Kerry pulled over to the curb. Before he could come to a complete stop, Bobby opened the door and jumped out onto the street. He took off running as fast as he could in the opposite direction that they were headed.
Kerry and Muffy looked at each other, curious as to why Bobby would react this way. As it happened, they had stopped directly in front of the 52nd Precinct police station. A couple of uniformed gentlemen were watching the scene closely.
One of them took off after Bobby, while the other one approached the car.
"Oh, not again!", he said. "That Bobby sure does rope in the innocents. That's the third time today he's tried to get a free Christmas tree. You folks don't know, obviously, that he just takes the trees that people buy for him down the street to his father's Christmas tree lot, who then resells them to his customers. That little beggar Bobby sure is fast! We haven't been able to catch him in the act yet. But, looks like this time we'll get him. Thanks! You folks want to file a complaint?"
Kerry and Muffy looked at each other, broke up laughing, shook their heads "no", thanked the officer, and drove away.
As they drove towards Kerry's place, they reminisced about the good ol' days. The orphanage, the circus, Nevada ...
They didn't see the horse and rider in the crosswalk until almost too late. Kerry slammed on the brakes and went into a controlled slide. The tree fell off the top of the station wagon and ended up in the gutter. The sound of the car's tires screeching spooked the horse. It reared up on its hind legs, kicking with its front legs as though an imaginary enemy was attacking it. The rider was thrown clear of the horse, which then took off away from the scene at a full gallop.
Muffy, after pausing a second to regain her composure, opened the door to see if the rider had been hurt.
When she got close enough to the rider to see his face, she gasped! She turned to Kerry and said, "Oh, man. You're not going to believe this!" ...
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