Henry missed breakfast the next morning and moved slowly while on his rounds scooping manure. He moved slowly the rest of the day as well, missing lunch altogether and eating very little for supper, before going to bed even before the sun went down. Had anyone stopped to talk with him they would have realized he had been drunk the entire day from all that he’d had to drink the night before. He was still drunk when he went to bed, and only became hung over around midnight, when he woke with a splitting headache. As quietly as he could, which wasn’t very quietly, he dug around in his footlocker for the remainder of the bottle he’d been sucking on the night before, and drank out behind the bunkhouse until his headache subsided.

He missed breakfast again, and stumbled his way through scooping manure for the first three hours of the morning. Around 10:00 a.m., he finally began to feel somewhat normal, which was about the time he was summoned to the mounting area to help mount an outgoing ride. By the time he arrived, the rest of the wranglers were already there and Jessie was standing on the porch near the barn with a clipboard in her hands. There were a number of guests all standing around waiting for her to assign them horses for the upcoming ride. Henry stuffed himself in behind all the other wranglers and tried to hide himself as best he could. So far, this was the worst part of his job. Dealing with and helping inexperienced riders get on horses anybody could ride, except maybe the people he was putting on them.

“Okay Linda,” Jessie said with a smile to a woman standing in front of her. “We’ll put you on a horse named Tonka. Jim here will go get him for you.”

Jim, who was standing in front and just to the right of Henry, tipped his hat, and then trotted off to the hitch rail where a number of horses were tied.

“Well, who’s next here?” Jessie was still smiling. “Let’s see. Oh yes, Lindsey. Where’s Lindsey at?”

An eight-year-old girl slipped out from behind her mother and sheepishly raised her hand. Jessie squatted down to get to the little girl’s eye level.

“Hello Lindsey,” she said quietly. “Have you ever ridden a horse before?”

“No ma’am.”

“You’re not nervous, are you?”

“A little.”

“Well, don’t worry. “ Jessie assured her. “We have just the horse for you. She’s a real nice little mare named Buttercup. How does that sound?”

“Fine, ma’am.”

Jessie rose from her squatting position and looked over at the wranglers, whom were all standing nearby. She scanned the group and found Henry standing in the second row. He saw that Jessie was about to call on him and he tried to step out of sight behind one of the other wranglers.

“Mr. McBride,” there was still a smile in her voice. “Would you mind going over and getting Buttercup for Miss Lindsey, here?”