Lady Joe

Something real bad had happened over at the Walker place. Lee Estes was in charge while everybody else was away, and managed to lose a champion blue roan mare scheduled for pickup by a buyer. When he tried to fix the trouble himself, things really broke loose in a gallop to hell. It was a bizarre turn for the worse, and Lee realized nobody else in the world could save him now except Jim Harrison's wife. Jim went pale when he heard what happened, but he was having marriage trouble and said it was a bad time to approach Francine with something like this. Lee had dated her in high school and knew about that part. "I hear you," he said, nodding. "Okay, I can appreciate that." He thought for a moment. "Well, let's make up a story then." "I'm not going to lie to my wife!" "No, no. I said a story. We'll tell her it's a business proposition. Jim knew Francine was not going to be happy to find Lee back in town and in desperate need of her help. But Jim knew that he needed to help Lee no matter what. They had grown up together and would always be close friends. Girls, even wives, come and go, but Lee would always be there for him. If Francine were to quit on him, Lee would help him get though that somehow. Thus begins a tale of two best friends since high school, the girl they both dated and one married, and a champion cutting horse gone missing. It takes the reader on a wild ride filled with unexpected turns, and is a trenchant comment on the place of the horse in a world where it is no longer essential to everyday life. Lady Joe is a brisk, humorous entertainment that will linger in memory.