Something Called the Pony Express?

It was a nice spring day, very nice actually. I walked under the blossoming weeping willow tree, then I looked up. There was a faint noise coming from the dirt road, three men riding on their trusted steeds came storming by and were gone in a flash. I raced up the road to see what all the commotion was about. They had stopped right in front of my tiny home. Banging on the door with all of their force and power in their big bulging arms. My mother answered the door, that’s when I knew something was up. I could hear them mumbling a little bit, I couldn’t make up any of the words they said. There was one word I did understand when I was walking up there. Mother screaming “No!” straight in their faces, getting spit in their faces. The door was slammed shut. The men looked at their notebooks, saying to each other “Better go find the next 19 year olds house for recruitment” saddling up for their next journey to get recruits. Opening the front door, my mother was sobbing. Being only 11 years old, I didn’t like seeing my mother crying. That was when my 19 year old brother walked into the room. He’s about 5’11 and really muscular. His arms are about as big as my entire head! His leg muscles were ripping through his already torn jeans. He didn’t like mother crying either. He sat down next to my mother. He slowly asked “What did those men want mother, why are you crying?” showing a lot of sympathy towards her. “These men—William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and I think Alexander M-- Majors (Lass).” She said crying through the word Major. “They wanted you my boy, to come join them in delivering mail to people that have now moved west.” My brother then left and asked around town about the recent happenings. I was scared out of my mind. Would my brother really have left to join this? I would hope not. After, the death of my father I cannot bear to lose him. He has been like my father even though he is barely older than me—he is so mature, I want to be exactly like him when I grow up. Then he came bolting through the door. Saying he has learned about these men and what they are planning to achieve and accomplish. “Okay, I asked John and he said they are going around looking for about 200 riders. They have bought 500 of the finest horses that money can buy you. They are planning to built 182 service stations along the 1,966-mile route that runs by Fort Kearny, the Platte River valley, South Pass, and Salt Lake City (Lass).” I was stunned. I was shocked. I was interested. Taking my hand out of my pocket, I tried to count all the way to 1,966 but I couldn’t do it. It was to long of a number. He later told us that their journey would be almost 2000 miles and that they would try and ride 250 miles per day (Lass). All of this ruckus was over within about a week in the town we lived in, and nobody talked about it anymore. ___________ About a year and half has pasted now, since that day were my mother was crying and my brother was getting the latest gossip news on what had happened. I was laying on my bed when the door opened. I could hear my brothers voice. I was so excited to hear his voice and see him. After everything that had happened, he went off to start a lumbering company and start a family of his own. He lived so far away, and we weren’t expecting him to stop in today. He came up to my room and gave me a huge bear hug and I loved it. Then he bent down a one knee asking me a question. “Do you remember that day when those men came to our door and try and take me away from you guys?” I replied with a yes. “Well, it has now ended, that men have lost over $200,000 dollars and have gone bankrupt (Lass). Even though this happened, it is still very historic. People will be talking about this forever. It is known as the Pony Express (Lass).” I looked at him in amazement, this was now over. I had been receiving mail from distant relatives that I had no idea I was related too. But, now I could tell people I was a part of history and it made me feel proud of myself. I was a part of the historic Pony Express Mail Service (Lass). Works Cited Lass, William B. "Pony Express." 1 March 2013. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. 1 March 2013.