The Cowboy

Spark Riley tried to recall how he came to be standing in the road, his hands trembling from nerves, the afternoon sun causing him to squint.  He was hoping he was a faster draw and he wished he were facing away from the sun instead of into it.  He couldn’t see a thing.

The cattle seemed loud in his peripheral hearing.   He thought it odd that someone would be driving a herd through town, and he also questioned peripheral hearing.  Where had he come up with that?

A car horn suddenly snapped him back to reality.  A momentary sigh of relief came over him as he quickly realized he wasn’t in an old west town having a shoot-out, but was, for whatever reason, attempting to cross a busy, downtown street.  As he hurried to the curb he thought how funny all of these cars honking at him sounded like a herd of cattle mooing for him to get out of their way.  Safe up on the sidewalk he tried to recall the past 30 or so minutes.  He had obviously wandered away from the home again, but how had no one seen him?  Perhaps his subconscious was far trickier than the conscious him.

Meanwhile, back at the home, Nora Hoverton had several meatloaves baking in the ovens and was whipping up the third batch of mashed potatoes when she heard the news that her friend Spark was again missing.

She summoned Betty to take over making the potatoes and quickly removed her apron and headed out the back door of the kitchen.  She wasn’t quite sure which direction to drive, but remembered that last time he had wandered away he had been found downtown, along the river-walk shops.  She knew one thing for sure; she had to have Sparky back at the home before Cloris Buzzkill did her 6 pm headcount.

Before Sparky had mentally started to lose it, he was the head wisenheimer.  He never let those front office types off the hook.  He knew they all took their jobs too seriously and he was quite adept at convincing them of almost anything.  He would have them searching for imaginary lost heirlooms, or send them on fake errands and he could always con them out of a second dessert.

Nora had long been secretly in love with Mr. Spark Riley and now found herself in a panic to find him and bring him back.  As she drove into town she scanned the sidewalks, side streets and alleys.  She didn’t even want to consider checking the local hospital, not yet.