When you came in the air went out

[Below]

tundra, falls, deserts ??

 

How the hell had she forgotten him here? She said she would be right back, well, he was waiting…

Below trotted back and forth, pacing the area awaiting his Dam to return. He was hungry, and he was dirty. Being dirty bothered him the most, his coat was far too nice to be soiled. He tried rubbing against a tree, hoping to loosen the dirt that clung to his coat. ”Ain’t nothin worse..than...dirt..” He complained as he made passes along the rough bark, ever so careful, wouldn’t want to scratch up his pretty self. After that did not work he tried licking himself, starting with his legs. But that tasted awful, he decided and he went about thinking of another way to get clean.

Time passed, with it the daylight hours, and soon Below was alone. Alone in the dark, dirty, and hungry. He was not happy about that, not happy at all. ” Good for nothin’ hussy. Gone an left me, I ain’t need you anyways!” He shouted into the distance, knowing she was likely to never hear him. Just in case though, just in case. After he had a think over his little outburst the colt decided to find somewhere to snuggle up for the night. She may have left him high and dry on an empty stomach, but he would get his beauty sleep. Make no doubts about that.

It was a lonely dip in the earth that he chose, shielded on one side by a thick bramble of a bush. Really, the pickings were slim and this was just about as good as anywhere else. Lowering himself gently to the ground, he gave out one last holler. It was more out of comfort than anything else, just so that he could say he really had tried to find his mom. ”Moooom??” A shout in the distance, accompanied by the flicker of drifting lightning bugs, ones that clung too closely to summer’s fading warmth.

BELOW

ring  ring  hookah

[Texas]

and I discovered that my castles stand

upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

The Adoption Den is a little farther south than Texas usually ventures, but since it’s about the right season for tired mothers to dump their children the bay stallion makes his way down the shaded trail as twilight begins to descend on Beqanna. With any luck the place will be empty and he’ll be able to say he tried and found nothing. That should get him a pat on the head, shouldn’t it? It’s a pity there’s no one actually around to do the patting.

Snorting irritably at a firefly that lights up a bit too close to his left eyes, Texas pauses on the edge of the open field. It appears, for the most part, to be abandoned. Perhaps all the women knocked up last fall had been the responsible sort, but Texas doubts it. His suspicions are confirmed when he hears a bit of rustling in a bush nearby. He’s arrived too late to hear the boy cry out for his mother, but there’s only one thing that brings foals to the Adoption Den.

It’s been quite a while since Texas was here himself, but the purpose of the place hasn’t changed much.

He meanders over to the shaking bush and lowers his dark head to peer through the brambles. “Hey kid,” he says, his baritone voice low and drawling, “What’s your name?”

texas

[Below]

 

She doesn’t respond, not that he had really expected her to. She had dumped him here, left him for the wolves, he might cry if he wasn’t so angry.  So it is there that he broods about his Dam, thinking of just how much he hated her right now. How could she? He hadn’t done anything to her, he hadn’t been especially naughty. Actually, he thought he was a rather well behaved child.  Surely whatever he had done, he had not deserved this. Below had no say in the matter, so there he curled up, a bright spot of purple and pink against the earthy tones of the den. Made less bright by the smudges of dirt, the burs and spare bit of dried leaf caught in his coat.

Still he grumbles as he hears movement, he is not quick enough to scamper out from beneath his bramble to avoid unwanted visitors. He doesn’t even try actually, feeling rather dramatic about his impending doom. From above comes a head, thankfully an equine head, though not a familiar one. It is not his Mother returned to fetch him. Did he want to go with her anyways? No, this was not Mother this was someone else, not even female. A man has stuck his bay head in the thicket with him, peering through to see him, asking him things. Below considers him for a moment, blinking his amber eyes at this fellow. “Well sir, my names Below, that’s what momma told me anyways. She told me not to talk to strangers too, guess that ain’t make no difference now.” He supposed Mother’s rules no longer applied now, after all she wasn’t around to enforce them. Might be this man would know someone who could clean him.

BELOW

ring  ring  hookah

[Texas]

and I discovered that my castles stand

upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

“Below?” He repeats, clearly questioning if that’s an acceptable thing to name a child. He’s supposes it’s better than Spotty, which is what he probably would have named the colorful thing. “Nice to meet you. My name’s Texas.”

“Talking to strangers is interesting,” he replies, having been told the same thing as a child and having clearly ignored it. It’s a silly thing to tell children; how are they going to learn anything if they just talk to their family? Having spoken only with his own family might have driven Texas mad, though there are those that might claim it has.

“Did your mother leave you here?” asks the bay stallion, already well aware of the answer. Of course she did – no one drops their kid off in the Adoption Den for baby-sitting for the day. There’s always the chance that Below has just accidentally wandered here though, and Texas would rather not accidentally kidnap a child if he can help it.

texas

[Below]

 

He's still looking up at this stranger, kind stranger, but stranger still. Does it still make him a stranger if he knows his name? Sure they had been introduced, Texas this man says his name is. Texas, just a name, but Below didn't know anything about this guy. Did it matter? Probably not. He was surely better off with him than he was here, laying around in a bramble trying to keep warm.

"Well sir, I don't know, ain't talk to many strangers. Are we still strangers, you an' me?" He wonders how that all worked, his mother had never gone into the specifics. He wondered why, shouldn't she have? it would have made the whole situation less confusing, less awkward. He wondered now just how much she had left out, how much knowledge she had not shared with him. She was turning out to be a rather rotten mother, was she not?

"I guessin' she did. Said she'd be back, ain't seen her since this morning." He frowned feeling rejected, but he was in every sense of the word. It was obvious he was hurt, angry even. However, he was collected when he spoke, not the usual bawling mess one might find. His jaw remained tight, grinding his teeth in frustration. "Is that why you're here? Did your momma leave you here too? Is this where we stay?" He looked around disappointed with that thought, he couldn't possibly stay here.

BELOW

ring  ring  hookah

[Texas]

and I discovered that my castles stand

upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

The colt seems curious, but his questions aren’t as numerous as those of most children, and Texas decides that perhaps he’s found one of the rare good children. They do exist (he had been one himself, obviously) but they are so often out shadowed by their chatty, talkative peers that Texas tends to avoid them entirely. This one though, he’s almost like an adult horse. Well, he’s small, but if Texas squints he could be a fully grown pony.

“We’re acquaintances.” He replies, “We know a little about each other, but nothing especially important. ” Texas prefers to keep most others in the acquaintance category, but this colt is fun to look at and less bothersome than he’d expected, so perhaps they’ll eventually settle into the next most populous of Texas’ social networks – The Tolerables.

“Sometimes Mothers lie,” says the bay stallion, shrugging his shoulders. “Everyone lies, really. You’ve just got to get used to it.” Sugar-coating life keeps the weak weak, but Texas is willing to bet that along with his other positive qualities, this small child can deal with the truth. Glancing down, it’s all to easy to read the emotions playing out on the colorful colt’s face. Texas has forgotten what they feel like, but he knows that he’d felt them before, in a situation similar to the one that the colt is in now.

“My Mother left me here, yeah.” There is no hurt in his own dark eyes; there’s very little in the nonchalant shrug that he offers with the words. “But that was a long time ago, and I had to learn to get along without her.” The questions are getting a little too frequent, but there’s a stick poking against his ear that promises to itch if he pulls his head out of the bush quickly, so he makes the decisions to tolerate them for the time being. “You could stay here if you want, I suppose. But it gets a lot colder at night, if I remember right.”

After that he falls quiet for a moment, and it seems as though he’s content to let the boy suffer through the night – and other nights afterward. It would build character, he knows, but perhaps it doesn’t have to, and least not for Below. “Or you could come stay where I live, in the Falls. It’s warmer and there’s at least a few more horses there than there are here.” Very few more, but three is better than the utter lack of permanent population there is in the Adoption Den.

texas

[Below]

I'll mosey on that way ..

 

He didn't have many things in life so what he did manage to scrape up, he should be thankful for. Acquaintances. Okay, well he supposed that would do, it would have to do.  Better than strangers, better than nothing. Something was always better than nothing at all. A little stale and crunchy weeds was better than nothing in your belly at all. Licking the brown dirt covered ice was better than nothing to drink. That wasn't living though, that was surviving.

He turned his head as if contemplating something, trying to focus on it without distraction. If everyone lies then what made this not a lie? What did he have to lose if it was, and did it matter? His thought is lost as the man speaks again, he too had been left by his mother. Below thought he should feel sorry, but he felt interested instead. It gave them something in common, it made him feel better for some reason. This guy looked okay, maybe he would be okay too.

"Come with you? I can? Well, okay I guess. Ain't doin' nothin' here, might find someone to clean me up too." He let the thought pass his lips, feeling assured just by saying them. Yes, a good cleaning, some good food, maybe things would be better in the morning. Struggling to clamber out of the bush, he raked his skin a good few times, much to his dismay. Each one received a sour look as he made his way, but eventually he was out.

BELOW

ring  ring  hookah