Winston lived on the Rancho Dominguez; it was all he knew. Horses Gustav, Spirit and baby Chlo all lived on the ranch with him, but they were bullies; especially the bigger horses. Winston was thinner and more timid than they; they would always push in front of him to get to the feed. They would bite him if he tried to edge in and get his share. Sometimes they really hurt him and all he had to eat was the dirt on the ground and muddy water from the ditch. It was all he knew. Winston knew that he was always hungry. That much he did know. Sometimes the ranch manager would whip him if he did not go fast enough on the night trips to the border, or tried to snatch some fresh grass along the way to satisfy his constant hunger. The mean manager put a nasty burn on Winston’s back leg one time and he did not know why the mean man did that. He hurt Win’s feet so badly, when he changed his shoes that Win would holler and rear. He did not understand why these things were done to him; but it was all he knew. He would try and talk to the other animals on the ranch. Some were nicer than the mean manager and the mean horses. Karma was the ranch cat and he loved her soft, white nose best of all. She would nuzzle with him in his stable and say, “Don’t worry Winston. It won’t be forever.” He did not know what she meant at the time. He thought she was a very pretty white cat and that, maybe, one day, they could be married. He was not sure if a horse could marry a cat, but he did like that idea and it made him feel happy. His friends, the naughty goats, Charlie and Elvis, told him he was a “Silly Billy” to think that way, as they looked for food together on the ranch. “Of course a horse can’t marry a cat, you crazy stable hound!” Charlie laughed. Winston knew inside the depths of his tender feelings for that beautiful white cat, who loved on him more than any other creature he knew and always made him feel better about everything. But one day Karma did not come and see him. He looked for her up and down the meadow, he looked for her in the feed trough and he looked for her in the stars at night. He looked in the stable and in the water trough. He looked everywhere. He could not find her. Her words, “It won’t be forever” stayed with him and made him sad. Why would she leave him alone in this mean world with these mean folks? He was sad beyond sad. Even his friend Elvis couldn’t cheer him up. Then one day, a man came to the ranch and started yelling at the mean manager. The mean manager came to Winston and grabbed his halter, pulling him across the yard to the horse trailer. “Get in, you no-good horse!” he yelled and he made Winston sad all over again. Sad and very worried. He had always tried to be a good horse. He had tried to please the mean manager, but it had never been enough. The journey away from the ranch was long and hot and bumpy. Winston shivered with fear in the trailer and could taste the salt of his own sweat. There was only sand to eat in the trailer and he was very afraid. Where was this shouting man taking him? Was there a place out there in the world that was worse than the Rancho Dominguez? He could not imagine that there was, but he was so full of fear he felt sick.
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