Chisel Creek: The Adventures of Stripe and Brady

The Orphan

Stripe woke up bright and early to catch the sun rising over the horizon. Bright gold light flooded the valley. Stripe took a deep breath, taking in the scents around him. Grass. Hay. Manure. Fruit and vegetable crops.
Yes, Stripe thought to himself, this is the life I want. This is the life I need!
He stepped off of his porch and down to the barn. There he met his one and only horse, a pretty painted mare named Pocahontas. She always greeted her owner with a pleasant nicker and an invitation to pet her nose. Stripe obliged while also giving her a carrot. Crunch crunch crunch, gulp!
"C'mon girl!" Stripe smiled while opening her stall door, "We have to go into town for some groceries!"
Stripe didn't have a lot of money. As a matter of fact, he had so little that he couldn't even afford to buy a car. He just lived alone in the country with his one painted mare. He didn't even have a saddle for her yet. He rode around bareback, steering her with only a rope halter. Stripe knew he should save up some money for a saddle, but he was saving up for something else. Something he thought was very important.
Stripe wanted to start a breeding farm, where he would buy lots of mares and stallions to be mommies and daddies to new baby horses, and when those baby horses grew up, he would sell them and make lots of money. For now though, he was just starting out.
Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop went Pocahontas' hooves against the dusty dirt road. Stripe grew a lot of crops on his farm, so he didn't often need to buy groceries. When he did though, he would simply have to carry the bags while balancing on top of Pocahontas. On many horses, this would be unsafe, but Pocahontas was a very good horse. All Stripe had to do was sit on her back, give her rump a pat, and hold onto the groceries, and Pocahontas would take them both home without having to be steered. Pocahontas loved Stripe very much.
"I think I'll buy some noodles today and make a pasta loaded with delicious, farm fresh vegetables for dinner!" Stripe said to Pocahontas.
The kind mare neighed happily at the sound of his voice. She didn't usually understand what Stripe said, but she would always try her best during the times when it mattered the most.
Stripe looked to the left and right. The road was lined on each side with corn stalks. "They look like they're almost ready to be harvested!" Stripe cheered. However, his good mood soon came to an end when Pocahontas stopped very quickly, almost causing Stripe to fall off. At first, Stripe thought that Pocahontas may have gotten hurt, but when he looked down at the trail in front of him, he was shocked!
There sat a little tan-colored kitty cat. He didn't even look to be a teenager yet. Without even thinking, Stripe blurted out frustratedly, "Hey kid! Don't you know not to sit in the middle of a road?!"
The little tan kitty cat looked startled. It was already scary enough that a big, giant horse was looming over him, but it's rider was yelling at him. He stuttered, "I-I'm so sorry! I'll be more careful!" Then he scooted his way out of the road and between some corn stalks.
Stripe took a deep breath and calmed down, "I'm sorry I yelled. You just scared me and my horse. Where is your mother? Are you all alone out here?"
The tan kitty cat's face drooped sadly as he answered, "I don't know where my mother is. I haven't known for years. I suppose that would make me an orphan."
Stripe paused, he didn't know what to say.
The tan kitty cat interrupted Stripe's train of thought, "Do you live on this road? Is this all your corn?"
"Yes," Stripe answered.
"Well," the tan kitty cat sighed, "I guess I should give this to you," he said while holding out some corn he was hiding, "if it belongs to you, I ought not steal it. I promise I didn't eat any. I was about to. I just didn't realize this corn belonged to anyone."
Stripe held out his paw for the little tan kitty and replied, "Don't worry about the corn. You must be so hungry. I'm gonna take you to my house and cook you up something nice and healthy to fill you up!"
The tan kitty's eyes lit up with hope and happiness. He grabbed Stripe's paw and jumped onto the nice mare's back.
"Do you have a name?" Stripe asked
"Yes! My name is Brady!"
"Well Brady," Stripe smiled, "I hope you like big omelettes full of vegetables and cheese!"

That evening, long after Brady had not only eaten the omelette, but stayed longer for a helping of pasta, Stripe went down to the barn to muck out Pocahontas' stall. Once it was nice and clean, he'd gone back to the house to find that Brady wasn't there.
Oh no, Stripe thought to himself, I know he's an orphan and is used to being on his own, but it would be so much safer for him to spend a night here!
Frenzied and worried, Stripe ran back outside calling, "Brady! Brady! BRAAADYYY!!"
He looked everywhere he could think of. In the fields, between the crops, beside the manure pile, in the shed, in the house one more time, and even way out on the path where he'd found Brady earlier. The young kitty was nowhere to be found. Stripe thought for a moment that perhaps Brady made a run for it. He had no idea why he would do that, but if he did, then Stripe wasn't going to sleep until he knew Brady was safe somewhere.
Stripe ran toward the barn, grabbing Pocahontas' rope halter and preparing to gallop his mare deep into the night, not stopping until he found the runaway orphan. That was when Stripe realized he had looked for Brady everywhere on the farm except for one place, and that one place is where he sat. Down on the stall floor on a pile of itchy straw bedding, right in between Pocahontas' front hooves. Pocahontas meanwhile was standing perfectly still with her nose perched lightly on the top of Brady's head.
Stripe smiled and went into the stall. Even though Brady looked comfortable, Stripe woke him and said, "Brady, please come into the house. It'll get cold out here, and I have a spare bedroom. Besides, it's really unsafe to lay in between a horse's hooves. What if Pocca accidentally steps on you?"
Brady rolled over and went back to sleep, too tired to even hear what Stripe had said. Pocahontas looked up at stripe and shoved him gently with her snout, then placed it very gently back on Brady as if to say, I won't hurt him. I'm protecting him!
"Alright girl, I'll let him stay. You have to be careful though!" Stripe warned.
Pocahontas let out a gentle snort as she slowly began to fall asleep while standing up. Stripe closed her stall door and went back to the house. That night, Brady had happy dreams about riding a horse through the big, open fields on Stripe's farm and eating all the omelettes he could fit in his stomach. For a little kitty who had been an orphan struggling to survive all his life, that day was Brady's best day ever.
Pocahontas was very happy too. She very much loved having Brady in her stall, just like he was her very own foal. She'd always hoped to someday be able to have a real foal, but until then, she'd be very happy to protect and love Brady. She really hoped that Stripe would let Brady stay forever!

Horsey Fun Facts: Pocahontas is a paint horse. Most paint horses are either white with colorful splotches, or a certain color with white splotches. However, some paint horses are just one color with no splotches at all! These are called "solid paints." A black and white paint horse like Pocahontas is called a "piebald." Brown and white paint horses are called "skewbald." There is no specific names for any other color varieties of paint horse, but many more exist other than piebalds and skewbalds!