February 21, 2008 Issue

Stefan Guarachi came to Red Bay last weekend, and the place hasn't been the same since.

Stefan and his mother, Holly, came to the country to ride horses. Holly rode Dharma, a sweet bay mare, and Stefan rode Jack, a feisty gelding. Holly is an accomplished rider. Stefan may have been a novice rider, but he looked good on Jack, and they maintained a steady conversation throughout the ride. Jack would shake his head, whinny and neigh, and Stefan would make horse noises right back at him.

After a while, Holly and Rickie Rodriguez took off for some trail riding. Stefan and I took a different approach to the woods.With him behind the wheel of a camouflaged, high powered, Kubota-ATV, and with a contingent of three eager dogs, we headed for the hills and creeks of Red Bay. As the dogs tried to herd us, we bounced along, destroying more than a few saplings and shrubs. Stefan has a sense of humor as well as a sense of adventure and a great imagination when it comes to identifying animal tracks. By the end of our jaunt we had seen trails left by coyotes, deer, bear, wild hog, bobcats, panthers, pumas and mountain lions, and either a tiger or a leopard.

I have been working on a new command language for dogs and horses, and possibly people. It involves hollering and a tremendous amount of aggressive hand signaling. "Here now' becomes something like "Heeeaaaaaannnnnnhhhhh naaaaoooooowwwww!." The guttural primal noise is accompanied by a frightening display of arm waving.

Stefan helped me with my technique. Soon we were both howling and flapping around like strange birds. While I thought we were both doing an excellent job, the three dogs looked totally bewildered and utterly indifferent to our directives. We even incorporated a sort of Asian martial arts movement, including karate type screams, but the dogs could have cared less. You should have, however, tried catching up a horse after our display. The horses weren't indifferent; they were pissed off, and scared. Still, our primitive language felt good. Stefan and I sat on the front porch, listened to George Strait, had cold drinks, and enjoyed the day.

I have been friends with Stefan his sister Alexa, and their parents Holly and Fernando for many years. Stefan has Down Syndrome and his family has been active in our area and in Tuscaloosa, Ala. with support programs for special needs children.

The Guarachis are close friends with Gene Stallings and his son, John Mark, and we participate every year in fund raising for the Rise School in Tuscaloosa. Coach Stallings was an assistant on Coach Bryant's staff when John Mark was born. The physicians told Coach Stallings that John Mark would be best off if he was placed in an institution for the rest of his life.

In colorful words, even for a tough football coach, Stallings informed the doctors: "Give me that boy, he's going home with me." That was 44 years ago. John Mark now works in a funeral home in Paris, Texas.

After our rides, we had fried chicken for lunch. As we relaxed, an endless loop of Lonesome Dove played on the television. Inexplicably, neither Holly nor Stefan had ever seen it.

There is a scene early on, when Jake Spoon has left Lorrie, and she has lost hope of ever getting to San Francisco. Gus is consoling Lorrie.

"Lorrie darling, if you want only one thing too much it's likely to turn out to be a disappointment. Life in San Francisco is still just life. The only way to live, asI see it, is to learn to like all the little everyday things. Like a sip of good whiskey of an evening, or a soft bed, or a glass of buttermilk, or a feisty old gentleman like myself."

Learning to like all the little everyday things. They had never seen the movie but both Holly and Stefan already knew that part.

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