IT’S HIGH NOON AND THERE’S A RECKONING ON MAIN STREET

By Greg Evensen

July 15, 2008

NewsWithViews.com

In past years, I have made time in a very busy schedule, to ride my trail horse. I took the forgotten roads in the Upper Peninsula that border marshlands, pastures and creeks in the woods so deep, even the mosquitoes get lost. My mount was a 12 year old Appaloosa named Cheyenne. A gentle mare, she loved to tug at your vest with a never ending need for treats along the path.

Some time back on a great ride, Cheyenne began to slow abruptly and then stopped. She didn’t move. I knew she saw something that I hadn’t and I waited while scanning the trail ahead. I suspected a coyote or a wolf, but did not see anything. After a minute or two, she slowly began, again looking for a treat. I always rode with a sidearm and a shotgun. I didn’t necessarily expect poachers, but knew other critters were just beyond sight, some more dangerous than others. Such rides, like life itself, were a strange mixture of supreme pleasure and a cautious sense of being alert for unknown and unwanted contact with hidden entities that were looking to create a major problem.

My mind had wondered off into that almost dream-like state where the reality of who you are, and what you are doing, blends with the day to day scenes of an America at the crossroads of her historic destiny. An America caught between the honor and promise of her past, and the evil dread of her impending future. This is the formula for a nightmare for sure, whether you are awake or asleep.

Perhaps because of my peace officer past life and my watchman on the ramparts present, this strange mixture of idyllic setting and dark reality brought an odd, yet compelling “screenplayâ€