Excerpt from the ranch book I mentioned in yesterday's TFTD thread:

The sun barely blushed the horizon, the meadowlarks tuning up when I heard a soft snuffle near my ear. Thinking the soft touch was a cat I reached up to give a soothing pat, when I felt a faint brush of air pass my face. Knowing it was time to wake up anyway, I propped open a sleepy eye and saw a horse's head coming through our bedroom window.

Fleet, the patriarch of the prairie, well at least our patch of it, was standing there, impatiently demanding his breakfast of rolled oats, corn, and molasses. If we were going to sleep with an open, unscreened window, letting cats go in and out, then we'd better not keep a horse from making his presence known in much the same manner! I could just see the wheels turning in his clever head, imagine him slinging first one foreleg, then the other, over the windowsill, heaving his awesome sixteen-hand bulk through the too small window. I am sure he would gladly have joined us on the waterbed if only there'd been a way. As it was he had no problem in getting our attention. Even if I'd wanted to roll over and sleep some more I couldn't have with those flashing white teeth hanging over my head.

By then the other household creatures were astir and equally vocal about their need for sustenance. Wrinkles (our dog) tap-tapping his tail, quietly letting me know he was ready and on duty; the cats declaring their mock-starvation in strident strains of yesterday's refrains; the ducks and geese muttering and outright screeching their opinion of late-opening cafeterias; the cockatiel and finch busily greeting the sun with happy, lilting whistles.

What a wonderful way to wake up. I loved it. It was my heaven; a barren patch of dry dusty prairie atop a hill of sagebrush, cacti, and scrub grass swept clean of lingering winter. A strong affirmation of the eternity of life; the cycle which turns round and round from one spiral to the next; a continuity of ever-changing, ever-lasting life without end.

©1996 K. LaFrance All Rights Reserved