Gunner Abernathy

"He's awake ma!" He felt a warm hand on his forearm and knew Jolene had grabbed onto him. He turned to face her, squinting to see if she was there, of was he dreaming. If he was dreaming, he wouldn't dream Jolene or his mother being in the room with him; his dreams consisted of camping, riding, fishing, and maybe a girl.

"Where am I?" He finally asked, as his eyes adjusted to the bright lights and noticed he wasn't in his room, but a hospital room instead. It didn't make sense, he should be waking up in his own room, celebrating the night before after the rodeo where he and Jolene had won.

"Honey, you're in the hospital. You and Queen Bee..... Well. There was a little accident." He heard the sad concern in his mothers voice and knew it was much more than a little accident. He tried to remember what happened, but the last thing he could bring up, was racing Queen Bee after the steer, twirling his lariat around in the air. 

"What happened?" he turned to his mother, who was on the other side of him. He noted his dad at the end of the bed with his hands in his pockets. When his mother turned her head to the side, eyeing where his legs were, he turned to his sister. Her red and puffy eyes were hard to miss as she shook her head. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" he tried to sit up and found he couldn't feel his right leg. 

He stared down at the white bed sheet, now noting there was only one lump where his left leg was, and nothing where his right leg was. he looked up to his dad, he could count on him to tell him what happened. His dad was that old style cowboy that was rough and tended to not show any feelings, but even his dad seemed a little teary eyed and he wasn't sure what was going on.

"Gun, you and Queen Bee had a great run, until... Until...." Jolene's bottom lip trembled, and he took her hand in his. He already knew what she was trying to say; he and Queen Bee had an accident, as his mother had stated, and both he and Queen Bee went down. He could already guess what happened. He got trapped under Queen Bee, and due to her weight, his leg was broken beyond repair. 

He could only imagine what happened to Queen Bee, and knew with all the tears, it meant she was gone. He nodded his head feeling the tears sting his eyes as he mourned the loss of the beloved horse that had been both Jolene and his riding partner. His stubborn side forced the tears to stay at bay however, and he was patient enough to keep from growing angry at himself for being so stupid.