This is the first installment of my new book!
Below the Waves
Violet dived. Bubbles were everywhere. She and her father were going diving for oysters in the Pacific Ocean. Once the bubbles had cleared out, she could clearly see her dad in his scuba suit. He gave her a “thumbs up,” and they both dived deeper into the blue. When they reached the ocean floor, Violet looked around. She was looking for oysters. Her dad collected them and opened them to see if they had pearls inside. She usually didn’t have any luck on these trips with her dad, but this time she spotted an oyster almost right away. She swam over to investigate it. It was definitely an oyster, she was sure of that. And it was big too, about a foot long. She started swimming back up to the surface. Her scuba tank only held enough air for about 30 minutes. When she reached the surface, she gasped the air in. She lugged the huge oyster through the water as she swam to the dock. When she reached it, her dad was standing there waiting for her. He was holding handfuls of small oysters. Violet held out her giant shell. “Wow, Violet, you found a big one,” said her dad.
At her house, they went down into the basement to open their oysters. Violet was allowed to open her own shell. Her dad showed her how to pry the mouth of the oyster apart to see if there was a pearl inside. Violet did what she was told, but she had to repeat the action more than five times to at least make some progress. When she finally got the shell opened about two inches, she peered inside. What she saw amazed her. A pearl, bigger and wider than her pinkie finger, was sitting in the middle of the oyster. Violet gasped as there was a flash of blue and white light, and the pearl was gone. “What happened, Violet?” asked her dad as he turned away from his pile of shells. “Nothing, nothing,” said Violet, quickly snapping closed her oyster. “Lunch,” called her mom from the floor above. “I’m going up for lunch,” her dad said. “Come up when you feel up to it.” “OK,” Violet replied, and as her dad went up the stairs to the kitchen, Violet pried open her oyster again. She opened it all the way this time. The sight inside was amazing. A tiny blue-ish green horse foal was sitting where the giant pearl had been. The foal raised its head and blinked its long-lashed eyes. Violet let out a soft “Oh!” The foal put one leg out, then another, then another, then another. It finally stood up on its skinny legs. It looked up at Violet and let out a small whinny. “Violet, are you coming to lunch? Your macaroni’s getting cold,” shouted her dad. “Coming!” Violet said. “I just need to take my oyster to my room.” She scooped up the horse foal in her hand and picked up the oyster in another. She quickly took them both to her room. She set the oyster down on a bedside table, and then she got out her play barn. It was just the right size for the foal. She stood the foal up right next to the manger she used for her model horses. She got an apple from the mini refrigerator sitting by her bed and cut it up into small pieces. She put some in the manger for the horse to eat. She closed the door of the barn and locked it. Then she put it on her table. She went downstairs to eat lunch.
After she ate a meal of cold macaroni and cheese, Violet bolted back up the stairs to check on her strange discovery. Violet unlocked the barn door and looked in. The foal had eaten half the apple slices in the manger and was now blinking up at Violet expectantly. Violet timidly reached out her hand to pet the tiny foal. The foal blinked, then was gone! Then Violet heard a small noise from across the room. A small nickering sound was coming from the top of her dresser. Violet turned around so fast she almost fell over. There was the foal, sitting on top of one of the clay statues Violet had made at school. The foal trotted to the edge of the dresser but didn’t stop there. She trotted out toward Violet across thin air! Violet was rooted to the spot as the foal came closer. Soon the foal was right beside her, still floating in mid-air. The foal nuzzled her hand with her soft-furred face. Violet reached out a finger and stroked her on her back. The foal nickered happily. Violet tried to scoop her up in her hands, but the foal just leaped away from her, still nickering. Soon Violet was chasing the foal round and round in circles. “Violet, what’s going on up there?” called her mother from below. “It sounds like you have a herd of stampeding elephants up there. Quiet down, alright?” “Yes, Mom!” Violet yelled back. “We’ve got to be more quiet, Pearl,” said Violet, suddenly deciding the little foal’s name. At the sound of the name “Pearl,” the little green-blue foal stopped rearing and kicking. “Pearl?” asked Violet. “Is that your name?” The foal blinked and was gone again. Violet groaned. “Pearl, where are you?” Then Violet felt something tickling the back of her neck. “Pearl!” she gasped as she reached behind her and felt the little foal’s soft mane. “Don’t do that!” She made to seize the foal, but before she could do anything but open her hand threateningly, the foal disappeared again.
“Pe arl!” Violet said furiously. “Stop doing that!” Pearl appeared again by her shoulder. She nodded her head glumly. Then she trotted back through thin air to her stable. “Pearl, do you want more apples?” Pearl turned her head to look at Violet. She nodded her head up and down. Violet went over to get an apple and cut it up into small slices as she had done before. She put some of the apples in the little manger but kept the rest in her hand. “Here Pearl!” she said, brandishing the apples in her left fist. “Come and get them!” Pearl trotted over, her head held high, and nimbly picked up one of the apple slices in her tiny muzzle. Then Violet noticed something. The foal had changed from dark green-blue to light of the same color. “I wonder why that is?” asked Violet. The foal had also gotten bigger. She was about three inches bigger than she was when Violet had found her. Violet picked up the foal with one hand and the apples in the other. She walked over to the barn. She put the rest of the apples in the manger and set the little horse down beside it. Pearl began to eat. Violet watched for three whole minutes. Then she heard the creak of a door opening, and her father’s footsteps coming into the room. “Violet, what are you doing?” he asked. Violet quickly snapped the barn door shut, hiding Pearl from view. “Just playing with my model horses, Father,” she said innocently. “I just wanted you to know that I’m going on another oyster dive tomorrow. You’re welcome to come if you want to.” “I promise you I’ll be there, “Violet said. “Goodnight Violet,” her dad said. He walked over and tucked her into bed. That night Violet’s dreams were full of galloping tiny blue-green horses like Pearl. The leader of the herd had a strand of fine silk with one silver pearl strung on it. The next day Violet woke with a start. Her alarm had gone off. She had set it to make sure she had breakfast in time to go with her father for oyster diving. She hoped she would find another little foal like Pearl. It was hard to tell if Pearl was even a foal anymore. Even over the 12 hours that Violet had fed and played with her, she had grown to about six inches tall. Violet had moved Pearl to a bigger one of her toy barns. Violet walked to the edge of the dock. She almost walked right into the water, she was thinking so hard. “Violet, watch your step!” said her dad, appearing through the mist behind her. “All right, you can jump in; I’m right behind you.” Said her dad. Violet bent her knees and jumped. She plunged deep into the big cold sea. When she reached the bottom, she tried to find the place where she had found Pearl. She found it right away. A big spot with purple, red and blue reeds drifting lazily around mountains of oysters. She grabbed the three biggest ones she could find. She swam back up to the surface again. This time she beat her dad. He appeared 10 minutes later, his arms full of little oysters from the site he had found. Violet was again allowed to open her own. This time Violet was ready for what she was going to see when she opened her three huge oysters. In the first, there was a red and yellow glowing pearl, which disappeared in a flash of orange light. In the second, there was a light purple and blue pearl, which disappeared in a flash of indigo light. In the third, there was a peach colored pearl, which disappeared in a flash of golden light. Her father went up to lunch, and Violet stayed behind again. This time she took the oysters up to her room before opening them up all the way. The first contained a light orange foal the exact size Pearl was when she came out of her oyster. She decided to call this one Sunny. In the next there was an indigo foal who stared up at Violet when she had woken him. In the third there was a slightly glowing golden horse foal with a yellow mane and tail and glowing honey-colored eyes. She called this one Honey. The indigo one was the last that she named. She named it Inky. Inky, Sunny, Pearl and Honey all played happily together in the barn. Of course, Pearl was the oldest, so she always led their kicking and running games. At long last, they all fell asleep piled on top of each other inside of the barn. Violet put some more freshly cut apples in the manger for the little horses, and then went down to her kitchen to eat lunch. After a few days the horses had grown almost five times as big as they were before. They were each bigger than her hand. Of course, Pearl had grown the most. Violet could not fit her in the palm of her hand anymore. Her knickers were not soft like a tinkling bell anymore, but they were strong and loud. Inky had grown to the most beautiful color with a turquoise mane and tail and a light purple-ish blue color fur. She was the most beautiful of all of Violet’s horses. Her father wanted her to come on another oyster trip. He thought Violet was “good luck”. Violet dived to the bottom of the ocean floor again. This time she only grabbed one. She grabbed the biggest she could find. It was on the tallest of the hills of oysters going as far as Violet could see. She brought it home and opened it. Inside was a beautiful rainbow colored horse. It had all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. It seemed to imitate a silvery glow. Its eyes looked as if they were made from gold. It stood up daintily on its spindly legs when Violet opened the oyster. But this one had something very amazing around its neck. A string of the finest silk with one small silvery pearl strung on it hung around her neck. Just like in Violet’s dream. She decided to call it Prism. As she cared for Prism, tiny leathery things started to grow from Prism’s shoulders. After three days they took form into what seemed to be -wings. None of the other horses had wings. And none of the other horses had that fine silver necklace. Violet didn’t get what was so special about this foal. It seemed just like one of the others. It played like them, it slept with them, it ate like them. Finally the horses started getting too big for the barn in Violet’s room. She had to find another place to keep all of her horses. One night after two weeks of taking in and caring for the mini horses, Violet crept out of bed at night. Quietly, guided by the moonlight, she went outside with Sunny, Honey, Inky, Prism, and Pearl walking quietly by her side. Prism had fully gained her wings. They were wide with lots of feathers that looked very soft. She stretched them impatiently, wondering where they were going. Violet crept out into the cellar. She was careful to jump the squeaky step on the stairs. She found three of the old garbage cans that her mom and dad were going to throw out. They had never been used before, but rats had chewed through them to make little holes on the bottom and around where the lid was supposed to be. Her mom and dad had said these trash cans were practically useless, but Violet had finally found something to use them for. She took them and quietly she used some of her dad’s tools to cut one circular hole in the first can and another in the second. She stuck one trash can through one hold, and that trash can to another. She finally finished, and it looked like some odd sort of water park slide. At least it’s big enough, she thought to herself. She crept outside and gathered some of the soft leaves that grew in her father’s garden. She scattered them in the trash cans as bedding for the little horses. Then she took the odd compartment up the stairs into her room and she shoved it under her bed. She let each of the horses crawl in and investigate it. Inky looked out. He had a pleased look on his face. Then he crouched down right in front of the entrance and fell asleep. The next day at dawn Violet awoke to the continuing neighing of horses coming from under her bed. “Quiet! Quiet! Prism, Inky! Sunny, Honey! Stop all that noise! You’re going to awake up my mom and dad!” She could not hear Pearl. “Pearl?” she asked tentatively. Pearl did not answer. Violet crouched down beside her bed and groped inside the trash cans. She felt Inky, Prism, Sunny and Honey, but she could not find Pearl. “Pearl’s gone,” Violet said aloud. “Where could she have wandered off to?” Violet began her search with Prism, who had refused to stop neighing unless she was invited along too. They searched in the kitchen but they couldn’t find anything there. Anyway, how could Pearl be hungry? She was getting three meals of apples a day. Next they searched the cellar where Pearl had first seen the light of day. There they found tiny hoof prints leading out through a crack in the garage. Violet opened the garage as quietly as should could and followed the hoof prints. They led her to the garden and to a big bush with very soft leaves and bright red berries. There was Pearl, sleeping under it. On a soft bed of leaves. She had berry stains all over her mane, back, and muzzle. Violet scooped up the sleeping horse in her hand and took her back into the house. Once in her room, Violet awoke Pearl and scolded her for her midnight wanderings. “What were you thinking? You might have been caught!” Violet said furiously to the little horse. Amazingly, Pearl closed her eyes. Then she let out a soft low neigh. It wasn’t like any that Violet had heard from any of the horses before. Slow and terrible, like it was costing Pearl all she had left to make the soft pitiful sound. “Pearl,” Violet said in surprise. “You’re sick.” Pearl moaned again. “Where can I take you? What can I do?” Violet asked herself. “Help me!” she said to each of the horses in turn. “Prism, do something!” She had always called upon the horse with the wide leathery wings to do something daring for her. “Prism! Did you run out of bright ideas?” Prism stood up. She walked over to where Pearl was laying and moaning. Prism sniffed Pearl’s nose, and Pearl looked up at her gloomily. Then Prism slowly turned around and walked through thin air toward the stairs. She looked back to make sure Violet was following. Violet got the message. She whispered, “Come on,” to the other horses, and they got out of their trash can home and followed Violet – who was following Prism – down the stairs. When Prism reached the back door, she whinnied softly. “You want to go out?” asked Violet. She opened the door for Prism. She trotted out. When Violet – carrying Pearl – Prism, and the other horses, reached the rose bushes, Prism reared and took off galloping toward the dock. Violet ran to catch up. When they finally reached the end of the dock, Violet was breathing hard. Her breath fogged the air around her. It was eerily quiet. Violet shivered. Then she felt something nudging her hand. She nearly jumped to the moon when she felt it. When she looked down, she saw that it was Prism, and she was holding something in her mouth. She reached down and took the item from the little horse’s mouth. It was a piece of seaweed, but it was not as any seaweed Violet had seen before. It was the color of fire – red, yellow, and orange – and it seemed to glow in the eerie darkness. Then she saw Prism was holding another piece of the same seaweed in her mouth. Before Violet could take it from her, Prism gulped the seaweed down. She galloped toward the end of the dock. “Prism, watch out!” Violet screamed. At the end of the dock Prism dove down into the water. She did not come back up. “Prism!” Violet sank to the ground and began to cry. Then Inky came up and pulled on her hair. Violet turned around to look at him. He had a piece of the fiery seaweed in his mouth. He too ate the seaweed, ran to the end of the dock and dove off. Violet sobbed harder than ever. Two of her horses were gone. But what was the fiery seaweed in her hand meant for, and why did both of the horses eat a piece before they dove into the water and disappeared? Sunny and Honey came up with pieces of seaweed in their mouths. Then they ate it and dove off of the end of the dock as well. Only Violet and Pearl were left on the lonely dock. Then Violet had a sudden brain wave. What if the piece of seaweed was supposed to be eaten? What if the seaweed gave the horses special powers, and they wanted her to have them too? The piece of seaweed in her hand was swaying gently in the breeze. Violet raised it to eye level. She took a deep breath, and stuffed it into her mouth. It tasted sweet like sugar, but it also had a tint of something like cinnamon. Violet gave her last scrap of seaweed to Pearl, who ate it in a flash. Then Violet dove into the waves, holding her breath. Violet opened her eyes. Bubbles surrounded her. Silver fish darted past like shining arrows. Then she noticed that Pearl was no longer in her hand. She looked down and saw Pearl sinking down into the depths below. Violet dove. She felt drowsy from her lack of air. But she kept going, thinking of the other horses’ joy that she had saved Pearl. Finally, she was out of breath. She looked up. She had only managed a few yards. “I’m going to drown,” she thought desperately, as she fought the current to get back up to the surface. Finally, Violet couldn’t take it any longer. She took a deep breath of water, but it didn’t feel like water. It felt warm, and light, almost like the air she had been breathing on the dock. Violet took another deep breath of the water. Then she noticed that she was swimming without trying. Violet was amazed. Had that seaweed been magical? And where were Pearl, Inky, Sunny, Prism and Honey?
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
GhostRider: Chapters 7-10 (the final installment!)
Chapter 7
A few days later Jesse took down the cabin and went to the corral. She put the loops of rope around each of the horses’ necks and tied all of them to one long piece of rope. When she was ready to leave, she took one last look at her home. She was going to miss it, but she knew she had to leave. Jesse held the long rope in one hand and Ghost’s mane in the other, and set off across the plain. Jesse thought she heard more hoof beats than she should and looked behind her. Jesse gasped. Behind her were all the wild horses from the forest that had gotten out. They had all followed her. The wolf she had freed from the trap, and the wolf pups, were following behind all the horses, to make sure none of them steered off track. “This is amazing,” Jesse said out loud. One of the wild horses nickered softly. Jesse turned back around and coaxed Ghost to go faster.
She had been traveling on horseback for two whole days and she was hungry, thirsty and saddle sore. Jesse stopped the horses and dismounted Ghost. She had seen a bush with lush berries on it. She was going to see if the berries were edible. When she was closer, she was overjoyed to find that they were blueberries. Jesse saw a piece of cloth that was 1½ feet long. She went over and picked it up. She started picking up berries rapidly and putting them in the cloth. When she had the cloth full of berries, she wrapped them up, found a long stick, and stuck it through the cloth. Jesse held on to the stick and mounted Ghost. Ghost neighed to the rest of the herd and they looked up from their grazing. Jesse started to move Ghost away from the cover of the forest trees.
Another day had past when Jesse saw the vast entrance of a cave in a pile of rocks. Jesse eagerly led the group over to the cave. Jesse peered inside. It was big and roomy, and Jesse was sure it went a lot farther back than she could see. She heard the rushing of an underground stream deeper into the cave. She led the herd of horses inside and dismounted Ghost. Some of the herd went toward the sound of the rushing water, while others stayed behind. Most of the horses went to sleep.
Jesse went outside the cave to gather more berries. The cave was surrounded by berry bushes, so all she had to do was step outside the cave entrance and start picking. When Jess had gathered about four cups of blueberries, she brought them inside and put them in a shallow ditch inside the cave. Then she went out of the cave and started gathering sticks that had fallen off the trees. Once she had an arm full of sticks, she carried them back inside the cave and went back out for more. Once she had enough, she took two flat stones and rubbed them together to try to set the pile of sticks on fire. She tried more stones until it finally worked. The fire burned the sticks quickly, and Jesse went out for more. She fed the fire many times until it was almost four feet tall.
Once the fire was going, she could see what the cave looked like. Stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere. Water was dripping from the walls and she could see that opening to another room where the stream must have been. Jesse ventured into the second room and found the stream. Horses were drinking thirstily from it. Some eyed her suspiciously; others ignored her. Jesse bent down carefully and cupped her hands. She dipped them in the water and brought them up to her lips. She drank the water. It was the best tasting water she had ever tasted. She drank some more and then went back to tend to her fire. While she was sitting by the fire she got some blueberries from the ditch and started to eat them.
The wolf and her puppies ran over to her and she stroked them. Then, outside in the darkness she heard a faint nickering coming from a bush. Jesse gathered her courage and stepped out of the mouth of the cave into the eerie darkness.
Chapter 8
The nickering came again. Jesse stepped toward the bush where it was coming from, and peered through the branches. Then she gasped. The black mare had had her colt! It was a beautiful filly with a muddy brown coat and a silky mane. Jesse stepped forward to see it more clearly. “Good job,” she said to the black mare. The mare nickered again. Jesse stepped forward and reached out her hand to the foal. The foal drew her head away from Jesse’s hand, but soon Jesse was able to touch her. Jesse decided to call the foal Beauty.
The next day Beauty was learning how to walk. It was the most beautiful sight Jesse had ever seen. She stumbled the first two times, but was able to stand up the third. Soon she was galloping all over the cave, the black mare by her side. Some of the other foals in the herd joined them. Soon all the foals that Jesse owned were galloping with Beauty and her mother.
It was such a beautiful day that Jesse sent all the horses outside to play. They galloped and whinnied, making such a racket the Jesse could hardly hear the fire crackling deep inside the cave. All of a sudden there was a crack and a boom. Then the racket got louder. Horses were neighing and whinnying like mad. Jesse jumped to her feet and ran outside. She gasped. A lightening bolt had hit a tree and had fallen to the ground, and was now on fire. The horses were running in every direction. Jesse yelled to get their attention. “Come this way!” she screamed. The horses nearest to her turned their heads. Jesse made furious motions for them to come closer. They did. Once they were inside the cave, Jesse led them to the back room where the underground river was. Then she ran back outside to gather more. Now the trees around the fallen one were on fire. Horses were running away from the fire, which was also the way away from the cave. Jesse called again, and most of the horses stopped and looked. Then they came as the others did. Then Jesse realized which horses were missing. The black mare and Beauty! Jesse raced into the burning trees in search of Beauty and her mother. Jesse screamed for them, but they did not come. “Beauty!” she called over the crackling fire. There was a faint nickering sound coming from the burning trees, but Jesse couldn’t follow the sound, for the fire was too strong. Jesse picked her way around the fire trying to find another path to Beauty and the mare. Finally she found one, when most of the forest was on fire. She hoped that she wasn’t too late to save Beauty. She had been a wonderful foal. Jesse walked for thirty minutes while the fire smoked and crackled around her. Finally she heard the nickering sound again. She headed in that direction and soon found the black mare. But Beauty wasn’t with her. “What happened to Beauty?” Jesse said out loud. The black mare nodded her head over to a patch of trees. Jesse walked over to the trees. She looked behind them and Beauty was lying there, apparently with two sprained ankles and a gash across her muzzle. “What happened to you?” Jesse said to the beautiful foal. The black mare nickered and Jesse jumped. She had forgotten that the mare was there. The mare nudged her aside and walked over to her baby. The black mare tried to get Beauty on her feet, but every time the black mare had been able to coax Beauty into standing up, she fell over again into a heap of black fur. Then Jesse knew what she was going to have to do. She was going to have to carry the little foal back to the cave where the other horses would nurse her back to health. She walked over to Beauty and picked her up. Beauty was incredibly light for a foal her size. The black mare whinnied nervously, but Jesse patted her muzzle to show her there was nothing to fear. So Jesse began the slow walk back to the cave, with Beauty in her arms and the mare by her side.
In about thirty minutes Jesse reached the cave. The horses greeted her with a chorus of whinnies, and the wolf puppies ran up to her, barking with joy. Apparently, the mother wolf had accomplished hunting down a few squirrels for her family.
In the next few days time, Beauty had grown well enough to go outside the cave. She stumbled out into the sunlight and fell to the ground. Beauty blinked up at the sun and then looked away. The black mare was always by Beauty’s side, helping her along.
Chapter 9
Mrs. Miller paced the room of the hotel. She and Mr. Miller, Jesse’s parents, had searched everywhere for her. There was still no sign of her. Mrs. Miller hoped she was all right and had found refuge somewhere. But if she hadn’t, she had to face the facts. Her husband was checking everyplace that he knew of that might have seen Jesse, including some gas stations. Mrs. Miller was eager for him to come back.
There was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Miller went and opened it. It was Mr. Miller. “Did they find her?” Mrs. Miller asked. “I’m afraid not,” said Mr. Miller. “I’ve been so worried! Where could she have gone?” “I don’t know, Molly, but I know we’ll find her soon.”
Mrs. Miller ran from the room and flung herself upon a bed. “Oh Jesse,” she cried into her pillow. “I hope you’re OK. Oh, please be OK.”
Jesse woke up that morning for the first time ever feeling homesick. She missed her mother and father. She missed her dog, Max, which had run away on the week of the tornados. She missed her old house, and all her things. But she was alone now. “Ghost,” she called, wiping her tears away. Ghost trotted up to her side, lowering her neck and looking expectantly at her. “What?” Jesse said. “Where are you going to take me?” Ghost nickered and Jesse climbed onto her back. She started to trot out of the cave and, to Jesse’s surprise, into the forest. Since the fire, all the horses had never strayed too far to the forest, as though it might still be on fire. Ghost’s trot quickly became a canter. Jesse didn’t know where Ghost was taking her, but she trusted Ghost, and she let her lead the way.
In 30 minutes they were out of the forest and had entered a small clearing. In the middle was a large well. Jesse gasped in surprise. She didn’t know how close she was to other humans. She thought it was just her and the horses and the wolves. Beauty and the black mare were standing over the well and drinking from it. Jesse dismounted Ghost and ran over to the well. It was definitely made by a person, Jesse thought, and took a drink. The water was freezing, not like the water in the cave, which was warm and sweet. She wondered why Beauty and the black mare weren’t drinking from the stream. She decided to go back to the cave and inspect the underground stream. Maybe there was something wrong with it.
She galloped Ghost all the way back to the cave and into the water room. She gasped. The water from the stream had dried up. A few horses were standing close to where the stream had been, nickering uncomfortably and pawing the place where the water had once run. This was terrible, Jesse thought. She no more had that place to drink. And what had made the stream stop flowing? She couldn’t think of the answers to these questions. “Come this way,” she shouted to the horses. She mounted Ghost and galloped out of the cave. The other horses galloped behind Ghost. Jesse steered Ghost over to the well and led the other horses to drink.
Jesse gasped. A young woman was coming to the well. “Over here, over here,” she whispered to the horses, and they came. Jesse dived into a bush and peered through the leaves. “Go, go, lead the others back to the cave,” she told Ghost. Ghost obediently neighed quietly to get the other horses’ attention. Then she galloped in the direction of the cave, and the others went with her. Jesse looked back out at the young woman, and saw that there wasn’t just one, there were three women there. The first woman was talking.
“Did you hear about all the fresh wild strawberries growing down by the river? I went out to pick some, and they were delicious!” “I know,” said the third one. “My little boy went to the river and came back with so many handfuls of strawberries, I couldn’t put them all into one cake. I had to make three instead!”
The second woman stayed quiet. Jesse had the strange feeling that that woman had seen her. Then suddenly the second woman said, “I thought I saw something moving in that bush over there.” She pointed at the bush where Jesse was hiding. Jesse gulped. She didn’t want the women to find her. They might think she was a runaway slave and turn her in. As quietly as she could, she tried to slip out of the bush, but she made a branch move again.
“Did you see that?” said the first woman. “Yes,” said the third. “I knew I saw something,” said the second. And then, as if by magic, Ghost galloped up from behind Jesse, reared up behind the women, and they screamed. Jesse jumped onto Ghost’s back and flew away. She stared back at the women, who were all gazing behind them with frightened looks on their faces. First Jesse said to Ghost, “I’ll go and pick a whole bunch of those fresh strawberries those three women were talking about. Then I’ll bring some back for you.”
When Jesse reached the cave, she got back just in time to see the mother wolf dragging three dead squirrels by the tails into the cave for her and her puppies. Jesse dismounted Ghost and went over to the wolf. Jesse scratched her behind the ears. The wolf barked and dropped the three squirrels. She hastily picked them up and continued her drag to the cave. Jesse went to find Beauty and her mother. They were safe in the stream room, looking for the stream. “Hey Beauty,” she called, and several horses looked up. But Beauty was the only one who trotted up to Jesse and looked up at her. “Hey Beauty, would you like me to bring you some strawberries from a stream?” she asked. Beauty nickered excitedly. Some of the other horses neighed as though not wanting to be left out. “All right, I’ll bring some for everyone,” Jesse said, laughing, as many of the horses trotted up to her just like Beauty. “But how will I carry them?” she wondered aloud. Then she saw Ghost holding something in her mouth. Jesse walked over to her and took it out of her mouth. It was a big sheet of cloth. “Where in the world do you get these things?” she asked Ghost. Ghost neighed as though laughing. Then she lowered her neck and allowed Jesse to mount.
A few minutes later, Jesse was at the stream. The women were right; there were thousands and thousands of bushes of strawberries, and about 15 times as many strawberries hanging on them. Jesse picked up the cloth and started picking. As she did so, she picked up a big fat strawberry. She took a bite and then gave one to Ghost. They were the best strawberries she had ever tasted. She picked all the strawberries on about 8 and a half bushes, and then her heard a rustling noise to her left. There was someone in the bushes!
Chapter 10
Jesse swirled around to face the bush. It moved again. Jesse saw a glint of what looked like a hunter’s cap. They had spotted Ghost and thought she was a white deer! Jesse could hear the hunters whispering to each other. “Look over there; do you see it? White as snow! And what’s that standing next to it?” They had seen Jesse. Quick as a flash, Jesse jumped onto Ghost’s back. She whirled Ghost around so fast that she reared in surprise. “Go, go!” Jesse shouted. She could hear the hunter’s voices behind her. Every time she looked back, she saw the flash of a red hunter’s cap hidden in the trees, brush and bushes. Once she thought she saw what looked like a tip of a gun pointed at Ghost. She swerved Ghost back and forth to avoid being shot. A second later there was a loud bang. The hunter had missed. Then she heard voices behind her. “Oh no, I’m out of bullets. Anyone else have some?” There were no answers. All the other hunters were focused on catching the “white deer.” Jesse gasped. The hunters had driven her and Ghost into a shallow cave. It was only a few feet in and a few feet wide. Jesse could have screamed, but she didn’t want to give herself away.
Ghost neighed, and Jesse tried to get her to be quiet. The hunters, thankfully did not see or hear Ghost. As a matter of fact, they didn’t even know the cave was there. All of a sudden, a bush out in front of the cave toppled over and all the horses came bursting out. The hunters watched in amazement. One of the hunters raised the gun a pointed it at Ghost. “Stop! That’s my daughter!” one of the hunters yelled. The hunter put down his gun. A man came rushing out of the crowd of hunters. “Jesse!” he cried. “Where on earth have you been?”
“Dad?” Jesse said. “Don’t ask me where I have been – where have you been?”
“I’ve been here all along,” said Jesse’s father. Beauty neighed. She was back at Jesse’s side. Jesse’s dad stepped back. “Where in the world did you get all these horses?” Then the wolf and her puppies bounded up and licked Jesse’s hand. She bent down to pet them and her father took a few steps away. “Jesse, do you know what you’re doing? You’re petting wild wolves.”
“Yes, I know what I’m doing.” And she told him the story about how she had rescued the wolf from the trap and it had had puppies. “That clears up one thing,” said Jesse’s dad. “But what about the horses?” And Jesse began to tell the tale of how she found out about the horses and caught a few, left the land, and all the others followed. When she was finished with her stories, her dad was amazed. “We’d better get back to your mother. She’s dying to see you.” “Dad, what about the horses? And Beauty?” She indicated the little colt at her side. As if on queue, Beauty did the cutest nicker Jess could possibly imagine. “Can we keep them, Dad? Pleeeeease?” Jesse begged. “If I say yes, will you stop bugging me, or will you just keep on going?” her dad asked wearily. “Um, I’m not so sure about that, but please, please, please can we keep them? I’ve taken care of them for so long, and I can’t bear to part with them – especially Beauty.” “Well, I’ll talk to your mother about it,” said Jesse’s dad. “But right now we have to get back home. Yes, you can take them with you for now,” Jesse’s dad said, catching her pleading eye.
“Hey, Dad, wanna ride home?” she asked. “Well, sure. Which horse would trust me,” said her dad. “I think that black mare over there – Beauty’s mom – she would do,” answered Jesse. Jesse whistled, and the black mare came trotting up to her. Jesse helped her dad mount, and then mounted Ghost. They started off toward the old hotel in which Jesse’s mom was staying, and all the other horses followed. When Jesse entered her mother’s hotel room, her mother practically overturned her bed with excitement, surprise, and disbelief! “Oh, Jesse, where have you been? Are you all right? Are you hurt?” Questions came hurtling out of her mother, coming at Jesse. “And Jesse,” her mother gasped, looking out the window onto the street below. “And are all those horses yours? I always knew you were a horse lover, but I didn’t think you loved them that much.”
Jesse smiled. “It’s a long story, Mom, but I’m sure you’ll understand someday. Can I keep them, Mom, Dad?” Jesse asked, switching the subject. “What do you think?” Jesse’s dad asked Mrs. Miller. “Well, I guess if we move to the country it would be all right.” “Can we, Mom? Please, please, please, please please?” “All right,” said Mrs. Miller. Jesse let out a cry of joy.
In the next few days the Miller family moved to the wide open spaces of the country. Mr. Miller built a wide paddock in the back yard and Jesse let the horses free inside it. The wolf and her puppies, on the other hand, were kept inside as house dogs. The Miller family lived a long, happy life together.
THE END
A few days later Jesse took down the cabin and went to the corral. She put the loops of rope around each of the horses’ necks and tied all of them to one long piece of rope. When she was ready to leave, she took one last look at her home. She was going to miss it, but she knew she had to leave. Jesse held the long rope in one hand and Ghost’s mane in the other, and set off across the plain. Jesse thought she heard more hoof beats than she should and looked behind her. Jesse gasped. Behind her were all the wild horses from the forest that had gotten out. They had all followed her. The wolf she had freed from the trap, and the wolf pups, were following behind all the horses, to make sure none of them steered off track. “This is amazing,” Jesse said out loud. One of the wild horses nickered softly. Jesse turned back around and coaxed Ghost to go faster.
She had been traveling on horseback for two whole days and she was hungry, thirsty and saddle sore. Jesse stopped the horses and dismounted Ghost. She had seen a bush with lush berries on it. She was going to see if the berries were edible. When she was closer, she was overjoyed to find that they were blueberries. Jesse saw a piece of cloth that was 1½ feet long. She went over and picked it up. She started picking up berries rapidly and putting them in the cloth. When she had the cloth full of berries, she wrapped them up, found a long stick, and stuck it through the cloth. Jesse held on to the stick and mounted Ghost. Ghost neighed to the rest of the herd and they looked up from their grazing. Jesse started to move Ghost away from the cover of the forest trees.
Another day had past when Jesse saw the vast entrance of a cave in a pile of rocks. Jesse eagerly led the group over to the cave. Jesse peered inside. It was big and roomy, and Jesse was sure it went a lot farther back than she could see. She heard the rushing of an underground stream deeper into the cave. She led the herd of horses inside and dismounted Ghost. Some of the herd went toward the sound of the rushing water, while others stayed behind. Most of the horses went to sleep.
Jesse went outside the cave to gather more berries. The cave was surrounded by berry bushes, so all she had to do was step outside the cave entrance and start picking. When Jess had gathered about four cups of blueberries, she brought them inside and put them in a shallow ditch inside the cave. Then she went out of the cave and started gathering sticks that had fallen off the trees. Once she had an arm full of sticks, she carried them back inside the cave and went back out for more. Once she had enough, she took two flat stones and rubbed them together to try to set the pile of sticks on fire. She tried more stones until it finally worked. The fire burned the sticks quickly, and Jesse went out for more. She fed the fire many times until it was almost four feet tall.
Once the fire was going, she could see what the cave looked like. Stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere. Water was dripping from the walls and she could see that opening to another room where the stream must have been. Jesse ventured into the second room and found the stream. Horses were drinking thirstily from it. Some eyed her suspiciously; others ignored her. Jesse bent down carefully and cupped her hands. She dipped them in the water and brought them up to her lips. She drank the water. It was the best tasting water she had ever tasted. She drank some more and then went back to tend to her fire. While she was sitting by the fire she got some blueberries from the ditch and started to eat them.
The wolf and her puppies ran over to her and she stroked them. Then, outside in the darkness she heard a faint nickering coming from a bush. Jesse gathered her courage and stepped out of the mouth of the cave into the eerie darkness.
Chapter 8
The nickering came again. Jesse stepped toward the bush where it was coming from, and peered through the branches. Then she gasped. The black mare had had her colt! It was a beautiful filly with a muddy brown coat and a silky mane. Jesse stepped forward to see it more clearly. “Good job,” she said to the black mare. The mare nickered again. Jesse stepped forward and reached out her hand to the foal. The foal drew her head away from Jesse’s hand, but soon Jesse was able to touch her. Jesse decided to call the foal Beauty.
The next day Beauty was learning how to walk. It was the most beautiful sight Jesse had ever seen. She stumbled the first two times, but was able to stand up the third. Soon she was galloping all over the cave, the black mare by her side. Some of the other foals in the herd joined them. Soon all the foals that Jesse owned were galloping with Beauty and her mother.
It was such a beautiful day that Jesse sent all the horses outside to play. They galloped and whinnied, making such a racket the Jesse could hardly hear the fire crackling deep inside the cave. All of a sudden there was a crack and a boom. Then the racket got louder. Horses were neighing and whinnying like mad. Jesse jumped to her feet and ran outside. She gasped. A lightening bolt had hit a tree and had fallen to the ground, and was now on fire. The horses were running in every direction. Jesse yelled to get their attention. “Come this way!” she screamed. The horses nearest to her turned their heads. Jesse made furious motions for them to come closer. They did. Once they were inside the cave, Jesse led them to the back room where the underground river was. Then she ran back outside to gather more. Now the trees around the fallen one were on fire. Horses were running away from the fire, which was also the way away from the cave. Jesse called again, and most of the horses stopped and looked. Then they came as the others did. Then Jesse realized which horses were missing. The black mare and Beauty! Jesse raced into the burning trees in search of Beauty and her mother. Jesse screamed for them, but they did not come. “Beauty!” she called over the crackling fire. There was a faint nickering sound coming from the burning trees, but Jesse couldn’t follow the sound, for the fire was too strong. Jesse picked her way around the fire trying to find another path to Beauty and the mare. Finally she found one, when most of the forest was on fire. She hoped that she wasn’t too late to save Beauty. She had been a wonderful foal. Jesse walked for thirty minutes while the fire smoked and crackled around her. Finally she heard the nickering sound again. She headed in that direction and soon found the black mare. But Beauty wasn’t with her. “What happened to Beauty?” Jesse said out loud. The black mare nodded her head over to a patch of trees. Jesse walked over to the trees. She looked behind them and Beauty was lying there, apparently with two sprained ankles and a gash across her muzzle. “What happened to you?” Jesse said to the beautiful foal. The black mare nickered and Jesse jumped. She had forgotten that the mare was there. The mare nudged her aside and walked over to her baby. The black mare tried to get Beauty on her feet, but every time the black mare had been able to coax Beauty into standing up, she fell over again into a heap of black fur. Then Jesse knew what she was going to have to do. She was going to have to carry the little foal back to the cave where the other horses would nurse her back to health. She walked over to Beauty and picked her up. Beauty was incredibly light for a foal her size. The black mare whinnied nervously, but Jesse patted her muzzle to show her there was nothing to fear. So Jesse began the slow walk back to the cave, with Beauty in her arms and the mare by her side.
In about thirty minutes Jesse reached the cave. The horses greeted her with a chorus of whinnies, and the wolf puppies ran up to her, barking with joy. Apparently, the mother wolf had accomplished hunting down a few squirrels for her family.
In the next few days time, Beauty had grown well enough to go outside the cave. She stumbled out into the sunlight and fell to the ground. Beauty blinked up at the sun and then looked away. The black mare was always by Beauty’s side, helping her along.
Chapter 9
Mrs. Miller paced the room of the hotel. She and Mr. Miller, Jesse’s parents, had searched everywhere for her. There was still no sign of her. Mrs. Miller hoped she was all right and had found refuge somewhere. But if she hadn’t, she had to face the facts. Her husband was checking everyplace that he knew of that might have seen Jesse, including some gas stations. Mrs. Miller was eager for him to come back.
There was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Miller went and opened it. It was Mr. Miller. “Did they find her?” Mrs. Miller asked. “I’m afraid not,” said Mr. Miller. “I’ve been so worried! Where could she have gone?” “I don’t know, Molly, but I know we’ll find her soon.”
Mrs. Miller ran from the room and flung herself upon a bed. “Oh Jesse,” she cried into her pillow. “I hope you’re OK. Oh, please be OK.”
Jesse woke up that morning for the first time ever feeling homesick. She missed her mother and father. She missed her dog, Max, which had run away on the week of the tornados. She missed her old house, and all her things. But she was alone now. “Ghost,” she called, wiping her tears away. Ghost trotted up to her side, lowering her neck and looking expectantly at her. “What?” Jesse said. “Where are you going to take me?” Ghost nickered and Jesse climbed onto her back. She started to trot out of the cave and, to Jesse’s surprise, into the forest. Since the fire, all the horses had never strayed too far to the forest, as though it might still be on fire. Ghost’s trot quickly became a canter. Jesse didn’t know where Ghost was taking her, but she trusted Ghost, and she let her lead the way.
In 30 minutes they were out of the forest and had entered a small clearing. In the middle was a large well. Jesse gasped in surprise. She didn’t know how close she was to other humans. She thought it was just her and the horses and the wolves. Beauty and the black mare were standing over the well and drinking from it. Jesse dismounted Ghost and ran over to the well. It was definitely made by a person, Jesse thought, and took a drink. The water was freezing, not like the water in the cave, which was warm and sweet. She wondered why Beauty and the black mare weren’t drinking from the stream. She decided to go back to the cave and inspect the underground stream. Maybe there was something wrong with it.
She galloped Ghost all the way back to the cave and into the water room. She gasped. The water from the stream had dried up. A few horses were standing close to where the stream had been, nickering uncomfortably and pawing the place where the water had once run. This was terrible, Jesse thought. She no more had that place to drink. And what had made the stream stop flowing? She couldn’t think of the answers to these questions. “Come this way,” she shouted to the horses. She mounted Ghost and galloped out of the cave. The other horses galloped behind Ghost. Jesse steered Ghost over to the well and led the other horses to drink.
Jesse gasped. A young woman was coming to the well. “Over here, over here,” she whispered to the horses, and they came. Jesse dived into a bush and peered through the leaves. “Go, go, lead the others back to the cave,” she told Ghost. Ghost obediently neighed quietly to get the other horses’ attention. Then she galloped in the direction of the cave, and the others went with her. Jesse looked back out at the young woman, and saw that there wasn’t just one, there were three women there. The first woman was talking.
“Did you hear about all the fresh wild strawberries growing down by the river? I went out to pick some, and they were delicious!” “I know,” said the third one. “My little boy went to the river and came back with so many handfuls of strawberries, I couldn’t put them all into one cake. I had to make three instead!”
The second woman stayed quiet. Jesse had the strange feeling that that woman had seen her. Then suddenly the second woman said, “I thought I saw something moving in that bush over there.” She pointed at the bush where Jesse was hiding. Jesse gulped. She didn’t want the women to find her. They might think she was a runaway slave and turn her in. As quietly as she could, she tried to slip out of the bush, but she made a branch move again.
“Did you see that?” said the first woman. “Yes,” said the third. “I knew I saw something,” said the second. And then, as if by magic, Ghost galloped up from behind Jesse, reared up behind the women, and they screamed. Jesse jumped onto Ghost’s back and flew away. She stared back at the women, who were all gazing behind them with frightened looks on their faces. First Jesse said to Ghost, “I’ll go and pick a whole bunch of those fresh strawberries those three women were talking about. Then I’ll bring some back for you.”
When Jesse reached the cave, she got back just in time to see the mother wolf dragging three dead squirrels by the tails into the cave for her and her puppies. Jesse dismounted Ghost and went over to the wolf. Jesse scratched her behind the ears. The wolf barked and dropped the three squirrels. She hastily picked them up and continued her drag to the cave. Jesse went to find Beauty and her mother. They were safe in the stream room, looking for the stream. “Hey Beauty,” she called, and several horses looked up. But Beauty was the only one who trotted up to Jesse and looked up at her. “Hey Beauty, would you like me to bring you some strawberries from a stream?” she asked. Beauty nickered excitedly. Some of the other horses neighed as though not wanting to be left out. “All right, I’ll bring some for everyone,” Jesse said, laughing, as many of the horses trotted up to her just like Beauty. “But how will I carry them?” she wondered aloud. Then she saw Ghost holding something in her mouth. Jesse walked over to her and took it out of her mouth. It was a big sheet of cloth. “Where in the world do you get these things?” she asked Ghost. Ghost neighed as though laughing. Then she lowered her neck and allowed Jesse to mount.
A few minutes later, Jesse was at the stream. The women were right; there were thousands and thousands of bushes of strawberries, and about 15 times as many strawberries hanging on them. Jesse picked up the cloth and started picking. As she did so, she picked up a big fat strawberry. She took a bite and then gave one to Ghost. They were the best strawberries she had ever tasted. She picked all the strawberries on about 8 and a half bushes, and then her heard a rustling noise to her left. There was someone in the bushes!
Chapter 10
Jesse swirled around to face the bush. It moved again. Jesse saw a glint of what looked like a hunter’s cap. They had spotted Ghost and thought she was a white deer! Jesse could hear the hunters whispering to each other. “Look over there; do you see it? White as snow! And what’s that standing next to it?” They had seen Jesse. Quick as a flash, Jesse jumped onto Ghost’s back. She whirled Ghost around so fast that she reared in surprise. “Go, go!” Jesse shouted. She could hear the hunter’s voices behind her. Every time she looked back, she saw the flash of a red hunter’s cap hidden in the trees, brush and bushes. Once she thought she saw what looked like a tip of a gun pointed at Ghost. She swerved Ghost back and forth to avoid being shot. A second later there was a loud bang. The hunter had missed. Then she heard voices behind her. “Oh no, I’m out of bullets. Anyone else have some?” There were no answers. All the other hunters were focused on catching the “white deer.” Jesse gasped. The hunters had driven her and Ghost into a shallow cave. It was only a few feet in and a few feet wide. Jesse could have screamed, but she didn’t want to give herself away.
Ghost neighed, and Jesse tried to get her to be quiet. The hunters, thankfully did not see or hear Ghost. As a matter of fact, they didn’t even know the cave was there. All of a sudden, a bush out in front of the cave toppled over and all the horses came bursting out. The hunters watched in amazement. One of the hunters raised the gun a pointed it at Ghost. “Stop! That’s my daughter!” one of the hunters yelled. The hunter put down his gun. A man came rushing out of the crowd of hunters. “Jesse!” he cried. “Where on earth have you been?”
“Dad?” Jesse said. “Don’t ask me where I have been – where have you been?”
“I’ve been here all along,” said Jesse’s father. Beauty neighed. She was back at Jesse’s side. Jesse’s dad stepped back. “Where in the world did you get all these horses?” Then the wolf and her puppies bounded up and licked Jesse’s hand. She bent down to pet them and her father took a few steps away. “Jesse, do you know what you’re doing? You’re petting wild wolves.”
“Yes, I know what I’m doing.” And she told him the story about how she had rescued the wolf from the trap and it had had puppies. “That clears up one thing,” said Jesse’s dad. “But what about the horses?” And Jesse began to tell the tale of how she found out about the horses and caught a few, left the land, and all the others followed. When she was finished with her stories, her dad was amazed. “We’d better get back to your mother. She’s dying to see you.” “Dad, what about the horses? And Beauty?” She indicated the little colt at her side. As if on queue, Beauty did the cutest nicker Jess could possibly imagine. “Can we keep them, Dad? Pleeeeease?” Jesse begged. “If I say yes, will you stop bugging me, or will you just keep on going?” her dad asked wearily. “Um, I’m not so sure about that, but please, please, please can we keep them? I’ve taken care of them for so long, and I can’t bear to part with them – especially Beauty.” “Well, I’ll talk to your mother about it,” said Jesse’s dad. “But right now we have to get back home. Yes, you can take them with you for now,” Jesse’s dad said, catching her pleading eye.
“Hey, Dad, wanna ride home?” she asked. “Well, sure. Which horse would trust me,” said her dad. “I think that black mare over there – Beauty’s mom – she would do,” answered Jesse. Jesse whistled, and the black mare came trotting up to her. Jesse helped her dad mount, and then mounted Ghost. They started off toward the old hotel in which Jesse’s mom was staying, and all the other horses followed. When Jesse entered her mother’s hotel room, her mother practically overturned her bed with excitement, surprise, and disbelief! “Oh, Jesse, where have you been? Are you all right? Are you hurt?” Questions came hurtling out of her mother, coming at Jesse. “And Jesse,” her mother gasped, looking out the window onto the street below. “And are all those horses yours? I always knew you were a horse lover, but I didn’t think you loved them that much.”
Jesse smiled. “It’s a long story, Mom, but I’m sure you’ll understand someday. Can I keep them, Mom, Dad?” Jesse asked, switching the subject. “What do you think?” Jesse’s dad asked Mrs. Miller. “Well, I guess if we move to the country it would be all right.” “Can we, Mom? Please, please, please, please please?” “All right,” said Mrs. Miller. Jesse let out a cry of joy.
In the next few days the Miller family moved to the wide open spaces of the country. Mr. Miller built a wide paddock in the back yard and Jesse let the horses free inside it. The wolf and her puppies, on the other hand, were kept inside as house dogs. The Miller family lived a long, happy life together.
THE END
Saturday, January 10, 2009
GhostRider: Chapters 4-6
Chapter 4
Jesse mounted Ghost and galloped back to the other horses. She stopped, amazed, a few feet away from the horses. About five more horses were standing by the tree, comforting the colt. There was a black quarter horse, a Pinto, an Appaloosa, and two thoroughbreds. She tied another rope into a loop and swung it over her head and brought it down over the Appaloosa’s neck. The Appaloosa pulled back as Jesse tied it to the tree with the others. She tied four more ropes into loops and did the same thing with the quarter horse, Pinto, and the two thoroughbreds. When she was done she had a total of eight horses.
She galloped with Ghost back into the woods and began to cut more trees down. She got five down, which took more than an hour. She cut them into short stubby strips as she had done before. When she got all the trees cut up, which took another two hours, she took ten pieces at a time and started banging them into the ground in a clear space with lots of grass. When she finally pounded them all in, they covered a kilometer and all the way back again. The pieces formed an odd-shaped corral. She untied one horse at a time, starting with Penny, and led them into the corral. She took off the rope from around the horses’ necks and set them free in the kilometer-long corral. When all of them were free, they started to graze on the lush grass. The pieces of wood were not connected, so there were open spaces between them. The spaces were big enough for wolves to get in, but the horses could not get out.
She decided to call one of the two thoroughbreds she caught Rose and the other one Violet. She called the Appaloosa Splash, the Pinto was Cloud, and the quarter horse’s name was Star. When it was night, Jesse made her way back to the cabin.
When she got there, she was amazed. The cabin was in pieces. Beside the mess were two wolves chewing on a piece of wood. Obviously, the wolves didn’t have enough food because the horses were too fast. And all the other animals they used to hunt had either been blown away or moved to a different place because of the twisters. The wolves growled and looked at her with their glowing yellow eyes.
“Ghost,” she called softly. Ghost walked up behind her, staring at the wolves. When Ghost moved, the wolves crouched down and growled. She quickly mounted Ghost and then stopped and looked back. Behind the two that were crouching down she could see the wolf she had rescued earlier. She could tell it was the same one because it had a scratched muzzle. The wolf barked softly at the other two wolves, and they looked at the scratched wolf. It seemed like the wolf was telling the other two not to chase Jesse.
As the other wolves slinked away, the scratched one stayed. Jesse dismounted quickly and made her way over to the wolf. The wolf started whining at her, holding up its front paw. Jesse took the paw and looked carefully at it. There was a big thorn stuck into it. “Wow,” Jesse muttered. “You seem to get in a lot of trouble, don’t you?”
As Jesse worked the thorn out of his paw, the wolf whined and licked her hand. When the thorn was out, the wolf barked softly and licked her nose. “Wow,” said Jesse again. “You’re a softy, aren’t you?” The wolf licked Jesse again and picked up the piece of wood that the other two wolves had been chewing on. “You want me to rebuild the cabin?” asked Jesse in a low voice. The wolf shook her head up and down as if she understood. “All right then,” said Jesse. “I will.”
She got to work pounding the wood deeper than she had before so the wolves couldn’t knock it down again. When she finally had it done, it was past midnight again. The wolf went into the cabin and lay down. “You want to stay here?” asked Jesse. The wolf lay her head down on the floor and closed her eyes. Jesse tied Ghost to the cabin again and went inside. She lay down on the hard floor and went to sleep.
Chapter 5
She woke to the calling of crows. She had slept late and the wolf was sitting in the corner and licking Jesse’s nose. The wolf whined and looked at the open space which was the door. Ghost was standing outside looking in hopefully. “All right, all right, I’m coming,” said Jesse, and leaped up with a smile on her face. She ran outside and the wolf followed behind. The wolf looked up and Jesse saw a hungry look in its face. “I wish I could find you some food,” Jesse said. “But there are no animals here but the horses.” She went back to the corral and looked in. The horses were grazing peacefully. Ghost whinnied and the horses looked up. The mare came cantering over toward the fence closest to Jesse and Ghost. She neighed again, and Jesse came near. Jesse reached out a hand to pet the soft black coat. Then, another whinny came from behind. Jesse swirled around and stared. There was the herd of quarter horses she had seen the day before. Since she had no rope at hand that time, she could not catch any. She started to run back to the cabin to get the rope. Again, when she moved, the herd of horses ran. When she got the rope, she decided to tie all of them in loops so she wouldn’t have to do it when she was about to capture horses. When she got that done, she ran back to Ghost and jumped onto her. She ran into the forest, continuing the daily search for wild horses.
She came to about half the herd she had seen when she had no rope, and captured two of them. She caught a muddy brown one and another copper one. She named them Dash and Dot. Then she went back on her search for horses. When she came to look over a hill, she gasped. On the other side of the hill was the largest pack of wolves she had ever seen. They were all sleeping. Ghost whinnied. One or two of the wolves’ heads shot up, and they growled. The ones around them woke up and growled too. Soon the whole pack was awake and on its feet, staring at her.
Then one of the wolves in the pack barked, and they all charged toward Jesse. She screamed so loud that Dash, Dot and Ghost reared at the same time, neighing with terror. Then they all shot off fast as the wind through the woods. The wolves were chasing behind her. They were snapping at the horses’ tails. Dot almost got pulled over by a few of the strongest ones, but Jesse was able to grab a stick and whack one of them, so they all went after the stick instead. Jesse ran and ran and ran, but the wolves kept on chasing.
The herd of quarter horses was standing in front of them as they reached the clearing where she had built the corral. The wolves stopped, staring at the group. The herd went wild. They neighed and screeched at the top of their lungs. The wolves yelped and charged away from the herd. They ran back through the forest and over the hill where they belonged. The scratched wolf was nowhere to be found.
Chapter 6
Jesse went to the cabin to look for the wolf she had saved. In the cabin, not one but about five wolves were sitting in the corner. Four of them were puppies. The wolf had given birth while Jesse was being chased. The wolf looked up and whined. Jesse came closer but the wolf started growling instead of whining. “She probably wants me to stay away from the puppies,” thought Jesse, and she backed off.
When it was night Jesse discovered her second problem other than the wolves. Just when the full moon rose, Jesse heard a growl. The growl wasn’t from a wolf, as she usually heard. It was long and deep. Jesse slowly turned around to face the wall of trees where the growl had come from. She didn’t see anything. She slowly drew her breath and then called, “Who’s there?” This was answered by another growl, meaner than before. Then out of the shadows stepped a cougar. The cougar growled and started moving closer to Jesse. Jesse suddenly remembered she had left Ghost in the pasture, so she could not jump on her to get away. Jesse slowly backed up, but that just made the cougar angrier. The cougar pawed the ground and growled again.
Jesse knew she had to run or become food for the beast. She turned around and ran as fast as she could. Jesse ran and ran, but the cougar did not give up. Once the cougar almost caught her, but Jesse got away by grabbing a long stick from the trees above her and poking it in the neck. “Ghost!!!” Jesse screamed as the cougar caught up with her again and stuck a claw into her T-shirt.
In the pasture Ghost was grazing peacefully. Her head shot up when heard Jesse’s call for help. She galloped toward the fence at high speed, and with a mighty leap jumped over it. Ghost galloped fast through the woods to Jesse’s calls. When Jesse saw her coming, she lunged forward with her last bit of strength and clung to her neck with all her might. She didn’t have enough strength to climb onto Ghost’s back, so she held on around Ghost’s neck. Ghost cantered off. The cougar was right behind her, snapping at her tail. Ghost’s canter quickly became a gallop, and Jesse was terrified. Her feet momentarily touched the ground as Ghost galloped off into the distance, with the cougar right behind her. When the cougar finally gave up, Jesse had made up her mind. “I’m going to round up a few more of these horses and then leave. There are too many dangers around here,” she said.
Jesse mounted Ghost and galloped back to the other horses. She stopped, amazed, a few feet away from the horses. About five more horses were standing by the tree, comforting the colt. There was a black quarter horse, a Pinto, an Appaloosa, and two thoroughbreds. She tied another rope into a loop and swung it over her head and brought it down over the Appaloosa’s neck. The Appaloosa pulled back as Jesse tied it to the tree with the others. She tied four more ropes into loops and did the same thing with the quarter horse, Pinto, and the two thoroughbreds. When she was done she had a total of eight horses.
She galloped with Ghost back into the woods and began to cut more trees down. She got five down, which took more than an hour. She cut them into short stubby strips as she had done before. When she got all the trees cut up, which took another two hours, she took ten pieces at a time and started banging them into the ground in a clear space with lots of grass. When she finally pounded them all in, they covered a kilometer and all the way back again. The pieces formed an odd-shaped corral. She untied one horse at a time, starting with Penny, and led them into the corral. She took off the rope from around the horses’ necks and set them free in the kilometer-long corral. When all of them were free, they started to graze on the lush grass. The pieces of wood were not connected, so there were open spaces between them. The spaces were big enough for wolves to get in, but the horses could not get out.
She decided to call one of the two thoroughbreds she caught Rose and the other one Violet. She called the Appaloosa Splash, the Pinto was Cloud, and the quarter horse’s name was Star. When it was night, Jesse made her way back to the cabin.
When she got there, she was amazed. The cabin was in pieces. Beside the mess were two wolves chewing on a piece of wood. Obviously, the wolves didn’t have enough food because the horses were too fast. And all the other animals they used to hunt had either been blown away or moved to a different place because of the twisters. The wolves growled and looked at her with their glowing yellow eyes.
“Ghost,” she called softly. Ghost walked up behind her, staring at the wolves. When Ghost moved, the wolves crouched down and growled. She quickly mounted Ghost and then stopped and looked back. Behind the two that were crouching down she could see the wolf she had rescued earlier. She could tell it was the same one because it had a scratched muzzle. The wolf barked softly at the other two wolves, and they looked at the scratched wolf. It seemed like the wolf was telling the other two not to chase Jesse.
As the other wolves slinked away, the scratched one stayed. Jesse dismounted quickly and made her way over to the wolf. The wolf started whining at her, holding up its front paw. Jesse took the paw and looked carefully at it. There was a big thorn stuck into it. “Wow,” Jesse muttered. “You seem to get in a lot of trouble, don’t you?”
As Jesse worked the thorn out of his paw, the wolf whined and licked her hand. When the thorn was out, the wolf barked softly and licked her nose. “Wow,” said Jesse again. “You’re a softy, aren’t you?” The wolf licked Jesse again and picked up the piece of wood that the other two wolves had been chewing on. “You want me to rebuild the cabin?” asked Jesse in a low voice. The wolf shook her head up and down as if she understood. “All right then,” said Jesse. “I will.”
She got to work pounding the wood deeper than she had before so the wolves couldn’t knock it down again. When she finally had it done, it was past midnight again. The wolf went into the cabin and lay down. “You want to stay here?” asked Jesse. The wolf lay her head down on the floor and closed her eyes. Jesse tied Ghost to the cabin again and went inside. She lay down on the hard floor and went to sleep.
Chapter 5
She woke to the calling of crows. She had slept late and the wolf was sitting in the corner and licking Jesse’s nose. The wolf whined and looked at the open space which was the door. Ghost was standing outside looking in hopefully. “All right, all right, I’m coming,” said Jesse, and leaped up with a smile on her face. She ran outside and the wolf followed behind. The wolf looked up and Jesse saw a hungry look in its face. “I wish I could find you some food,” Jesse said. “But there are no animals here but the horses.” She went back to the corral and looked in. The horses were grazing peacefully. Ghost whinnied and the horses looked up. The mare came cantering over toward the fence closest to Jesse and Ghost. She neighed again, and Jesse came near. Jesse reached out a hand to pet the soft black coat. Then, another whinny came from behind. Jesse swirled around and stared. There was the herd of quarter horses she had seen the day before. Since she had no rope at hand that time, she could not catch any. She started to run back to the cabin to get the rope. Again, when she moved, the herd of horses ran. When she got the rope, she decided to tie all of them in loops so she wouldn’t have to do it when she was about to capture horses. When she got that done, she ran back to Ghost and jumped onto her. She ran into the forest, continuing the daily search for wild horses.
She came to about half the herd she had seen when she had no rope, and captured two of them. She caught a muddy brown one and another copper one. She named them Dash and Dot. Then she went back on her search for horses. When she came to look over a hill, she gasped. On the other side of the hill was the largest pack of wolves she had ever seen. They were all sleeping. Ghost whinnied. One or two of the wolves’ heads shot up, and they growled. The ones around them woke up and growled too. Soon the whole pack was awake and on its feet, staring at her.
Then one of the wolves in the pack barked, and they all charged toward Jesse. She screamed so loud that Dash, Dot and Ghost reared at the same time, neighing with terror. Then they all shot off fast as the wind through the woods. The wolves were chasing behind her. They were snapping at the horses’ tails. Dot almost got pulled over by a few of the strongest ones, but Jesse was able to grab a stick and whack one of them, so they all went after the stick instead. Jesse ran and ran and ran, but the wolves kept on chasing.
The herd of quarter horses was standing in front of them as they reached the clearing where she had built the corral. The wolves stopped, staring at the group. The herd went wild. They neighed and screeched at the top of their lungs. The wolves yelped and charged away from the herd. They ran back through the forest and over the hill where they belonged. The scratched wolf was nowhere to be found.
Chapter 6
Jesse went to the cabin to look for the wolf she had saved. In the cabin, not one but about five wolves were sitting in the corner. Four of them were puppies. The wolf had given birth while Jesse was being chased. The wolf looked up and whined. Jesse came closer but the wolf started growling instead of whining. “She probably wants me to stay away from the puppies,” thought Jesse, and she backed off.
When it was night Jesse discovered her second problem other than the wolves. Just when the full moon rose, Jesse heard a growl. The growl wasn’t from a wolf, as she usually heard. It was long and deep. Jesse slowly turned around to face the wall of trees where the growl had come from. She didn’t see anything. She slowly drew her breath and then called, “Who’s there?” This was answered by another growl, meaner than before. Then out of the shadows stepped a cougar. The cougar growled and started moving closer to Jesse. Jesse suddenly remembered she had left Ghost in the pasture, so she could not jump on her to get away. Jesse slowly backed up, but that just made the cougar angrier. The cougar pawed the ground and growled again.
Jesse knew she had to run or become food for the beast. She turned around and ran as fast as she could. Jesse ran and ran, but the cougar did not give up. Once the cougar almost caught her, but Jesse got away by grabbing a long stick from the trees above her and poking it in the neck. “Ghost!!!” Jesse screamed as the cougar caught up with her again and stuck a claw into her T-shirt.
In the pasture Ghost was grazing peacefully. Her head shot up when heard Jesse’s call for help. She galloped toward the fence at high speed, and with a mighty leap jumped over it. Ghost galloped fast through the woods to Jesse’s calls. When Jesse saw her coming, she lunged forward with her last bit of strength and clung to her neck with all her might. She didn’t have enough strength to climb onto Ghost’s back, so she held on around Ghost’s neck. Ghost cantered off. The cougar was right behind her, snapping at her tail. Ghost’s canter quickly became a gallop, and Jesse was terrified. Her feet momentarily touched the ground as Ghost galloped off into the distance, with the cougar right behind her. When the cougar finally gave up, Jesse had made up her mind. “I’m going to round up a few more of these horses and then leave. There are too many dangers around here,” she said.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
GhostRider: Chapters 1-3
I've been working on this story for several weeks, and I'm finally ready for you to read some of it. My mom and dad have been typing for me, but the words are all mine. Here are the first three chapters (I've written seven chapters already!). I'll post more later. I hope you like it!
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GHOSTRIDER
Alone in the world . . . can Jesse save the horses?
Chapter 1
Jesse peered out of the cellar door. As far as the eye could see, it was disaster. There had been tornados coming right through this neighborhood all week. They had been hitting in some other places too, but mostly in her city. Unfortunately, in her city meant right on her neighborhood. The grass was pulled up from the ground and the ground was bare.
Suddenly, Jesse remembered her horse, Ghost. “Ghost!” she gasped, and ran back into her backyard, or what was left of her backyard. And there was Ghost, standing on the highest hill. The gates around the paddock were gone. Unfortunately, everything was gone in this city. Even most of the houses were blown away. Well, with about two weeks of tornados, you could expect it. Jesse’s house was in pieces. Ghost was lucky that she didn’t get swept away by all the tornados this week too.
“Ghost!” Jesse called in a sing-song voice. Ghost whinnied and then cantered down the hill toward her. Jesse went to the stable – or what was left of it. She was looking for the saddles and the bridles, but they had also been swept away. Ghost whinnied again. It seemed to say, “Hurry – I’m ready to go.” Well, Jesse thought, with no saddles or bridles, I guess I’ll have to go bareback. She was used to going bareback, but she only went on short walks around the paddock. Now she was going to have to try cantering and galloping and she knew it was going to be very difficult. Well, I’d better get started, she thought, and called for Ghost again. Ghost, now excited, galloped toward her.
“Good girl,” Jesse said, and led Ghost over to a pile of bricks. She climbed up to the top of the bricks and Ghost, as if she knew exactly what Jesse was doing, lowered her head to make it easier for Jesse to get on. Jesse climbed on Ghost’s back and then gasped again. There, standing only a few meters away, was a copper-brown horse, a chestnut, a grey, and a Clydesdale standing together in a group.
Jesse inched closer to the group of horses, and then stopped. The chestnut was looking directly at her eyes. He seemed to say, ‘Stop; don’t come any closer.’ “Good girl, Ghost,” Jesse murmured. Ghost whinnied uncomfortably.
Suddenly, the chestnut reared. He neighed as loudly as Jesse could imagine, and then took off. The others reared too. The copper-brown one bucked. Then they all took off like the wind after the chestnut. “Wow wee,” said Jesse.
Then it came to her. Since all the tornadoes had come, all the horses’ fences must have broken, and all the horses must have gotten out. Jesse realized how much danger all the horses were in, but she didn’t think that the horses themselves knew.
Then Jesse knew what she had to do. Quickly she went over to the woods right beside what used to be her house. When she was deep in the middle of the forest, she stopped and began to dig with her hands. When she got down deep, she stopped. She brushed away a little bit of the dirt, and took a rope, an ax, and a compass out of the ground. She had buried things in case of the tornadoes that usually hit. She didn’t know she would need them so soon.
Quickly she put the rope over her shoulder and left the compass in the hole she had dug. She covered the hole halfway up with dirt and started to run back out of the forest. Suddenly she stopped. Amazed, she gazed in front of her. There, in the middle of the forest, were 20-30 quarter horses.
“Wow,” she thought to herself. “I really need to get started.” She tried to not make a sudden movement for the horses were like wild if they had been out for a week. As soon as she moved just an inch, the leader of the herd whinnied louder (if it was possible) than the chestnut that was standing by her house. The leader had a wild look on his face. The others stared at her. Then as suddenly as she had run into them, they were gone. “Wow,” said Jesse again.
Chapter 2
Jesse ran as fast as she could out of the woods to mount Ghost. When she got on Ghost’s back, she held on tightly to his mane with the rope and the ax still in her hand. “Yah!” she said, and Ghost galloped across the plain. “Whoa, girl!” she said. And Ghost came to a sudden halt. The first group of horses that she had seen was standing in front of her, only with the “leader” gone. She inched Ghost closer to the group, and when she got close enough, trying to not make sudden movements again, tied one end of the rope into a loop. She inched Ghost a few steps closer, then stopped. The closest horse to her was the copper-brown one. Ghost neighed and pawed the ground nervously. Then suddenly, Jesse picked up the rope and threw it over the copper-brown horse’s head and tightened it. All of the horses whinnied with fright and all ran away but the copper one.
Jesse pulled the copper horse closer to her. The horse tried to hold back, but Jesse was too strong for it. As it came nearer, she could make out what breed it was and about how old it was. This horse was a colt. It was a thoroughbred and it seemed very shy. “Come on, good horse,” said Jesse as she pulled the horse nearer still. When the horse was only a few feet away, she dismounted Ghost and started making her way closer to the colt. The colt neighed and backed away.
“Come on,” said Jesse again. These words seemed to comfort the colt, and it stopped trying to get away. Now up close, Jesse could tell that the colt was a boy. She pulled the colt and amazingly, it came. Now Jesse could touch its muzzle. She reached out, hoping the colt would let her touch it. It did. The colt still had its baby fur.
Just then Jesse heard a soft whinny coming from the trees behind her. She whirled around and there, standing in the sunlight, was a beautiful black mare. The mare whinnied again and started toward the copper colt. The colt tried to tug away from Jesse’s grip and toward the black mare. Amazed, Jesse tried to figure out this connection between these two horses, and then gasped. A colt and a mare? There was only one reason. The colt must have been the black mare’s foal!
She started slowly toward the black mare. The mare kept coming toward its colt, which was following behind Jesse. Soon they met up in the middle of the clearing. The mare ignored her and started over to her colt. When they came close, the two horses nuzzled each other in recognition.
Then Jesse had another idea. She quickly and quietly got back on Ghost. Holding the colt’s rope in one hand, Ghost’s mane in the other, Jesse led Ghost carefully over to a towering oak tree. She got off Ghost and tugged on the rope until she had enough extra rope to tie it to the tree. She tied the rope and then got back on Ghost. Just as she had planned, the black mare stayed side by side with her colt.
Jesse started off back into the woods where she had uncovered the rope and the ax. When she got to the hole, she got off Ghost and started digging deeper than she had before. When she got deep enough, she sighed. There, in the hole, were thirty coils of rope. She took ten of the coils, slung them over her shoulder, and mounted Ghost (yet again). When she got back to the place where she had tied the colt, the mare was still side by side with him. Quickly she tied one of the coils of rope into a loop like she had done before. She circled the rope above her head and brought it down on the black mare’s neck. The mare only did as much as whinny.
Jesse dismounted Ghost and went over to the black mare quickly. A tiny flutter of movement in the mare’s stomach made her understand. The mare was in foal! Quickly she tied the black mare to the same tree as the colt and then got back on Ghost. She dropped the other nine ropes down at the black mare’s side. Then she cantered off with Ghost into the deepest part of the woods.
When she was there, Jesse started to hack at the thickest tree. When she finally cut through the thick tree, it fell to the ground with a boom. She rubbed her arm in pain. It hurt from cutting down that big, thick tree. Jesse walked over to the fallen tree and started cutting it into small pieces that were a few feet tall. When she had cut the tree up, she took about five of the pieces and piled them on Ghost’s back and then climbed up and grabbed the pieces so they would not fall off. Then she rode Ghost back to the open field.
Chapter 3
When she reached the black mare and the colt, she dismounted and got to work. She started to build a little shelter for the night. She used bricks from the house and the pieces of wood she had cut. When she finally was finished, it was deep into the night. She could hear wolves howling in the distance.
Suddenly, something in the trees to her left moved. She swirled around to stare at it. Then, a pack of wolves emerged from the shadows. The wolves growled and barked. They started slinking toward her. Jesse was too scared to move. Then, from behind her, Ghost galloped up and lowered his neck. Jesse jumped on his back and they galloped through the night as fast as they could. The wolves gave chase and followed them. There was no moon out that night, and Jesse could not see where she was going. She knew she had to keep going or be food for the wolves. Ghost was tiring out from the long run, but Jesse urged her on. The wolves almost caught up to them when Ghost tried to stop and graze on a patch of grass. Finally the wolves gave up on that source of food and ran away.
“Phew,” said Jesse, and turned Ghost around back toward the cabin. Ghost was breathing deeply, and Jesse allowed her to go as slow as she wanted. When they finally got to the cabin, it was well past midnight. She tied Ghost to the cabin with one of the ropes. Then she went inside the cabin. Inside there was hard ground, and she knew she would not be able to get to sleep. So she went back out and gathered a few soft leaves to go on the floor as a mattress. When she finally got to sleep, it was almost 6 in the morning. The wolves had kept her awake, and she had gotten almost no sleep that night.
The next day Jesse knew she would have to go back to the copper colt and the mare. She mounted Ghost and rode over to the tree she had tied them to. The colt whinnied as Jesse came closer. Jesse thought to herself, “Well, if I’m going to save them, I’d better give them names.” She decided to call the copper colt Penny and the mare Dime. She had always liked the names of coins. She picked up the nine coils of rope she had left beside the mare and she went back into the forest to look for more horses. When she found one – the clessensdale she had seen earlier – she tied the rope in a loop and swung it over the horse’s head. This horse was stronger than the colt, and Jesse had to use all her strength to pull it along to the tree where the other horses were. She tied it to the tree and thought about a name. She decided on Quarter. She left Quarter, Dime and Penny at the tree and rode Ghost into the forest looking for more horses.
When she got deep into the woods, she stopped. In front of her, caught in a trap, was a badly hurt wolf. The wolf tried to defend itself, but it was too hurt. Jesse slowed Ghost to a halt and dismounted. The wolf squirmed, but it could not free itself from the trap. Jesse stepped closer to examine what type of trap it was. She found out that it was a very easy trap to break through. She came closer to the wolf and started trying to undo the trap. The wolf growled and turned its head as if it would try to bite her, but it was in too much pain. Instead, it turned back and lay motionless. When Jesse finally got the trap undone, the wolf stood up on trembling legs. The wolf had a badly bleeding back paw and its snout had a deep scratch in it. The wolf turned around, trembling, and licked Jesse. Jesse wearily reached out a hand to the wolf and touched its back. Jesse couldn’t believe how lucky she was. The wolf licked her hand. Jesse scratched its head and the wolf started walking away. “Wow,” said Jesse in low whisper.
Alone in the world . . . can Jesse save the horses?
Chapter 1
Jesse peered out of the cellar door. As far as the eye could see, it was disaster. There had been tornados coming right through this neighborhood all week. They had been hitting in some other places too, but mostly in her city. Unfortunately, in her city meant right on her neighborhood. The grass was pulled up from the ground and the ground was bare.
Suddenly, Jesse remembered her horse, Ghost. “Ghost!” she gasped, and ran back into her backyard, or what was left of her backyard. And there was Ghost, standing on the highest hill. The gates around the paddock were gone. Unfortunately, everything was gone in this city. Even most of the houses were blown away. Well, with about two weeks of tornados, you could expect it. Jesse’s house was in pieces. Ghost was lucky that she didn’t get swept away by all the tornados this week too.
“Ghost!” Jesse called in a sing-song voice. Ghost whinnied and then cantered down the hill toward her. Jesse went to the stable – or what was left of it. She was looking for the saddles and the bridles, but they had also been swept away. Ghost whinnied again. It seemed to say, “Hurry – I’m ready to go.” Well, Jesse thought, with no saddles or bridles, I guess I’ll have to go bareback. She was used to going bareback, but she only went on short walks around the paddock. Now she was going to have to try cantering and galloping and she knew it was going to be very difficult. Well, I’d better get started, she thought, and called for Ghost again. Ghost, now excited, galloped toward her.
“Good girl,” Jesse said, and led Ghost over to a pile of bricks. She climbed up to the top of the bricks and Ghost, as if she knew exactly what Jesse was doing, lowered her head to make it easier for Jesse to get on. Jesse climbed on Ghost’s back and then gasped again. There, standing only a few meters away, was a copper-brown horse, a chestnut, a grey, and a Clydesdale standing together in a group.
Jesse inched closer to the group of horses, and then stopped. The chestnut was looking directly at her eyes. He seemed to say, ‘Stop; don’t come any closer.’ “Good girl, Ghost,” Jesse murmured. Ghost whinnied uncomfortably.
Suddenly, the chestnut reared. He neighed as loudly as Jesse could imagine, and then took off. The others reared too. The copper-brown one bucked. Then they all took off like the wind after the chestnut. “Wow wee,” said Jesse.
Then it came to her. Since all the tornadoes had come, all the horses’ fences must have broken, and all the horses must have gotten out. Jesse realized how much danger all the horses were in, but she didn’t think that the horses themselves knew.
Then Jesse knew what she had to do. Quickly she went over to the woods right beside what used to be her house. When she was deep in the middle of the forest, she stopped and began to dig with her hands. When she got down deep, she stopped. She brushed away a little bit of the dirt, and took a rope, an ax, and a compass out of the ground. She had buried things in case of the tornadoes that usually hit. She didn’t know she would need them so soon.
Quickly she put the rope over her shoulder and left the compass in the hole she had dug. She covered the hole halfway up with dirt and started to run back out of the forest. Suddenly she stopped. Amazed, she gazed in front of her. There, in the middle of the forest, were 20-30 quarter horses.
“Wow,” she thought to herself. “I really need to get started.” She tried to not make a sudden movement for the horses were like wild if they had been out for a week. As soon as she moved just an inch, the leader of the herd whinnied louder (if it was possible) than the chestnut that was standing by her house. The leader had a wild look on his face. The others stared at her. Then as suddenly as she had run into them, they were gone. “Wow,” said Jesse again.
Chapter 2
Jesse ran as fast as she could out of the woods to mount Ghost. When she got on Ghost’s back, she held on tightly to his mane with the rope and the ax still in her hand. “Yah!” she said, and Ghost galloped across the plain. “Whoa, girl!” she said. And Ghost came to a sudden halt. The first group of horses that she had seen was standing in front of her, only with the “leader” gone. She inched Ghost closer to the group, and when she got close enough, trying to not make sudden movements again, tied one end of the rope into a loop. She inched Ghost a few steps closer, then stopped. The closest horse to her was the copper-brown one. Ghost neighed and pawed the ground nervously. Then suddenly, Jesse picked up the rope and threw it over the copper-brown horse’s head and tightened it. All of the horses whinnied with fright and all ran away but the copper one.
Jesse pulled the copper horse closer to her. The horse tried to hold back, but Jesse was too strong for it. As it came nearer, she could make out what breed it was and about how old it was. This horse was a colt. It was a thoroughbred and it seemed very shy. “Come on, good horse,” said Jesse as she pulled the horse nearer still. When the horse was only a few feet away, she dismounted Ghost and started making her way closer to the colt. The colt neighed and backed away.
“Come on,” said Jesse again. These words seemed to comfort the colt, and it stopped trying to get away. Now up close, Jesse could tell that the colt was a boy. She pulled the colt and amazingly, it came. Now Jesse could touch its muzzle. She reached out, hoping the colt would let her touch it. It did. The colt still had its baby fur.
Just then Jesse heard a soft whinny coming from the trees behind her. She whirled around and there, standing in the sunlight, was a beautiful black mare. The mare whinnied again and started toward the copper colt. The colt tried to tug away from Jesse’s grip and toward the black mare. Amazed, Jesse tried to figure out this connection between these two horses, and then gasped. A colt and a mare? There was only one reason. The colt must have been the black mare’s foal!
She started slowly toward the black mare. The mare kept coming toward its colt, which was following behind Jesse. Soon they met up in the middle of the clearing. The mare ignored her and started over to her colt. When they came close, the two horses nuzzled each other in recognition.
Then Jesse had another idea. She quickly and quietly got back on Ghost. Holding the colt’s rope in one hand, Ghost’s mane in the other, Jesse led Ghost carefully over to a towering oak tree. She got off Ghost and tugged on the rope until she had enough extra rope to tie it to the tree. She tied the rope and then got back on Ghost. Just as she had planned, the black mare stayed side by side with her colt.
Jesse started off back into the woods where she had uncovered the rope and the ax. When she got to the hole, she got off Ghost and started digging deeper than she had before. When she got deep enough, she sighed. There, in the hole, were thirty coils of rope. She took ten of the coils, slung them over her shoulder, and mounted Ghost (yet again). When she got back to the place where she had tied the colt, the mare was still side by side with him. Quickly she tied one of the coils of rope into a loop like she had done before. She circled the rope above her head and brought it down on the black mare’s neck. The mare only did as much as whinny.
Jesse dismounted Ghost and went over to the black mare quickly. A tiny flutter of movement in the mare’s stomach made her understand. The mare was in foal! Quickly she tied the black mare to the same tree as the colt and then got back on Ghost. She dropped the other nine ropes down at the black mare’s side. Then she cantered off with Ghost into the deepest part of the woods.
When she was there, Jesse started to hack at the thickest tree. When she finally cut through the thick tree, it fell to the ground with a boom. She rubbed her arm in pain. It hurt from cutting down that big, thick tree. Jesse walked over to the fallen tree and started cutting it into small pieces that were a few feet tall. When she had cut the tree up, she took about five of the pieces and piled them on Ghost’s back and then climbed up and grabbed the pieces so they would not fall off. Then she rode Ghost back to the open field.
Chapter 3
When she reached the black mare and the colt, she dismounted and got to work. She started to build a little shelter for the night. She used bricks from the house and the pieces of wood she had cut. When she finally was finished, it was deep into the night. She could hear wolves howling in the distance.
Suddenly, something in the trees to her left moved. She swirled around to stare at it. Then, a pack of wolves emerged from the shadows. The wolves growled and barked. They started slinking toward her. Jesse was too scared to move. Then, from behind her, Ghost galloped up and lowered his neck. Jesse jumped on his back and they galloped through the night as fast as they could. The wolves gave chase and followed them. There was no moon out that night, and Jesse could not see where she was going. She knew she had to keep going or be food for the wolves. Ghost was tiring out from the long run, but Jesse urged her on. The wolves almost caught up to them when Ghost tried to stop and graze on a patch of grass. Finally the wolves gave up on that source of food and ran away.
“Phew,” said Jesse, and turned Ghost around back toward the cabin. Ghost was breathing deeply, and Jesse allowed her to go as slow as she wanted. When they finally got to the cabin, it was well past midnight. She tied Ghost to the cabin with one of the ropes. Then she went inside the cabin. Inside there was hard ground, and she knew she would not be able to get to sleep. So she went back out and gathered a few soft leaves to go on the floor as a mattress. When she finally got to sleep, it was almost 6 in the morning. The wolves had kept her awake, and she had gotten almost no sleep that night.
The next day Jesse knew she would have to go back to the copper colt and the mare. She mounted Ghost and rode over to the tree she had tied them to. The colt whinnied as Jesse came closer. Jesse thought to herself, “Well, if I’m going to save them, I’d better give them names.” She decided to call the copper colt Penny and the mare Dime. She had always liked the names of coins. She picked up the nine coils of rope she had left beside the mare and she went back into the forest to look for more horses. When she found one – the clessensdale she had seen earlier – she tied the rope in a loop and swung it over the horse’s head. This horse was stronger than the colt, and Jesse had to use all her strength to pull it along to the tree where the other horses were. She tied it to the tree and thought about a name. She decided on Quarter. She left Quarter, Dime and Penny at the tree and rode Ghost into the forest looking for more horses.
When she got deep into the woods, she stopped. In front of her, caught in a trap, was a badly hurt wolf. The wolf tried to defend itself, but it was too hurt. Jesse slowed Ghost to a halt and dismounted. The wolf squirmed, but it could not free itself from the trap. Jesse stepped closer to examine what type of trap it was. She found out that it was a very easy trap to break through. She came closer to the wolf and started trying to undo the trap. The wolf growled and turned its head as if it would try to bite her, but it was in too much pain. Instead, it turned back and lay motionless. When Jesse finally got the trap undone, the wolf stood up on trembling legs. The wolf had a badly bleeding back paw and its snout had a deep scratch in it. The wolf turned around, trembling, and licked Jesse. Jesse wearily reached out a hand to the wolf and touched its back. Jesse couldn’t believe how lucky she was. The wolf licked her hand. Jesse scratched its head and the wolf started walking away. “Wow,” said Jesse in low whisper.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Animal Sanctuary
When I grow up, I want to have my own animal sanctuary. My desire is that I'll have one of every animal in the world. The animals that are endangered I might have a male and a female of. I'm going to have a sanctuary for all the animals. It will be two miles wide, and there will be a vegetarian side and a predator side. They'll be separated by a rock wall. There'll be misters in the ceiling that I can set to rain on certain days. They'll mist in the morning and fog at mid-day. There's going to be a river that goes under the wall, and there's going to be fish in the river for the predators. The river is going to go underground and come back up where it started. The water will get filtered under the ground and then recycled. There's going to be a nursery underneath it where I'll put all the baby animals and their moms.
On both sides the habitats are going to be caves, jungles, fields, and plains. On the predator side, in the fields I might put foxes and coyotes. In the plains, there's going to be hyenas and lions, and cheetahs. In the caves bears will live. And in the jungle tigers and leopards and jaguars will live. On the vegetarian side, in the fields will be rabbits, deer, and field mice. On the plains there's going to be buffalo and elephants, giraffes and zebras, and kangaroos. In the caves bats will live. In the jungle is going to be monkeys and koalas.
The sanctuary is going to be located in West Texas because it's got lots of space. Because it's so big I'm going to need a lot of help. The jobs are going to be: 20 people run the nursery, 80 or 90 people to get small rodents for the predator side, 40 or 50 people to catch the fish for the predator side, 10 maintenance people to fix the misters, some people to get the seeds for the plants on both sides, somebody to get all the rocks, somebody to build the gate, and finally someone to actually build the sanctuary with me.
Friday, April 18, 2008
My class field trip
A few days ago we went to the Dallas zoo for a class field trip. My group was Brin and Maeven. In the bus, it was very noisy. I sat with Trey and Brin. We talked about the flowers we saw. When we got there, I found my chaperone, Ms. Newell, waiting for us. She led us into the zoo. First we looked at all the monkeys. We saw baboons, gorillas, orangatans and chimpanzees. Next we saw the penguins. Their cage was really cool because their cage was water and it had glass in the water so we could see the penguins swimming. When we left, the guy was feeding them. After that we went on the monorail. We saw all kinds of animals. Brin even said she saw a gecko on one of the leaves! I was most fascinated with the ostrich that just had eggs. The eggs were huge!
After the monorail we went to lunch. We had lunch at the children's zoo. There were metal animals everywhere. There was a little manmade brook. It had a few waterfalls too. After lunch we saw some huge fish and petted a bunny. The bunny's fur was really soft. On the way out of the children's zoo, my group talked about the metal animals. Some people were afraid of the metal rattlesnakes. My teacher, Ms. Butts, had come with us to see the cheetahs, giraffes, and elephants. First we saw the giraffes. They were eating leaves off a tree. I could see its tongue. It was purple! Brin and Maeven thought it was really funny. Next we saw some birds. I saw two American Eagles. One I could only see the tail feathers, and the other looked really really handsome. We also saw a hawk. It was huge! I think it was as big as my sister Avalie!
Next we saw the camel. It was sitting in the shade. Its shade was provided by a little hut with no walls. The roof was made out of hay. Then we saw some cheetahs. There were two. One was out in the sunlight and the other was out in the shade. Cheetahs are my favorite animal. Next we saw some kangaroos. There were hundreds of them. I even saw a joey! Last me and Brin sat on a bench while we were waiting for the rest of my class and played with caterpillars. Once we were back at the school, Ms. Butts gave me back my camera because I had given it to her when it ran out of batteries. The zoo was really fun!
After the monorail we went to lunch. We had lunch at the children's zoo. There were metal animals everywhere. There was a little manmade brook. It had a few waterfalls too. After lunch we saw some huge fish and petted a bunny. The bunny's fur was really soft. On the way out of the children's zoo, my group talked about the metal animals. Some people were afraid of the metal rattlesnakes. My teacher, Ms. Butts, had come with us to see the cheetahs, giraffes, and elephants. First we saw the giraffes. They were eating leaves off a tree. I could see its tongue. It was purple! Brin and Maeven thought it was really funny. Next we saw some birds. I saw two American Eagles. One I could only see the tail feathers, and the other looked really really handsome. We also saw a hawk. It was huge! I think it was as big as my sister Avalie!
Next we saw the camel. It was sitting in the shade. Its shade was provided by a little hut with no walls. The roof was made out of hay. Then we saw some cheetahs. There were two. One was out in the sunlight and the other was out in the shade. Cheetahs are my favorite animal. Next we saw some kangaroos. There were hundreds of them. I even saw a joey! Last me and Brin sat on a bench while we were waiting for the rest of my class and played with caterpillars. Once we were back at the school, Ms. Butts gave me back my camera because I had given it to her when it ran out of batteries. The zoo was really fun!
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