The arrival

     The light from the lantern was growing dim as she made her way to the barn like she had done so many times before. There was havoc beginning in the dark sky, something mean and nasty that made her quicken her steps. Closing the big door behind her, she placed the lantern on the stall shelf and looked down at the frightened mare about to give birth.

     Slowly she entered the stall pausing every step with an outreached hand getting closer to the skittish animal. With her hand on the mare’s forehead, she began a soothing melody that she hummed to distract from the commotion of branches being broken from trees and debris crashing into the walls of the barn. “Its all right Cindy Lou she whispered, I’m here to help you.”

     The minutes passed with no sense of when the storm would pass but the time for a baby was ever so near. The mare had settled since she came in, probably remembering this was the one that took such good care of her. Always plenty to eat and fresh water to drink. Maybe she remembered all the trail rides they took together and the soothing way she brushed her after a long day on the trail.

     The foal came into the world just the way nature intended it to be. Now the three of them shared the warmth of the stable for a few moments before she left mother and son to start their time together. As she walked back to the house by the light of a beautiful sunrise, she turned and looked at the barn knowing more than one storm had been weathered, and a new beginning was here to help her forget about yesterday’s pains.

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