Shootout At the OK Corral

Ok, that's kind of dramatic. There wasn't a shoot out. No one but the cop had a gun. And I don't ride at the OK corral. I don't know the name of the barn, actually, but I call it barn #3 because it's the 3rd barn I've ridden at with my instructor and it helps me associate certain things I did at certain barns successfully.

This is supposed to be Feel Good Friday and on Feel Good Friday, we are supposed to write about things that made us feel good during the week. I like to write about my top 5. But this story is too entertaining for me to wait and post it tomorrow. So, the feel good in this is that I am in no way involved in what I'm about to relate and I'm really, really, really glad that I don't have to worry about where I'm sleeping tonight.

Barn #3 is out in the woods. It's a conservation area and though there are houses sprinkled throughout and there are actual roads, they are not paved and it's pretty darned quiet. And really, it's remote. It's not far from civilization, but when you're there, you feel as though it's you and no one else. Until today, this didn't freak me out much. I've had the odd thought that if I were to fall off this horse and break my back, it would take the ambulance a while to get there and it wouldn't be a great ride because it's quite bumpy, not being paved. But I try to keep that thought at bay.

So as I came to the last road before turning into the barn today, I saw 2 cruisers, one marked and one not, as well as a few cars kind of in the road.. My first assumption was that there had been an accident and I thought "how ridiculous that someone had to call the cops for a 10 mph accident in the woods". But then I realized that nothing looked smashed. And the cop was drinking a can of soda, so I wasn't alarmed.

Until I looked up as I parked down the driveway and he was in the rearview mirror. He didn't seem to be acting urgently but I supposed I should ask him what was going on since he could have chosen to take down my plate number and try to find something wrong with me. I noticed that my instructor's truck was there and so was another girl's car. So, I walked to the police car and this is what transpired:

Me: Hi
Him: Have you talked to the other girls yet?
Me: No (OMG THEY AREN"T HERE---WTF????)
Him: Well, we chased a kid who stole a car into here and then he bailed right there at the driveway and he's on the loose in the woods. He's recently robbed 4 houses and then stole this car.
Me: Wow. Did it look like he knew the woods well or did he just run?
Him: Oh, we think he's been living in the woods. His mother owns a house just at the entrance (to the conservation area). His name is xyz.
Me: XYZ??? Are you kidding???? I don't know him personally but i have heard that name for 20 years! He went to elementary school with all of my friends but never made it to the high school and he became one of those kids who seemed to just vanish after 8th grade!
Him: Yeah, he just got out of jail, mother hasn't seen him in 2 years. So, if you're out riding,
Me: Oh, I don't think I'm leaving the corral today!!
Him: No, we don't think he's armed (HOW WOULD YOU KNOW???) but we want to make sure you take your cell phone with you and here's the non 911 number. (then he watched me type it into my phone).
Me: Wow, this is crazy. Have you told the other girls?(Where the hell are they????)
Him: Oh, r-ster and j-ster? Yeah, they're out riding. I told them if they saw him to let me know.

So this cop seemed to really know the situation and was concerned that I might not really call them if I thought I needed help. This is a little different from the cops in my town that I don't feel are quite so helpful. Not that they are mean, they just seem to have a lot more to deal with than escapees in the woods. We have actual murders in my town.

Soo then r-ster and j-ster returned and the story took one more turn.

R-ster: So did you talk to the cop?
Me: Yeah, I can't believe it. (then I tell how I know the kid's name, etc)
R-ster: Oh, he didn't tell us his name, what is it?
Me: XYZ.
R-ster: XYZ????? OMG that is ABC's son!! I know his mother, oh he just got out of jail, oh she's going to be so upset. Yeah, that's DEF's grandson.
Me: He's DEF's grandson??? Holy crap, I didn't know THAT! Then my mother knows ABC because they all had horses growing up.
R-ster: that's funny, we joked that if he found him, we'd make him ride a horse back, but if we'd found him, he really COULD have ridden a horse!!

Then there was one more extra twist. I called k-ster and when I said it was XYZ he interrupted me and said "that's DEF's grandson" and I was like HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT and he said a friend of his had been friend with XYZ . This makes sense because k-ster's friend went to school with all of my friends when they were in elementary school.

They say that where I live is a small place. It's many towns in one region. This whole thing happened in one town, we live in another, they all went to school together in another and k-ster is from yet another and yet we all know or know of everyone involved. Do we live in Hazzard County? It sure seems like it at times like this. I supposed if the cop had bumbled his way through and a white limo pulled in with Boss Hog, it would have all been just right.