COMING HOME
"Home" wasn't something that Jess Harper had given much thought to in the last ten years. Especially since the war ended five years ago. He had honestly begun to believe that he simply wasn't meant to have a home of his own and that his fate was to just drift along until he finally came to rest in his grave.
So why then, did he always get that catch in his throat when he hit that rise above the ranch and looked down on the house, barn, the corrals with the horses; even those silly chickens clucking around the yard and forever trying to peck and nip at his ankles. Everything he looked down on gave him pleasure. But it was the smoke rising from the chimney of the snug house that heartened him most; not just because the fire in the fireplace producing the smoke would soon physically warm him; but because of the rest and welcome he would have when he stepped through the door.
It was people that made a family a family and a house a home. Jess thought of the people living in that snug little house as he rode down the path the last few yards and smiled because of how good it felt to know that they were his family and that house was his home.