At the Rainbow's End
“When she patted it on the haunches, the horse made a blustery sound in the twilight.
“Oh, hi, Sam.”
She turned to smile at Joel as he placed a pitchfork load of hay on the floor and spread it carefully. With hay running nearly a thousand dollars a ton, he did not want to risk wasting any of it. More than once, she had overheard the men suggesting they sell the horse. Its upkeep took too much of their money. Neither spoke the truth, but she knew why they kept it. In an emergency, if rations were... short as they had been the previous year, they could eat horsemeat.
“I’m almost done,” he said, taking the pitchfork to the other side of the tiny building and sticking it into the ground. It did not go far.
“Frozen?”
Glancing up, he smiled. “Like a rock. Only being inside the barn keeps this ground from being frozen even more solid. What do you think of these winters, now?”
“I am so cold,” she whispered, without the humor he expected. She moved to take his hands, her eyes burning with the same feverish intensity he held in his own heart.MoreLess
“Oh, hi, Sam.”
She turned to smile at Joel as he placed a pitchfork load of hay on the floor and spread it carefully. With hay running nearly a thousand dollars a ton, he did not want to risk wasting any of it. More than once, she had overheard the men suggesting they sell the horse. Its upkeep took too much of their money. Neither spoke the truth, but she knew why they kept it. In an emergency, if rations were... short as they had been the previous year, they could eat horsemeat.
“I’m almost done,” he said, taking the pitchfork to the other side of the tiny building and sticking it into the ground. It did not go far.
“Frozen?”
Glancing up, he smiled. “Like a rock. Only being inside the barn keeps this ground from being frozen even more solid. What do you think of these winters, now?”
“I am so cold,” she whispered, without the humor he expected. She moved to take his hands, her eyes burning with the same feverish intensity he held in his own heart.MoreLess
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