Red Outlaw

The First Fall

Red played his way through the summer, hardly even noticin' how fast it flew by.

He and Dot did so many adventures it was too hard for them to count. They thought they knew everything by now and that life would always be like this.

That's about when them leaves changed color.

Red couldn't really tell the difference because he ignored it. He was too busy a playin' with Dot. They was like two peas in a pod.

The herd was stuffin' they faces with all the brome grass they could eat. Course Red and Dot didn't know that was what they shoulda been doin' too, so they burnt up all that energy they had in them.

The grass was turnin' brown now, and it was crunchy and hard to lay. Red didn't mind, he was a big tough six month old.

The leaves on the trees started to come off. They was green once, til' they turnt yellow, then orange, then brown. They'd snap on off and float down to the ground. Red loved to roll in them and crunch 'em all up. He watched his ma roll in the mud once when it was real hot outside. She looked real funny after.

Some of the trees even had leaves that turned brighter red than Red himself was.

When he'd roll in them leaves, he'd get up and have a hoot kickin' 'em all around. Dot looked funny covered in them, he thought.

The herd got real antsy. The Horse Killer needed lots a food to keep her and her one livin' cub goin' now. Specially in winter time. They sure didn't want to stick around for that baby to learn how to kill.

They was havin' a peaceful day for once, when Red wasn't chewin' on their tails and ears. Them poor mares' had hardly any hair on their tails now. They was covered in fly bites.

Anyway, they was mindin' they own business, quietly eatin' and socializin'. Red was sniffin' a stud pile his papa left at the edge of the meadow. He never went through that passage, his ma always called him back.

Nightshade stared at him intensely, pricked ears and the such. Red wondered why he was so fussy. Guess it didn't matter, cause he go off to find somethin' to do after that anyway.

One thing Red did notice about this particular time of year was that it got chilly. He never been cold before. Luckily, Mother Nature had him covered when his bright crimson hairs grew to be two inches long. He was covered in the best and fluffiest fur coat you ever seen.

Sniffing around, Red tried to find something to occupy himself with. He could play with Dot, but, she looked busy tryin' to convince her ma to let her have some more milk. He musta' thought she didn't want to play.

So, Red decided to play the 'make a big mess' game. He went to the tall grass and started to pull it up, but a familiar smell tickled his nose. He smelled cat.

Red wasn't 'bout to stick around and see that creature the smell belonged to, when the young 'un lunged. First of all he was upwind of the young red horse, so his hunt was doomed to start out with.

On account of the cub bein' inexperienced and all, he completely whiffed. His claws was nowhere near that hunk of fat horse rump he was aiming for. His jaws snapped at Red's tail, but missed.

Red hightailed it outta there, no kidding about that. He raised his fuzzy tail so the cougar couldn't get a hold of it.

Red galloped, fast as his little legs would take him back to the herd. The safety of his ma was beckoning him.

Instead of what Red planned to do, which was hiding behind his ma til' the cat went away, something different happened.

The whole herd spooked at the sight of the big red colt runnin' straight at them. Once his grandmama Indigo started runnin', they all followed. His pa took the rear, kickin' out at that cub as he tried to leap for his haunches.