for KC to jump onto.

OOPS, KC had almost forgotten the other rule about horses. Never get on your horse in the barn. All right she thought, first things first. I’ll lead her out into the corral and figure out how to get on her out there. KC turned toward the gate and led her new pony through the barn into the corral.

As she got into the corral, she had another great idea. She could just lead her real close to the fence, crawl up on the fence a couple of poles, then slide her leg over the pony’s back and with a quick push she’d be a horseback in no time. KC could hardly believe how ingenious she was; of course, her mom had always said she was too smart for her own good.

KC led the pony up close to the fence and started to climb up the poles. Just as she was in the right position to get her leg over the pony’s back, the pony sidestepped and was too far away for her leg to reach. “Darn it, I’ll have to crawl down and lead her back up here again and start all over.” So, down she came and led the pony in a circle, and then lined her up to the fence again. “OK, Pretty Paint, now just stand real still for a couple of seconds while I climb up this fence again. Pretty Paint? That’s a great name and it fits you just perfect, doesn’t it? You sure are a Pretty Paint all right, prettiest paint I ever saw in fact.” Once again just as KC was ready to put her leg over the pony, Pretty Paint sidestepped and moved too far away for KC to make it onto her back. Thinking aloud, KC said, “Somehow I need to get Pretty Paint to understand that I want her to stand still until I can get on her. I know, I’ll just talk to her really nice and explain how this thing is supposed to work. When she sees how easy it is she’ll agree and then we can get on with our ride.”

KC climbed down from the fence one more time and went up to Pretty Paint’s head, real close to her ear, and whispered to her all about her idea, and how it was important for her to stand real still so she could get on her and ride before her dad came back in for lunch. Then she led her up alongside the fence again and climbed up two poles from the bottom. Turning from the fence just a little and hanging on to it with one hand, the reins in the other, she slid her leg over Pretty Paint’s back. With a push of her leg off the fence, she was horseback and ready to ride.

“Oh my gosh!” She could hardly believe it herself. She was riding her brand new Pretty Paint all by herself without any help from anyone either. “Boy,” she thought, “I am really a cowgirl now!”

Just as she was feeling so proud of herself, Pretty Paint, surprised by KC jumping onto her back, shied and jumped sideways so fast that KC fell to the ground in a heap. “OOOF” she gasped as she hit the ground on her back. Humiliated at herself for not being more careful, she lay on the ground, trying to get her breath, holding her eyes closed really, really tight, when she heard the sound of spurs jingling. Not the sound of her dad’s spurs jingling, no, this sound was higher and lighter than that, almost musical. In fact, it sounded like someone was laughing. Laughter that sounds like spurs? This day was turning into quite a fiasco after all.

KC didn’t think she could turn on her side to see where the “jingling-laughing” was coming FROM, so she just opened one eye and looked toward the bottom pole of the fence. There he was, a little, tiny, round-bellied cowboy wearing a beat up straw hat, knee-hi boots, and silver spurs with great big jinglin’ rowels. He was standing on the bottom pole of the fence with his elbow propped up against the post. KC thought, “Golly, I must be havin’ a dream.” That’s it, I’m laying in the dirt, in the middle of the corral, with an itsy, bitsy, fat-bellied cowboy laughing at me. Yep, it’s a fiasco all right. She just closed her eye again and figured, whenever she woke up, this little “jingler” would be gone, and everything would turn out just fine after all.

“Hey you, think you’re a pretty good cowgirl, huh?” Jingle, jingle the laughing started again. KC squinted her eyes and opened one again, peering over toward the same place she’d looked before. Yep, there he was, still laughing in that “jingling” sort of way. “Well, I did, but I sure don’t think too much of my cowgirlin’ now!” she answered. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she thought, “What in the world am I doin’ now?” “Answering questions from a little, tiny, round-bellied cowboy that isn’t even there?”

As if he could read her mind, he said “Darn tootin’ I’m here, and a good thing that I am, ‘cuz it looks to me like you’ve just gotten yourself in a heap of trouble little cowgirl.” She had to admit he was right about that.

KC rolled over on her side and tried to get herself upright. “Ouch,” she muttered, “I must have hit that ground even harder than I thought.” “Yep,” came the jingling little voice, “but you just got’ta toughen up and get back in the saddle. Everyone takes a spill once in awhile, even me. Course, it’s been a long time, even before you were born. That’s back in the days before I got my wings and put in charge of taking care of your grandma and your mama.” KC was thinking a little sympathy would have been a lot nicer to hear about now. Her head was throbbing, her bottom felt like her tailbone was permanently lodged between her shoulder blades, and she still couldn’t breathe that well. “Well, you’re sure not helping me out much,” she retorted.

“Jinglin’, Jinglin’,” there he goes, laughing at me again. What a mean-spirited character this “Cowboy Fairy” is anyhow. “Who asked you to come around here anyway?” KC asked in disgust. “Why, you’re mama did. Don’t you remember? Good thing too, it looks like you’re gonna be a real pain where I sit, pardon the pun.” She realized she was rubbing her backside with one hand and dusting herself off with the other. “I suppose you think you’ve got quite a sense of humor too, at my expense.” “Well now, don’t start getting’ huffy at me, little one. Best start learning to laugh at yourself a bit when you make foolish mistakes. If’n you can’t see the humor in your own foolishness and laugh along with other folks, they’ll just laugh at you anyway. Now, I can tell you, that’s a lot more painful than any of those little pains you’re a rubbin’ right now.”

“Hey, what’d you say ‘bout my grandma and mama? How do you know anything about them? Darn it anyway, now you got me talkin’ to you just like you were real, and I know you're just in my dream, a bad dream at that.” KC angrily yelled at the little Cowboy Fairy.

“Now, now! Seems like a little work on your temper is in order, and your attitude toward your elders too. Dang, if you’re not gonna be a tough’un to ride herd on. I should’a known though, yer mama was about as waspy a little filly as I ever saw, and I’ve seen a bunch of ‘em in my time ‘round these corrals. To answer your question though, the night before your mama came on over to the ranch headquarters, she gave you a little gold cowboy trinket hanging on a tiny gold chain. If’n my memory serves me, she told you ‘…this little guy has the power to help you out in times of need’ and by golly, that’s exactly what I been doin’.”

Suddenly KC realized what her mama had meant when she’d said, “I’ll always be with you in spirit, and someday you’ll understand exactly what I mean.” KC sat there in the corral and began to cry. “Gosh, I miss you mom. I’ve been praying every night for a friend to talk to and play with, it gets awful lonely here with just me and dad all the time. When I saw Pretty Paint standing in that stall this morning, I just knew my prayers had been answered, and now I’ve messed everything up. I’m so sorry.”

“Now there little missy. This isn’t a problem we can’t overcome. You just have to listen close to me and your mama, everything will work out just fine.” As she watched him flutter to the ground, she noticed a bit of a tear in his eye. They had been so mischievous just moments earlier.

“Before we can figure this out though, we got some lesson learnin’ to be done. No more whimperin’ around and feelin’ sorry for yourself now. Mistakes are just the tools we get, in this business of life, to help us learn the important lessons. Now get up off that ground and dust yourself off a little. I’ll explain while you catch ‘ole Pretty Paint there, and put her back in her stall before your dad gets back here and misunderstands your good intentions this morning.”

KC finished dusting herself off and went over to catch Pretty Paint like she’d been told. All the while, she could hear the faint buzzing of wings near her shoulder and the soft tingle of tiny spurs jinglin’ in her ear. They weren’t laughing anymore, no it sounded a lot like her mama’s soft voice singing her to sleep at bedtime like she’d always done before she’d passed on. Somewhere in the tune, she heard the lessons too, and her heart felt like it might just swell right out of her chest if she filled up with anymore love. She knew that she would never feel alone again, even if there weren’t any friends to play with, and she knew she’d try not to ever lose her temper, or be disrespectful to her elders either. Mostly, she would remember to learn from her mistakes and be humble enough to laugh at herself whenever she was foolish, before anyone else could laugh at her instead of with her.