If It Wasn't For Bad Luck She Wouldn't Have Any Luck

 As Madison was driving she noticed some black clouds in the south. "I'm sure my luck will be that I'll be headed into a storm. I have my personal black cloud that follows me around just for the fun of it. I've got to quit thinking like that. I'm off to Texas to start a new life. I'm just hoping that the old man that used to own the Double D hasn't sold it yet."

She looked in the rear view mirror to check on the horse trailer. Cooter, and her love, her only love at the moment seemed to settle into the trip quite easily. That made her smile when she remembered the last time she had ridden him. What she really wanted to do was barrel racing. When she saw youngsters at the shows she always had this feeling that she would be a good teacher. "Yes, if I get the Double D that will be a large part of my life. I'd love to see the smiles and the sparkling eyes of the kids when they show their stuff; stuff that I can teach them."

Sure enough with each mile she drove the sky got darker. "Well, this is just great. I suppose I'd better find a place to stay the night. I'm not anxious to drive through a wicked looking storm today." She started looking for motels that were close to the highway and had large parking lots. Large drops started to splat on her windshield. "Come on, people. I have to find a place. I'm not looking forward to this at all!" About that time her truck veered to the right and at the same time she heard a loud bang. "No! I just blew a tire. How could this happen to me at the same time it's raining cats and dogs."

The sky had suddenly turned an odd shade of green and black with a wind that made her heavy truck seem like a child's toy. "Surely, there isn't going to be a tornado. No, no, no." She edged her truck and trailer over to the side of the road. Noticing that there was barely enough room to let traffic by her. "Cooter is going crazy back there. I've got to get out there and reassure him he is safe. I have to be good at this and make him believe me. This is going to take some doing." About that time a crack of thunder was so loud it made her ears ring. She noticed that it was getting colder too. Soon the hail hit her truck with a vengeance. She could hear Cooter in the trailer. He was scared to death. She could see the size of the hail stones were getting bigger and bigger. They were getting as big as golf balls so she couldn't get out of the truck yet. Just as her windshield cracked with the biggest hail stone she'd ever seen she could see a hand banging on the window and a black shadow.

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He saw the truck and trailer swerve and then pull over to the side of the road. "Pretty fancy driving there, fella. You picked a terrible time to have a blowout though. I'm really glad I threw an oil skin coat in the truck. You just never know what the weather is going to be like in Texas. As he got out of his truck he ducked his head and ran ahead and knocked on the driver's window. "Hey, can I help you out? It looks like your horse is in trouble back there." 

His words were lost in the raging wind and rain, but when he saw the driver turn to look at him his thoughts were lost as well. "No. I can't do this. Not again." He turned to leave.  She could just sit in the rain, but of course, he turned back. "Madison! Come on! Get back to my truck. Let's check on your horse first. I'll help you change your tire as soon as the storm lets up. Yes! No, now come on! You are just being stubborn like always. Here, get under my coat. Let's go! My horse is none too happy either. Let's move it, girl."

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"I'm going to look at that old book that Marlee bought at the auction. She seems like she's fascinated with it." Marlee's mom walked over to the chair by the lamp to look over the "treasure" that Marlee had bought at the auction. "I wish I had only spent two dollars at the auction. Oh well, it will soon be over and we can go back home. I'm getting tired of four of us living in this camper.  Let's see now. Oh wait a minute. This old picture looks a little like Marlee did when she was little. No wonder she loves this book.

 Who is this? It looks a little like the little girl at the cafe. Hmm. I wonder if this isn't an ancestry book of some sort. I think I will try to make out some of the entries. The writing is so faded with age it's hard to read."

"No way! This says that there is a silver mine on this property! Come look at this! We might be rich! And there's that little girl again sitting by what looks like an old mine! This is weird!"

As her husband walked over to look at the book he said, "Something just dropped out of that book. What is this?"