In The Cold Night
As the sun retreated behind the hills and the moon peeked into the sky, a small girl sat waiting at her bedroom window. She looked longingly out at the horizon. From her window she could see the cows grazing on the sparse, dehydrated grass to the left and the dry, cracked plains that retreated into the Calico Mountains to her right. That was where her eyes sat. Up there in those mountains her stallion's herd lay in the Hidden Valley.
As the night wore on, her eyes started to droop. When she almost reached the land of dreams, she heard a soft four beat thumping sound in the ranch yard. Her head jerked up from her arms. Struggling in her half asleep state, she fumbled around in the darkness for the door knob. She softly tip-toed down the stairs. With a fuzzy head, she slipped her boots on at the front door. Closing the door with a soft click, she turned around to peer out into the semi-darkness. A soft snort drifted through the breezy night air.
The girl stepped out into the ranch yard. The stallion greeted her with a delicate nuzzle to her chest. The girl laughed and stepped back to admire him. He was powerful but beautiful. There was a slight sweat from his gallop down from the mountains. He gave an impatient shake of his head. The girl gave him a pat and slid onto his muscular back. The girl lightly squeezed her legs. He surged forward into a gallop. Out in the safety of the plains, the girl lent over his black neck and whispered, "I love you Zanzibar."