There was a girl who loved horses. The 4H leader found a horse for her, a little yellow mare that no one wanted.
The girl spent all her time with the little creature. People were used to looking out their windows and seeing her ride by in storms where even drivers safe in their cars had pulled off the road.
When she outgrew the yellow horse the girl sold her to some people who wanted a well trained pony for their daughter. The girl got a thousand dollars.
She bought herself a blue eyed Appaloosa with bad habits. She worked with the appy for two long years before she gave up on him. Still she worked with him, because she wanted to be able to sell him with a clean conscience. But she no longer hurried home from school to be with the horse. There was homework and friends on the phone. Sometimes when it was raining she would look out at the horse in the soggy field and decide to bake cookies. So much more pleasant than being out there in the cold and wet trying to get the appy to back up without throwing his head all over the place.
When she was a freshman in high school she signed up for drama club. They were doing ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' for Christmas. The girl was a sophomore when she realized the drama teacher's little cruelty in casting her as Snout. She did not yet realize she had a big ugly nose. There were not enough boys for all the male parts, but she didn't mind. She was in love with Shakespeare. She was in love with the production. She painted sets. She sewed costumes. She didn't do her math homework. She lost interest in her horse.
The appy was an easy keeper. He had an old bath tub that stayed full of rain water at this time of the year. The field had enough grazing for one horse except late in the winter.
One evening her mother said ``When did you last check on that horse? I haven't seen him in a couple of days.''
``Probably in the barn,'' she said. But she had a panic feeling in her stomach. Perhaps he was down. Stuck in the fence. Broke a leg in a gopher hole.
``I'll go check,'' she said.
``Take a flash light,'' said her mom.
Outside there was a thick fog and it was nearly dark. She turned on the mercury light outside the shop but it just emphasized the opacity of the swirling mist.
She climbed over the five bar gate and squelched through the mud to the barn. There were no lights in the barn.
``App-App-Appy!'' she called.
The flashlight was fading fast.
At first she couldn't see him. Then she heard him move in the fenced off corner of the barn where her dad kept his 1957 Chevy up on blocks. The horse had pushed his way through the make shift gate but had not been able to get back out.
Her first thought was for the car.
Had he damaged it? Kicked it?
She felt a little sick. Hard to tell. It would be a long time before her dad would look at it anyway.
She led the horse out and re-secured the gate. The horse disappeared into the foggy field.
The girl dipped oats into a coffee can and started back to the house. The fog was forming and dancing around her. She felt icy fingers on her neck and she turned to see nothing. Then she heard mad laughter and turned again. Still nothing.
But there was something out there besides the horse. She leaned against the old loading ramp and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes she saw them.
Swirling around her. Faceless. Amorphous. Shrieking. Jeering.
``LET ME ALONE!'' she yelled.
The shrieking things thinned into fog again.
Just one small voice emanated from a misty tendril fading at the barn door.
``We just wanted to play,'' it said rather plaintively.
A Midsummer Night's Dream turned out quite well. Friends and parents were loud in its praise, though great grand parents and small children slept fairly peacefully through most of it.
The hot cider at intermission was a big hit.
Perhaps it was three days' internment with a 1957 Chevy that did it - perhaps not - but the Appaloosa seemed to be a much better horse after that. Perhaps it was just that he got more attention. At least a few minutes every day. Always before dark. Especially if it was foggy.