Attempts to Capture and Tame a Unicorn: (11) The Jump Start

I'm afraid Cowboy School comes out again here.. or maybe it's more of a Western film thing.  I don't know - I do know that I get stuck in creative grooves that I end up lying in until the song is up and it starts again - sometimes on the next track, sometimes another disc.

Anyway, there was one tree in the clearing that had one long, thick branch that grew over the clearing as if it were trying to reach the other side - as a challenge or to reach another I do not know.  But it did come out far enough to climb along and be able to easily aim at something below.  I noticed this when waiting for the unicorn back at the start and after pissing me off so much the week before, I was psyched up enough to give it a go even though she was tiny and I was likely to break my legs or crush her.  I was sure she was too hardy for the latter so I resolved to give it a go.

I oatted the ground below to ensure the target would be in place and climbed the tree like an eager schoolboy wanting a peek at the girl next door or to drop down into a garden surrounded by high walls so as to explore its secrets.  Once satisfied, I, silently as possible, dropped onto her back.

And, for once, nothing funny.  She reared up to try and throw me but I wrapped my legs under her, dug in, wound her mane around my hands.  She tossed and turned, moving as sharply as she could, tried to pitch me over her head, turned in circles to try and get me off the side but she couldn't catch me off guard.

After a few minutes she began to tire and I knew I was getting somewhere.  Especially when she stopped, her head sagging.  I yelped with triumph, even let out a little high-pitched "eee."  I gave her mane a gentle pull to try and get her to move, to ride her home: I got nothing but a sinking feeling.  I looked down to find her hooves were under the earth and my feet weren't far from the surface.  I tried to pull her back up - pulling at her head before dismounting and grabbing her middle but to no avail. And then, back aboard, trying to kick start her, my feet began to sink, and the whole process became much faster, my legs, half way to my knees were under.  Panic set in - I threw myself aside, crawling along the ground until I was all above it again.  Once I was, I turned around to see the unicorn already stepping simply and gracefully from her entrapment.