Red Outlaw

The Pond And The Village

Red'd given anything that moment for water. But he was too busy lookin' at all the new sights to worry much.

Real far in the distance he seen these weird shapes. He could tell there was horses over there too, but they looked funny. And they never moved much. Some had colors on them like flowers, blue, red, orange, pink, and yellow. Very strange indeed.

The weird shapes was like trees, with one big leaf stretched over all their branches. These tiny little critters come out from them at day time, sometimes climbin' on the horses backs and they go away. They was very puzzlin' to Red, he couldn't put his hoof down on what they was.

He never seen anything but a bird that walked upright like that. They had no hair but the black patch on their heads, and it was always black. No other colors.

Lots of them had it down in little knots, so it looked like a tail. But the shorter ones left it the way it was, sometimes puttin' flowers in it.

Boy did Red want to go down there and see what they was. But they was so far away, he didn't know if he should. Specially since he didn't want to leave his ma.

Lickin' his lips, he walked around the perimeter of the plateau with his tail a wigglin'. There was one tree there, but it didn't have much to say for leaves. They all felled off.

There wasn't much room to play, either. Red never wanted to go away from here much as he did now.

The cold air of the day only got colder, and Red wondered what happened to get it so chilly. The sun wasn't doin' it's job right no more.

He trotted to the pile of black fur called Dot and tried to wake her up. She didn't want to be up, and pinned her ears. Red never seen her mad before, he was offended. He didn't do nothin' wrong, did he?

Red decided maybe he should do what Dot wanted to do today. She lie there shivering, her nose tucked into her side. Red sank down to his knees next to her, nickering in hopes to lighted her mood.

Her ears stayed pinned, even as he lay down and wiggled closer to her. There was a gap in his belly she could snuggle into if she wanted. He was like a big blanket.

The bitter cold only got more bitter, when the wind started up. Red's eyes stung as he lay there, Inchin' his face closer to Dot's face. Little ice crystals formed on the long hairs beneath his eyes and on his nose.

He nickered again, and finally she give in. That made him happy. She snuggle into him, keeping her nose close to her side. She was real warm and Red liked having someone to snuggle up to.

Red tucked his nose between them, smelling Dot's scent. She was like dirt and flowers. It wasn't long before they fell asleep.

The next morning Red didn't want to get up. He was so warm! The air was real cold, colder than he remembered ever before. He was nice and comfy right there, and didn't want to get up. Besides, Dot was keepin' him warm.

He touched his nose to hers, even though she was asleep.

You couldn't really tell what it was he liked about her more than the others. Dusty - it was pretty clear. Patch and Sepia had gotten a whole lot more interesting lately, yet he still picked Dot overall.

He shook his head and sneezed, waking himself up. Red looked around. All the mares was grazing, and Red was more hungry than you could ever imagine.

He nudged Dot, 'cause she and him was tangled together and he couldn't get up. This time, she finally woke up and they worked on gettin' themselves untangled.

It took a good while, but eventually Red rolled away and was able to stand up. Dot stood up too, and they was both very cold. Red stood rigid for a moment, but then launched into the air buckin' and kickin'. All the way to his ma.