The only friend I remember in Orono was Brenda. She lived on a dairy farm. Sometimes I would get off the bus at her house and spend the whole evening there. I loved it. Her house was old, an old farmhouse. The kitchen was like you would expect, stone or slate floor, with wood everywhere, her kitchen was very big and somewhat dark. We would sit at her kitchen table while her little brothers did their homework and her mother cooked. It seemed like the epitome of home and family to me.
We each had a notebook where we would do our 'horse history'. I focused on Arabians and thoroughbreds. That’s when I learned about the 3 great stallions who are the foundation of the Arabian and thoroughbred breeds. I learned about George Washington’s Arabian, Magnolia. Brenda had a couple of encyclopedias and I brought some volumes of the Book of Knowledge, which was in the upstairs hallway of our house. We would do our research for hours. We also had ‘stables‘. I believe I had about 15 horses in mine; each one had a page in my notebook with an illustration and a pedigree. Some of them were purchased and some of them were bred. My favorite was a horse name 'Star Spangled Glory'. He was one I bred. He was chestnut with a stripe and a right rear stocking. Brenda focused more on Morgans and thoroughbreds and some other breeds. Nevertheless, for me it was always Arabians, with an occasional thoroughbred.
For dinner we would almost always have tuna fish sandwiches. The tuna her mother made was so much better than what my mother made that finally I asked her mother how she made them so I could explain it to my mother. She told me she used chunk light tuna and Miracle Whip. (My mother when appalled when I requested this, because she never used chunk light tuna, only solid white albacore; and Miracle Whip was not allowed in our house, it was only Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise). We would have apple juice to go along with it, and her dad would often come in from the dairy barn with fresh warm milk. I hated milk then and still do, but somehow that warm milk with the foamy top was not even like milk.
I always wanted to go out to the barn, but Brenda hated it, probably because she had to work out there on a regular basis. But I loved it. The minute you walked into that barn, it was another world. It was always warm and the smell of the cows and the hay was just perfume to my nose. There were big round overhead light, so there were circles of light and shadows. And the cows were always friendly. You could walk up and down and they would look at you with big brown eyes while they chomped. I just loved it. Brenda and her 2 brothers each had a calf. Brenda’s was named Star for the little white shape on her forehead. Brenda had a horse too. He wasn’t really hers, he was an old draft horse, but she and I would ride him sometimes, both of us on his big sway back. We would just sit on him and talk, not really going anywhere.
I thought she was quite the horseman. One day I asked if she wanted to come meet Chess, the horse I adopted (while trespassing). She did, so she came home with me one day and we snuck out to see Chess. I was really amazed when she seemed a little intimidated by him. He came to me, but didn't want to come to her. Finally, when I caught him, she didn't want to ride him. Perhaps she realized what I was doing was really stupid and dangerous.
Something happened one day, I can't remember what it was. But because of that, I couldn’t go to Brenda’s anymore. I wish I could remember what it was. But I continued my horse history for a long time. I can still see the picture I drew of Glory in my mind's eye.