Freedom Run

I will finish fising all the spaces next time I edit this so dont start telling me about the lives please. I hope you like this story it is the first one that I like that I have written.




“Freedom Run”


Prologue

Sighing Teresa looks out her window watching her mom talk to the captain of the regiment that was in town.
“Why?” Teresa says, “why my horse of all, there are so many others they can take. I don’t care if the army needs more!” she says, angrily turning away from the window. “They will only take him to go and get killed on the battlefield. And I’ll never see him again."Throwing herself on the bed Teresa remembers the conversation she and her mom had had only the day before. Her mom had said that the war was important. “It might be” she thinks, “But no one seems to care what is important to me.” Hearing a whinny Teresa’s heart is torn; she plugs her ears and tries to think of something else. Lying on the bed Teresa looks up and sees a drawing that a famous artist had drawn of her on her horse Dick, he had drawn it while they were riding in the field next to the house. She had not even known it till she was finished and saw him. She remembered riding him he was so smooth like riding a cloud; it was like they were running to freedom every time she rode. Now she never would
again. Feeling tears well up in her hazel eyes she buries her head in a pillow to let all her anger and frustration out.

‘Six months later’

“Teresa come hear and finish these dishes.” Her mother says as she slowly turns from watching the troop of men pass by. “I was hoping I would get to see Dick.” Teresa says with a sigh as the last
few men pass and not one sign of Dick. “Teresa you need to get him out of your mind he’s gone and most likely you wont see him again.” Her mother says wiping the table off. “I am just about through so here you can finish the rest.” She says handing a rag to Teresa. Reluctantly she takes the rag and finishes the dishes as she thinks about Dick. Everyone had just about lost their horse, but no one seemed to mind as much as she had. “They just did not have he bond like me and Dick had.” She mumbles. “What did you say?” her mother asks. “Nothing, can I go to town after I am
through and see who won that battle everyone’s talking about?” Teresa asks looking at her mother. “Oh I guess as long as the rest of the animals have been finished for the afternoon.” Her mother
answers. “They are-all but the chickens-thanks mom.” Teresa says trying to hurry so she can finish.
Walking on the road into town Teresa looks at all the familiar sights. The rock where she and her friend Mandy had played before she moved away, but that had been so long ago. She had been eleven then and now she was fifteen. Coming into town Teresa wonders if the sale at Burls Dry Goods store is still on. “I think I will go see. They will most likely know who won.” Teresa says heading down the street towards the store. Passing the saloon she notices it is not as loud as normal. “Strange,” she says, “but I guess everyone has joined the army, all those who can.” She added. Right after the saloon was the store. Walking into the store she looks around. “Hello there, miss Teresa what can I do for you today?” asks Mr.Filder. “I was just wondering if that sale was still on I was wanting to buy some fabric for a new dress.” Teresa says walking over to the counter. “As a matter of fact the sale goes off at closing so you came just in time.” Mr.Filder says heartily. “If you look along the back wall- that’s where we moved the fabric - you will see all that you could want.” He says pointing towards the back
of the store.

“Thanks.” Teresa says going in the direction he
pointed. Rounding the corner she sees rows and rows of new fabric. “Am I sure glad I brought my money along.” She says delighted at all the
nice fabric. Looking through it she sees a pale pink, “Oh that would be pretty but not really what I want.” She says going through some more. Seeing a dark green she looks at it but puts it
back. “Oh this is what I want.” She says taking a pale blue with little white flowers on it down from the shelf and takes it to the counter. “Find one you like?” Mr.Filder asks. “Yes I would like five yards of this,” she decides. “Ok is that all?” he asks. “Yes but could you hold it for me while I go down to the Bakery?” Teresa asks
remembering she wanted to get something for her mother. “Yes I can do that. Just don’t forget we close at five so you have an hour and a half.” Mr.Filder said cutting the material. “Thank you I will be back soon.” Teresa replies going out the door. Stepping out the door Teresa hears a whinny. Looking down the road she sees two horses being herded down the street out of town. But they looked to be hurt and the soldiers taking them were being rough. Feeling her anger rise Teresa starts out after them. As they get farther she breaks into a run and soon over takes them.

“What are ya’ll doing!” She says as she slows down to look at the horses. “Well miss we are taking these horses to go get rid of them. They’ve been
hurt in the war so we have no need for ‘em now.” One of the soldiers says. “Get rid of them?” Teresa says loudly. Just how were you planning on doing that?” She asks angrily. “These could be
someone’s horse and here you fixing to most likely go shoot the poor things.” She says looking at the feeble creatures that were hobbling along. “Now see here miss we were told to and we need to go and get it over with or we are going to get in trouble.” Said the other soldier impatiently. “No, I will take them.” Teresa says without hesitation. “Now we can’t let- Breaking in the other soldier says, “why not? We were just going to kill them anyway. Why not let her take them if she wants to?” He says. “Fine I just wont be the one in trouble when the cap’n finds out.” The other soldier replies. “Oh thank you.” Teresa says smiling at the one soldier who had helped her. “You need help taking them to your house miss?” asks the soldier. “Oh my yes I probably will if you don’t mind.” Teresa says taking the reigns from one of the soldiers. “I’m going back then.” Says the soldier Teresa took the reigns from.
Ignoring him Teresa heads to her house forgetting everything else she was going to do.

As she gets closer to her house Teresa realizes
what she just did. “Uho mom’s not going to like this.” She mumbles to herself. “Did you say something miss?” Asks the soldier
who had brought the other horse. “Oh I am sorry I forgot you were there.” Teresa says. “There’s my house if you will just follow
me I show you where we can put them.” Teresa says starting towards a big barn. Handing the reigns to the soldier she opens the door and goes ahead to open to stall doors. Following her the soldier puts one of the horses in the first stall and doing the same thing with the other. “Well I better go back now.” The soldier says starting out the door. “I am sorry. You will have to forgive my

manners my name is Teresa.” She says holding out her hand.

“Mine is Steve.” He says shaking her out stretched hand. “Are you

sure you cant stay for dinner?” Teresa asks. “At least it might help

a little of you get in trouble. I am sorry if I caused any.” She says

embarrassed. “No I cant, thank you. And I doubt I’ll get in trouble

Greg-that other guy that was with me-he’s just all talk.” Steve says

smiling. “Good I would hate for you to get in trouble for something

that I doubt you could have stopped.” Teresa says laughing.

“Thank you Miss. Teresa.” Steve says heading out the door.

“Goodbye.” Teresa calls out after him. “Same here and good luck

with those horses.” He calls back. Turning her attention back to

the horses Teresa notices that one seems to be hurt a lot worse then

the other. Looking at them Teresa sees how pretty they really are.

“My if ya’ll were cleaned up you would be very nice.” She says,

one was brown with a blaze and three stockings. The other was a

very light gray; almost white,” or that could be dirt.” She thinks.

Hearing someone open the door to the barn Teresa sees her

mother come over. “What in the world have you got?”

She asks surprised at seeing two horses in her barn.

“Mother please don’t be angry the soldiers were going to kill them

and well I just sort of made them stop and they said I could have

them.” Teresa says looking at her mom. “Well you certainly have a

lot of work if you plan on keeping them.” Her mother says

surveying the mess they were in. “You really mean it? I can keep

them?” Teresa asks. “You might as well now that their here. You

always did bring some type of animal home but this is the first big

one.” Her mother says laughing. “But you need to hurry and clean

them up so their wounds don’t get infected. It looks like this one,”

her mother said pointing to the brown one, “just has some sword

wounds or something of the like. He doesn’t look to bad.” “I was

noticing that too.” Teresa says bringing water, rags and ointments.

“Well I’ll leave you to clean them up while I go finish supper.” Her

mother said going back to the house. Looking at the horses Teresa

says, “Ya’ll are going to be all right.” Picking up the rags and

dipping them in the water Teresa gently starts to clean them up.

Coming in for supper Teresa runs up stair to change. Afterwards

she goes back down to eat. “Did you get them all settled?” Her

mother asks as she sits down. “Yes they look a whole lot better

now.” Teresa says. “You know mom I was thinking and I know

what I want to do with these horses.” Teresa continues. “What’s

that?” her mother asks. “After I get them well I will start giving

them back to people that lost their horse during this war.” Teresa

says with a serious expression on her face. “Well I think you could

do it but it would be a lot of work.” Her mother says bringing the

food to the table. “I know and I don’t mind. I just want to restore

these horses back to a home. I can’t keep them all.” Teresa says

filling her plate up as her mother sits down. “What do you mean

‘them all’?” her mother asks suddenly. “Well I want to take all the

horses, that are not beyond help, and take care of them.” Teresa

says glancing at her mom and wondering what she will think of the

idea. “You know it takes money to do that I hope?” her mother

asks. “Yes I do and I could earn money in town somewhere. Please

mom I have to do this.” Teresa says pleadingly. “If you take care of

these horses first and are able to find work and good homes for

them then I will say yes.” Interrupting her Teresa says or more like

yells, “thank you, oh thank you mom I will take good care of them

and tomorrow I will go find work.” “Teresa don’t interrupt. I

really mean it though that if you don’t you can not I repeat can not

bring any more home.” Her mother said firmly. “Sorry mom, and

I will do my best.” Teresa says excitedly.


‘Few months later’

“More horse feed again?” Asks Mr.Filder as Teresa takes the

money out of her purse for the third time this week to pay for horse

feed. “Yes people have been bringing me so many horses this week

it has been like a zoo at my house.” Teresa says handing him the

money. “How’s that coming along anyhow? I heard someone in

hear this morning say how grateful they were to you bringing

them a horse. After they had lost theirs it had been a struggle.”

Mr.Filder said. “Well I have been getting a lot of horses that are in

really bad shape, that I am not sure what to do with them. Already

I have had to have five of them taken away they were just in so

much misery.” Teresa says. “That money that the town raised for

me has helped ever so much.” Teresa adds. “Oh I just remembered

someone came in here earlier and asked if I would give this to you.

Mr.Filder says handing a letter to Teresa. Taking it from him she

says, “I wonder who could be sending me a letter?” “Well I don’t

know but the person who brought it said to give it to you only.” “Thank you.

I better being going home now.” Teresa said going out the door.

“Here I’ll bring this feed and put in the wagon for you.” Mr.Filder

says grabbing the bag and taking it out to a wagon with a white

horse attached to it. “How’s ole Lucky doing by the way?” He asks

as he dumps the bag in the back of the wagon. “He is doing so

much better now. You know he was one of the very first horses

that I saved?” Teresa asks. “Really?” Mr.Filder says. “Yes for a

while I did not know if he would make it or not. But he did and

that’s why I named him Lucky.” Teresa says jumping onto the

wagon seat. “Well I better go on home. Nice talking to you.”

Teresa says as she flicks the reigns a little to get Lucky started.

“Come on Lucky lets go you old slow thing.” Out of town Teresa eagerly open her letter.

Hello Teresa,

Hope you remember me, Steve. I wanted to write and tell you of

a big group of horses that is coming through that way soon. I didn’t

know if you still helped them or not. So I thought I would let you

know ahead of time to get ready. Hope everything there is going

fine. It’s late and I need to go to sleep now.

Steve

“Good the more the better. I will have to get everything ready and

stock up on food.” Teresa says going over everything in her mind.

“That’s funny, I wouldn’t think Steve would remember or want to

remember me.” Teresa says to herself smiling. Pulling up to the

house and unhitching Lucky she puts him up then puts the feed

into the barrel and heads into the house. “Mom I’m home.”

Teresa says coming through the door. “Ok I am in the kitchen.”

Her mother calls back. Going to the kitchen Teresa sits down to

tell her mom the news. “There is a big load of horses coming

through this way and I am going to have to get ready for them.”

Teresa says picking up a cookie from the cooling rack. “Don’t eat

to many,” Her mother says, “Don’t you have enough already?”

Her mother continues looking at her. “No I want to take them all.”

Teresa says firmly. “Besides all the people I have given them to

have been so grateful I just can’t stop now. And it is just what

seems to have been destined for me to do.” Teresa says taking a

bite of the cookie. “Mmm these are good.” Teresa says gobbling

that one up and grabbing another one. “Well I need to go start

getting ready for that big load. See you at supper.” Teresa says

grabbing two more cookies as she rushes out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hearing a horse galloping up Teresa looks out the window and

sees Mr.Filder son Jerry. “Teresa you said to tell you when those

horses came through. Well they are bringing them right now I told

them to go ahead and just bring them out here. They fussed a little

saying that they had to take them some place I don’t know but any

way when I said that Teresa Collins was taking them in they

immediately said oh well why didn’t you say so sooner. They said

they had heard about you and they would bring them right over. I

decided to come ahead to tell you.” Jerry said. “Thank you Jerry,

they have heard of me? Oh my I did not know that it had gotten

around.” Teresa says glancing down the road to see if they were

close. “Ok I need to go make sure the stalls are ready and

everything. Did you happen to notice how many there where?”

Teresa asks. “Oh maybe about six to eight.” Jerry said as he

glances down the road to. “There they are.” He adds as he sees a group in the distance. “Ok you

show them where to bring them and I’ll go make sure everything is

ready.” Teresa says heading towards the barn. In the barn she

opens all the stall doors so it would be easy to get them in. Making

sure she had fresh water and rags she also checks her bandages and

ointments. Seeing she had everything ready she turns to go back

out but sees them bringing all the horses in. “Here put them in

these.” She says taking the reigns of the first horse and putting him

in the first stall. As the other three men put three other horses in

the other stalls Teresa takes the last horse and starts to put him in

the stall. Nudging her the horse noses her pocket for a treat just like

Dick used to. “Dick?” Teresa asks surprised at the action of the horse. Whinnying he blows out his

breath on her hand as she throws her arms around him. “Dick! It is

really you after all this time and…..” not finishing, she starts

rubbing his ears and taking a rag she wipes his head of all the dirt

and grime. As it comes clean she sees that special, white star that

had always stuck out against the rest of his black body. “Jerry its

Dick my old horse that was taken away.” Teresa says wiping away

tears of joy that escaped her eyes. “That’s good Teresa but you

better get these horses cleaned up and fed. They look rather

pitiful.” Jerry said eyeing the ragged coats and dried blood along

most of them. “Yes your right.” She says. Pulling Dicks head down

she whispers, “Dick you are going to get well and we are going to

go riding like we used to just wait and see.” She said looking at

him with love in her eyes. Turning her attention back to all the

horses she starts cleaning them up with a smile and brightness that

had not been there in a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bending down Teresa strokes Dick’s silky mane. “You know it is

still a wonder that I ever got you back.” She says laughing as he

throws his head up as if agreeing with her. Giving him a gentle nudge on

his side Teresa whispers, “Come on Dick lets go on to Freedom

Run again.” And together they paint another picture as Dick takes

off into the streaming sunlight.

The End