The Day of Doom

Mathew Young

Professor Shannon

English 1301.4

10/24/13

The day I met death

I started to think to myself about random events in my life such as my first brush with deaths scythe. Meaning when I was younger my family would go to this place called a dude ranch, I don’t know the actual name of the place but that’s what they all called it. At any rate this place was beautiful, with huge green trees that seemed to scrape at the sun’s surface, flowing rivers that felt as if you were locked in an industrial freezer for an hour, horse stables where I believed the most majestic creatures, the horses lived. At the time I was so small it seemed as if the horses would walk around thumping the ground and stepping on little ants like me, this however the river is where the action was.

The whole time we were at this ranch I wouldn’t shut up about “Can we go to the river yet?!!!!” to which my mother replied be patient we will go soon. This was her way of saying calm down and stop acting like a turd, well go when we go. The first day could’ve been the longest I had ever felt because all I could think about was the floating the river, laying back in the inner tube and enjoying every second. Leaving me in a state of perpetual hyperactivity all through the day’s events which were horseback riding and roping. These events went hand in hand where as they teach you to ride a horse properly, then they teach you how to rope a barrel.

At first when I saw the horse I was stumped I couldn’t believe the size of these massive creature, his dark brown mane flopping around, and the sound it makes just to keep flies away. This sound was nothing I had heard before, it was as if someone blows up a balloon and lets little whippets of air out the balloon. Then the horse trainers come out of the stables and they are carrying these weird devices that looked like a bike helmet and batman’s utility belt. Which as a kid is the coolest thing you could put on because it makes you look and feel a little like a super hero. I loved every second I was wearing the helmet and harness. After putting all of the gear on the two trainers walk around and check to see if everyone had put their gear on the correct way, while also asking if anyone had small children. I never understood at the time why it would matter if someone had a child with them, but I grazed over the question without a second thought because the only thing I had on my mind was going to the river and floating on it.

The next event after what had seemed like hour, when in reality it was only about forty minutes, was the roping session. In which we dismounted the horses, my mother had to get off first, then help me off then proceeded to walk to the center of this large metal roofed building, but it was not