Leroy Ninker dreamed that he was riding Maybelline on the open plain. In the distance there were purple mountains, and high up in the sky there was a daytime moon. The moon was looking down at Leroy and Maybelline, and it was smiling at them.

In Leroy’s dream, Maybelline was running very fast.

Also, she had a full set of teeth.

It’s just like a movie, thought Leroy. We are just like a horse and cowboy in a movie.

The wind rushed across his face. It smelled like cinnamon and clover and spaghetti sauce.

The wind is promising me wonderful things, thought Leroy.

And then he thought, Patty LeMarque is right. I am very good at speaking poeticals.

Maybelline’s hooves pounded on the earth.

Maybelline’s hooves were extremely loud. Leroy had never heard such loud hooves, even in the movies. Maybelline’s hooves were as loud as thunder.

The cinnamon-and-clover-and-spaghetti-sauce-scented wind blew harder and faster. It tickled Leroy’s nostrils. And then it slapped him on the cheeks. The wind, obviously, was trying to tell Leroy something important.

And then, in his dream, Leroy heard Patty LeMarque’s voice. “Wake up, Hank!” she shouted. “Protect your horse!”

Leroy Ninker woke up.

Thunder crashed. A bolt of lightning lit up the world.

“Dab blibber it,” said Leroy. “It’s fixing to rain.” He stood. He hitched up his pants and pushed his hat down on his head. He looked at Maybelline. Her eyes were closed. She was still asleep.

“Horse of my heart,” whispered Leroy, “sweetest and most delicate of all springtime blossoms, I cannot let you be rained on. I will go inside and get you an umbrella.”

Maybelline’s eyes stayed closed.

“I’ll be right back,” said Leroy.

He turned and ran into Unit 12.

While Leroy was gone, the rain began. A drop fell on Maybelline’s nose. Another drop fell on her ear. The horse woke up. She lifted her head and looked around her.

Terrible things were happening!

Thunder was crashing!

Lightning was flashing!

And worst of all — oh, worst of all — Maybelline was utterly, absolutely alone.

She was not the kind of horse who liked to be alone.

Maybelline let out a long, questioning whinny. The thunder crashed; the lightning flashed. Maybelline called out again.

Where was the little man? Where was the little man with the big hat and the beautiful words? Where was the little man who brought her spaghetti?

Maybelline called out again and again. There was no answer.

She didn’t know what to do. And when Maybelline didn’t know what to do, what Maybelline did was run.

Leroy Ninker came out of Unit 12 holding an umbrella up high over his head. “Here I am, my springtime blossom,” he said, “and I have brought you an umbrella.”

But when he got to where Maybelline should be, there was no Maybelline there.

“Maybelline?” said Leroy into the darkness and the wind and the rain. “Maybelline?”

The wind blew harder.

“Horse of my heart?” said Leroy Ninker.

The rain came down hard and fast. The lightning flashed, revealing a horseless world.

Leroy stared into the emptiness. He heard Patty LeMarque’s voice in the wind. She was saying, “Do not leave Maybelline alone for too long, or you will live to rue and regret the day.”

A great gust of wind came along and grabbed hold of Leroy’s umbrella and ripped it right out of his hands. Leroy watched as the umbrella spun up into the darkness.

He was a cowboy without a horse, a cowboy without an umbrella. He was a cowboy absolutely, utterly alone.