4. Flying High

4 Flying High Stanley was impressed by how carefully Eduardo drove, obeying Stanley's mother's first rule. They left the city and were soon in a red landscape of cacti and low bushes. Eventually they came to a small town. There was a main street lined with low buildings that looked like part of a set from one of the old western movies Stanley's father loved. They passed a saloon and an old-fashioned-looking bank. Eduardo parked in front of a building with a sign that read BIG BILL'S DUDE RANCH. A man with a gray handlebar mustache and a ten-gallon hat lumbered down the dusty porch and waved to them. "Welcome to Bandera, the cowboy

capital of the whole doggone world! The name's Big Bill. You bandits fixin' to saddle up?" "Yes, sir!" said Carlos. "We need two horses to ride into the wilderness for an overnight camping trip," said Eduardo. "I have just the horses for you," said Big Bill. He led Stanley, Carlos, and Eduardo toward a stable to the side of the building.

"Hey!" said Arthur. "Hay is for horses, Arthur," said Stanley. Their mother was always correcting Arthur when he said that. "Don't forget your grammar." "That's what I meant!" said Arthur, pointing to a bale of hay beside a hitching post. "It's hay!"

"This here is Sam Houston," Big Bill said, patting a brown horse with a white star on its nose. "Named after the first elected president of the Republic of Texas. Y'all know that before it was a state, Texas was its own country for a while? Real independent. Sam Houston here has a mind of his own." Stanley laid his hand against the side of the horse, and Sam Houston gave a friendly shudder. The man moved over and tightened the saddle on a black horse. "And this is Davy Crockett. You heard o' him? The King of the Wild Frontier? He fought at the Alamo. Bet you didn't know that the real Davy Crockett was a congressman from Tennessee." He patted the horse. "Anyway, Davy here used to have a coonskin cap, but he ate it." Stanley grinned. "Thanks, Big Bill," he said. Their saddlebags were packed with supplies for the night, and Carlos and Eduardo rode together on Sam Houston, while Arthur and Stanley rode Davy Crockett. Stanley had not ridden a horse since their friend Calamity Jasper had taken him and Arthur looking for gold in South Dakota. He'd forgotten how fun and bouncy it was.

With Sam Houston and Davy Crockett kicking up clouds of dust behind them, Stanley and his fellow cowboys rode into the Texan wilderness. Stanley's flat legs were just starting to hurt from slapping against the sides of his horse when Arthur suggested they stop to drink from their canteens. As Stanley dismounted, the wind picked

up. He held on to Davy Crockett's reins as the wind blew him a few feet off the ground. "It's getting windy," Stanley said nervously. Arthur poked a finger in the air. "Good kite weather!" he announced. Since Stanley had been flattened, Arthur often enjoyed flying him on a string on weekends. "How about parasailing?" said Carlos. Stanley's mouth went dry. "Come on, Stanley," said Arthur. "It'll be fun." Stanley swallowed. The wind scared him— especially since it had dragged him out the car window—but he didn't want to let his friends down. "Okay," he croaked. Eduardo dug a rope out of one of the bags. Carlos tied one end to Sam Houston's saddle and the other end around Stanley. "Ready?" Eduardo called from atop Sam Houston. With a grunt, Carlos lifted Stanley up over his head like a board, and they grabbed each other's wrists. "Whatever you do, don't let go," Stanley said.