THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WELL

Chapter 4 – page 7

And off they went in the same direction..… following the same path, only it looked different now. Must be the shadows that were falling across it. And still Granma thought she could catch a glimpse now and then of a pink or silver wood gnome behind a tree … watching them pass. She got the vague feeling that maybe they were planning something up ahead for them.

Muff was out in front, leading the way now. Da Muff could see the gnomes too and would growl when she saw one. They went a little faster. Pepper being just a baby horse began to drag behind and Granma had to pull on her. Lots of work. "Give her a little tap with your heels J, and say giddy up!" said G. So he did and that worked for a little while, then she drug behind again. It was probably around 4 o’clock now, as Granma was pretty good at telling’ time without a watch, you know. You knew, didn’t you? Anyway, they could ride at least another 2 hours before sunset. Granma stopped and broke a little switch off of a limb and gave it to Julio. "Next time she gets hard to pull, just raise this here switch and let her see it, and she’ll pick up speed," said Granma, who knows a whole lot about horses, she does.

Welp, that seemed to work just fine; almost too fine. Julio found himself riding right up next to Granma sometimes instead of way behind. Pepper’s trotting was something he was not use to. "Knees J-man, knees, and hold on to her mane," said Granma.

Clompiddy clomp, bump up, bump down … along they went. Up down, up down, then they walked. And Julio let out his breath. Up ahead it seemed they could see lights. They were riding along the top of a ridge and began winding down now. The soft dirt path turned into pebbles and made the horses stumble at times, hurting their bare feet. So they walked slowly on. The lights grew brighter. They seemed to be coming from the trees, and indeed they were. Soon they were amidst a swarm of fire flies. The little lights on their tails glowed in the dark shadows of the trees, lighting up the place with a pale golden-green light. Julio caught one and smashed it on his wrist. He said he had a watch on his arm now and it was half past supper time. How could that kid be hungry again?

The pebbly ground turned into more like a solid stone road. It almost looked as if the stones were laid in place ~ like it was paved. The wind was warm for being up so high; almost like a tropical breeze. The stone road began to wind around and down into a valley, and it became even warmer. And there was a sweet, fruity smell in the air.