September Story Contest
Things Change
by microphone & Black Mist age12Things change and then are unchangeable. Something like this happened to Emma, a ten year old girl, in January 2009. Something that would change her life forever, and make her heart ache and she would cry. Her best friend passed away. Someone whom she loved dearly, and still yearns for today. Someone who still owns most of her heart. Windancer, an Arabian mare with more than kindness in her brown eyes. Love, pure and true, love.
THE BEGINNING
The first day Emma had a lesson at Applecreek Stables she was seven. The wind was howling, but the stable was a little warmer. Emma had had her clothes picked out for ages for this lesson. She rode Molly, a liver chestnut horse with an interrupted stripe on her face and one white hind foot. She was nervous, but she enjoyed her lesson so much that her mother signed her up for Applecreek’s Horse Camp. For a whole week Emma rode Bob (Blackhawk’s all that Jazz) and learnt about cleaning and grooming and riding. But then it was over. But riding wasn’t. After that Emma went every Saturday to ride. As she got older, she was allowed to groom her horse by herself. Mostly she rode Count on Victory and Molly. But then Linda asked her to ride a privately owned horse, Irish. Irish’s owner had fallen after Irish colicked and fell and was scared to ride her. Irish was a gorgeous red chestnut with a lot of spunk. But she colicked again and died, and she rode Count and Molly again. And then one day, Emma saw her…
THE MEETING
Emma was nine when she first saw Windancer, the flea-bitten grey Arabian mare that she would learn to love. Emma asked who that was. “That’s Windy,” Said Linda. Emma worked harder than ever to get to Windy’s level. Finally, in about February, Linda said she could ride Windy. Emma was very nervous but she kept telling herself she wasn’t afraid. And she thoroughly enjoyed her first ride on an Arabian. Emma groomed Windy and then went home and told her parent’s about her ride on an Arab!
THE YEAR OF LOVE
Emma and Windancer only had a year with each other. But in that year she and Windancer formed a once-in-a-lifetime bond that could never be broken. In December Emma made the horses stockings and put homemade horse-cookies in them.
But then Windy got terribly sick, deathly sick. And she was starting to get better…THE ENDING
On a Saturday in January Emma was watching her little brother’s Pinewood Derby race. “It’s nine, I’d better call her.” Emma was planning to take care of Windy for the day. She called Linda and asked her if she could. She was shocked at the answer. She returned to her seat, holding back a flood of tears. “What did she say?” Asked Louise, Emma’s mom. “Windy’s dead,” And then Emma started sobbing uncontrollably. “She said I could take care of Molly though,” So Randy (Emma’s dad) drove her to the stable. She groomed and swept and that helped her. And she personally has some advice to share with others.
She says, “For any of those who’ve just lost or are losing horses, spend time with them and say goodbye. Make them happy while they are still alive and then make the other horses happy when they die. Your favorite horse wouldn’t want you to stop living because they’re dead. They want their friends to love you too. So no matter what, don’t stop loving things because they’ll die. Just keep living.” Emma.
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Written by Microphone and Black Mist. I still cry about her and understand your pain if you’ve lost a person or animal. I could write a list about how many pets I’ve lost, but it would be long.
#1 Franklin, my favorite rabbit
#2 Sparkle, a rabbit
#3 Twinkle, a rabbit
#4 Tosh, a cat
#5 Bart, a cat
#6 Maya, a cat
#7 Roofus, a cat
#8 Jemmie, a cat
#9 Windancer, a horse