When we were children
There was the Saturday afternoon matinee,
At the movie theater and
for ten cents, you got admission
and a nickel more bought candy
or popcorn; I usually chose baked beans
or Jujubes because you got a lot of those
for five cents.
There would be a cowboy feature, often a serial,
the newsreel and two cartoons.
We had Gene Autry,
Hopalong Cassidy
and the Lone Ranger with his
sidekick, Tonto,
But my favorite heroes were
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans,
who often co-starred with each other
And who, my brothers scoffed,
was a little bit of a sissy
because Dale was in most of his films
and real cowboys didn’t kiss girls.
Gene’s horse was Champion;
Roy’s horse was Trigger
and Dale’s horse was Buttermilk.
The Lone Ranger had his trusty horse, Silver
while Tonto rode Scout and
Hopalong Cassidy had a horse named Topper.
The horse was the girlfriend, a cowboy’s
best friend, his partner, and when all else failed,
the one thing all cowboys could rely on
to come to his rescue and get him back
home safely was his four-legged companion.
A girl on the other hand was only good
for making goo-goo eyes,
but your HORSE
could save your life and all the horse
ever wanted in return was a good
rubdown and a bucket of oats.
When we were kids and played
cowboys and Indians, the most
coveted role to play
was the horse.
Sandra Lee Smith
