The Weekend Freewrite -9/7/2019 The price of friendship

For @mariannewest in #freewrite

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Jace looked so content and comfortable with his horse.

He wouldn’t sell it for a thousand dollars. Well, “a thousand” could have been a stretch. It was hard to test this hypothesis, as no one has offered Jace a thousand dollars for a horse. He did receive a bet of 200 dollars for Bucephalus, and for 1860, this was a fair market price for a similar horse. Bucephalus was a handsome stallion, and could have easily be taken for that “high horse” used by our ancestors as a base for a phrase: “Get off your high horse, mister.” At the same time, a fair judge could have distinguished in this horse’s heritage a rattling mix of all kinds of breeds: Arabian hose, Lipizzan, Thoroughbreds, Appaloosa and even wild mustang. In all fairness, Bucephalus was no more than a ‘grade’ horse.

First and foremost, for Jace Bucephalus was not just another old horse, but a friend. When he came out in the morning to his stall, Bucephalus stretched his neck, gave his head to caresses of Jace’s hands, and accepted a piece of sugar from his hands, Jace felt as close to him as he never did to another creature, animal or a person.

When Jace was sad or something was not ok in his life, Bucephalus felt it and adjusted his stride to match Jace’s mood. More importantly, Bucephalus literally saved Jace’s life. That day in the prairie, when a group of Apaches suddenly appeared on the top of the mountain and started chasing Jace, Bucephalus overran their horses and brought Jace close to the fort. How can one put the price tag to that?

Still, Jace’s feelings for Bucephalus were never really tested. And it was easy to run Jace’s mind the phrase “friendship is not for sale” if it was not challenged. What if though, what if he would get the letter in

the mailbox

offering him a thousand dollars for his horse, for his Bucephalus.

Surely Bucephalus saved his life back then in the prairie, but wouldn’t any horse do the same thing, should it have similar running speed and endurance? Surely Bucephalus loved to receive sugar from Jace’s hands, but wouldn’t any horse do the same. Surely Jace felt close to Bucephalus, and it felt like the horse reciprocated that feeling. But wouldn’t Jace felt the same about some other horse in similar circumstances?

A thousand dollars was such a large sum of money. Five times more than a fair price for such a similar horse. Yet, was it enough to cover the punitive damages of losing a friend?

Luckily for Jace never has found this out as no one did offer him a thousand dollars for his horse, there was no offer letter in his mailbox…