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| Photo courtesy of Marjorie C. |
A Story From the Life of Marjorie C.
Ghostwritten by Lizzie C.
County Fair
Summertime brought many things: reading, piano, baking, sewing and of course the county fair. This year, I got to stay with my uncle Bill on his farm for the summer. He had a large barn that was originally a royal red, but by the summer of 1935 it was worn down, faded, rusty, and dull. The barn had two large doors that took you inside and the sides of the barn were lined with horses and their stalls. Down the middle was a long dirt and rock path that had hay and feed near the back of the barn. It was really quite a beautiful barn.
I spent most of the days on the farm helping my aunt with the fall canning and baking, there was always a lot of that to do. One night, my uncle took me out to the barn to feed the horses. All of them had beautiful manes, and were golden and brown. My uncle pointed out one horse, his name was Sparky. He was sky high, and strong, his coat was golden brown and there was a white stripe down the middle of his face to his nose. He was a retired race horse, and now spent his day roaming the barn and the pasture. My uncle told me that he was a great race horse. Staring off at what seemed to me just a random spot in the barn, my uncle stood quiet. I could hear every single sound of the wind and the birds. The silence seemed to drag on; I thought about saying something but he turned to me first and said, “Wanna race him?”
“Who, Sparky?” I replied with shock.
“Yeah, of course! The county fair is coming up, what do you think?”
From that day forward, my uncle and I trained that horse every single day. We woke up to the sound of roosters. Then I met him out in the barnyard. He always put the halter on the horse, and we tied a rope to it. I then ran that rope to the large light pole in the middle of the barn yard and tied it. The horse was ready, then a whistle or the crack of a whip would wake up the horse and make him run around and around the pole. I stared at that horse for what seemed like hours. My eyes moved around in circles trying to follow the horse’s footsteps. I watched him pass by looking blurry in my vision. Eventually, the horse slowed down and shone with sweat in the summer sun. The beautiful green, grassy yard was now torn up into mud and dirt by the slap of Sparky’s hooves. When he was done with the workout, I walked him around the pole many times for a slow cool down. Everyday until the fair we did the same thing and the horse went longer every time.
This year the fair was on July 6, and it was the 46th anniversary of the Keokuk County Fair. The fair had many contests that anyone could participate in. There were baking contests: the 4-H students always baked their favorite treat and competed for the blue ribbon. I was a 4-H student, but this year I didn’t join their fair group because I was busy with Sparky. 4-H students could also enter something they had knit or drawn into another contest. Some kids might even enter a calf or a pig into a contest, now those were serious! I can’t even imagine how much money you got for winning. They also had a lot of fun rides, including a ferris wheel and an assortment of twirly things. And if they had a roller coaster, it wasn’t a very good one.
The day of the fair we drove for half an hour out to the Keokuk County Fair with Sparky in the trailer. On the car ride, my uncle told me about the jockey he hired to ride the horse. I didn’t really know him, probably some cousin I’d never met, but I was hopeful that he could bring Sparky to victory. When we reached the fair, my whole family had come to watch our horse race. We walked through the fair gates and I saw all the contestants and their riders filling the fair grounds. We made our way over to the stands. Sparky and our jockey were down by the starting gates, and we stood up in our seats. The track looked huge from my view, and it was just one long strip of brown. My sisters and I sat close keeping our eyes on Sparky’s number. They loaded all six horses into their gates and we waited to hear the bell. We all sat with anticipation and eyes wide open. Our hearts were pounding out of our chests and then…
“And they’re off!” the announcer shouted.
I followed our horse around and around the track, I was unable to say any word but “go”! All of the horse’s legs galloped and turned like trains. The laps went by so fast, and every time Sparky would pass by I screamed.
The announcer came in, “to the cheers of the crowd the horses take their last lap, American Dream and Frankel are in a serious speed dual. But, Sparky is close behind them and is gonna take the fight to them. Tis now not far behind is Seamus, Frankel is dropping back Galileo is running along in fourth. Barbaro is only five lengths off Seamus, Sparky now taking it up on the outside. American Dream is still running in first, Galileo is down toward the inside and he is now fifth, we’ve still got a grueling pace here.”
A few seconds later he yelled, “Frankel is grounding it out on a short lead. Seamus couldn’t stay with them, there goes Sparky. They’re rounding the corner and down the stretch they go! They’re stride for stride! Neck and neck! It’s American Dream and Frankel, American Dream and Frankle! It’s the last leg and it’s gonna be...!”
Mud and dirt coated my golden horse as he finished in third. I was disappointed to not leave the fair with a gold medal or at least a ribbon, but I had fun anyway. I learned that every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. And when you want something you’ve never had, you have to do things you’ve never done. The thrill of saying that I had a horse in a race was incredible, and I enjoyed every minute of training Sparky. Winning is not the place you finish, but the place it holds in your heart.
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| Photo courtesy of Marjorie C. |
