“I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for all this, Henry.” Jessie smiled sheepishly.

“I wouldn’t be handin’ out too many thank-yous till you try it first,” Henry grinned. “I believe I may have overcooked it a bit.”

“I don’t mean the food, Henry. I mean everything else. Really, I don’t know how I could have…”

“Don’t think another thing about it,” he interrupted. “It’s been my pleasure…except maybe for the laundry.”

Jessie chuckled weakly, then coughed a little, unable to get any force behind either. “Yes, Mrs. Rodriguez mentioned you had a little trouble with that when she stopped in a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, well…I was doin’ all right till she snuck up on me,” Henry said in mock defense of himself. “Anyway, everything else is goin’ pretty good if I do say so myself. Even the gray colt seems to be warmin’ up to me some.”

“Yes…the mustang.” Jessie repositioned herself. “How’d you do with him today?”

“Well,” Henry started proudly. “I can get him caught and haltered, and he lets me brush him and he don’t run off anymore.”

“Sounds like he’s beginning to trust you.” Jessie took a bite of her sandwich. “That’s good.”

“I’m thinkin’ it might be time before long to think about tryin’ to get him saddled,” Henry said, leaning back slightly in the chair. “But I’d sure hate to screw him up by doin’ somethin’ wrong.”

Jessie swallowed what was in her mouth, and then sat quietly for a few seconds. “You know,” she said thoughtfully. “I think there might be a similarity or two between that colt and yourself.”

“How’s that?”

“Well,” Jessie started. “Take your saddle, for instance. That saddle means everything to you, right?”

“Yes, ma’am, it does.”

“You’d never part with it, and in fact, if someone tried to take it from you, you’d fight with all your might, wouldn’t you?”

“I expect I would,” Henry nodded.

“On the other hand, if you ever found something that meant more to you than it does, you might willingly give it up in trade and feel like you got a bargain in the deal.”

Henry sat quietly giving the idea some thought before shrugging his shoulders and slowly nodding in agreement.

“Well,” Jessie continued. “The only thing that meant anything to that horse was his freedom. By training him, we’re asking him to give that up.” She stopped briefly to catch her breath. “Before he’ll be able to willingly do that, we’ll need to offer him something better in return.”

“What could we ever offer him that could mean more to him than his freedom?” Henry asked, more rhetorically than anything else.

“Two things that I know of,” Jessie replied. “Respect and understanding. Respect for who he is and who he was, and understanding that he may not be able to do everything right all the time. He’s probably going to have trouble with some of the things we’re going to ask of him.”

Henry looked at her, not fully understanding.