I was a five-year-old boy living in the presence of heroes, giants and saints in Brown County, Texas. It was Christmas of 1939 and it couldn't help but be the best time of my life. A good fire burned in the fireplace in my grandparents' house. My grandfather picked up a glowing coal from the fire and lit his pipe, while he and the other heroes, giants and saints told their tales. These family members and friends were larger to me than any person who is still alive or who has been born since. There was no way for me to know that this life and the people would not last for all time.
Much later, as I thought back to that Christmas, the family, the friends, and the ranch, I realized that most of the people were dead, the old stories were being forgotten, and my own boys did not know of the life on the ranch. So, I sat down to write some of the stories, to tell about the saints and heroes, and to describe the life we lived.
When I was a young boy, one of my favorite pastimes was to sit and listen to Daddy, my grandfather and friends or family members talk. If I spoke up or if the conversation was not meant for young ears, I was sent away to play somewhere else. When they talked about bad things, the conversation was about men who stole cattle, the lack of rain, sickness, rattlesnakes, or not having enough money. When they talked about good things, it was about new baby calves and lambs, good rain, football teams winning, and their favorite topic - special horses. Most of the men in my family, who lived in Brown County before and during the Great Depression, marked their lives by a few good horses. I remember Daddy telling me about working cattle when he was a boy. At the end of the story he said, "That was when I had Edna." A person could have hundreds of horses, but it is just the nature of men and horses for one man and one horse to form a bond as long as they both lived. Daddy also told stories about Tony, the horse who had replaced Edna in his life the same way he told stories about his grandchildren. The bond between man and horse is only broken by the death of the man or the horse. To have a good horse in your lifetime was to be blessed. To have two good horses was to be blessed in large measure. To have more than two good horses was to have a good, complete and full life. Daddy had three good horses.
