Healing

Bad Ass sat in his favorite place in the sun. Keeley was with Legacy, letting him graze on a bit of green grass. A breeze now and then stirred, pushing Keeley's hair around into her eyes. He watched as she flipped her head, attempting to toss the mass of curls out of her face, knowing it was not going to stay that way. Carefully she worked a comb through the mass of snarls and mats in Legacy's mane, doing her best to untangle the knotted mess. Legacy soon stopped grazing, and stood resting one hind leg, dozing in the sunshine. Keeley's fingers gently pulled and sorted, picking bits of hay, burrs, and even a twist of wire out of the black mass in front of her. She concentrated on the job so deeply that she did not hear the distant hoof beats.

Bad Ass did though.

Legacy stood, soaking up the sun.



Keeley's concentration was unbroken. She was determined to work the snarls and mats out of Legacy's mane today. If there was one thing she despised, it was a neglected mane and tail on a horse. Getting this disaster sorted out would not only make her feel better, but she was convinced it would do Legacy a world of good too. Tending his wounds, working on the knots and painful muscles and feeding him would help, but getting rid of the disaster along his once proud and finely muscled neck would do wonders for them both.

She about jumped out of her skin when her father spoke at her shoulder. The last thing she expected to hear was Sean's voice, asking after Legacy. Bad Ass saw Keeley jump, and being the rotten old soul that he was, he couldn't help but laugh to himself.

Legacy heard the cat and he opened his eye to glare in Bad Ass's general direction. "Don't you be laughing at my Keeley you old scoundrel."

"Oh please. She jumped about six feet when her dad talked to her. If you weren't sleeping, you would have laughed at the expression on her face too!"

Legacy flipped an ear at the cat and swished his tail. He then reached his nose out to nuzzle Keeley, trying to see if she had a cookie in her pocket.


"Well, at least he can move enough to get out here in the sunshine. What treatments have you been doing so far with him?"

Startled at his question, Keeley had to stop and think for a moment. "Well, he's on a pretty careful diet at the moment, and I've washed and treated his wounds, rubbed his legs out with liniment, and just tried to ease him into walking a bit here and there. Do you think we need to step it up some Dad?"

Sean nodded, looking over Legacy's badly stocked up legs. "With that swelling, he needs a bit of help to get things circulating properly again. Have you done a mud pack on his feet? Or tried to sweat his legs a bit?"

Legacy dozed back off as Keeley and Sean discussed his care. Keeley noticed the drop in the horse's head, and the tremor in his legs again at the same time as her father. "Let's get him back into his stall. I think he needs to lay down again for a bit." Sean reached out for the first time to touch Legacy, running a hand down his neck. He tried hard to keep his emotions in check but there was no denying the odd mix of pain, sorrow, joy and love that fought in his chest. Coughing a bit to cover a small sob, he started walking towards the barn.


Bad Ass sat and watched the trio. A stooped and shuffling old man, a limping and battered walking skeleton of a horse, and a younger woman caught in the middle, doing her best to hold them all together. He knew the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Giving a sigh, the big cat strolled after them through the late afternoon sun.