Abediah Thornton

Chapter 2 - Tuesday

She had got up as normal this morning. The cattle had been fed. She and Edwin had wandered out to one of the far paddocks and moved a little herd of bullocks into a neighbouring field of new grass. Now it was lunchtime. As she sat at the kitchen table crunching through her toast she suddenly wondered what day it was. Getting up she lifted the calendar from the wall and started counting the days, holding her reading glasses to her eyes, squinting in concentration. After a few minutes she went to the kitchen counter and lifted the ancient cell phone that was charging there to check the date on it's scratched face. It was Tuesday. She clicked the phone's screen on, but there hadn't been any calls. Strange. She sat back down and finished her lunch.

After lunch she welcomed the town's only lady vet into the barn. Louise was tall and thin, her wild blonde hair tied in a messy knot on top of her head. She was efficient in her job and Abediah trusted her absolutely. After checking on the couple of cows that were pregnant she took the vet round to Edwin's stable.

'Any worse?' asked Louise as she entered the stable, pushing Edwin back with her shoulder. 

'Not that I could tell,' said Abediah. 'It's still hot most mornings. We had a little walk out this morning though and he wasn't favouring it at all.' 

'Excellent!' said the vet, 'that new medicine must be hitting the spot then.'

'I think so,' said Abediah, 'he seems to have been much more his old self since he went on it.'

'Glad to hear it' said the vet, whose head was now upside down as she inspected a back hoof. Coming back around to the horse's head the vet gave him a rub on the face and Edwin dropped his chestnut head for an ear rub. 'He's a good boy!' said the vet with a smile.

The two women made their way back out to the black pick-up truck that was parked next to Abediah's own rusty old blue pick-up. 'Frank got back OK yesterday?' asked Louise.

'Not back yet.' The vet's head lifted as honest surprise filled her face. 'I'm sure he's just got waylaid with his friends,' continued Abediah. She said it with more confidence than she felt. 

'Have you tried ringing him?' asked the vet. 

'Not yet, I thought I'd give it the afternoon and then check in.'

'Want me to stay while you ring him?'

'No,' said Abediah, starting to feel silly, 'don't you worry about me! It'll be nothing.'

'Alright,' said the vet, 'but if anything happens or you get more worried, just give me a call. It doesn't have to be horse-related you know, I'm happy to pop over whenever you need.'

'That's very kind of you, Louise, but really, I'm sure it'll be fine.'

'Well. Anyway,' said the vet dismissively as she got into the truck, 'you know where I am.'

And with a nod she was gone. The pick-up truck powered down the drive leaving a cloud of dust in it's wake. 

Abediah suddenly felt very alone.