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Northern Wolf Reflections
Creative thoughts from the far corners of my mind....

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I really want to know what you think, so I encourage your comments either through the guestbook below or the    feedback form   , don't hesitate to drop me a line anytime.  I hope you will keep coming back for future stories and episodes, in fact, why read alone, the adventure is always much better if you bring a friend or two along for the ride.   
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With the beginning of a new year comes the start of a new concept, in other words I'm going to give it another shot.  Sincere appologies to anyone out there who was wanting to see more of the ongoing story but I got sidetracked with so many other things in my life.  For the next while I want to head back to the ground roots, short stories for the sake of short stories.  It's far too easy to work yourself into a rut by limiting yourself to only one topic.  In the next two days a new story will be added below....this time I promise. 
 
For anyone interested in my past writings, there are lots of other stories in the archives.  Just click on the catagory that you want and it will take you right to that index, just like magic.  Poof.
Copyright James Lizotte, 2006
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In the Beginning

(A Life has Many Rivers, Chapter one)



"Amanda are you in here?"  There was stirring of straw and shuffling of feet echoing from the far end of the barn.  Jonathan approached peering in to see if his suspicions were correct.

"Don’t tell me you’re still working on the same stall I left you in twenty minutes ago."

Amanda looked up with an unimpressed frown.  "I’m almost done."

He glanced over at the near empty wheelbarrow, hardly an indication of any great progress.  "You’ve been here for a week now, you should be getting the hang of it."

Amanda stopped shuffling and glared at him with disgust.  "Getting the hang of it?  I’m shoveling horse crap!"  She tossed a small load toward the wheelbarrow barely missing him along the way.

Jonathan stepped back into the aisle.  "It’s not so bad.  You’re out in the country surrounded by horses, fed three meals a day, given a warm place to sleep and in return you do a few chores.  You know how many kids would love to be in your shoes?"

Amanda’s eyes burned white hot.  "Not so bad, huh!  Doesn’t matter what it looks like, a prison is still a prison if you have no other choice."

The remark seemed to wound him despite the obvious source.  "It’s not a prison.  I agreed to take you in for your parents sake, if I hadn’t then maybe you’d be seeing what a real prison looked like."

"Oooo, aren’t you my savior."  Came a voice dripping with sarcasm.  "At least I’d be with my friends, not out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by rubes and kiss-asses."

Just then Denise, another young farmhand, returned with two fresh bales of straw on a pull-cart.

"Ah, speak of the Devil."  Amanda said with a smirk.

Jonathan lurched forward grabbing the pitchfork from her hands.  "I don’t know why you feel you have to talk to people like that, you aren’t impressing anyone with this little miss snotty attitude of yours!"

Amanda put on a fake pout and pretended like she might cry.

He stood there fighting the urge to shake her, when for a moment he saw a flash of the little girl she once was.  There was so much of his sister in his niece’s face, he could remember giving her piggy back rides in the park back in the city.  Much had changed since then, yet he still felt there was good in her to be salvaged, the real question was how.

He sighed heavily, leaning the pitchfork against the wall.  "Finish what you are doing here, Denise will do the rest of the stalls.  It’s time you saw what this place is all about.  Meet me by the round pen in an hour."

Amanda snapped a quick salute, set to say "Yes Sir", but her uncle was all ready gone.  She resumed her duties with a smug look on her face as if she had won some huge victory.  "An hour might allow me to finish, but if not I’ll just show up a few minutes late."  She mumbled with a bit of a snicker.


The hour passed slowly but despite wanting to disobey she arrived as asked.

Jonathan approached with a shaggy little horse in tow.  "On time, you might amaze me yet."

"Didn’t have anything better to do."  Was the arrogant reply.

He shrugged it off and motioned for her to open the gate.  Amanda sauntered over watching as the little horse danced around impatiently on the handler’s lead.

"That horse looks like it wants to be here as much as I do."  She said grinning.

"That’s why I wanted you here.  This is Stardust another new addition to the ranch."  The young mare stood nervously in the center of the pen, eyes bulged as if anticipating something bad were going to happen.  She wasn’t much to look at, spotty gray, hooves long and cracking, with ribs visible under a scarred and flea bitten hide.

Jonathan raised the lunge-whip to tap her on the backside, immediately the horse reared, turned on the haunches, and bolted toward the closed gate.  For a brief second it looked as though she might try to jump or run right through but instead she stopped dead, neck craning first one way, then the other, looking for the best way to escape.

Cautiously he approached whispering soft words of comfort in order to calm the panicking little mare.  "Now, now, it’s all right.  No ones going to hurt you."  The horse positioned herself to be able to strike, if necessary,  keeping her hind quarters toward the perceived threat.

Amanda felt a lump form deep in her throat, she wasn’t to thrilled with her uncle, but never wished any harm to come to him and right now this horse looked hell bent on picking a fight if given half the chance.

"Are you sure you know what you are doing?"  She shouted.

"Don’t worry about me, you just pay attention."

He came up on the horses right side angling to get near her neck.  The horse eyed him, trembling, she could see he still had the lunge-whip, but was making no threatening motions to use it so she did not start to run.

"Shhhh….shhhhh."  He stretched his empty hand.

Stardust’s shoulder shuddered violently at even the gentlest touch.  Quickly she bolted along the rail, kicking out, narrowly missing Jonathan’s arm but connecting perfectly with the lunge-whip sending it flying clear across the 50 foot pen.

Amanda gasped, running to the gate, ready to open it if her uncle needed out.

Jonathan glanced over with a slight smile, shaking his head.  "She wasn’t intending to hurt me, just giving a bit of a warning."

Slightly embarrassed by her own show of concern Amanda tried to cover her tracks while returning to the bench she had been sitting on.  "That was some warning.  I wouldn’t want to have to call an ambulance, but if you stay in there, it’s your neck."

By this time the horse had settled in at the opposite rail, always keeping her hind quarters aimed squarely at her unwanted companion.  Jonathan angled in once more, this time leaving the lunge-whip where it had landed.

"Shhhhh…..shhhh, it’s all right." Came the repetitive mantra.


The little dance continued for nearly thirty minutes.  With each attempt the mare would run a little less and eventually Jonathan was able to ease the lunge-whip back into his hand and start guiding the horse in the direction in which he wanted her to go.

Amanda sat at the sidelines bored stiff.  She couldn’t understand why she was being forced to watch this, never mind why her uncle would be wasting time with such a hopeless endeavor.  The ranch was filled with good trail horses, this one was far too timid and certainly could never be trusted with a beginner. 

The training session ended when the little horse went to a trot then was brought to a halt in either direction with only the motion of the whip needed for control.  Jonathan removed a carrot from his vest pocket and offered it as reward.  "Good girl, you’re learning quite quickly, an excellent lesson."

Denise came over to fetch the mare and return her to a waiting stall.  Jonathan closed the gate and went to join his spectator on the bench.

"So what did you think?"  He said with a tinge of pride.

"Well it didn’t kill you, that’s a start."

"I was never in any danger.  She’s just a young horse that needs a lot of patience and understanding.  Truth is, many of the horses on this ranch came like that and now they are excellent trail horses that anyone can ride."

Amanda just sat there staring off at the far paddock.  "Don’t know why you wouldn’t just go out and get something safe in the first place.  All that work and no guarantees that the thing is even salvageable, surely you can afford something better."

Jonathan rolled his eyes, glancing upward.  "You really don’t get it do you.  That "thing" as you call her, was destined for a dog food tin if I hadn’t intervened when I did."

"The way it was behaving, it probably deserved it."  Was the unsympathetic reply.

Jonathan stood  to block Amanda’s stare. "Look, no one deserves what that horse has been through.  The previous owners bought her when she was three, broke her, and then proceeded to take her to local shows for their kids to ride.  When she didn’t win, the kids quickly tired of her so they dumped her without a second thought.  The next owner used her to clear land.  They’d tie her to a stump and then whip the living daylights out of her until either the horse gave out or the stump did.  When the job was done they left her in a field to starve.

My friends at the rescue shelter called me when it looked like she wasn’t going to be adopted, no one could even get near her, not that many tried.  She’s seven years old and everyone’s all ready given up, well I think she deserves a second chance."

Amanda turned, refusing to look him in the eye.  "Sounds like a real sob story.  You might be right, but then again maybe some things aren’t worth saving."

He sighed.  "Believe what you want, but I have faith that nothing is set in stone and with a little perseverance anyone can change, so I won’t give up."

It dawned on her that they weren’t talking about the horse anymore.  "Yeah whatever.  It’s almost time for dinner and I still have to wash up, so can we save the lectures?"

Jonathan moved aside and let her pass.  She was a tough nut to crack but he was used to challenges and this time the stakes were just too high to lose.