The Cowboy's Promise (UNDER HEAVY REVISION)

Stories and Coming Out

"Okay, everyone knows the statue in town, right? Of the two kids?"

"Everyone knows that old thing. Where are you going with this?" Sam asks.

"Shh, no talking!" I exclaim, throwing a graham cracker at him.

"Dude, just get on with the story," Stephen complains.

"I said no talking!" I throw a cracker at him. "Anyway, this story begins WAY back, before this town was even founded. Two kids were traveling along the mountain with their parents, trying to build a new life. When the parents stopped to rest, the kids wandered off. But they ended up getting horribly lost. They were miles from their parents' camp. They walked for days, eating only berries they found.

"After three weeks wandering in the woods, they find an abandoned cabin. It's late and cold, and both are hungry. Since the kids don't see anybody around, they decide to crash for the night. When they awake, the cabin is neat, a blanket is over them, and someone is cooking in the kitchen. There was a witch in the kitchen. But she wasn't an ugly old hag, like most movies. She was a beautiful woman so the children would trust her.

"They wake up and eat with her. She asks them if they're lost, and they nod. Being only little kids, they didn't know any better, so they tell her everything, from traveling to Nevada to getting lost. They wanted to find their parents. What they didn't know, was that their parents had been killed by Indians a week ago. The witch, of course, does know this, having found the remains of the attack. But she doesn't tell them. Instead, she tricks them. She promises to find their parents, only if they can find a cow for her. A milk cow that she can live on. The kids agree.

"The next day they set out to find the parents. After a week, they've found nobody. The kids begin to get discouraged. The witch tells them to keep going. After a month, they finally find settlers. One couple looks exactly like the kids' parents. Even though they don't know them, the couple takes in the kids anyway. They promise to get the witch her cow. But they never do.

"They believe they've outsmarted the witch until one night, she attacks the settlers, poisoning their water, killing their crops, and killing them. The kids flee to hide in the woods. They make it far. They believe they're safe and the witch wasn't going to find them. But find them she does. She originally planned to make them into cows, to punish them for their trickery. Instead, she turns them to stone. They had another sibling, who stayed with their parents and survived the attack. He, and his children, and grandchildren, and so on, were forced to farm cattle for the next thousand years.

"And that is the reason the statue stands in town square. And the reason we still farm cattle. Our ancestors were cursed by the witch."

"Okay, where'd you read that?" Red laughs.

"I made it up," I tell him.

"Really? No offense, but you're not the most creative."

"Believe it, bitch," I say playfully.

Everyone claps and laughs. I toss the flashlight to Red, who begins his story, the same one he tells every year. But it's never the same; he adds some detail to make it different.

I pull out my pocket watch and notice that it's already nine. I push myself off the log and walk to the pasture fence, watching the horses play in the fading light. Grenade takes the lead in a charge across the field. I can't help but laugh when Zeus passes the roan up, causing him to stop and snort. My gelding's clearly saying 'How dare you take my spot?' I hear a soft crunch on footprints on snow. Elliot comes up beside me, swirling the beer in his cup. He looks at me seriously, an expression I never see on his face. He nods at the barn, and I know he wants to tell me something privately.