Call of the Burro: THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES

By P. J. Day

The author, P. J. Day and his two brothers and two sisters grew up in the magical valley of Tesuque (Tazookey), located about five miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of the family pets was a little gray burro they had named Pedro, who was less than a year old when he came to live with them. While reminiscing about that marvelous childhood Christmas Day 2001, P.J. wrote a short poem for his daughter, placing Pedro smack dab in the middle of the very first Christmas. A Burro’s Tale evolved from that poem and Call of the Burro is the continuation of that story.

The setting for Call of the Burro is also the Tesuque Valley, and in addition to most of the original burros from the first story, there are now three new little baby burro’s and one additional new adult burro. Call of the Burro takes place 12 years after the original story. The three mischievous little youngsters in Call of the Burro narrowly escape a life and death situation with the help of an unexpected hero. As in A Burro’s Tale, Call of the Burro is filled with many life lessons for teenagers and young adults and throughout the story, when tested, it’s about doing the right thing. Woven within the story is yet another occasion in which Pedro must find the courage to do the right thing and to once again come to the aid of the Holy Family in their time of need.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885405652

Book preview

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Call of the Burro

THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES

P. J. Day

ISBN 979-8-88540-564-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88540-565-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by P. J. Day

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

About the Author

About the Story

Dedication

Spring

Changing of the Guard

Big Brother

The Big Day

Viva La Fiesta

The Calling

Expecting

Stand Your Ground

A Bump in the Road

Flaco

Farewell

Projects and Planting

Chip and Julie

Bricks, Bricks, and More Bricks

Bonding

To Work Is to Prosper

Turkey Business

A Family Day

Summer Job

One Less Ranch Hand

Missing

Unlikely Hero

Learning the Ropes

Holy Days

Lost

Found

Homeward Bound

Surprise!

Giving Thanks

About the Author

The author grew up with his two brothers and two sisters in the Tesuque Valley located about five miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He and his siblings were generally allowed to keep whatever animals they brought home, provided they cared for them. This allowed for an interesting coming and going of an assortment of pets over those childhood years.

The most valuable lesson he learned from those childhood years was that you are responsible for what you tame. When an animal agrees to become your friend, he makes himself completely vulnerable to you. They rely on you for food and water, yes, but more importantly, they rely on you for friendship and affection. That is a lesson we should all take with us throughout the rest of our lives, including the two-legged varieties we adopt.

In his adult years, PJ was employed as a chef in the food and beverage industry for many years. Don't be surprised if you walk away from a simple family meal in the book incredibly hungry and need to take a break to raid the fridge before continuing reading.

PJ adopted a one-year-old baby burro from the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Center and spent years gentling him. He of course named him Pedro after the pet that they had growing up and Pedro in the stories. Whenever time permits, he travels with Pedro, introducing him to children wherever they go. The children delight in meeting Pedro, and Pedro loves the children. Often, when it's time to leave, PJ has a hard time getting Pedro back in the trailer because he would rather stay with the children.

About the Story

Call of the Burro takes place twelve years after A Burro's Tale and is the second book in the series. As in A Burro's Tale, Call of the Burro is a magical mixture of fact and fiction that whisks the reader away to a simpler time long, long ago, where burros were at the center of commerce. Burros were used for travel, plowing fields, pulling carts or hauling goods to and from the markets. Raphael's family business is renting out their burros to the townsfolk who do not have a burro of their own and he and his family have a beautiful, loving relationship with their family of burros.

Call of the Burro continues in Old Santa Fe, New Mexico and the surrounding valleys. Jerusalem, for the purposes of this story has been transformed into Old Santa Fe and the story has a warm Hispanic blanket wrapped around it. Raphael and his family continue to enjoy their growing friendship with the Holy Family. Joseph, Maria and Jesus have become more like family than mere neighbors in need of a burro to rent.

Woven within Call of the Burro is another critical event in the life of Joseph, Maria and Jesus, and Pedro is once again placed in a position to come to the crucial aid of the Holy Family. In addition, a new generation of cute little youngsters has joined the family of burros, bringing with them some exciting adventures of their own.

If you love animals the way I do, you will no doubt be swept away into the caring relationship between Raphael's family and their family of burros. Their love and respect of their burros may (hopefully) even often times blur the thin line between humans and burros.

Dedication

The setting for the story is Tesuque, New Mexico, located in a valley a few miles from Santa Fe. There is a famous opera house located just above the valley and in the summer, oftentimes just after dark, you can hear an opera dancing on the night air. The air is crisp at 7,260 feet above sea level and with virtually no humidity, the slightest moon allows for a shadow on most nights. This is the magical setting that remains in my mind from childhood and the place that the story takes place.

Shortly after moving to Tesuque, we had adopted a little six-month-old gray burro who we named Pedro. He was a family pet and followed us everywhere, including into the house on occasion. After spending a few summers with us, Pedro disappeared through a weak spot in the fence, and we never saw him again.

While reminiscing and wondering about his whereabouts is where these stories began to take shape. In the early days of the first book (A Burro's Tale), I adopted a little gray burro just under a year old from the wild horse and burro facility in Northern Nevada. I of course named him Pedro. He is a family pet and a good friend of mine.

Pedro (the second generation) keeps the story alive and is a good deal of the inspiration for continuing the adventure. Given the opportunity, he will follow me everywhere, and yes, sometimes even into the house.

Pedro travels with me when I am out and about spreading the word about his stories. People young and old empty out of stores and shops and park their cars to come over and meet him. He loves the attention, and we have a marvelous time wherever we go. Pedro yesterday and Pedro today are the inspiration for the stories, and I oftentimes spend more time in that magical place called Tesuque than in the present.

01

Spring

Snowball was enjoying some early crisp sprouts of grass that had popped up under the apple trees in the back pasture. The pink petals from the blossoms that blanketed the apple trees drifted slowly through the air, finding a final resting place on the ground. Snowball is the only albino burro in the valley. She has mesmerizing topaz-blue eyes, a snow-white coat, and pink skin. A few of the blossoms landed on her beautiful white coat. The others found their way to the ground around her, creating a vibrant pink carpet. The color of the apple blossoms matched Snowball's skin color so well it actually appeared as though the pink color in her skin had come from the blossoms.

Pinto was playing near the stream not far from his mother, Snowball. She allowed her young son as much room as she dared. She knew he needed to explore in order to continue to learn. He was a typical youngster, imagining all kinds of situations in which he could be the hero and save the day. This, of course, would make him an acceptable candidate for the circle of burros, and he dreamed of the day that they would invite him to join the ranks of their exclusive fraternity. Being accepted into the circle of burros was something that he, like every young burro, longed for. It was a kind of coming of age for a burro, and one had to prove oneself before they could be accepted.

Pinto had been born to his parents, Snowball and Sampson, just before the snow began to fall and had spent his first few months in the barn so that he would be protected from the harsh winter conditions. Not just from the cold, mind you, but also from other threats. A youngster like Pinto could find himself the target of animals of prey, since they, too, needed to find sources of food during the harsh winter months. When the cold weather began to give way to signs of spring, Pinto was let out to pasture with the adult burros to begin to experience the sights and sounds around him, and he could not be happier.

Raphael's son Juan was the one who had chosen his name. Pinto had been named for his markings like the triplets Uno, Dos, and Tres. Uno was named for the white blaze down the middle of his forehead, Dos for his two white-tipped ears, and Tres for her three white stockings. When the family first saw Pinto on the morning that he was born, they all shared a bit of laughter at the sight of him. Through the snickers and shared laughter, Juan exclaimed that he looked as though someone had thrown a bucket of brown paint on his white coat, and the name Pinto seemed to fit this adorable new addition to the family of burros.

On this particular sunny, spring day, when the winter weather had begun to break, one of the well-traveled developers from a now very successful shopping center complex paid a visit to Raphael. He wished to reserve some of Raphael's burros for a housing project he planned to begin working on soon. He commented that the fascinating combination of brown and white on the cute little two-colored burro was quite common with horses but to see this coloring in a burro's coat was new to him. In addition, Pinto had received his mother's beautiful topaz-blue eyes that made him quite a sight to see. As Raphael and the developer concluded their matters of business and bid one another good day, Raphael could not help but wonder how he would be able to best utilize this little Pinto when he came of age to bring in top dollar for his rental.

The colorful youngster was beginning his first attempt at crossing the stream this morning when the first large stone in the stream spoke to him as he was about to use it as a stepping-stone.

Hey, hold on there! What do you think you're doing?

Pinto was so startled by the voice from the rock that he attempted to make it across the stream in a single leap. He did not quite clear the other side of the stream and landed with his rear legs splayed outward and his rump splashing down in the mud. He climbed out of the stream and shook the mud from his backside, turning immediately to look back at the talking rock.

Just then a desert tortoise poked his head up from under the water in the stream with a mouthful of tender green watercress. Watercress were a delicacy of spicy greens that had always grown wild around and underneath the running waters of the stream and were a rare treat for the desert tortoise.

What kind of a strange talking rock are you? Pinto asked.

Momentarily intoxicated by the crunch of the spicy greens, the tortoise didn't immediately respond, but after a moment, finally answered slowly, articulating each word, I'm not a rock, silly boy. I am a desert tortoise and it's been almost a year since I've seen running water like this and I don't know how many years since I've tasted such sweet tender greens.

The tortoise immediately put his head back underneath the water to fill his mouth to capacity with another clump of tender watercress, roots and all. When he came back up for air, Pinto was standing above him, still puzzled, with his head cocked to one side.

What should I call you then? Pinto asked.

The tortoise slowly finished chewing the greens, flipping one last strand up into the air and catching it in his mouth. He then turned to look up at Pinto, blinking his eyes slowly and answering him in a slow, drawn-out voice, Zach-a-ry. With that, his head again disappeared under the surface of the stream as he retrieved another mouthful of greens.

When Zachary once again poked his head above the surface of the stream, he had one last big mouthful of greens. He slowly began to pull himself out of the water up onto the warm, dry bank as he finished his lunch. After releasing a righteous burp from the splendid gourmet delight he had been consuming, he began talking to Pinto while he somewhat rudely lumbered away from him.

"It has been many years since I have passed this way. I believe I was hatched in the desert not far from here because the ground smells very familiar to me. I will wander this desert for a hundred years or more, as most of my kind has done before me. I have returned to this place where I was born after many years of wandering in the desert and can see at first examination that things have changed considerably since I