Once Upon a Misty Bluegrass Hill

ONCE

UPON

A MISTY

BLUEGRASS

HILL

Author Rebecca Bernadette Mance

Copyright
October 7, 2011 (All rights reserved by the author)

Published by Rebecca Bernadette Mance at Finnegan
'
s Run, LLC.

Notes about the book:  Thank you to my Dearest friends and editors, Nancy, Debbie and Liz for your help.

Take me home country road....
Dedicated to my Granny, Mary Margarette Donnelley Hill
(in her 90's and has outlived all her children but one)
, My mother Margaret Phyllis Hale
(deceased at the age of 42)
, my sisters Debbie, Teri, Melinda, my niece Taylor Renee' and my Aunt Betty Ann...all who carry the tenacity and amazing gifts of the Appalachian "Mountain Mammas" with
their mix of Cherokee and Scot-
Irish ancestors.  They are survivors of hardships and unimaginable pain. 
They are the keepers of a special brand of American
heritage.
They are women of fierce pride, unmatched work ethic, gif
ted intelligence and loads of "M
ountain
Mamma magic."  
They are also each the most stubborn women I know...besides me, but that is what it takes to survive. 

This book is also dedicated to all the immigrants, especially the Irish
,
who have graced our great nation with their hard work, golden hearts and gifted abilities to help build us to what we are today. 

**********

O
nce upon a time, on the misty bluegrass hills of Kentucky lived a beautiful little
Appalachian
girl named Jolene
May
McKnight
.  Jolene boasted hair the color of a shiny copper penny and more than a few freckles
were sprinkled lightly over her nose like fairy dust
.

Jolene was a happy child because she had the most wonderful
mamma and daddy
who loved her very much.  They
all
lived in a pretty little wh
ite house surrounded by flowers.  W
isteria
,
lots of roses, sunflowers and
endless vines
of morning glories
grew
all over the fence. 

Out in back Jolene
'
s mother kept a huge vegetable garden in the summertime
.  There was
summer squash, green beans,
tomatoes,
even tobacco for her father and pumpkins for later that year.  The horses liked the pumpkins
a whole lot
.

Jolene
'
s father raised horses for racing and he taught Jolene everything he knew about horses. 
He even taught her to ride like
a
jockey.  He said he never heard of a girl jockey, but Jolene
vowed she would be one someday and she would ride
a horse from their farm
in the Kentucky Derby
.

Oh how Jolene loved the
spring
.  She would run so fast over the soft green grass
on
bare feet
and
her toes
turned
emerald
green.  She would fly into her father
'
s arms and he would swing her around like the merry-go-round at the
Bourbon County Fair.
 

Every April Jolene rode with her father to the two-year-olds-in-training sale at Keeneland. 

Jolene always knew when it was close to the time to sell the two-year-olds
even when she was too young to count months and days
.  The birds with the funny
twitter came around
and the Bobwhite would call from the
budding
wood
-
line.  The big gold and black robins w
o
uld start making the
ir
nest
s
on the low branch of
the tree outside her window.

Jolene would ride next to her father in his big old blue Ford truck
with the wind blowing
her red curls all around her face.  They would fly by the dancing daffodils that grew all along the road
on the white
fence line w
ith the fresh spring air breezing through the open windows.
 

She would wait for her father to sell the two year olds at the spring sale while enjoying endless ice cream cone
s
and popcorn.

In the summer it was so hot that Jolene got to wear shorts and jump through the water sprinkler.  Jolene loved to go to the fair
in
the
summer
.  They took vegetables and her mother's blackberry jam to sell at the
Bourbon County Fair.  There were contests and everyone brought food, crafts and even livestock for competition.

Later in the year, i
n September
,
they went to the yearling sale. 
T
he
air was crisp and cool and a mist would rise and linger along the
bottle-green
hills clinging to the final memories of summer.  The leaves on the trees that lined the roads were fired amber and gold
like the ripened pumpkins at Halloween
.  The yearlings would ride in their big trailer with big curious brown eyes peeking out to take in the
sights
as they rod
e
.
  At the sale there was
warm apple cider
and pumpkin bread.

No matter which sale it was
,
h
er father was very particular about who purchased the horses.  He said that they were his responsibility and he had to make sure they went
to a home
where they would be happy and
well
taken care of. 

Jolene was not sad when the young horses left because she knew they would
live in a good place
.  Her father promised her it was so. 
And
Jolene
just knew that
her father was the most wonderful man in all the world.  He was so strong and handsome and kind to the horses. 

Her father always told the
new
owners they could give the horse back if they didn
'
t want
it
anymore
.  And s
ometimes
a horse
would come back and Jolene
'
s
daddy
did take care of
it
. 
That is how they got back Dancer
'
s Dream.  O
nly
Dancer's Dream
came back very sick.  But
Jolene
'
s daddy
took
good care of Dancer
'
s Dream and
it wasn
'
t long before
she was as good as new. 
Dancer
'
s Dream
even had a colt.  But the colt was born just a few weeks before something very
unspeakable happened
.  So, Jolene and her daddy had not
yet
even thought of a name
for the colt
.
  Her daddy said they had to think of a really great name because one day that colt would run in the Kentucky Derby.

One day,
the summer before Jolene turned 16
a terrible, big storm came.
The storm was so terrible that
Jolene
'
s m
amma
and
daddy
ran into the storm to gather up the horses and put them into the
big
barn.  They made Jolene
stay in the house with
her collies
Oliver and Finnegan. 
Jolene was going to go to prom that next year and she thought she was old enough to help out.  But her father would not allow her to help and got real angry when she wouldn't listen to him fast enough.  His face was so worried. 
Jolene was so frightened
of th
e
black sky that closed in so quickly
.  S
he watched out
of
the window even though her daddy told her to go down to the basement.   

Before Jolene
'
s
m
o
ther and
d
addy
could get all the horses into the barn
a
dreadful
twisting wind came. 
The tempest
pulled the boards
from
the barn
tossing them into the air like toothpicks.  The wind kicked up faster and twisted with increasing fierceness until
the
barn collapsed on Jolene
'
s
mamma
and daddy
and all of the horses
.

Because her daddy had been unable to get him to go into the barn, o
nly
Dancer
'
s Dream
'
s
colt stood
outside prancing and screaming
for his mother
. 
The colt
ran in circles around the
fallen
barn.  Jolene ran from the house her heart pounding and
wails
from her heart piercing the air.  She tried with all her might to pull the wood and debris off of her m
amma
and
daddy
, but she was not strong enough.  The rain came in sheets, hitting her like thousands of cold needles.  Jolene cried and cried
.  S
he
did not know how long
the storm
lasted
.  Her
screams
and
the rain
became an endless chorus in her head
.  S
he remembered waking up
soaking
wet
on top of the barn debris
with the colt nuzzling her shoulder as a weak sun pierced through the clouds.

People came from all over Bourbon County to
help Jolene dig out her parents. 
T
he police and firemen
came to help
too, but it was already too late. 
They didn
'
t let her see her
mamma
and daddy
when they were finally uncovered
. 
Jolene could not remember much else about those days
that followed
except that she cried and cried.  She had lost everything except
her dogs and
the little newborn colt that Jolene secretly named Storm. 

But Storm was sold along with her parents
'
farm.

After her parents died, Jolene went to live with her father
'
s sister
, Paula,
who lived a few miles away from where Jolene lived with her parents.  Jolene
'
s aunt drank and smoked a funny pipe all the time and was
hard hearted
to Jolene.  It
was Aunt Paula
who sold the horse farm
;
she
even
sold Storm, the little colt.
Jolene was
shattered.  Beyond grief-stricken, she took to walking
almost every day to see her family
'
s home and Storm. 

The new owner kept Storm and made an even bigger house on the farm only six months later.  Her family home was kept up nice, but no flowers grew there anymore.  And there was no garden in the back. 

Jolene went to see Storm early in the mornings when the mist rose off of the green, green grass that looked blue. When Jolene visited Storm she gave him treats. 

Jolene vowed with all of her heart that she would one day get her family farm back.  She would live in her family home again and she would never sell Storm.

For certainly Storm would be a Derby winner
just like her daddy planned
. 

And Jolene would ride him. 

Together they would regain all that was lost.