Once Upon a Misty Bluegrass Hill by Rebecca Bernadette Mance

them hard because of the rain , lightning and thunder.  But they did get him in to the trailer with a great deal of coaxing by Jolene.
    They were taking a couple of trailers with everything in them , i ncluding her Derby uniform.  It was red , gold and white and it bore the coat of arms of the Earl of Meath .   Patrick said the title was created in 1627.   It was embroidered on the back of her jockey shirt.  Patrick had it special made and Jolene was certain she had never worn anything so fine.  The coat of arms was red scrolls with a night ' s helmet on top and three birds across a flag. 
    At the top of the coat of arms it read Vota Vita Mea .  Patrick told her that it meant.
    Prayers are my life.
    The rain stopped while they were driving but Jolene fretted about Big Storm continu ing to prance in his trailer even in the small space he was in .
    Jolene had never been so scared in her life.  Her finger s shook when she adjusted the radio and her heart pounded the entire trip . 
    Patrick didn ' t seem much better though he tried to hide his emotions .  He was quiet and serious in a way Jolene had never witnessed .
    Bernie and Herbert attempted to lighten things by mak ing jokes in the big Ford SUV.  They even resorted to playing some of Patrick ' s favorite Irish ballads on cd .
    Entering Louisville, e ven this early in the morning with the sun barely coming up beyond the tall white spires , people were already waiving their signs. 
    " Park here for $20. "  
    C hildren r an around in the ir front yards in bare feet excited about Derby day even if they had only ever viewed Churchill Downs from the outside .  Its white towers that could be seen for miles like a double c hurch steeple , shadowed the surrounding neighborhoods.   Churchill Downs was their lifeblood and the Derby brought in the pretty people in suits, dresses and hats parking and walking by .  Those pretty people who came to the Derby were part of another kind of life that was different and spectacular. 
    Barbeques were smoking and homemade signs were hung with balloons that read " Stop here for b arbeque and b eer . "
    Nearly all of the little wooden houses were decorated for the big day.  Since Churchill Downs sat in the middle of an older city of resident ial homes, its tenants were an intricate part of the Derby .  Ev ery house had people preparing for the races.   
    They were poor houses. 
    But not on Derby day.
    Everybody put on their best shine and made their money on Derby Day.
    Even this early in the morning the women who sat on the porches or manned the barbeques wore tank tops and shorts, the wardrobe staple of the south.   Men wore white tee shirts and jeans s port ing their exotic tattoos.  S ometimes their arms and shoulders were completely covered in ink with symbols, signs and picture s intermingled in a complex raw beauty to tell a story that only they completely understood . 
    They watched the scenes of the Derby in individual vicarious position s where they could also dance with in the moment with those pretty people who parked and walked past them to the front gate, or rode in hired golf carts , waving and friendly when on other days they might be afraid.  
    Jolene was always one of them. The one running in bare feet seeing the world vicariously and not truly understanding what it was to live their lives.
    Until Patrick .
    Until this moment. 
    She wasn ' t just at the Derby.
    She was going to be in it.
    Riding Big Storm.
    Just like her father had dreamed about the day Storm was born .  
    Jolene turned her face away from the window shaking her mental voyage .  She would not take any journey right now except the one to the finish line at Churchill Downs .  One thing her father always told her about being a jockey was , " Y ou have to focus and put everything out of your head but the horse.  Feel him.  Know him.   Become him. "  
    If you are distracted Jolene, he will be distracted too.   Forget the tank tops and