a/n: First post (waves). Please review & critique! You are my lifeblood.

Horse Feathers

Ch 1.

It rained for so long and so hard that I chased behind Grandmother everywhere carrying a large plastic tub in my hands. The tub became so heavy I had to drop it on the floor. Grandmother wasn’t mad. She picked up the tub and handed it back to me. “Uh oh,” was all she said.

Despite Grandmother needing my help, I had a selfish and irresistible urge to go play outside while the grass was still matted and the mud still muddy and the sky as strange as in the pictures from the books I had lately started reading to Grandmother.

Grandmother understood my curiosity and let me go with a smile. “Put on your galoshes. Don’t get those leather shoes muddy! And wear a sweater.”

Armed so, I inspected the village streets. Nicky, my dad’s dog and my big brother, followed me with wagging tail.

I was standing alone outside, as everyone else’s children were forced to stay indoors in fear of dampchills. I was making my galoshes feel strong in the ugly mud on a neighbor’s yard, when, out of the corner of my eyes, I saw something run by.

My hands covered my ears as Nicky barked.

Turning my head in that direction, I made time just enough to see a boy just my age stop, turning his head to look at me. I saw he was all naked and strange. Everything about him made me curious. Well, he wasn’t right at all, and when he looked me in the eye I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t the curious one. His eyes were all bugged at me, like he was afraid of me seeing him at all.

Slowly, his eyes became softer and I saw their color was the blue of the story book pages and as bright as Grandma’s rings on top the dresser. I didn’t say anything. I could only look into the boy’s eyes and wonder about how strange he was. Neither did he say anything to me, but just a sudden he was running again and was swallowed whole by a puddle on the side of the road. My eyes watered as he disappeared.

Three seconds later, I wetted. Horrified and embarrassed at all that had happened (especially at my lack of self-control), I cried. Grandmother couldn’t hear me from our house, so I had to walk myself feeling awfully neglected by the world, even as Nicky tried to lick my face.

When I changed clothes, I told Grandmother everything that happened. Thinking I was telling the tyke’s fibs, she just laughed and smiled. When I was changed, she set me up in her rocking chair with her and turned on the T.V. Soon I fell asleep and dreamt about horses.

They were cold but only to the touch. Their coats were darkness, a black so dark they shined blue. I felt each one’s side with my hand, choosing which I would ride. One with clear blue eyes stared seriously. It waited while the other horses stomped their feet softly.

I became so light that I shifted my weight onto my tip toes and jumped onto this horse’s back. My legs and arms were cold, like swimming in the lake, my fingers numb where I twisted a grip in its mane. All these things passed quickly, till the horses became as light as I had mounting, and we all kicked off the paved streets to jump into the sky.

The first jump did not obtain our goal. We only came four feet off the ground. The next jump sent us above the rooftops, but it was the third that sent us clear into the sky. Looking around my horse’s neck, I could see my village from a bird’s view. The wind made my soul a different quality. I became light-weight— a feather that didn’t mean much at all.

I never wanted to leave the sky. I never wanted to go back.

Not much precious time had passed when I fell back into myself. I woke up and heard a woman’s voice singing on the T.V.

Behind me, Grandmother was sleeping heavily. Feeling my weight shift on her lap, she sat up. “Oh, heavens! It’s dark. I guess we’d better wake up then.”

I climbed out of her lap and became excited. “I dreamt about horses, and we were riding in the sky, and they were the prettiest ever!”

Grandmother might have understood all about the boy when I woke up and told her my dream if I could have explained in better words about my flight with horses. She might even have been able to warn me— if only I had been able to find the right words.

Instead, she checked my forehead for damp chills casually, as if not to upset me at her disbelief. It was common knowledge that damp chills always brought the best dreams. Stretching, she went into the kitchen and brought me with her. “It might have been your grandfather. He raised horses. He loved them very much. Maybe he came to visit you, hm?”

Hearing about Grandfather, I grew confused. In my dream, I had been very sure that the horse I was riding had been the boy from that same morning. And now I wasn’t sure who it had been, or if it had been anything at all. Thinking that knowing Grandfather’s name might sort it all out, I asked, “Grandpa... What was his name?”

“William. And do you remember what my name is? I have a name other than Grandma, you know.”

I thought for a second. “It’s Goodie.”

Grandmother nodded. “And how about daddy?”

I had to remember for more seconds than I’d have liked to. Frowning, I said, “Will.”

“See? You remember just fine.”

“Oh, right.” I felt terribly ashamed. But I couldn’t feel too ashamed. That’s what Grandma Goodie was good at; making people feel comfortable.

“And your daddy’s coming home tomorrow. It’ll be nice to have him back home.”

I couldn’t agree. I was too young to think about things in that many comparisons.

After dinner, I played with dolls and made one out to be the boy with blue eyes, who was a prince from another world. The other was a princess off my favorite movie. I didn’t think much of anything besides that they were a couple and naturally wanted to drive cars and have babies.