AN: written for my english class. We had to a missing scene type thing. As it was written for a class it hasn't been edited by anyone besides myself....
Disclaimer: is actually unnecessary because Huckleberry Finn is in the public domain..... but I'm not a dead man....
Huckleberry Finn- Buck is taking Huck (George) down to the races because the Grangerfords have a horse running against the Shepherdsons. Assumes that Huck is with the Grangerfords for about 1 day longer. Takes place before Huck get the letter for Miss Sophia.
Buck led me past some trees and out into a big open field. There were rough wooden fences all down one side; little kids were standing up on the fences leaning over as far as they could. 5 horses stood all in a line pawing at the ground, stamping and huffing, eager to race off. On either side of the track a man stood and held a long rope between them. A few little kids pushed past me racing to get to the front and get the best positions possible to watch the unfolding events.
Buck nudged me and pointed over to the far side of the track, "Those'r Shepherdsons over there. We don't cause any trouble during the races as not to spook the horses. But once the race is over everybody clears out real quick."
I looked over at the horses, each one had a bit of colored cloth lying on the backside, "So, uh which one of them horses are yours?"
"The one with the red and yellow is ours, the Shepherdsons are the blue, and the others are from other plantations in the area. They mostly try an' stay out of our business cause it would be causin' them too much trouble to interfere."
I didn't rightly now exactly what he was talking about but I nodded along with him just the same. We started to weave our way through the ever-growing crowd to get to the front. Buck was stopped a few times by some of the locals, getting slapped on the back and people were doing some asking about the odds on the race and just how much money are on these horses, anyways, son? It was real odd and I had never seen anything quite like it before. People were much more social now than they were before at the church house, seems almost like these people here care more about their horses than they do about God or anything like that.
When we had made our way to the front Buck leaned up against the railing and kicked a foot up on of the boards. I looked around and saw most people were doing the same 'cept for the littlest kids who were clinging to the fence posts as hard as they can trying to see over the fence at the races, so I tried and copy Buck best I could. People were holding brightly colored flags lashing and waving in the wind. The field had become a sea of color filled with people decked out in support of their horses. I don't think I have ever seen anything quite like it before.
Buck was talking with one of the men holding the rope asking just when was the race going to start. The rope man was saying something about it all started anytime now and they were just waiting for everyone to get to the field.
Just as Buck leaned back the rope man seemed to get some sort of message and shouted over the man on the other side to get ready. "Riders take your mark!" the rope man shouted, "Get set!" the crowd behind me became a sea of silence, not a whisper could be heard as everyone leaned forward in anticipation. "Go!" The rope dropped and the horse leaped forward vying against each other for the lead position. Never before had I seen horses move that quickly, they were being urged on by there riders crops were flying wildly smacking the sides of the horses and on occasion.
A crop smacked the face of the Grangerford's rider and I'd bet near anything that it was the Shepherdson that had done it. Buck let out a cry of anger at seeing the smack. The Horses were tearing down the straight and getting ready to turn. They were a close pack pushing at each other. The crowd was hollering and screaming, loud as can be, urging their horses to go faster, take longer strides; overtake the horse in front of them. I couldn't quite see who was leading the pack but I was pretty sure it was a horse caring green on its back.
Buck was crying and hollering beside me louder than anyone else in the crowd it seemed. The horses and rounded both the turns and were tearing down the straight on the other side of the track. I could see the Grangerfords red and yellow banner emblazoned on the back of the horse in 1st and the Blue of the Sheperdsons on the back of the 2nd horse. The two riders seemed to be glaring at each other and as they rounded the third turn the Shepherdson rider pressed into the side of the Grangerfords pushing him into the inner fence. The horse in 3rd pulled out ahead of the two dueling riders, taking advantage of their quarreling to pull out in front. A cry of rage went up on the far end of the track as the 3rd place rider pulled into first. As the horses rounded the last turn and started to hurtle down the last stretch the noise of the crowd got even louder so loud that you could quite hear anything that anyone was actually saying. All of the words started to blend together. The horses hurtled closer the horse in green pulled out completely ahead of the pack. As the horse in green galloped past the finish line the Shepherdson and Grangerford horses crossed the finish line nose to nose.