Monthly Drawig 21b: Horsie Ride! (Patreon)

Janie Taylor walked quickly up the sidewalk. She thought she was done with babysitting jobs after high school but, the extra spending money WAS nice and it fit into her college sophomore schedule easier. Still, this would be the last year, definitely. 

She rang the doorbell and waited. She’d never met the Fillstons but, one of her old clients had given them her name. Apparently, they’d ben desperate for a good sitter for their little girl. That suited Janie; desperate clients paid better and little girls were easier for her to relate to.

The door opened to reveal a tall, dark-haired, still-handsome man and a very pretty and petite blonde woman. The man looked oddly nervous but, the woman seemed very happy to see Janie.

“Oh! You must be Janie! Come in!” the woman said as she gestured Janie inside, “You come highly recommended.”

“Thank you, Ma’am” she said with a polite smile.

“There’s a list of numbers by the phone.” the woman continued, “We should be back by midnight.” 

“Yes,” the man said, still odd, “Midnight. Darling are you sure this will be okay?”

“Don’t worry, honey,” The woman wrapped her arm around the man’s and pulled him close,”She’ll be fine! You’ll see!”

“Of course!” Janie was used to worried parents. But, she was told the girl was seven, surely they’d had a babysitter before. She smiled a reassuring smile at them “Where is my charge?”

“J-Janie’s in the den watching television” the man said and turned to his wife, “We should get going, the show starts in an hour.”

“More than enough time, dear” the woman patted the man’s hand, “Tabitha’s watching a Western. She loves Westerns! She’ll probably will want you to play with her, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all!” Janie replied. The woman had seemed to stifle a snicker when she’d spoken, or perhaps she was holding back a sneeze. It didn’t matter, she thought. Time to get them out of here, “We’ll be fine. You two have fun.”

“We will, don’t you worry!” The woman smiled broadly then, an odd expression crossed her face. It was as though she was trying to be deadly serious and not to laugh at the same time, “Speaking of worry, dear. I promise you that, no matter what, we’ll make sure you get home tonight. Okay?”

“Sure,” Janie said, confused, “I’ve got my own car so,  should be fine.”

“I’m sure you will, dear, I'm sure you will Have fun with Tabby!” she said with that same almost-snicker, “Come, Dick, let’s get going!”

The man turned one last nervous face on her and they left.

Weird. Super weird, Janie thought as she followed the sound of the Rifleman coming from another room. In the comfortable, pine-paneled room she found a seven year-old girl sitting tailor-style on the floor in front of a new-looking television. She was dressed in a little yellow and brown cowgirl outfit and wearing a huge cowboy hat on her head.

“Hey.” Janie said, “You must be Tabitha. I’m Janie, your babysitter.”

The little girl jumped up and ran up to Janie, her face split by a huge smile.

“Hi! Do you like cowboys? I loooooove cowboys!” she said, her grin kicking up a notch.

“I can see that!” Janie laughed, “Are you Dale Evans or Annie Oakley?”

“Silly! I’m neither!” Tabitha did a twirl, her frilled skirt flowed as well as the heavy material could, “I’m Daisy Kutter! Law-woman of the Old West!”

“Well, sorry theah, Miz Kuttah,” Janie drawled with a laugh, “but, y’all ain’t got no six-gun! Y’all cain’t be a law-ma- law-WOMAN if’n ya ain’t got no six-gun. What’s that y’all got in yer holster, pardner?”

“That’s my magic wand!” she said with mock seriousness, “You don’t need a six-gun if you got a magic wand!”

“Of course you wouldn’t!” Janie laughed. She liked Tabitha so far. This was going to be a fun night, “But, you haven’t got a horse. How are you going to hunt bad guys?”

“Yeah, you’re right…” Tabitha looked crestfallen then she brightened up, “Wait! You could be my horse!”

“I could… I suppose…” Janie said, looking as though it were a hard decision.

“Pleeeeeeease!” Tabitha smiled up at Janie,”Please be my horse!”

“Okay, but only for a while.” She made to kneel down but, Tabitha stopped her.

“Not here! You can’t be a horse in here, silly! You won’t fit!” she said, grabbing Janie’s hand, “You gotta come outside.”

“Uh… yeah, of course.” Janie said as Tabitha ran to the kitchen door.

“Yay!” She said opening the door and holding it for Janie, “You gotta be a stallion, though. I just learned that a girl horse is called a ‘mare’ and a boy horse is called a ‘stallion’. A tough law-woman’s gotta ride a bit ol’ stallion that can chase down the bad guys lickety-split! Roy Rogers has a stallion and his name is Trigger!”

“All right, Tabitha” Janie smiled as she reached the middle of the back lawn and knelt down, “Let’s go!”

“Okay, let me get my wand ready” Tabitha pulled out the wand which began to glow. That’s a pretty cool toy, Janie thought as Tabitha pointed it at her, “You’re my stallion and your name is… is… your name is COMET!”

With that last word, Tabitha pointed the wand at Janie and a bright beam of green light shot out at her and enveloped her. A bridle began to form itself in the air around her head. 

“What the-?” She had time to say before her body began to feel very strange, indeed…