Spirits and Memories Past....

Keeley stopped short. A horse? It had been at least five years since any horses were on the farm. How could she possibly be hearing a horse now? Keeley took a careful look around, hoping to spot a loose horse from a neighboring farm. All she saw were the birds, busy nest building and bug catching, and old Bad Ass sprawled in the sun for his morning siesta.

"I've got to be going as batty as Dad is," she muttered under her breath.

Keeley continued her walk to the main house. Warm sunlight dappled the ground in front of her booted feet, and she could not help but compare the patterns on the ground to the dappled coat of the horse in her dreams. Such a beautiful animal, so strong and full of life. Keeley had always been a dreamer at night but dreams of this intensity were something new to her. She couldn't help but wonder if there was a hidden meaning behind them. Maybe a message for her. Her mount in the dreams was not familiar to her- in their years of raising horses on the farm, plenty of gray's passed through the barn, but none like this one. A sigh escaped her. Mysteries such as the great gray gelding would have to wait until later for more thought. Right now, Keeley was going to have her hands full to overflowing with her highly agitated father.

Keeley climbed the few steps to the porch, and opened the creaking screen door. Her father heard the noise, and bellowed from the kitchen at her. "Keeley! Girl, get in here! That damn miserable harpy not only stole my horses but she stole my medicine too!"

"Morning to you too, Dad. If the harpy was so busy last night with the horses, maybe she didn't find the stash of medications we set up the other day. Let's go check." She reached out and took her Dad's hand, and gently guided him to the sitting room. Memories flooded her heart and mind, of her Dad taking her hand as a child. Then it was her Dad that guided her to the sitting room to soothe a broken heart, check a scrape or cut, or to just sit her down and have a heart to heart with her. Some days, Keeley had no clue who this stranger was, parading around in a smaller, more frail version of her father's body. She got her Dad settled in his favorite chair in the sitting room, and headed back to the kitchen to start his breakfast and locate his medication. Keeley was the "harpy" in this case, as she had to keep the medicine locked up. Since her father had over dosed a few months back, she had to take drastic measures to make sure it did not happen again.

The other "harpy" he was referring to was Keeley's mother. The day that she died, six years past, was the day that her father started down the slippery slope into heart break and dementia. He had been the one to find her, sprawled in the field with her favorite horse. A blow to the head had killed her. By all appearances, as she was turning her horse out into the pasture, he had reared up and his hoof struck her temple, killing her instantly. It had been all Keeley could do to talk her father out of shooting that horse, for taking the love of his life from him.

Part of him died that day, and each day since. One year to the day later, the decision was made to sell off the horses. Seeing the last shining rump climb the ramp into the waiting horse van was the final straw. Keeley's father had never been the same.



Outside the window, the warm winds playfully blew, tugging at leaves and limbs sending them dancing. Bad Ass sat in the sun, tail wagging in time with his thoughts. He stared with intensity into the window, where he could see Keeley in the kitchen. In the shadows, the sound of hooves crossing the yard resonated. Was it just a memory of events in the past? Bad Ass knew the truth. But getting Keeley to see, to look beyond the normal realm of reality was going to be a challenge. His gaze was unblinking, and steady on Keeley, almost as if he was trying to send her a message.

Keeley gave a start- she swore she could feel someone watching her but when she looked out the window all she saw was the big black as sin barn cat. She'd known Bad Ass his entire life, as he had been conceived and born right there on the farm. There were times when she had to wonder about the old cat. The intensity of his gaze sent a shiver down her spine.

"It's a bad day for memories it seems," she thought to herself. "A bad day for memories indeed."



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