Coming Unfettered

A short story about Self Awareness

Eva stared out the window as she dialed the phone. Against the dawn-lit hillside, the silhouette of a solitary mare stood backed up to a wooden fence post, an old boundary marker long forgotten, yet rooted in wide-open isolation. She hadn’t moved since Eva’s first cup of coffee. And now, as she poured her third, Eva knew something wasn’t right.

“Hello, Bill? This is Eva, your neighbor to the east,” Eva said.

“Yes, yes, it has been a long time. Uh, Bill, I think there is a problem with one of your mares.”

Leaning closer to the window, Eva continued, “She’s standing there, not budging, facing south as still as a statue.”

“Yeah, yeah. But, I watch your horses every morning. It’s unusual for the horses to head over the hill and one to stay behind. Something must be wrong.”

Eva fiddled with the clip holding back her grey-streaked hair as she made her way to the other window in the room. She peered out to the south, searching the pale horizon for any sign of life.

“No, Bill, I can’t see another living thing. What was that?”

Eva nodded her head, “Yep, I’ll be here. Yep, always.” She sighed and looked at the phone before hanging it up.

Eva made one last glance at the dark, lonely figure before wandering across the room and easing herself into the confines of her comfortable recliner. She wrapped a small handmade quilt around her legs and searched for the page she had left off in her book.

On the fourth attempt to finish a page, she laid the book in her lap. Her mind strayed back to the mare.

“I should have gone and checked on her. I should have called sooner. Or maybe, I should not have called at all. That little mare is probably fine, and I drug Bill out here for nothing,” Eva whispered to the empty room.

The rumble of Bill’s pickup stirred Eva from her restless thoughts. She jumped up from her chair, but the quilt slipped down around her feet, fettering her to the spot. She cussed at her familiar predicament realizing she was looking directly out the south-facing window.

“I’m no better off than that mare,” she said as she bent down to unravel her feet from the handmade hobbles.

Through the window, Eva watched Bill pull up next to the lone horse. Moving slowly, he rubbed her neck and gently slid his hand down her back. The mare shook her head as he neared her tail and patted her hindquarters.

For several minutes Bill wooed the mare. She stepped forward, once, twice, before galloping off. At the top of the hill, she stopped and whinnied, plaintively calling out to her missing friends.

Eva let out her breath and bent down to pick up the quilt that lay in a useless heap near her chair. She mindlessly folded the quilt and, out of habit, placed in it the matching chair that sat empty the last four years.

The sound of Bill’s truck in her driveway pulled Eva back into the moment. She moved to the door, hesitating to reset the plastic clip holding back her hair before greeting her neighbor.

“Good morning, Eva,” Bill said brushing his mustache with the back of his hand. “Sure appreciate you calling about that mare.”

“I am glad she’s alright.” A smile flitted across Eva’s face.

“That darn mare had herself in a fix. Must have had an itch she couldn’t satisfy.” He chuckled and looked to the south.

“Ended up with her tail wrapped right around that old wooden post,” he said. “She couldn’t move and had no idea on how to set herself free.”

“She sure seemed anxious to get back to the herd.”

“Well, horses are a lot like women. They don’t like to be alone for too long. It’s their instinct to be together. Guess they need each other.”

“Well, I don’t know about that.”

Ignoring the huff in her voice, Bill continued. “I had to cut her tail a bit to untangle her. Some gentle coaxing and she let go.”

Eva’s pictured the dark mare caught up in her self-imposed tether. She recalled with a pang of envy how the mare kicked up her heels and charged up the hill, no looking back. The horse knew where she wanted to be and didn’t take time to question what had been holding her back.

Eva shook her head and felt the plastic clip slipping from her hair. She smiled at her neighbor and reached for the screen door.

“Bill, would you like to stay for a cup of coffee?” she asked.