| General Fiction posted September 5, 2023 | Chapters: |
...5 6 -7- 8... 
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The rescue runs into complications
A chapter in the book Four Horse Island
Problems
by w.j.debi
| Background Ava Revel frees herself from debris after a shipwreck, searches the ship, and finds she is alone except for four horses and a goat in the cargo bay. Ava is attempting to free the animals one by one. |
When the elevator doors opened, I heard loud banging and the desperate neighing of the last horse echoing in the cargo bay. The goat’s bleating sounded frantic. I threw the wooden block in the elevator door to wedge it open and ran toward the panicking animals.
The goat was straining against his rope when I reached their doorway. Since he was likely reacting to the nervous horse, I gave him a, "Hang on, boy," and kept moving. Slowing to a brisk walk to avoid alarming the animals further, I headed to the back of the compartment where the colt was kicking at his stall door.
“Whoa, boy. Looks like you don’t like being left alone. Whoa. I’m here. No one is going to leave you behind. Calm down.”
I reached through the bars of the stall door to pat the colt's neck, but he was jumping around too much so I pulled back. The smell of damp horsehair permeated the air. The colt’s coat glistened with sweat. His nostrils flared. His ears flicked back and forth.
“Hey, pay attention here.” I spoke slowly, putting as much reassurance in my tone as possible. “It’s going to be alright. Lucky for you, I like the smell of horse. No one is going to leave you behind. The other horses are waiting for you. Calm down and I can get you out of here more quickly so you can join them.”
“I should have taken you out earlier, shouldn’t I? You appeared so calm when I left; I’d assumed you would remain that way. Whoa, boy. That’s it. Calm down. Nice stall you’ve got here. You’re a pretty boy. Nice bloodlines, I am assuming. What are you doing on this ship? Where were you going? Have you traveled far?”
After several minutes, he moved closer and settled down to sporadically pawing at the stall door. I put my hand through the bars to stoke his neck. “That’s a good boy. Trust me. I will get you out of here.” I glanced at the goat. As I had predicted, he settled down as the horse did.
“I see your water bucket is empty. As much as you are sweating, you probably need a drink.”
When I took a couple of steps toward the water hose, the colt struck the stall door with his hoof. The bang reverberated loudly.
“It’s okay, boy. I’m just getting you some water.” After I filled his water bucket, he drank about half of it. Good, that meant he was calming down. I checked on the goat on my way to replace the hose. He still had water and was munching hay, so I returned to the colt.
A small nob in the wall next to the colt’s stall caught my attention. I pulled on it to find a small closet full of horse tack including, a western saddle, an English saddle, a couple of bridles, and several halters, including...one for a yearling. I sighed with relief.
“Beautiful. I’ll have to return for most of the tack later, but I just won the grand prize.” I grabbed the yearling halter and turned back to the colt.
“Shall we be on our way?” I grabbed the handle on the stall door and attempted to pull it to the side. It didn’t move. I put my shoulder into it. It still didn’t budge.
“No!”
The horse reacted immediately to my outburst by striking the door.
“Soothing tone,” I reminded myself, “Soothing tone. Take a deep breath. Let it out slowly. Repeat.” I completed the actions as I spoke them. After one more deep breath, I put my focus back on the horse.
“Sorry about that. Everything’s going to be fine, boy. I was just being silly. Like you, I want out of here ASAP.”
The colt took a mouthful of hay from what I had given him earlier and started chewing. “Good boy. I’m glad to see you are relaxing. You eat while I examine the stall door.”
I got down on my hands and knees to try to find what was preventing the door from moving.
“Looks like we’ve got a nail wedged in the door’s track.” I tried pulling it out with my fingers, but it was lodged firmly in place. “Got a screwdriver handy? I needed something with an edge so I can pry the nail out. There’s a maintenance closet near the elevator. There might be something in there.”
I got up and headed for the door.
Realizing I was leaving, the colt kicked the stall door--hard. My guess was he used both back feet. A loud thump followed.
“No,” I moaned as low-key as possible. I turned back to check on the damage. If he had made things worse…
The results of the horse’s temper were obvious. The door was knocked off its track at the bottom but still connected at the top. I winced.
“I've seen this before. There are two possibilities. Either it won’t budge, or it will be tough to move. You may be staying down here tonight. Let’s hope I’m wrong. I don’t fancy sleeping in one of the stalls to keep you company so you don’t panic.”
I pushed on the stall door. It took some effort, but it moved.
“Well, boy, it looks like you just saved yourself.”
When the opening was large enough for the horse to get through, I stepped into the stall and fastened the halter on him.
“Carpe Diem. Let’s go.”
We headed out the door with the goat bleating loudly behind us.
~~~~~~~~
 Recognized |
#14 September 2023 |
"Whoa" means stop. It is also used to soothe a horse to get it to calm or slow down when it is upset.
Colt - a young male horse. The horse in this chapter is a yearling.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Colt - a young male horse. The horse in this chapter is a yearling.
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