Wild Horse Annie and the Last of the Mustangs by David Cruise & Alison Griffiths

Author:David Cruise & Alison Griffiths
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2010-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

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Out of Cold Storage

VELMA’S SPIRITS LIFTED dramatically in the months that Marguerite Henry rummaged around in the Bronn family history and Velma’s early memories. Henry’s probing functioned as a kind of therapy, allowing Velma to revisit the happy events and impressions of early childhood, including the once-warm relationship with her father. There were the scars of polio, physical and emotional, but there were also the comforts of her marriage, Charlie’s devotion, and the joys of the dogs, the horses, and Double Lazy Heart. Where once she spoke only of what she had lost, Velma began to look to the future. References to Charlie and their life together did not disappear entirely in her letters, but they became less frequent.

By 1966 another voice was asserting itself in her correspondence—that of Annie. Velma began referring to herself by that name, subtly trying on the persona Henry was creating for her. She had read only a small portion of the draft manuscript, but it was enough to give her a clear idea of how Henry intended to portray her. Velma knew the signature features of a Marguerite Henry novel: a noble creature, a gallant champion, a struggle against terrible odds or a nefarious villain, all wrapped up in a happy ending. She began modeling her life on the heroine she was about to become.

In January 1966, Velma’s term as president of the Reno chapter of Executive Secretaries, Inc., came to an end. Gordon Harris, who accompanied Velma to the ceremony honoring the departing officers, insisted afterward that she write to Henry with all the particulars. “The well-dressed sir, calling for the lady in the rustly evening dress, the high hairdo (especially on one side) and the evening wrap. Then to the hotel … the social hour, the dinner, etc. The gentleman on my left a bishop in the Church of Latter Day Saints, the lady on my right the incoming, gracious president. Lots of stimulating, interesting conversation.”

Instead of the usual farewell gift of an inscribed inkwell, quill pen, and gavel with a tiny diamond in the handle, the chapter presented Velma with an inkwell surrounded by jewelled pears at the base and a ruby-encrusted quill pen. “The first jewelled pen ever presented in the chapter,” a delighted Velma wrote to Henry. “There was another ‘first,’ too: a standing ovation—and Annie knew she must have been dreaming, when those important, successful, wonderful executives and their ladies paid her that tribute. In an organization of Executive Secretaries, since the individuals are only representatives of their executives, no personal recognition is usually given or expected. Each only does her best to represent her firm in a way to make her executive proud. And that is why last evening was so very different from all of the ‘pinnings of past presidents’ that preceded it.”

She ended the letter still in character: “Such wondrous things have happened to the little girl who was Annie Bronn—the little girl whose heart broke when she looked in the mirror and a face all askew looked back at her.

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