Office Max
Jerry screamed when his face hit the hot stove. His mother, Clytis, rushed to pick him up and saw the burn on his cheek and above his eye. She tried to comfort him as she opened the door and shouted “Lester, come here. Jerry’s hurt!”
It was a frigid, west Texas morning in February, 1936. A hot fire burned in the potbelly stove. Clytis was fixing breakfast, Lester was at the barn and two-year old Jerry crawled up in a rocking chair near the stove. Jerry rocked too big and fell, hitting his face on the hot stove.
Lester rushed in and Clytis told him what had happened. She was putting butter on the burn, since there was nothing else in the house for treating a burn. Clytis said, “We don’t have any Unguentineâ. Go to Mother’s and see if she has any. Hurry!”
Lester rushed to the barn and put a bridle on Nellie, the horse he had used for plowing during the last two years. As he led Nellie out of the lot and shut the gate he was talking to God, “Please Lord, let Jerry be okay.” Lester didn’t have a saddle, so he jumped on Nellie’s bare back and coaxed her into a run across the field. Lester was talking to God as he rode, “Please, please Lord, let Jerry be okay. He is just a baby, please let him be okay. I will live a better life. I will do anything for You.” Nellie seemed to understand what Lester was saying about Jerry and ran faster. Lester gave Nellie her head and pressed his knees tighter against her sides to hang on.
It was a little over a mile southeastward across the field and through a Mesquite tree pasture to Bessie and Raymond’s house on the edge of town. The eastern sky was bright with color as the sun came up.
Nellie cleared the two-strand, barbed wire fence between the field and the pasture without slowing. She went through a dry creek bed as if it was not there. Nellie continued to run all out and only changed direction slightly to go around Mesquite trees.
As they came into Bessie and Raymond’s yard, Lester jumped off Nellie’s back, wrapped the reins around a fencepost and ran to the back door. He hammered on the door with his fist. Clytis’ mother, Bessie opened the door and with a startled look said, “What’s wrong, Lester? Come in.”
Lester explained as he entered the kitchen, “Jerry fell on the stove and burned his face. Clytis doesn’t have any Unguentineâ. Do you?”
Bessie rushed to the cabinet and found an almost empty tube of Unguentineâ. She said, “There’s not much here. Raymond will go to the drugstore and get more.”
Raymond heard the conversation from the other room and rushed in. He said, “We’ll get more Unguentineâ and go back in the car. Wait while I get my coat.”
Lester took the partial tube and replied, “We’ll need more, but I’m riding Nellie. Thanks,” as he went out the back door in a run. He grabbed the reins, jumped on Nellie’s back and headed home the way he came.
Raymond cranked his old Model T. He drove a few blocks to the local Pharmacist’s house. He went to the door and told the Pharmacist what had happened. The Pharmacist immediately went with Raymond to his drugstore. Raymond got another tube of Unguentineâ, dropped the Pharmacist back at his house and headed for the farmhouse. By the road, it was nearly three miles to the farmhouse.
When Raymond arrived, Clytis was sitting in the chair rocking Jerry. She had already put Unguentineâ on the burns and Lester was at the barn taking care of Nellie.
As Lester rubbed Nellie down, he thanked God the horse had carried him to town and back so fast. When Lester mentioned Nellie in his prayer, her ears perked up as if she understood everything he said. Nellie stood in the stall eating hay. She looked back at Lester as if to say, “It’s nothing. I did my job.” Although Nellie had pulled a plow for the last two years, she still knew how to run with a rider on her back.
Lester’s prayers were answered. The burns on Jerry’s face healed without scars. Lester had promised God, “I will do anything for You.” A few years later, he kept his promise and began preaching. Lester faithfully pastored churches for 40 years until he passed away with Congestive Heart Failure.
Copyright © Jerry Blackerby 2005, 2006, 2009