G Version
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
(#) footnotes
/ denotes telepathic communication/
For reference purposes the following will hold true throughout.
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Previously –
Herb pulled out his TaDT and entered the appropriate parameters. When he hit the enter button a portal opened in front of them and they stepped through, moving to San Diego, twenty years in the future.
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Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124
New time basis
September 2085 Sidereal is now present day
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As soon as he stepped through he could sense the telepathic communications being carried on by the ‘kids’. He sent out a mental greeting, /Hi kids! I’m back./
A chorus of mental greetings came back, /Dad!/ /Welcome back!/ /Where are you?/ /How soon can we get together?/
/I just arrived! Herb brought me to San Diego. He’s going to point me in the right direction and then he’ll be leaving. Why don’t we get together tonight at the homestead, 7:30 Metropolis time./
Another chorus of replies came back, but Jon jumped in and resuming old habits acted as spokesman for the kids he sent, /We’ll all be there. We look forward to seeing you again. It’s been a long twenty years without you. We’ve all missed you. We’re glad you’re back./
And Now –
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Chapter – 10 - Lorelei
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Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124
September 2085 Sidereal
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Lorelei L. Lane, granddaughter of Paul Lane, Sam Lane’s cousin, was getting ready to graduate from college. When she had graduated from High School she had been first a reporter and then editor of the school paper. She had followed that same path through her college career. Lorelei was a very attractive brunette with a fiery disposition and a drive to be the best at whatever she did. She was a very serious student and athlete in a number of sports and, for a young adult, was in top physical trim as a result.
Her family consisted of her parents, Phillip and Doris Lane her younger sister Elizabeth (Liz) and older brother, Larry. They were a very close knit family. Her parents were very close and also very supportive of the children, encouraging them to do their best without being ‘on their cases’. For example, when Lorelei found out that she was going to graduate as Salutatorian of her class (her GPA was .02 behind the Valedictorian), she was disappointed with herself and wanted to do extra credit work or whatever it would take to move up to Valedictorian before it was too late, but her parents convinced her that she didn’t need to do that. She was tops in their book. At the last minute it was determined that there had been an error in the GPA calculations and that Lorelei was in fact the Valedictorian, with a GPA .04 ahead of her competition. She had maintained a constant 4.0 throughout her whole four years in college and was preparing to graduate with honors. She just had a few requirements to finish up.
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16 years earlier (2069)
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Six year old Lorelei woke up from her dream with a smile on her face. It was still the middle of the night. She was cuddling a black and white teddy bear that she had had for as long as she could remember in fact she couldn’t remember not having that bear. She really loved that bear and wouldn’t go to bed without it.
She hadn’t been scared by the dream; not really. There had been a point in the dream when she had been a *little* bit uncomfortable. She had felt like she had been falling, but then that had passed and she felt like she was being carried. She knew that she had never been in an airplane in her life but she had seen them on HV and knew all about them, well, sort of and in her dream she had been in an airplane. There had been other people there with her. One of them seemed to be special to her. Suddenly she was falling. One minute she had been in the plane and the next she was outside of it and she was falling. That only lasted a couple of minutes though because suddenly she felt a pair of arms cradle her and hold her up. It was a very comforting feeling, kinda like the way Daddy carried her, but, different somehow. She was still up in the air but she wasn’t falling anymore. It was like she was actually still flying, but she wasn’t in an airplane. Once she felt the arms cradling her she stopped being afraid, in fact she had felt very safe and secure even more than the way it felt in Daddy’s arms.
The dreams had started a long time ago, so long ago that she couldn’t remember not having them. They were always so nice. This one was a little scary to begin with but it turned out okay.
Then on the other hand sometimes Liz, her little sister, would wake up in the middle of the night from a dream screaming about the monsters. Liz’s screams would often wake up Lorelei who would climb out of her ‘big girl’ bed and climb into Liz’s crib, teddy in hand, and hug her until she settled down. Lori really loved her little sister and sometimes felt like it was her responsibility to take care of her. That was another dream she sometimes had. Mommy and Daddy had both gone away and she had to raise her sister. Then she’d wake up and realize that it was just a bad dream and that her Mommy and Daddy were in the other room and they weren’t going anywhere.
Sometimes she fell back to sleep holding Liz and her bear and her parents would find her there in the morning.
Lorelei was glad that the bad dreams she had weren’t like the ones Liz had.
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18 months previous - March 2084
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Lorelei’s parents were more than a little bit concerned that she appeared to be so driven in everything she did whether it was her school work or sporting activities. She had been this way through high school and it had followed through in college.
“Phil, what do you think, should we interfere in what Lori’s doing. She doesn’t have a social life. Between her school work, Tae Kwon Do, tennis and cheerleading she doesn’t allow herself any time for dating. Should we encourage her to date?”
Phil replied, “I think that if she felt that she was missing out on anything that she would correct the situation herself. She seems happy the way things are. She has any number of friends, mostly girl friends, but that’s her choice. She’s the only one that can tread the path that she is on. We don’t even know where that path is leading. We have some suspicions, but only time will tell. All we can do is sit back and wait and allow her to chart her own course and find her own destiny.”
“I guess you’re right, it’s just so hard to watch her. Most of her friends have had at least one serious relationship, well at least as serious as a teen age relationship can be, by this time. She hasn’t had a single crush on any boy and she’s rebuffed any number of guys that have approached her.”
“So, she’s being really picky on who she allows to get close. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just think that when she does find the right guy, that’s going to be it. There hasn’t been a single guy she’s been willing to give more than the time of day to. I think that when she falls, she’s going to fall hard and completely. Just you wait and see.”
“That’s not too comforting Phil. To listen to you we should expect her to elope as soon as she meets Mister Right.”
“Doris, it’s up to us to make sure that she knows that we love her and are here for her. That we support her in whatever she does and maybe she will be open with us when the time comes.”
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In the spring she was team Captain of her women’s tennis team and a fierce competitor on the courts both in singles and doubles play. In high school invariably one or the other if not both of her parents had been at every tennis match cheering their daughter on and when she won the trophy for Most Outstanding Player for both singles and doubles play at the end of season banquet they led the applause. Since they were in San Francisco and Lori was in college in San Diego they couldn’t be there to support her but now, after each match she called to give them a report.
In the fall she was Captain of the cheer leaders for both football and basketball.
She also had worked very hard at Tae Kwon Do and had achieved her 3rd Dan Brown Belt in that martial art. When she went for her grading her parents drove down and were both there observing her kata. They had watched her practice and practice at home during high school and knowing how assiduously she practiced they weren’t at all surprised when she flew through the kata demonstration.
When she went for the fight demonstration she was paired with a fourth dan brown belt from a different dojo. When she stepped onto the mat she and her opponent both gave the covered weapon bow and assumed a ready stance. With the command to begin each of the combatants started circling to their strong side sizing up their opponent. When they started to close Lori gave a feint with her left hand, a weak side strike which drew her opponent to that side slightly and she quickly scored. The referee shouted “Wazaari!” (tr: one half point) as she made a quick right snap kick to the side making light controlled contact with her opponents left rib cage. With the scoring of the half point the fight was stopped and they returned to the starting positions.
Her opponent was somewhat chagrined at losing a point so early and resolved to equal the score quickly. When the command was given to begin, her opponent came in with a flurry of kicks and strikes which Lori successfully blocked until her opponent performed a combination kick. It started as a low snap kick targeting the knee but it stopped after traveling only about a foot, just far enough for Lori to commit to the block before changing target and becoming a high snap kick targeting the ribs and making somewhat stronger contact than was necessary or even called for. It knocked the wind out of Lori. The referee shouted “Wazaari!” Her opponent was awarded the half point but was also given a warning about excessive contact.
The score was now tied at a half point a piece. The next point would win the match. The opponents returned to their starting positions.
The command was given to begin. Lori’s ribs still hurt. She decided she’d have to protect that side in this encounter so she kept her left arm tucked in using a weak side lead. Because of this she also wanted to get this over quickly. After moving around for a bit each sizing up the other Lori decided what she was going to do. Suddenly she charged her opponent. Just as she was about to be in striking range of her opponent she spun around and partially presented her back and good side while she twisted to look over her right shoulder and she brought her right leg back in a rear kick which took her opponent off guard, making contact in the solar plexus and knocking the wind out of her even though it wasn’t a really strong contact. It was a precisely placed contact to do the most damage with the least effort and also not permanently injuring. Her opponent dropped to the mat.
The referee shouted “Ippon!” and awarded the full point to Lori, giving her the match. She immediately went to her opponent and assisted her to stand. She helped her to return to her start location, returned to her spot and bowed first to her opponent and then turned to bow to the referee. The formalities completed she returned to her opponent and shook her hand.
When all of the candidates had been graded the award ceremony was conducted and Lori was awarded her third dan black belt. Her sparring opponent came over to her and congratulated her before her parents had a chance to take her away to celebrate.
She was also an expert marksman with any firearm or bow and arrow.
Even though they had discussed it any number of times, her parents were still concerned that she occupied all of her ‘spare’ time with study and sporting activities and had virtually no social life. They knew that hers was a special destiny but they couldn’t understand why that would keep her from having a social life. She had a lot of friends but she didn’t really date. There *had* been the captain of the football team. A tall, good looking guy with dark hair, but he just couldn’t convince her to move beyond the occasional Coke after school. Even those stopped when some of the team members were declared ineligible after the HS paper published her expose on some of the members of the football team that were cheating on their Physics exams in order to remain eligible to play.
She was nearing graduation and Phil and Doris knew that the time was nearing when all of their lives would be changing.
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14 years earlier, (2071)
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Eight year old Lorelei woke up from her dream with a smile on her face. She was cuddling her teddy bear, just like always. Recently the dreams had started changing. Now she wasn’t always falling. Sometimes she was just flying. She remembered one time that she flew right at this big building and at the last second she changed course and flew in through these big open windows. There were lots of people inside and they were all watching her as she landed or was it placed on the floor. Yeah, she had been placed on the floor. She couldn’t fly by herself but somehow she had been flown through the air. Someone had been carrying her! All she could remember was a bright colored suit disappearing back out the window.
There were other times that she felt like she was flying! She could look around and see some big city way down there, underneath her. She loved the sensations that brought out. The freedom to be up there, in the sky, not stuck to the ground. It just felt sooo real. She could even feel the wind in her face and blowing her hair.
But, there was still that feeling that she was safe and secure in someone’s arms. There was that brightly colored suit and a nice face.
She didn’t know who it was or how he could fly and she never stopped to think how that could be, it just was.
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5 years ago, September 2080
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As long as Lorelei and her parents could remember, there were several supermen and superwomen helping the authorities with apprehending criminals and mitigating natural disasters.
Most of her girlfriends got all dreamy eyed over the younger members of that group, especially Dan-El and Zar-El, but not Lorelei.
Most of the guys she knew *literally* drooled over Hazel and Noel and especially Angel, three of the superwomen. There was no wonder about that, the skimpy outfits that they wore didn’t leave much to the imagination and the skin tight suits the guys wore showed off their physique to advantage.
Nobody really knew their origin. There were several schools of thought on that topic. They did seem to have a resemblance to each other, adding weight to the theory that they were all members of the same family, however that was very hard to be dogmatic on that point since they all wore a mask of some sort.
Another school of thought was that at least some of them were visitors from New Krypton. Since the disastrous introduction of the New Kryptonians, the reparations and intervention by the original Superman had healed the breach and a limited trade had been established. Another was that neither of these was the case and they were somehow advanced Homo sapiens originating right here on Earth. The idea that they could all be part of the same family was discounted because they all looked to be about the same age, mid twenties at most. In order for them to all be from the same family they would have had to be octuplets and that was very unlikely since multiple births of that nature always received a lot of notoriety.
Lori started thinking about her dreams and looking at the pictures of Superman and the colors of the uniform struck her as being very familiar, but there were so many supermen these days and the uniform colors that were being used … actually no two were the same at least within gender. Some of the girls wore the same colors as the guys, but like in a rainbow wedding party no two of the girls wore the same colors or even the same style uniform. Ultra Woman II wore a uniform which was a full length body suit in maroon with a red cape but was sleeveless while Angel wore not much more than a two piece bathing suit with a micro-mini skirt over the bottoms, a short cape behind and knee high boots all of it in pure white. But only the ‘original’ Superman wore the colors that appeared in her dreams.
The original Superman had disappeared about 19 or 20 years ago, supposedly going to New Krypton and hadn’t been seen or heard of again.
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12 years earlier, (2073)
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Ten year old Lorelei woke up from her dream with a smile on her face. She had ‘out grown’ her teddy bear so she didn’t sleep with him, but he had a prominent and permanent place in the book shelf portion of the headboard of her bed. She had the habit of petting and talking to him every night before lying down to go to sleep.
Over the last couple of years her dreams had been changing. Now she wasn’t always falling and being caught or being carried or even flying. In her dream she was spending a lot of time with a man. He was very nice to her and took care of her. He was tall with dark hair. He was really nice to be with. She liked spending time with him in her dreams.
Slowly she came to the realization that in her dreams she was all grown up. They would spend a lot of time on a sofa just holding each other and maybe watching a movie. Sometimes they went out to dinner and did other things. Sometimes it was like she was a secret agent. It would be dark and she would be sneaking around to discover what the bad guys were doing. Sometimes she would get caught by the bad guys but she would fight them and get away. When she woke up from one of these dreams she resolved that when she got older she would learn how to fight like that so that she could beat the bad guys just the way she did in her dreams.
Sometimes the bad men were too much for her but then the bright colored suit would save her.
Not all of the dreams were like that though. She remembered the other night she had dreamt of a big party, or was it a carnival, maybe a little bit of both. She had been with that same man and she was having a good time. Somehow her teddy bear found his way into her dream because at this carnival the guy she was with had used this big hammer to ring a bell and won her a prize. She saw her teddy and grabbed it.
She also was dancing, not the kind of dancing she was doing in the ballet classes her mommy had signed her up for but with a lot of people around and they were all doing the same thing at the same time. It was fun.
She decided that when she got married, she wanted someone like her dream man. Someone that would be extra special nice to her, be fun to be with and take care of her.
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4 years and 9 months ago, December 2080
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Lorelei had done a lot of research on the original Superman. For some inexplicable reason she was absolutely fascinated with him. It might have something to do with the colors of the suit he wore. They matched the colors of the suit in her dreams. She had every different picture of him she could find and had used them like wallpaper in her room. To say the walls were covered would have to be taken literally to be accurate. Every square inch of wall space was covered by a Superman picture. None of them were of the ‘new’ Supermen either. Every single one was of the original Superman.
Looking at the pictures gave her a sense of calm. It brought to the foreground of her memory a lot of the dreams she had had about the brightly colored suit and she started to realize that the dreams were very obviously about him although she could not understand how. He had left shortly after she had been born and no one had seen him since, so how could she be dreaming about him especially so vividly and *personally*. The dreams were so real like that it was almost like an actual memory, but, that was impossible, wasn’t it? Yet, somehow …
She had gone on the internet and found copies of every article that ever mentioned him. She had been somewhat surprised to find that the vast majority of the articles about him were written by a pair of reporters from the Daily Planet, Lois Lane and Clark Kent.
She had been struck by the name similarity between herself and Lois Lane. This generated a different line of research and she had done some genealogical searches. To her surprise, she had found that the Lois Lane part of the duo was in fact a distant cousin. Her grandfather’s cousin had been Lois Lane’s father, Sam Lane. After she found this out she went to her parents and asked, “How much can you tell me about my cousin Lois Lane?”
Her father had answered, “Let’s see, Lois Lane was very famous. She was a reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, the Daily Planet in Metropolis. Your grandfather and her father were cousins. What else would you like to know?”
“How well did she know Superman, the original Superman?”
“I’m not exactly sure Honey. I’m sure she reported on his activities and I believe that he did save her life a number of times. I don’t know much more than that. Maybe you could find more on the net.”
She started an in depth search and came up with a lot of articles not all of which were written *by* Lois Lane but some of them were written *about* Lois Lane and her relationship with Superman. This made her investigation all that much more interesting. Her *cousin* was a *friend* of the *original* Superman, could you beat that? In fact, there were rumors of them having had an … *affair*!!!
Lorelei found some pictures of Lois Lane online and realized when she saw them that she bore a striking resemblance to her cousin. Holding a picture of herself next to that of Lois Lane was like looking at two pictures of herself, side by side, one version slightly older than the other.
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10 years earlier, (2075)
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Twelve year old Lorelei woke up from her dream with a smile on her face. Her dreams were becoming even more frequent. She was looking forward to going to bed so that she could be with her dream man. She was starting to be more interested in boys, but, none of the boys in her school could measure up to her dream man. He was special.
In her dreams they were constantly together. They had dinner together and it seemed like they both worked at the same place, doing the same things, together. She thought about that. Did she want a boyfriend that was with her *all* the time? She thought that in a few years she just might as long as it was the right guy. It did seem like she enjoyed the time they spent together and it seemed like neither one of them objected to being together; in fact they went out of their way a *lot* of times to touch each other. She could almost feel his hand on her cheek. She quickly realized that that particular touch had a very special meaning.
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4 years and 3 months ago June 2081
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Lorelei had been accepted at San Diego State in the journalism program. She couldn’t wait! She had been interested in being a journalist ever since she could remember. She had been on the school paper ever since she was able to join. Since she found out about her cousin all she could think about was getting her degree in journalism and working as an investigative reporter for the Daily Planet in Metropolis. She would carry on the work started by her cousin, bringing criminals to justice and corrupt officials to account!
That summer was going to be her last free summer so she decided to make the best of it. She spent a lot of time at the beach swimming and sun bathing. She always went with one of her girlfriends and they took turns putting the sun tan lotion on each other. One by one her girlfriends dropped away however as one by one they started spending more and more time with the guys that they were interested in.
She spent a lot of time with her girlfriends in girl talk. Thus she heard all about their sexual exploits. These all received mixed reviews. A lot of the time her friends said that it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. The guy had enjoyed himself but her girlfriend had been left unfulfilled. Lori took it all in and decided that she really didn’t want to experiment that way. She was happy just the way she was and besides, she hadn’t found any guy that could measure up to her dream man. She had decided that she would wait until Mister Right came along. She knew that she would recognize him when he did. She just knew that it would be love at first sight.
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8 years earlier, (2077)
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Fourteen year old Lorelei woke up from her dream with a smile on her face. Her dreams were becoming more and more detailed. Like they had been slightly ‘out of focus’ all these years and were now becoming clearer. She could almost see her dream man. She knew now that he was tall with dark hair and *sometimes* he wore glasses, but, *sometimes* he didn’t. Most of the kids that she knew that *had* to wear glasses wore them all the time even if they did think that they made them look dorky or else like a nerd. She couldn’t figure that out.
She seemed to remember that most of the time he dressed up in a business suit but there was something about that … it jarred her to think about it. There would be this dark or solid color like a gray but then there would be this splash of bright colors that simply didn’t match.
Then there was the memory of the bright colored suit. How did that fit in???
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Lori was going to be fifteen this September and this summer was going to be *special*. She was going to a riding camp! She had never been riding before but she had been dreaming about riding for years. She had always liked horses and was really looking forward to the experience. To get ready for it she had asked her mom if she could get a special riding outfit. Doris was thinking along the lines of a jodhpur but when Lori described what she actually wanted it was a far cry from that. Lori described a long skirt, more like a coulotte, so it was actually pants that looked like a skirt when standing. Lori also wanted western style boots, hat and of all things a gun belt. They had already gotten permission for her to carry a side arm when in the brush country. They had provided the certificates of Lori's IPSC and USPSA Junior Champion status and she had been cleared. She was going to take her favorite gun, a Ruger single action six which had a western style frame. It was chambered at .38 Special and she had a box of wad cutters that she would take with her.
The first day of camp they were introduced to their mounts. Lori had drawn an Appaloosa mare called ‘Withers’ who had chestnut fore quarters and a white rump with chestnut spots. The first thing that they learned to do was care for their mount, which included how to feed, curry, stable and least desirable of all how to muck the stalls. Next they learned how to saddle. Withers was an experienced animal and when she was being saddled she would take a deep breath and expand her abdomen so that an unwary rider would wind up with a loose cinch and the saddle would slip. Lori spotted this and patted Withers on the belly to get her to exhale before tightening the cinch. One of the counselors, Jackie Stewart, saw this and came over, "How did you know to do that? We hadn't gone over that trick with you."
Lori replied, "It just t seemed like the right thing to do."
Jackie asked, "Are you sure you haven't ridden before?"
Lori replied, "Positive. This is my first time ever"
Jackie replied, "That's a trick that even some experienced riders miss." and thought, <I'm going to keep an eye on her. She knows more than she let's on.>
A few days later they were going out on a trail ride out in the valley. This would be Lori's first chance to carry her revolver and she hoped that she would get the chance to do some target shooting. She made sure that she only loaded 5 rounds and that the hammer rested on an empty chamber before holstering her gun.
They had been riding for a couple of hours and rather than following in line and breathing each other’s dust they were spread out slightly. Lori, on Withers, was near the middle of the group and riding off to the right side.
Suddenly she heard a noise like a baby rattle. She knew exactly what it had to be and only had a second to react before Withers responded to the threat. In anticipation of what Withers would do she gripped the reigns more firmly and leaned forward just as Withers reared up on her hind legs. Lori kept her seat and her presence of mind. She was looking for the threat and just as Withers reached her full height she spotted the snake, it was to the right about five feet and ten feet in front. As soon as she spotted the rattler she pulled her gun, cocked and fired. It was an instinct shot, she didn’t have time to line up the sights.
At the sound of the gun going off Withers panicked, her ears came back almost flat against her head and bringing her fore legs back to the ground she bolted.
Having her revolver in one hand and the reins in her other Lori gripped with her legs to keep her seat. As soon as she had holstered her gun she leaning as far forward as she could, and with the saddle horn gouging her in the stomach she started stroking the mare’s neck and talking to her in a soothing tone.
Jackie had been near the back of the group when she saw Withers rear up. Almost immediately she heard the explosion of Lori’s sidearm and saw Withers bolt. She kicked her mount into a gallop even though with the lead that Lori had Jackie didn’t know if she would be able to save her camper or just be there to pick up the pieces. As her mount reached a full gallop she kept watching Lori and what she saw amazed her. This, self proclaimed inexperienced rider, had maintained her seat when her mount had reared, had pulled a sidearm and let loose a shot and then managed to keep her seat when the mount bolted. Now she could see that she was leaning far forward in her saddle although she didn’t know just what she was doing. She maintained her pursuit and it suddenly dawned on her that she was catching up.
Lori’s actions were finally getting through to Withers. Her calm voice and gentle hand on her neck was having the desired effect. Slowly Withers ears came to the front and she started to slow her pace. Loir continued stroking Withers’ neck and calmly saying “Whoa,” over and over. The command finally was effective and Withers came to a halt. She started blowing from the exertion of the run as Lori dismounted and, hanging on to the reins, walked to the front and started stroking Withers nose and continued talking to her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sugar cube which she was in the habit of keeping there as a treat for the horse and fed it to her. As she finished the sugar cube Withers nuzzled Lori’s face and with a final pat Lori turned and vaulted into the saddle. Lori pulled to the left on the reins, rattled them and gave the command, “Giddap.” And Withers turned around and started at a slow trot to return to the group.
Jackie, when she had seen that Withers was slowing down, had done the same and just followed and watched. What she saw amazed her. This inexperienced rider was handling this situation in a way that spoke of many years of riding experience. Jackie didn’t think even she could have done better, if so well. She pulled her mount to a halt when she saw Lori dismount and just sat and watched. When she saw her vault into the saddle she was dumbfounded. She waited until Lori was close and then turned her mount so that they could ride back to the group together.
When they got back to the group, they were all clustered around the spot where Withers had reared up. When they got close enough to see what was so interesting what they saw was a rattler about seven feet in length. Lori’s shot had found its mark and the head of the rattler was splattered all around for a couple of feet. Jake, another one of the counselor climbed down off his mount and pulling out a knife cut off the rattle. Walking over to Lori, he presented it to her. “That was some fancy shooting! That wad cutter you had chambered just exploded the snake’s head. Here’s a souvenir of your encounter, you earned it.”
That night the counselors had a meeting and Jackie gave a detailed description of her observations. “If I didn’t know better, I’d have to say that that girl has been riding all of her life. I’m not so sure that I could have done what she did and I’ve been riding for over ten years. I think we need to come up with some way to recognize her achievement.”
There was a general agreement and at the end of the camp Lori received an award as most advanced rider of the season and the counselors had had the snake’s rattle mounted on a plaque with a plate commemorating the event.
comments go here To Be Continued in Chapter 11 – Lois?
