A Knightie Rider (01/02)
Date/Time:  Sun, July 8, 2001; morning: after “Quiet Knighties of Quiet
Stars”
By Knightie Brooksie
Knighties used by permission. Vaquera Teri’s Sizzlebutt borrowed with her
permission
-------------------------------------------------

Knighties Lisa, Sandra and Brooksie were driving along in a rental car when
Sandra slowed down in front of what looked like a bombed out old theater
building.  There was one fire truck still there because the building was
still smoldering.

"That looks nasty," said Sandra.  "Wonder what happened?"

Lisa shrugged her shoulders in answer, as Sandra turned the car off onto a
side street.  Suddenly, Brooksie's dog, Ginger, whose head was stuck out the
backseat window, lifted up her nose sniffing.  She started to whine.

"Stop the car, Sandra," asked Brooksie.  "I think Ginger may have found
something interesting."

Brooksie opened the car door and Ginger jumped out barking, and bounded off
down a narrow alley and into a small grassy area.  When the Knighties caught
up to the dog, they stopped in their tracks.  There, in front of them, was
the front end of a large Saddlebred horse.  The horse looked at them and
whinnied.

"Where is his back end?" said Brooksie.

"I don't know. Be careful, he might bite," said Lisa.

"Naw, he looks a little shaken up though," said Sandra.  “He also looks like
he’s been here awhile.  Look.  The grass around him has been eaten down to
nothing.  Poor horse, he must be starving.”

"Here's the problem.  He’s stuck!" exclaimed Brooksie, who had ventured to
the back end of the huge horse.  "I can't believe this, his rear-end is
stuck in a big hole!"

"It must be one of the Ratpacker tunnel entrances, " mused Sandra.  "This
could come in handy later on."

"Help me pull him out, you guys" said Brooksie

"I think we are going to have to dig a little around his hips," reasoned
Lisa.

So the Knighties worked for a while on the edges of the hole, digging and
scraping at the opening trying to make it wider.  As the horse began to feel
himself getting freed he started to struggle and thrash about.  Ginger, who
had been peacefully lying nearby watching the Knighties dig, stood up and
started barking at the horse.  The horse started to thrash around even more.

"Shush, Ginger, shush.  You're only making things worse."  Brooksie went to
the horse's head to try to calm him.  Suddenly, he made a great big effort
and heaved himself out of the hole.

"Let's check him out to see if he is hurt," said Lisa, the soon-to-be third
year med student.  She ran her hands up and down his legs and over his body,
looking for cuts, heat or swelling.  "Looks OK to me," she said brushing her
hands on her jeans.

"I'm going to walk him a bit," said Brooksie.  "He is probably a little
stiff from being stuck."

Sandra was inspecting the opening that the horse had been blocking.  She
walked a few paces into the tunnel and then felt something soft squish
underneath her shoe.  At the same moment a peculiar odor assaulted her
nostrils.

"Oh, crap," she said out loud.

Brooksie was checking the snugness of the horse's saddle's girth and the
length of the stirrups.  "Help me up?" she asked Lisa.

"You're going to RIDE him?"  Lisa looked wide-eyed.  "He looks a little, um,
energetic.  Do you even know how to ride?" she asked.

Yes, m'dear.  Don't you know that I am a card-carrying member of the 'Les
Chevaliers de la Nuit' faction?  We have never fought as a faction in any
previous wars, so we couldn't be a part of this one.  But I was a Knightie
first, anyway."

"Oh," said Lisa.  "Never heard of that faction."

Brooksie continued.  "I'm on my second TB, now.  First one was 'Twister' and
my current one is Brook."  She grabbed the reins and the saddle and bent her
left knee hoping that Lisa would get the hint to boost her into the saddle.
The horse shifted uneasily.

"Your horse's name is Brook?" stated Sandra.  "Brooksie - Brook.  How vain
is that to name him after yourself?"

Brooksie frowned.  "I didn't name him after myself.  The exercise rider that
I bought him from liked Garth Brooks, so she changed his name from 'Woody'
to 'Brooks'.  I just had to buy him - it was kismet!  Besides," she added,
"his entire name is 'Allie's Brook'.  "Now is someone going to give me a leg
up or not?"

"Where are you going to take this horse?" asked Lisa.

"I think, but I'm not sure, that this is the Vaquera Teri's horse Sizzlin'.
I'm going to take him back to the Vaqueras' church.  Maybe Teri will be
there and can take me back to the loft."

"Well, why don't we meet you there?  Maybe the Vaqs know something about
these switches," reasoned Sandra.

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Lisa.

****END****