by Charlotte

Please note:  I moved this part of the story out of the faith section because I really didn’t learn any faith lessons, I’m just sharing my friend’s good sense of humor.

My father’s ranch shared an allotment on US Forest with two other ranchers. 

To protect the innocent and still make this somewhat intelligible I will call one rancher, Rick, and I will call his son, James.  Rick was a stocky man, but he had thin arms and legs.  His features were rather harsh which was accentuated by his rather small hat.  James was also stocky, but his arms and legs were short, unlike his father’s.

I will call the other rancher/family the Hixons (our families were friends).  The father was Tim and his son was Tim Jr. (we called him little Tim even though he was bigger than his father).  Tim was a slight man.  Thin, but he carried himself with dignity.   He was “the boss” when we all rode together.  Tim Jr. was larger, but he had his father’s same quiet way.  They were both good “hands” (people who are good with livestock), especially with cattle – they could get the job done and done smoothly.  Tim also had a  daughter, Kelly, who had the same quietness about her as her father and brother.

After fixing fence for what seemed like eternity, Alice and I finally got to ride again.  We were riding the allotment with the other families.  Both Alice and I were so glad the fencing days were behind us even though we had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to ride.  The sun was just peeking above the horizon

when my father’s crew met up with the other crews.  Introductions were made and then we started off at a jog to the other end of the allotment to start gathering.

I was busy catching up with Kelly, giving her all the new ins and outs of our crew, when I heard Alice comment on the pistol that James was carrying.  James lit up like a Christmas tree and whipped the gun out of the holster on his saddle.

“Wanna see it?” he oozed with glee that someone had finally noticed his prize possession.

Alice quickly grabbed it out of his hand as he bounced up and down awkwardly to the horse’s trot.  Alice looked it over and politely handed it back. 

Meanwhile, I was failing miserably at keeping a grin off my face.  I couldn’t wait to tease Alice about making friends with James.

James kept talking to Alice.  He hadn’t noticed that he kept getting short, one-word answers.  Finally, Tim Jr. had mercy on Alice and got Jame’s attention.  I wrapped up my conversation with Kelly and dropped back to where Alice was (she got stuck with our slowest horse that day).

I opened my mouth to start the tease-fest, but she was quicker to the draw.  She was bursting with some tidbit and it all gushed out at once.  “Don’t you see it?!?!?” she blurted.

I was a little taken back, “See what?”

“What’s the guy’s name on the mule?” she asked.

“Rick?”  I was really confused at this point.

“Yeah, Rick.  Don’t you see it?” she continued.

“See what?” I asked.

“The Troll and the Gnome.” she blurted.

“What?!?” I was still confused.  “What are you talking about?”

“Rick and James.  The Troll and the Gnome,” she whispered.

I looked up ahead of me to see Rick hunched over his mule with only his pointy nose and pointy chin visible under his hat, and James with his short, stocky legs pointing almost straight out from his fat horse’s ribs, bouncing like a sack of potatoes as the horse jogged down the road.  I tipped my head back and laughed right out loud.  She was right; there they were right in front of me like characters out of a fairy tale – the Troll and the Gnome. 

Good call, Alice!