The Early Years – Becoming a Writer
Copyright William J. Conaway, 2012
Jaime Morris
Sitting in the jardin early one morning, Jim and I watched a large black man ride an extra large horse past the parroquia, and up Correo Street.
We found out that his name was Jim “Jaime” Morris, and that he had a string of horses that he rented. We talked it over and decided to try it out. Neither of us had ridden much, but we had always wanted to, growing up as we had with the “Lone Ranger,” and all the other western heroes on TV and in the movies.
We found his “ranch” on the hill overlooking the San Juan de Dios church. He told us that he was from Chicago, a retired cop, and yes he would rent us horses and teach us some of the finer points of horseback riding.
During the following days, he taught us how to mount properly and the use of the reins. We learned how to make a horse back up, and by a little more pressure with the reins to make them rear up on their hind legs. Well, I thought that was great stuff, and did it over and over again. ‘Til one day I pulled back a little too hard, and the horse went over backwards! Luckily he landed on his side, and I was not crushed to death underneath him. Needless to say that was the last time I reared a horse.
In our conversations with Jaime, we learned he had come to San Miguel to establish a community of black folks in town, followers of the Bahia Faith. He showed us his hillside he had all staked out into small lots that he was planning to sell to them. We even watched him interview a group that had come to see what he was offering.
( Listed on Wikipedia: The Bahá’í Faith ( /bəˈhaɪ/)[1] is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá’u’lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind.)
Unfortunately for Jaime the city fathers, along with the Catholic church ganged up on him and he had to drop his plans (or be stoned to death).
We learned to ride pretty well, and didn’t have to pay as Jaime enjoyed being able to speak English with someone once in a while. We helped herd his goats, sheep, and horses down the hill to the creek that flowed there (now a partially open sewer with a hodge podge of venders squatting on top of the covered part).
Years later, my friend Jim used his riding talents as an extra, in Spain, working on a spaghetti western.
Living and Writing in Mexico 
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