HONEY AND Haley were ready on the starting line at a horse race in Kentucky. She was surrounded on her left and right by racers in her young adult age bracket. One racer after the other looked forward, ready to take the winning trophy. She squinted her eyes and looked ahead. The wind caught her hair hanging from her helmet. Her parents, Justine and Tommy, sat in the stands waiting to watch their girl and her horse Honey get her first win. Would today be the day she finally won a horse race? This wasn’t Haley’s first race, and it wouldn’t be her last.
Pew. The starting sound rang out.
The horses darted from the starting line. Honey picked up speed as she raced down the line. The horse to the left was inching ahead as they turned the corner. The horse to the right was there… and then it wasn’t. Haley knew not to look up or look behind her. She kept her eye on the finish line and trusted that this time, Honey would win.
The horse to the left lined up with Honey. They both were going at full speed. Clippity-clop. Clippity-clop. Clippity-clop. The horses’ hooves ran over the dirt. Honey and the horse to the left were neck and neck. The finish line was getting closer. Then a second later, the race was over…
Haley rose up as Honey slowed.
“Did she win?”Tommy asked Justine in the stands.
“I don’t know,” she answered. Her voice was short-breathed with anticipation.
“She did,” Tommy locked eyes with the announcer. “She won. I can feel it.”
“It was so close,” Justine said.
A man walked over to the announcer and whispered in his ear. He turned the microphone away from his mouth. He nodded. Haley looked up at him, the stands were growing silent waiting on the answer.
“Congratulations…” he paused. “C’mon,”Tommy whispered.
“Haley Duke & her horse Honey!” the announcer shouted into the microphone.
Haley cheered with tears of excitement. Tommy and Justine held each other tight in a quick hug. They turned and raced down the stands. Justine followed Tommy holding his hand.
“That’s my girl!”Tommy shouted. —
Haley Duke went on to be remembered as one of the most successful women in horse racing. Honey was by her side all through her career. Trophy after trophy, Honey led Haley to be interviewed by magazines and radio shows for the next decade. She was remembered back home in Shelbyville, Tennessee, as a guest at the Celebration. Mr. Robert stood with Justine and Tommy as they watched from the crowd— cheering for the duo.
Decades after her first win, Momma passed away peacefully in her sleep. It wasn’t easy for anyone. Not Tommy. Not Haley. And Haley would argue that Honey also had a hard time. And after Honey had to be retired, Haley named her new racing horse “Justine” after Momma. She kept thinking about the little ol’ lemonade stand that Momma helped her start. Without her parents, none of this ever would have happened.
Haley walked down the hall of the house she grew up in. She remembered running down the hall on an imaginary horse, dreaming of the day she got to achieve her dream. She did it over and over again with her family by her side.
She reached up and pulled a string from the ceiling to go into the attic. She hadn’t been in the attic in close to 30 years. She put box after box away. She grabbed a cardboard box that had “Haley” written on the side. As she lifted, the box fell apart. The bottom let loose and dozens of papers strew across the floor. She flipped over one of the pages.
FRESH LEMONADE. HOMEMADE! ICE COLD! Were just a few of the words written on the posters. She would know that handwriting anywhere. It was in Momma’s handwriting.
Haley thought back to the lines and lines of people at the lemonade stand. She was too young to know at the time, but word didn’t spread that fast. There wasn’t an explanation for the number of people at her lemonade stand.
But Mr. Robert knew. He remembered seeing Justine on the Shelbyville square almost every day. She stopped people as they walked by. She handed out flyers every day while Haley was working. She hoped that one day, she would have enough people at the stand to buy her a horse. Haley spent all these years racing with Honey all over the country. Her Momma, as long as she was healthy, was always by her side. Justine never once told Haley about the flyers or all the people she told about the lemonade stand.
Across town, Mr. Robert still kept the poster in his desk drawer. Every time he watched Haley Duke win a horse race on his television, he would think back to the poster in his drawer—that her Momma had handed him all those years ago. Because of Justine’s love—and Mr. Robert’s kindness—there were two names in the horse world that would be remembered forever: Honey & Haley. -GN
