A Horse's Tale, Chapter 21

A Horse's Tale, Chapter 21, Tag you are it.

"Rob, there isn't anything on TV, I am going to check on the horses.", Rob looks up, "ok, wrap up, it’s cold out there." Heeding Robs advice, she grabs her jacket, and slips on her bunny slippers. Steph looks around the living room, "Do any of you want to come with me?", all the dogs look at her, all but one snuggle back into their beds, Bruno jumps up and heads for the door. Steph reaches down and rubs Bruno as he passes by. "Oh, I don't want to go with you, I need to pee." Steph nods, "Well do what you need to do." Steph opens the door, steps outside and zips her coat up. "Yes a chilly night for sure." Bruno finishes his business and heads back inside. Steph walks to the end of the patio, Glory looks to have settled in, the chickens are all roosting, and Tootsie is listening for mices. Steph looks to her right, towards the Lady’s Parlour, all is quiet, she looks to her left towards the Round Pens. All is quiet, as Steph turns toward the Football Field, she hears hoof falls from behind her, Steph turns to look, Justice is running at full speed headed towards the Lady’s Parlour, as he runs by Steph and glances at her with a smile, a few yards past the patio, Justice puts on the brakes, back legs forward, spread out a bit, dirt flying everywhere. In fact he did such a good job stopping, with all four legs spread out and facing forward, he actually sits down on his rump. Justice stands up, and that point Spirit comes running up, not as fast as Justice was doing, but screeches to a halt in front of Justice, Spirit touches his nose to Justices’ nose, and they both turn and start to run. Justice runs past Steph at a full gallop.

As Steph watches Justice and Spirit run off into the dark, she turns and pulls up one of the white plastic chairs, and sits down. Over the next several minutes Spirit and Justice repeat the process, and sometimes, when they meet, they whinny and turn and run off. Having concluded she has no idea what they are doing she stands up and steps off the patio. This time Justice slows up a bit, as does Spirit to not run over Steph. Steph holds up both arms, as if being a traffic cop. Both Justice and Spirit come to a halt a few feet from Steph and walk up to Steph. Steph starts off, "WHAT are you to up to?" Spirit looks at Justice, Justice looks at Steph, Spirit looks at Justice, Steph says "Ok ok, enough Justice what are you doing?" Justice looks at Steph, "Ah, playing a game." Spirit nods his head. Steph thinks a bit, "Ahhh, right, what game are you playing?" Justice looks Steph directly in the eye, "We are playing 'Tag you are it.'" Steph reaches forward and pats Justice on this head. "Where did you learn this game?" Justice smiles, "The little people showed me." Steph looks puzzled, "Who to you mean?" Justice continues, "The little people person that gives us treats and helps at dinner time." Steph nods, "Oh, you mean Emma." Justice nods, "Yes the little people one." Steph nods, "How did she teach you the game?" Justice looks over and smiles, "Some times she comes up and touches us on our nose, and yells 'tag you are it.' and she runs off. After a few times I figured out that I needed to run around also, when I did that she would come back and touch me on the nose and yell 'Tag you are it.' and run off again. So I figured it was a game, and I have played it several times with her. I told Spirit about it and he liked the game."

"So, you two are spending most of the night playing 'Tag you are it.'?" Both Justice and Spirit nod. Justice says "Yes it is a good game, I tried it with Sampson, but he just ran off and didn't return." Steph nods, "Well Sampson is like that." Again both Justice and Spirit nod. Steph looks at both off them, "Are you two done for the night?" Justice looks over, "Oh, no, we have seven more innings to go." Steph looks at him "What?", Justice replies, "Yep, nine innings total, as I understand it." Steph thinks, "I think you have mixed two games, who told you about nine innings?" Justice looks over, "Oh, it was ahh, Emma, the little people.", Steph not sure if she should nod, "You can talk to Emma?", Justice replies, "Oh, no, I hear her, but she doesn't hear us." Steph nods, "She is young, she will learn to listen to horses." Justice nods, "I hope so, I have a lot of questions about games. Like first and ten, and three outs." Just as Steph starts to reply, Jonah, and 'B' run by at a full gallop.

"Are they playing 'Tag you are it'?" Justice after watching Jonah and 'B' run by turns to Steph, "Oh, no they are playing 'Hide and Seek.'", Steph shakes her head, "I need to ask, where did they learn that game?", Justice smiles, "The little people, Emma, taught them how to do it." Steph thinks a bit, "How do horses play hide and seek?" Justice thinks a bit, "Well a group of horses determine who is it, and then run off to hide, the it horse counts to 25, then runs off to find the other horses, Oh, if they finish, they run back to the start and yell "Oxen Free, Oxen Free!" not sure what big cows have to do with it, but it’s part of the game."

Steph nods, "Who are they playing with?" Justice answers up "Oh, they are playing with Trooper." Steph looks at Spirit "Go get Trooper and ask him to come here." Spirit nods, and runs off. As spirit runs off, Jonah and 'B' run by. Justice looks over, "Looks like they haven't found a good spot to hide yet." Steph says "Seems so, how longs do these games of hide and seek last?" Justice shrugs, "Most of the night. Seems whoever is counting never finishes counting." Steph nods, knowing in fact that most horses can't count. Spirit returns with Trooper following, just as Jonah and 'B' run by, Steph yells out, "Hey you two come here." Jonah and 'B' stop mid gallop and turn to Steph, as they approach, Steph looked at all five horse, "Do any of you know how to count?" Each horse looks to each other, then look back to Steph. Steph nods, "I see this as a problem in you guys playing 'Hide and Seek", Justice nods, "Yes we have problems, we can hide pretty good, the counter has the problem in that game." Steph nods, "Trooper, count to five for me please." Trooper nods, "One, Thirty seven, six, four hundred." Steph raises her hand, "Trooper thanks, do you guys think if I teach you how to count will you remember?", All five horses nod.

"All right, pay attention, one is" and stomps her foot on the ground. "One, Two is" she stomps the ground twice." Steph continues up to five, all the horses are interested and watch her every move. "Trooper, can you count to three?" Trooper nods, "One." he stomps one hoof to the ground "Two" he stomps the ground about five times. Steph raises her hand "Ok let’s do this again, and you guys do what I do."

"One, Yes, that is right." Rob opens the door, and watches for awhile. Steph is counting, stomping the ground, five horses and stomping the ground... "Ahhh, Steph, what are you doing?" Steph turns "I am teaching the horses to count." Rob well "I would ask why, but I know you would have an answer." Steph replies, "oh they need to learn to count so they can play 'Hide and Seek". Rob nods, turns, "Steph you need to get to bed."


To be Continued

author: Samm