Maggie prior to the accident

It was a chance encounter at a local political rally where I met Maggie. She was handing out bumper stickers that said, VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE, and smiling like maybe she actually knew something that the rest of us didn't. I can't remember exactly what year it was, but it was somewhere back there after one of my divorces. It is hard to really put a finger on just how many divorces I've had, but I know it's more than enough. I'd like to say that Maggie was different from the rest, but I'm really not sure any of them are different in the long run.

I asked her out that very first day and we wound up at a local bar drinking something green with whisky chasers for at least half the evening. She could belt them back with the best of them until that moment I saw her eyes roll back and she pitched over onto my shoulder. It's incredible how much a little lady can weigh when she's unconscious, but I managed to haul her down the street to my place. I laid her in my bed and then sat on the sofa and watched a couple of back to back episodes of Law and Order.

Our affair was typical of every other relationship I have had to endure, except for the fact that we never lived together and only saw each other on rainy days and Mondays. She continued her foray into the world of politics and I continued to work and occasionally play golf. Maggie was a treat to be around when she was in a good mood, but quite often she just couldn't get there. I thought a lot of her though and actually had some good times with her from time to time.

My work required that I travel extensively and I often was absent for weeks at a time. I'm not sure where Maggie spent her rainy days and nights while I was on the road, but I did notice that she had taken to wearing cowboy boots quite often. I was almost positive that I was losing her to some cowboy or that she was taking a class in line dancing at the Legion. Either way, it was apparent that we were drifting apart.

Late into our first year of sort of being together, she confessed that she was taking riding lessons and had this great ambition to ride in the rodeo. I joked with her about this for quite some time because I felt like it was just a passing fancy and she would return to as close to normal as she could possibly be in a short period of time.

One day in early spring, I was returning from a trip which had kept me away for about two weeks. My flight was getting in early and I knew if I rushed I could get to The Phil in time for the Benji Game. I shuttled home as quickly as I legally could and threw on some shorts. I noticed the light blinking on the phone so I checked my messages. Several messages were your typical ex-wives' messages wanting more money and a couple were just bill collectors, but the last message nearly knocked me off my feet. It was from a girl who said she was Maggie's sister (I didn't even know she had one). The young lady said that Maggie had taken a fall from a horse and had been severely injured. Apparently she had fallen from the horse but her cowboy boot had become caught in the stirrup and she had been dragged for quite a distance. I felt like my whole world was coming to an end.

After shooting a 79 (I just couldn't concentrate on my game), I rushed to the hospital to see how Maggie was doing. I met her sister at the ER and she introduced herself as Julie. Within a matter of minutes I could tell that Julie was definitely Maggie's sister by the way she could carry on this endless conversation and really never say anything. Finally I grabbed an opportunity as she gasped to catch her breath and I asked her how Maggie was doing. She led me down the hall to Maggie's room which was situated as a part of the Intensive Care Unit and explained to me that the doctors had to remove her leg. Standing beside her bed was this little feller in Levis, redshirt and with his cowboy hat kicked back on his head and I immediately thought of Howdy Doody. All these rainy days that I had been gone, my Maggie had been riding side saddle with this Howdy Doody character. As she lay there in a coma with Howdy holding her hand, I slapped her in the face and said, "Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you." She opened her eyes and smiled, almost as if she knew something that the rest of us didn't.

Maggie got her prosthetic leg and she and Howdy are now out on the rodeo circuit somewhere. I somehow moved on with my life and bounced around from one meaningless relationship to another. I'm still working, still playing golf and still making up stories like this.