Parody
Parody The Brooks School Buckaroo Chapter 1 The sun rose savagely over the hills of Northern New Jersey. Somewhere a stray hunt dog could be heard howling at a passing Mercedes. Horses shuffled...
...There comes a day in every mother's life when her children leave home, striking out to make their fortunes in the West, pioneering their own destinies...
...He would not be the quickest gun in the West, but he was an excellent marksman...
...There, you could hear the sounds of scones being cracked open, and the weeping of Ma Forbes...
...Ma Forbes didn't know when she would next see her boy, maybe not until deb season began at the Waldorf in early winter...
...The Conestoga wagon was brought round to the front...
...But Ma Forbes could not sit long with these reflections, for the butler had just brought in a last-minute delivery from Abercrombie & Fitch...
...Horses shuffled in their stalls...
...His mother received a kiss on the head, and he gave a manly shake to his brothers, Kip, Bip, Rip, and Tip, whose restaurant reviews were known from here to El Paso...
...His jaw was set, his eyes focused on the distance...
...And nothing would stop him...
...Steve was not the most rugged of young men, but he sure knew how to stay on-message...
...He hoped to be off the driveway and onto the main road by nightfall...
...The master's chaps have arrived," Gerald announced...
...he exulted...
...After that, given copious ad buys...
...He ran to the window and watched the sun rising over the helipad...
...Today, I set out to make my fortune...
...The Perrier in his canteen was almost gone...
...Perhaps he would someday get to run his father's magazine...
...Down in the valley, the Forbes ranch was quiet, save for a few stirrings in the breakfast nook...
...Upstairs, Stevenson Forbes awoke with a start...
...But the thought of graduated tax rates enraged him, and kept him going...
...Stevenson shoveled down a few last flapjacks, and threw back a slug of espresso...
...Her son, Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (known as "Steve"), would that morning hitch up his wagon and set out on the dusty trail that led to the Brooks School...
...He pushed on...
...He let his mind wander...
...Independent and alone...
...Forbes would be no cattle-driving man, no cowpoke...
...The sweat poured from under the brim of his hat...
...He stepped out onto the front steps of the house...
...He was handy with a horse, especially in the field of dressage...
...He was after gold-a basket of commodities at the very least...
...The West...
...That day had come for Ma Forbes...
...No dream was too big for Stevenson that day...
...A mother must comfort herself in moments like this with the knowledge that she has prepared him well for life as a pioneer...
...Stevenson ripped the tassels off the reins and set out down the long driveway away into the hot, hot sun...
Vol. 1 • February 1996 • No. 22
