Wrapped in Rain(40)

I turned south out of the pasture, underneath the water tower, now faded, overgrown, and covered in poison ivy and confederate jasmine, and down through the orchards. We walked around the southern end of the orchards and through the pines, where we neared the rim of the quarry. Nearing the edge of the sixty-foot drop-off and the base of the rusted and dangling zip lines, we stopped to look down in the mineral spring.



"Unca Tuck?"

That got my attention. I lifted the stirrup, tightened the saddle, and looked up at Jase. "Who told you to call me Uncle Tuck?"

Jase's face tightened and took on the same expression it had in Bessie's when he looked over his shoulder, expecting a blow. I put one hand on the saddle horn and lowered my tone. "Did your mama tell you to call me Uncle Tuck?"

Jase nodded, fear written all over his face.

"Well"-I smiled and patted him on the foot-"you'd better. You call me anything other than Uncle Tuck and I'll dip you in that spring down there. You got it?"

Jase smiled and nodded excitedly. I clicked, and Glue began walking again. "Unca Tuck, how'd you get this horse?"

"Well ..." I stripped a piece of hay and stuck one end in my mouth. "I was working in Texas when-"

"With your camera?"

I held it up for him to see and nodded. "Yup, with my camera." I stripped another piece of hay and handed him half. When I slipped it in my mouth, he did the same. "I met this guy that owned a whole bunch of horses. He raised them, but he was sort of an impatient person and he didn't really like old Glue here. He was actually thinking about making him either a gelding or sending him to the glue factory when I asked to buy him."

"What's a gelding?"

"Well ..." I rubbed my chin, which needed shaving, and thought about this answer. "A gelding is a horse that's had his youknow-whats cut off."

Jase's eyes narrowed and he started thinking real hard. After two or three seconds, he said, "What are his youknow-whats?"



I raised my eyes, looked back toward the barn, then at Glue, and said, "Whoa." Resting my hand on the saddle horn, I thought for a minute and then pointed beneath Glue. "You know, his, ummm ... his equipment."

Jase's eyes lit up and his face looked like someone had just shared the secret of life with him. He sat up in the saddle, tried to look serious, and said, "Oh."

Jase leaned over and tried to look underneath Glue. "Has he still got them?"

"Yep," I said.

"Let me see." I lifted Jase off the saddle and we squatted next to Glue. I pointed up to Glue's privates and nodded. Without thinking, I spit between my teeth and lifted Jase back atop the saddle. Jase put his feet in the stirrups and attempted to imitate me, but ended up with dribble on his chin and chest. I noticed it, wiped it off his face, and said, "That's a good try, but lean over next time and push harder with your tongue." Jase nodded like he understood perfectly.

Riding a few moments more, Jase asked, "Why would that man in Texas do something mean like that?"

"Well"-I pulled the twig out of my mouth and spat again-"sometimes a horse is real feisty, or just plain mean, and if you cut off his youknow-whats, it calms him down. I guess it just makes him nicer so you can ride him." I thought for another minute. "It's like it takes the meanness out of him."

Jase fell quiet for several minutes. "Unca Tuck, can they do that with people?"

I paused. I wasn't quite sure where this was going. I stripped another twig. "Well, I guess so. I've never seen it done, but I've heard that they do that sometimes with people in prison who hurt other people in ways that are real bad."



The light softened in the shadows of the pine trees on the other side of the pasture, so I tied the reins to a small sapling and bracketed five or six frames of Jason on top of Glue. I figured I'd send them to Katie when she got wherever she was going. Looking through the viewfinder, I studied Jason. He was sweaty, covered with dirt, his eyes honest, curious, and expectant. The entire frame spoke of most everything that was good. Everything a kid should be. I slung the camera back over my shoulder and tugged on the reins again. I took three or four steps and realized that life, and lots of it, was sitting on top of my horse.

We walked past the slaughterhouse and scalding pots where the camellias grew wild and several climbing roses wound through the boards of the pen. Rex never came down here, so the vines had grown thick and covered most of it now. We finished our loop and circled around the cedar trees that lined the graveyard. We walked behind the back side of St. Joseph's, then on Waverly Hall and to Miss Ella's house. We were gone almost an hour, but it seemed like sixty seconds. When we got to the front porch, Katie nervously rose from Miss Ella's rocking chair and bounced off the porch. "Hey, big guy, you have fun?" She lifted Jase off the saddle and squatted down to straighten his two-holster belt.

"Hey, Mom, did you know that some real mean guy in Texas was gonna cut off Glue's youknow-whats?"

Katie looked at Jase. "What do you mean, his 'youknow-whats'?"

"Well"-Jase squatted down and pointed underneath Glue-"Unca Tuck met this guy in Texas who was just real mean and he was gonna cut Glue's privates off with a pocket knife or even a pair of scissors!"