Veronica Lacchese

Beyond the Pine Trees

The sun was just beginning to rise over the green hills surrounding the farm when Clara rose to attend to her daily chores. Her bed was made of straw and old sheets that the Petersons’ had given her when she first arrived at the farm. Clara was not permitted to stay at the farmhouse but was given a little corner in the barn to sleep in and eat her meals. There were six stalls. Four of which housed two mare Fell ponies named Lita and Honey and one gelding Shire horse named Bishop. In the fourth stall was a black stallion Clydesdale Horse. Clara named him Dorian. Clara and Dorian bonded almost immediately. She often wondered if it was due to their similar fates; being torn away from the life they loved and now forgotten in the shadows of an old barn.