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way.”
    “Okay…”
    “And I mean anything. You’ll have plenty of
choices in activities. Try them all. You just don’t know what can
help you.”
    “You wouldn’t be a shrink, would you?”
    They both laughed and he scratched his
chin.
    “No, ma’am, but I’ve seen others come out
here and still act like they’re back home.”
    “Do anything, huh?”
    “Yes, ma’am… Riding, roping, branding,
drives, whatever.”
    “… Think that’ll cure what ails me?” She
smiled.
    “Nice turn of phrase and yes, I believe it
will.”
    He looked over at her again. She looked at
the hands in her lap. Needs a bit of confidence, this
one…
    “…Um…”
    “Listen, Sarah. Open up that glove box there
in the dash, would you?”
    “Sure…” She opened it. “What am I doing?”
    “Fish around for a metal object and pick it
up.”
    Sarah groped around in the mess of paper,
receipts, books, and what felt like something metallic.
    “This is metal.”
    “Yup, that’s it.”
    “What should I do with it?” She held it up
for them both to see.
    “It’s yours…”
    “… Ah… You’re giving me a… horseshoe?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Whatever for?”
    Dan smiled at her. “For luck, of course.”
    “For luck…”
    “Yup.”
    “Is it going to be that tough an experience
at the guest ranch that you need to wish me luck?”
    “I think…” he turned to look at her, “that
you really need some luck in your life right now.”
    “You think?” smiled Sarah. She glanced at his
sandy beard and twinkling eyes.
    “Anytime you start to fret, you pick up that
horseshoe… It’ll help.”
    “… A horseshoe?”
    “It’s a talisman for good luck. Make sure you
hold it with the ends pointing upward?”
    “Upward?”
    “Yup…”
    “Who are you really?”
    “Just a driver, ma’am,” he laughed. “…Just a
driver.”
    “I sincerely doubt that.”
    And then he pulled over to another hotel to
pick up a few more people. Their personal conversation came to an
end, but she remembered to thank him once they arrived at the guest
ranch. It would mean more to her than he could have imagined.
     
    Sarah relaxed, watching the countryside go by
her window as Dan drove along Highway 80 out of Reno. She smiled.
It was almost like the big country in her Gregory Peck movie.
Mountains and hills in the distance with the highway pointing off
into the far horizon… The sky, jam-packed with massive clouds
covered most of her view. She’d never seen a sky that big…
    The scenery was huge and expansive with few
towns to see. Dan announced after a few hours that he would stop
for gas in Winnemucca, so they could stretch their legs and have
some lunch. It was reminiscent of stopping to change the horses…
When she stepped out of the van, she looked around at the old
Western town in front of her. She felt much like Gregory Peck
probably had as he stepped from the stagecoach – She too was from
Baltimore and wearing strange Eastern clothes.
    Sarah looked down at her tailored slacks and
Italian blouse, and swore she’d put on something more appropriate
as soon as possible. Dan had stopped at a nice café in the downtown
area… Several townspeople gawked at her as she smoothed the pleats
in her slacks – Or she thought they gawked at her… Maybe she
was overthinking the whole scene. Too many Western movies…
    Over lunch, Dan discussed what they’d see
next on their journey. Sarah felt like she was crossing a new
threshold in her life. Her eyes shone and she couldn’t wait…
    “There are only two more towns before we get
to Wells: Battle Mountain and Elko,” said Dan.
    “Strange name, Battle Mountain. What’s that
about?” asked a man who had been sitting behind Sarah in the
van.
    “Battle Mountain has a long, distinguished
history,” said Dan. “First it was a waypoint west for pioneers on
the Emigrant Trail, and then a railroad town to help with the
mining activity.”
    “What was mined here?” asked