Chapter Eighteen

The partners found a space on the starting line. Slim took the piece of rope given to him by a race official and tied his right leg to Jess' left one. The group of contestants waited anxiously for the signal that would start the race.

"Ready. Set. Go!"

At first it was sheer madness on the racecourse. Pairs of all sizes tried to rush ahead of everyone else. Many were the pairs that fell over, Slim and Jess among them, because they forgot - or didn't know enough - to work together. One was always trying to get ahead without thinking about how they had to make two legs work as one. Those pairs almost always took another pair down with them. Slim and Jess were knocked over several times. Each time Slim managed to get to his feet and help his somewhat shorter friend to his feet.

For his part, Jess was just wishing the race would end before he wound up breaking an arm or a leg or maybe even his neck. He was not having a lot of fun right now stumbling and falling while trying to match the length of his strides with his friend's.

He soon got his wish as Gordon McAllister and his partner, Eric Campbell, crossed the finish line with the second place winners - who were also fairly equal in height - close behind them.

As soon as they crossed the Finish Line, Jess quickly untied the rope binding him to his friend, then swiped ineffectually at his pants and shirt sleeves, trying to get rid of the dust and grass stains. He wondered what Daisy would say when she saw them.

"Daisy's gonna kill me," he mumbled.

"What was that Jess?" Slim was only half listening.

"Nothin'," Jess said.

The crowd of participants and spectators crowded around the winners to congratulate them and tease the locals who had lost.

"Nice win McAllister," one man said. "What's that - three years now? Or is it four?"

"Five. But who's counting?" Gordon joked.

"I think it's time Gordy lost at something," Cam said as she caught up with them.

"Oh, you do do you?" Gordon reached out as if he were going to grab her but she ducked behind Slim and Jess and laughed at him.

"Hey, leave me out of your battles," Slim told them laughing as Cam dodged back and forth switching from hiding behind him to hiding behind Jess and back again.

"I'm hungry," Jess said as he grabbed hold of Cam in order to protect her from her cousin. "Is it time for lunch yet?"

"Yes, it is dear," Hannah said as she and Daisy approached. "Everyone come along now. David is holding a table for us."

It didn't take any persuasion to get the group moving toward the area where they could smell chicken and beef roasting. They took turns holding the table so everyone could get a plate full of whatever they wanted.

Jess, and Gordon and even Slim made three trips through the line. Mike made two but Cam ended up helping him finish.

"That sure was good," Jess said when he finally pushed his empty plate away.

"I think this year's crew outdid themselves," Gordon replied. "That was almost as good as Mother's cooking."

"Thank you dear," Hannah said, "For that vote of confidence in my cooking."

Everyone laughed as they gathered their dirty dishes and brought them to the dish washing crew.

"What's next?" David asked his wife.

"I think we should go to the Grange Hall and check the exhibits. The judging is surely finished by now. I want to see how our niece made out," Hannah told him.

Off to the hall they went. Their first stop was in the art section where they found that Cam's Laramie sketches had won blue ribbons.

"Congratulations Cam!" Slim exclaimed while giving the girl a one armed hug. "These are great! Especially the one of Mort Cory."

"Sure does look like him," Jess agreed.

"I think Sheriff Cory would be pleased - and maybe a little embarrassed," Daisy said, "to see that a likeness of him won such an honor."

"I think I"ll send it home with you," Cam said. "Mr. Cory was very nice to me during my visits - including standing up for my right to ride Galway in that race when Swanson tried to keep me out of it."

They moved on through the fruits, vegetables and flowers where they saw that some of Cam's classmates had taken top honors.

In the baked goods department Hannah's orange sponge cake appeared to be missing.

"Maybe somebody got hungry and ate it," Gordon joked earning him an elbow in the ribs from his cousin.

"Hey look!" Jess pointed at a cake with a big blue rosette and a sign proclaiming that Hannah McAllister's cake to be the top winner in the entire baked goods department.

"Aunt Hannah! That's wonderful!" Cam was thrilled.

The whole family hugged her and her husband gave her a big kiss by way of congratulations.

From there the happy group went through the woodworking display admiring everything from mail sorters to bird houses to small cabinets and chests. There were some truly talented carpenters in Evergreen it seemed.

When they finally got to the sewing section they had even more reason to celebrate for Cam's quilt, a tulip appliqué pattern of cream background and red, yellow and pink tulips blossoms, had won the grand prize for the whole department. Her dress had won a blue ribbon.

"Congratulations, Cameron," Mrs. Peterson smiled. "The judges were quite impressed with all the work that you put into that quilt. Its an honor to have it in our exhibit this year."

Cam blushed at the praise. "Thank you, Mrs. Peterson. It was a lot of work but it was fun to do and kept me busy during the winter months."

The whole family - including the honorary members from Laramie - hugged her until she was quite breathless.