Horses, Cats and Nagging Wives

“I’ll be away all day” said George as he picked up the morning newspaper.

“Oh and where might you be going?” asked Matilda placing a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him.

“To see Ted Wallace. He has a Percheron stallion he wants to sell.”

Spooning sugar into his coffee he gave her a determined glare, waiting for the argument he knew she would put up. True to form she slammed her fist on the table.

“And how are we going to pay for it? The mortgage payment is due and that won’t leave much spare”

“I’ll find the money, I’ll sort it out, Mattie now pour me another coffee, I want to be away by ten o’clock.”

Mattie poured his coffee and turned to the dishes in the sink, mumbling to herself as she clattered the plates. Looking up she stared across at the stables, hadn’t he enough horses already. They could barely afford the feed and upkeep as it was. They hadn’t even paid last months Farrier bill yet.

She spent the rest of the day in the garden feeding the chickens. The sun was hot and she was tired. If it wasn’t for her growing vegetables and collecting the eggs they would be even worse off. She sighed placing a freshly cut cabbage in her basket beside the carrots. One of the horses whinnied as she walked past the stable on her way into the house. She strolled over to the stable half door, Staring right into the eyes of Rosie one of the Clydesdale mares, hate steaming from the glare of her grey green eyes.

“If we didn’t have to spend so much money keeping you in luxury we would have been able to afford that nice little cottage with roses around the front door.”

Rosie snorted, tossed her head and took a couple of steps back. Mattie continued into the house slamming the door behind her. She washed the cabbage then sat and had a cup of tea before preparing the evening meal.

“All sorted” said George picking up his knife and fork “He’s a good bloke is that Ted. Said I could make a down payment and then monthly to clear the remainder. Beautiful horse. Will go nicely with Destiny and Connie, and perhaps we’ll have a couple of foals next year.”

“What you don’t realize George is that the cost of their upkeep will far outweigh what ever you get from selling the foals. Especially when there is no grass in the paddocks because of the dry weather and we’re spending a fortune bringing in hay. And the vet’s bill arrived this morning with a reminder that it is two months overdue. We’ve been spending money on those damn horses for four years now, and what have we had back? Tell me that… go on tell me… not a single bloody cent”

“But it all takes time have patience woman” replied George.

That night George was woken by a commotion coming from the stables.

Grabbing his shot gun he raced to the stables to the sound of his horses thrashing and neighing. In the moonlight he saw a dark shape dart past him as he neared.

"What the devil was that!” he cursed to himself.

It took him until dawn to settle the lathered horses down. He tended to the nasty gash and bandaged Kimberly’s leg. Connie had some nasty scratches down her back.

“It’s Ok girl, there now, we’ll soon have you right” he said soothingly as he daubed a balm on the sores.

At breakfast he told Mattie what had happened. “I thought maybe it was someone trying to steal one of the horses but it must have been some wild animal. Didn’t you hear the commotion?”

Mattie said nothing. Just continued staring out of the window.

“I must get those courtyard lights repaired today”

“More damned expense.” Mattie thought.

The same thing happened that night. Again he was woken to the sounds of horses in panic. This time he saw it. A huge black cat. He’d never seen one so big.

“Get out you heathen. Leave my horses be” he screamed heaving a brick as it flew past him. He must have missed because there was no answering yelp from the animal.

After lunch he went into town to the local police station and reported what had occurred. “Must be some wild animal maybe a young panther or something escaped from a zoo.” George informed the police officer.

“No, there haven’t been any reports of escaped animals in this area, and no other sightings of a wild animal have been reported” Constable Peters told George. “If it happens again let me know and we’ll look into it and see if we can solve this mystery”

As George drove home a plan was formulating in his mind.

That night he decided to go to bed early and grab a few hours sleep ready for the vigil that he had planned for that night. But first he went to the stables to prepare everything in readiness. He spoke gently to each horse in turn, whispering soothing words as he stroked their manes and necks and patted their backs. “You’ll have a new friend tomorrow when I fetch him, his name is Gaston, and he won’t put up with that pesky animal… that’s for sure”

He stirred just past midnight. Mattie was gently snoring. He wouldn’t wake her. Didn’t want her turning on any lights and upsetting his plan. He hadn’t told her what he was planning. She would only kick up a fuss anyway and he’d had enough of her nagging about his precious horses. He dressed quietly and went downstairs trying to avoid the creaky one as he went. Once outside he took a deep breath and filled his lungs with the cool fresh air. All was quiet as he entered the stables. Only Connie gave a welcoming snort and nuzzled his shoulder. He settled himself on the hay bales, pitchfork ready by his side. He thought about Gaston and what lovely foals he would sire. His girls were beauties but Gaston was a prince. He had watched his girls as they had galloped in the paddocks enjoying their freedom that morning, what a beautiful sight they made and they seemed to have gotten over their scare of the previous two nights.

He had almost decided to give up his vigil an hour before dawn, thinking the brick the night before must have been warning enough to scare the animal away. Just then the horses started to shuffle and snort, he could feel their nervousness. There was just the moonlight for him to be able to see. He reached for the pitchfork and held it with a firm grip, holding his breath he waited. In a flash there it was the black shape; a cat lurched up onto Connie’s back.

Connie screamed and reared but the black shape clung on. He yelled but the animal wasn’t going to be chased off this time. It clung while Connie writhed and bucked. With all his might George lunged with the pitchfork, he felt the pull as it sunk into the flesh of the animal, Connie reared frothing at the mouth as the animal screeched. Then as the pitchfork was suddenly yanked out of his hand George fell backwards, rolling and ducking to avoid being kicked and trampled. He scrambled to his feet, sweat pouring from his brow.

He quickly turned to his beauties to calm them down with soothing words and gentle pats. The blooded pitchfork was laid on the floor but of the animal there was no sign. He turned on the lights and checked the girls out, the gashes on Connie’s back would need to be attended by the vet they were so deep. How he wished he had had the foresight to bring a bottle of whisky with him the night before. He could sure do with a drink right now.

It was nine thirty by the time he had settled the horses and gone back into the house to phone the vet. He wandered through to the kitchen ready for some breakfast. But there was no sign of Mattie and no breakfast cooking. It was most unusual for her to sleep in.

He went to the stairs and called “Mattie… Mattie it’s after nine… Mattie”

Getting no answer he made his way upstairs. “Mattie where are you?" he called. "The vet's coming soon and I have to go to Ted’s to pick up the stallion. Mattie!”

But Mattie was still asleep.

She looked pale. Was she ill?

He went over to the bed and gave her a shake. It was then he noticed the blood in her hair. Pulling down the covers he froze as he saw the pool of blood that oozed from three open wounds in her back.

© Rosemary Sadler Sept 2011