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It's Elementary: The Great Journey

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Joe. Joe was a lonely boy who owned a ranch...

This story was written by a student at Canyon-Lister Elementary School for It's Elementary!, a monthly feature in the Creston Valley Advance.

 

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Joe. Joe was a lonely boy who owned a ranch. He had 16 horses, five cows and one dog. His father’s name was Philip and his mother’s name was Sara. Joe wished he had a colt of his own.

But by the age of 12 he wanted a colt more than ever. His parents said he was too young and it would be too much work. In the spring his parents got tired of him always whining that he wanted a colt.

His mother said, “After lunch your father will go with you.”

When they got to the horse he wanted, it was a beautiful black colt with a white blaze and four white socks. “Are you sure that’s the colt you want?” asked Joe’s dad, Philip.

“Yes, I am sure that is the colt I want,” Joe said with a smile. “I think I will name you Lightning.” The colt glared at Joe. “I guess you don’t like that name so I will call you Blizzard.”

Blizzard was led out to a different pen closer to the house; there were five other horses there. There, Breeze was the lead mare. And when Breeze saw Joe coming out every morning, she was jealous; she usually got handled every day for one hour, not all day like Blizzard.

One day, Blizzard saw a forest fire in the distance. Blizzard was so scared that he jumped over the fence. The other horses were running around and making noises. They woke up Joe, Sara and Phillip. They called the fire department. The fire department said the fire was very serious and that they were lucky that they had the horses to warn them.

Joe went over to see if the horses were all right. Blizzard was missing.

“Dad, Dad! Blizzard is missing. He must have been scared by the fire!” exclaimed Joe, frightened.

“Don’t worry, we will find him as soon it is dawn.”

At dawn, they started their search. “Dad,” called Joe, “look over here. This is where he lay down, and over here is where he stood up. People tracks and a feather.”

Joe’s dad walked over to Joe. “Indians!” cried Joe’s father. “Tell your mom we will follow the tracks and to pack us a little bit of food, while I go get the horses.”

“I’ll ride Breeze,” said Phillip. “And you can ride Flow.”

So off they went. After midnight, they found a place to set up camp. In the morning, it wasn’t even an hour and they saw little Blizzard waiting for them at the teepees. So they walked over to get the horse. Suddenly someone walked out of a teepee. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Getting our horse back.”

“That is not your horse,” replied the Indian. “The chief found it at the creek while we were hunting. The only way you can get him back is if you fight, and if you win you can keep the horse, but if I win, the horse stays the chief.”

“No, I will go,” said Phillip.

After, they hid in the thick brush, where nobody could see them.

“Dad,” whispered Joe. “I can’t believe that you didn’t fight him.”

“It is not fair how they fight. Everybody stands in a circle and everybody fights against you and if you lose, you don’t get the horse.”

At night, when everybody was sleeping, they snuck out and stole the horse. They rode the horses back while Blizzard followed behind them. Every once in a while, they would stop and check to see if Blizzard was still there.

At 10 p.m., they set up camp. Joe picketed the horses. In the morning, they woke up at 7:30 a.m. They started their journey home. And suddenly, they were lost! The farther they rode the more lost they got, until they saw Sara.

Phillip yelled, “Sara, you found us.”

“Mommy,” yelled Joe, “we were lost.”

“I was so scared, I started looking for you,” said Sara.

After they got to the house they put the horses back in their coral.

“Dad that was fun but scary,” said Joe.

“You know adventures are happening every day!” said Philip.

Joe couldn’t wait for the next adventure.

— MAKAYLA WALTON