Horses don't like Gummi Worms

“Hey lady, did you know horses don’t like gummi worms?”

I looked away from the show jumping competition in the centre ring and down at the young boy who had spoken.  He was staring up at me, wide-eyed, from under his shaggy, blonde fringe.  Throwing himself down beside me in the stands, the boy settled himself in for a chat.  Half a gummi worm was hanging from his mouth and another was clutched in his grimy hands.  I glanced around.  Nearby, I could see a family pushing a young girl in a stroller with balloons tied to the handle and another family with three boys dressed in identical blue t-shirts.  The boys were running ahead of the parents and calling excitedly to each other.  I could hear the squeals of the children on the rides at the other side of the showground.  The district agricultural show had attracted many families as usual on this sunny day, but no-one appeared to have lost a child. 

“Do you want to know how I know?” he continued around the mouthful of gummi worms.  “It’s a secret though, so you have to promise not to tell anyone.” 

“I won’t”, I promised.

“Cross your heart?”

Even though my own sons were long grown, my fingers automatically traced a cross over my chest.  “Cross my heart.”  I was intrigued to hear what he’d come up with.

“A couple of years ago when I was little – “, he puffed his chest out importantly.  Even the Ben 10 figure on his t-shirt seemed to look proud.  “I’m 6 now, so I’m nearly a grown up – but when I was only little, I was at my grandpa’s farm one day and we’d just had lunch and Mum & Grandpa were talking about boring stuff, so I went out the back door to see the horses.”

Ah, so he makes a habit of wandering off, I thought to myself.  The smell of the hot dog stand was making my mouth water, so I rummaged in my bag and unpacked my lunch.  Taking a bite of my tomato sandwich, I asked, “And what did you do?”.

“Well, there’s this one black horse that Grandpa had then, he was called Rembrandt.  Mum told me that Rembrandt was a really old painter that lived hundreds of years ago.  Did you know that?”  Without waiting for an answer, he rushed on.  “Anyway Rembrandt was looking really hungry and I searched in my pockets for an apple, but all I could find were some gummi worms.  So I tipped those onto the ground for the horse to eat.  Then I climbed up onto the fence and got onto Rembrandt’s back.  I was just going to sit there – I didn’t mean to take him for a ride.”

“What happened then?” I asked, almost dreading the answer and wondering if it involved broken limbs.

“Well, Rembrandt put his head down and snuffled around the gummi worms.  He picked one up in his teeth and chomped down really hard.  Then he started shaking and rearing up like he was really mad.  I had to grab his neck to stay on.”

“Wow, you must be a great rider” I said to the boy.  “Were you able to hang on?”

“Yep.  I almost fell off when he tried to jump over the fence though.  He jumped really high and it felt like his back was covered in margarine, he was so slippery.”  The boy giggled at the memory.

“How did you get off?  Did you call out for your grandpa?” I asked the boy.

“Nah, Grandpa would’ve yelled at me for getting on the horse.  He was always telling me not to go near the horses unless he was there.  Anyway…  Rembrandt ran around for ages.  He kept shaking his head and trying to get the gummi worm out of his mouth.  He must’ve finally gotten rid of it, because he stopped running around and then I could climb off.  Then I went inside and Mum made me wash my hands and eat my tapioca pudding.  Yuck”, he gagged and stuck his tongue out.

The PA system broke into our conversation.  “Attention please.  We have a lost boy in the show ground.  His name is Thomas Cartwright, he’s 6 years old and wearing a red Ben 10 t-shirt and black shorts.  If anyone has seen Thomas, could you please bring him to the office next to the Cow Appreciation shed”.

“I’m guessing your name would be Thomas?” I said to him. 

“Um, yeah.  Mum must’ve wandered off again and gotten lost.  She’s always doing that.”

“I think we’d better go and find her,” I suggested.  “And maybe next time you’d best stick close to her so she doesn’t disappear again”. 

I took his hand and we walked towards the office.  I could see a young lady pacing up and down in front of the steps. Her face lit up with relief as she spotted us.  “Tom, how many times do I have to tell you not to wander off!  I was so worried about you!”

She looked at me.  “Thanks so much for bringing him back” she said. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do with him.  He’s always disappearing”. 

As I turned to walk away, Tom motioned to me to come closer.  I bent down and he put his arms around my neck to pull me in tight for a sweaty hug.  “That’s how I know that horses don’t like gummi worms” he whispered in my ear.  “Remember, you promised to keep it a secret.” 

Then with a quick grin, he took his mum’s hand and walked away.

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