Cracker-Jack

Chapter five

There was dried mud caked so much on my right eye, I couldent even open it. I felt cool liquid+ dripping down my back, it was still raining, I lifted my head up to let the rain rinse off the mud. Everything hurts. My stomach is cramping so much because I was hungry, my neck and leg are so sore, and my joints are stiff. Not only that, but I have nothing. No food, no water, no freedom to walk, and I don't even have a real owner. I heard spurs ticking toward my direction. I looked up. Master stumbled down to my direction carrying a copper, glass bottle. He was drunk. He wobbled toward me, unable to get in a straight line. He took a last swig and threw the bottle at a tree, shattering it.

 "Let's go to that rodeo, Jack," Master came and sat on my back. 

 "We are going to win this time!" His words were so slurred I could barely here what he was saying. He squeezed his legs on my aching sides and grabbed my mane.

 "Gid' up, Jack," he dug his spurs into my ribs. "Get up, Jack!" The more he pulled my head up with my mane, the more he tugged on the barbwire on my neck and leg. Thunder crashed and the sky turned into a bright purple and white.

 "That was the starting gun, Jack, we are going to lose! Get up!" He smack my hind quarters as he continuously dug his spurs in my skin. All of the sudden, a loud siren filled the air, the kind that filled the air when those men in the red and white van came. Master let go of my mane, I could feel his whole body tense up. "Oh, no," Master got off of me and tried to run to his house, I watched him run away.

 No, save me!

 He ran all the way to the fence-line, he tried to climb over, but he just fell face first into the ground, knocking his hat off of his head. He just laid there, motionless. The sirens that I heard grew louder as blue, red, and white lights pulled into our driveway. Men in blue uniforms ran out to Master's house until another man pointed at Master's motionless body. They ran to him, holding their hats as the wind whistled through the trees. I nickered at them with all my strength, it was a soft, weak nicker, but it was all I had. As one of the men talked into their black, devise another one looked up at me as I neighed to them. I am going to die today. I rested my head back down in the mud. The world began to spin, everything was a blur.

I am going to die today.

 I heard someone jog up to me, it was that man that looked up at me when I called. He looked down at me with a flashlight then shifted his eyes to my neck and leg, he turned to the other men and waved his hands. His voice was muffled, but I could barely hear.

 "Hey, we have a horse over here!" He kneeled down beside me. "Easy, boy, we will help you,"

 "We will help you,"

Those words echoed in my head as the world began to fade out.

I flinched as he stroked my face.

I havent been touched in months except when master hits me. It felt nice. Another man in the same uniform jogged up to us. The man petting me looked up at him.

 "Call the emergencey animal clinic, this horse needs help." Red and white lights flashed into our driveway as some men from the same van that carried away that woman from Master's home came out and tended to master, who was now awake. Then a trucked pulled in behind the red and white van, it had a big trailer behind it. Then a group of people, men and women ran to me in tan uniforms carrying strange scissors. One of the men kneeled beside me with the scissors and cut off the rusted barbire. Pain surged throughout my body as they tore it off my skin.

 "Easy, boy, whoa," a woman in a tan uniform said. She had blonde curly hair that brushed her shoulders, I had to squint to see her, rain drops pounded on my eyes. All sounds were muffled and I began to close my eyes, I just had the sudden feeling of exhaustion. After the barbwire was off the woman slipped a red halter over my head and clipped a long rope on it. Everyone else got around me and put their hands on my stomach, sides, and shoulders. Then everything was silent. No rain. No humans. There was a lot of sunshine, my tail was grown to its normal length, I swished it all over my body, it was clean, free of mud. I looked back at my body, it was shiney, free of barbwire, and there was no rib in sight. The air was clean and the pasture was so big that there were no fences in sight. I could run without my joints aching, I could kick my legs without it pulling on barbwire, and I could run to a big field full of dandilions, clover, and grass that was so tall it tickled my knees. Complete paradise. Then the air turned cold, the sunshine filled skies turned to grey storm clouds. The men and women in tan uniforms were standing all around me.

 "One....two...three!" Each of them pulled me on to my feet as the woman tugged on my halter, they stood beside me at all times and helped me walk to the trailer, althought I could hardly put any weight on my back left leg, it was still so sore. I limped past Master as he was being carried away on a little cot.

 "Goodbye, Jack," I turned toward Master. He was looking at me, I limped toward him and nuzzled his hair.

 Goodbye, Master, I will never forget the old days.

 Master pet me for the last time then we were both carried away. I limped in the trailer and lied down, finally, a dry place to rest. The men and women closed the doors to the trailer and entered the truck. The red and white van with Master inside drove down the road as we followed behind them.