The View

Pat and Beauford, the Great Sign

Around noon we called off the crews. A light drizzle had become a hard rain. I ventured home, a short distance up the hill, for a quick bite to eat.

Windshield wipers flapping, I slowed down. An unexpected site had caught my eye, a man on his horse, on the road, in the driving rain. I passed slowly with a cordial wave, continued a half mile up and turned into my driveway.

“Did I really just see that? The horseman who made the 9pm news last night? The fella who was pulled over by the Louisville police for swerving on his horse? The man who was on the very first leg of a long journey to his brothers wedding in Utah? Yep. That’s him, the cowboy on his horse, with his partner pug”.

Peering out the window with my lunch in hand, the horseman came into view. I grabbed my raincoat and ventured down to the roadside. “Hey there, you want to get out of the rain for a bit? I asked. He tied his horse to my Tuff Shed, introduced himself as Pat and his pug, Beauford. We went inside.

Over the next two hours he told me his story and described the route he would take to get to his brothers wedding – up Left hand Canyon and then somehow cross the divide. I updated Pat as to the weather forecast… rain, rain, and more rain. I gave him a poncho and sent him off toward a nearby stable to wait out the storm.

The following day the rains turned to flooding and the hillsides gave way. Less than 36 hours after the horseman and his pug appeared, our road turned into a disaster and with the help of the National Guard evacuated in dramatic fashion.

I don’t know if Pat ever made it to his brother’s wedding, nor do I know if Pat was the one who brought the disastrous flood upon us, but it sure was a coincidence! What I do know for sure is the disastrous impact the flood wreaked on our community.

Author: El Queso Grande