Ful-Filly-Ing A Dream

(Scene one: Glimpse | Season: Spring)

 “Brian, Emily, breakfast is on the table!” Mr. Bolt shouted. The Bolts were living in a two-floor stone house. The house design was normal for a rich person living in a calm small town. The bedrooms were on the first floor (which isn’t the ground floor) and Emily’s room was next to Brian’s. “Big brother…” Emily knocked and entered. Brian was covering all his body with his bed sheet and snoring. Emily’s cute face changed into a pouting one. “Big brother… dad is calling.” Emily said pushing Brian. “Let him wait, I’m sleeping.” Brian said and turned. Emily felt avoided. “WAKE UP!” she said and jumped right on Brian’s back. “OW!” He reactively woke up. Luckily Brian’s spine was fine. Few stretches would do it. “Anything wrong up there?” Mr. Bolt asked. “Nothing daddy, Brian had a nightmare and woke up just now” Emily hid what she did; so deviously said. When Brian tried to yell at Emily, she pointed out that their dad was downstairs and hinted, that only he will get scolded because he yelled at her. Brian had to surrender. Both of them came downstairs. Emily looked cheered up but, Brian looked awfully hideous. “I’m leaving to work. If you need me, I’ll be a bit far from your school. You two know my warehouse, right? I have some supplies so I’ll be there. Else, I’ll be in the closest eatery.” Mr. Bolt said. “Alright dad, we got it. Have a safe…trip. Usual time at home?” Brian said while yawning. “Yeah. Now Brian, look after your sister at school. I want no tardiness to report me, by your teacher. And make sure to lock the doors and close all the windows. Understood?” Mr. Bolt informed. “Yaaas sir!” Brian sounded like a drunken man and even stupidly saluted too. Mr. Bolt put his shoes on and left.

The moment he closed the door, Brian cheered up in a weak way. “Package has left the building. Unit heading back to bed.” Brian said and went back upstairs. “Oh…big brother, school starts in an hour.” Emily noted. Brian’s eyes went big and he ran to brush his teeth. He bathed, cleaned up, and wore a simple white coloured shirt while Emily was wearing a similar one but with a colorful shirt. “Big brother took so much time. Hurry up, let’s go” Emily said and went out. “Emily, wait!” Brian quickly ate his breakfast in a snap.

“BROTHER!” Emily screamed when she saw a brown coloured horse speeding towards her. “Emily!?” Brian said to himself and ran outside with both his and Emily’s bags in his hand. He saw the horse, and there was no time to get out, so he stood in front of her. “Crap! Whoa Swifty, Whoa!” The rider on the mare pulled it back. The mare stood on two legs. Brian was surprised by its size and reactively, to protect Emily and himself, his left hand raised and he tried to avoid any offence. That wasn’t good enough. As the mare stood on two legs, one of its front legs hit Brian’s left elbow and wrist.  the blow was hard enough to dislocate the elbow and fracture the wrist. Lucky enough for Brian, he wrote with his right hand. “Are you okay?” The rider got down from the horse. Apparently, the rider was a lady, older than Brian. She gasped seeing what her mare had done to Brian’s arm. “I’m so sorry, let me take you to the cottage hospital. It’s only a few yards away. Can get you in a couple of seconds. Please. I won’t forgive myself.” She apologized and begged him to let her help. “You really don’t know me, right?” Brian said in a scary way. Faking that his dad had a high authority as a sheriff. The lady nodded with slight fear. “Ha! Gotcha! It’s okay. I’ll go there after school. Continue your ride. Let’s go Emily.” Brian spoke calmly and without any mad thoughts against her. He was thinking, he could’ve pushed him and Emily bit back, in the time he got amazed at the mare, so both left unharmed. “Then at least let me take you to your school, my kid sister also went there in the morning” she tried to help. “You heard that Emily? A FREE RIDE! We are in. Let’s go!” Brian said but Emily wasn’t happy about her brother’s behaviour. The girl put Emily on the mare’s back. “let’s take a detour Swifty.” She whispered to her mare. “Arhh!” Brian tried to get up on the horse but his wrist fracture gave him a hell-of-a pain. “I’ll run for my morning exercise. Don’t worry sis. You may be the class ace, but I’m the sport ace. You can count on my stamina.” Brian hid his pain and said confidently.

 His sister, came to school just before it started. But Brian got sixteen minutes behind schedule. And a report was sent to Mr. Bolt for his tardiness. Brian didn’t stop running until he reached the doors of his class. He breathed so hard in exhaustion. His whole stamina drained by the run. Because he didn’t properly remember the distance between his house and school. “Brian, this is the…I even lost my count. You came late. Have a reason?” Brian’s class teacher interrogated him. “I ran as hard as I could and went on the wrong route” he replied while grinning, hiding his left hand behind him. He was in the last row, no one really noticed at first. But they all laughed at Brian’s reply. “Stop laughing! Sit down and complete the note so far from a friend. James would you mind…” the class teacher said. “Not at all. Hey Two-B, morning!” James replied and greeted Brian. James Arthur was Brian’s best bud. More likely the exact duplicate of Brian, in personalities. “What you done to your hand!?” James asked. “Shhh! Speak low, I was hit by a mare.” Brian said. “WHY THE HELL YOU DIDN’T GO TO THE INFIRMARY!? Your hand is blue as a blueberry.” James yelled at Brian at a low volume. “Alright class. While you’re writing this, I’m checking your notes.” Class teacher said and started walking in the classroom, checking all the students’ books. The total number of students were twenty-one. So, in minutes, teacher came to Brian. “Brian, where’s your left arm?” he asked. “Left it at home.” The whole class laughed again at Brian’s reply. “SILENCE! What are you hiding?” Teacher pulled his left hand. “Teacher!” James tried to stop but, “HOLY HORSES!” Brian’s scream was loud enough to be heard three classes in a row. “Brian, what happened.” The teacher asked but, he also noticed Brian’s face saying he doesn’t want to say. “Fine, I’ll personally bring your sister home. You go directly to the cottage hospital, RIGHT THIS INSTAT!” Teacher scolded Brian. Brian reactively stood up, thanked and whooshed away to the cottage hospital.

Brian got treated from the cottage hospital. He came back home; with a cast. Raising his arm from wrist to elbow. “Big brother, I made you lunch!” Emily said and brought a plateful of vegetable salad. “Thanks sis.” Brian sat on the dinner table and started eating. Right after Brian finished eating, the doorbell rang. “I’ll see…” Emily ran toward the door and opened it. “Oh, just you? BIG BROTHER, your friend James is here. Come inside, isn’t outside too hot?” Emily said welcoming James. “Why, thanks so much Emily. To be honest, today IS a hot day. Bet the night will be freakily cold. Hey! Two-B, I bought the school notes.” James touched Emily’s head and came inside while waving the school notebooks.

“So…” James hinted. “So…what? What are you saying?” Brian probed. James sighed. “How’s your arm? Sheesh. What did the doc say?” he probed back. “OH! That’s what you asked. Well, doc said it’ll take about six weeks or two months to heal. Not to worry. Nothing serious.” Brian replied. “SIX WEEKS!” James shouted. “Calm down or…” Brian tried “or…or…TWO MONTHS!” James shouted again. “Know what yell all you want.” Brian gave up calming down James. “Don’t worry James, not like it is permanent.” Emily said. “Oh yeah! Right.” James calmed down in an instant, leaving Brian speechless and jaw-dropped. “Your mouth is open, here’s lettuce. There, no fly will enter.” James put lettuce while Brian ‘jaw’-dropped. Emily laughed while holding her belly. “Oh, and by the way Brian, I’m staying here until you write the whole note. You have to study man, or you’d get repeated. Fact, Mr. Riggy asked to make sure, what I just said.” James informed. “Pfoo. Fine, fine.” Brian said while spitting out the lettuce.

At six o'clock in the evening, Mr. Bolt came back home. “Oh…James! Came for a visit, boy?” Mr. Bolt asked while entering as he entered the house. Emily ran and jumped and he hugged her and put back on ground. “Yes, sir. Brian ran over by a horse and got scolded by Mr. Riggy for not going to cottage hospital, was SENT to it and now to present. You’re welcome.” James gave a full report and bowed for any acknowledgements. Mr. Bolt was speechless for a moment. “NOBODY thanked you AJ. And you are wrong in so many levels. First and second, a MARE accidentally hit my arm, not ran over. Third, I was told to go to cottage hospital.” Brian said. “That’s technically two levels and I’m pretty sure you got scolded and you got exactly seventeen minutes and six seconds late to school. AND you do know my name abbreviated to JA, not AJ.” James said. Also succeeded to notify Mr. Bolt about Brian’s tardiness. “Oh tomato-tometoe AJ. Dad, I’m sorry I got tardy. Won’t happen again…” “It’s fine, a fair reason you have.” Mr. Bolt said before Brian finished. “So…James, you staying for his work?” Mr. Bolt asked. “Yes sir. Mr. Riggy warned me. If Brian came tomorrow without complete notes, I’d get the whole of tomorrow’s chores at school. And I DID my chores today. I want it to go on circles.” James said while indirectly putting fault on Brian. “Why are you looking at me like that? STOP IT! It’s creepy.” Brian said and pushed James’ face. “You can fight all you want but, please not while on the dinner table.” Mr. Bolt said. “Oh, I also got work!” Emily said and ran to her room. “Let’s go to my room” Brian took James to his room. Meanwhile, Mr. Bolt took his supper.

(Scene two: Ghost) 

“ARHH MAN! I’m tired. It’s even night. Aren’t you going home? I’ll complete the rest at school tomorrow at morning.” Brian was annoyed by his work. “Says the tardy guy.” James said while smirking. Brian narrowed his eyes and hinted not to mention it. “Doesn’t matter, I am sleeping here.” James said. “By the way, you never told me your sister’s middle name?” James probed. “Why you have a thing for her?” Brian asked casually without any expressions. “DUDE! HELL NO!” “Shhhhhh. Quiet down will you? Asked for fun man, chill out.” Brian calmed James and laughed. “Name’s Priscilla. Emily Priscilla Bolt.” Brian said.

Suddenly someone started to knock on the door. “Bolt…Bolt…BOLT!” the person outside the door yelled. Emily was already asleep. “FINISH!” Brian yelled and he and James came downstairs in a rush. Mr. Bolt opened the door. “Simon? What are you doing in my house at this time?” Mr. Bolt questioned. Simon Dean was an employee of Mr. Bolt. He worked at the warehouses. A great horse rider and far-fetched rodeo winner. But this town didn’t do rodeo-like stuff. Here they only had horse racing. “Bolt…gimme a sec.” Simon waited for a moment to catch a breath. He was exhausted and looked frightened of something. “Bolt…there’s a… THERE’S A GHOST IN THE WAREHOUSE! I can’t work with it. Crates falling down, logs rolling and rugs flying. I can’t work like that.” Simon said. “Ghost!? You are bluffing Simon” James mocked. “DO I LOOK BLUFFING?” Simon came close and showed his face to James. “Okay. You look definitely creeped out.” James said. “Arhh, it’s middle of the night. Don’t go inside at night. You probably afraid of ghosts and darkness at the same time…” “Nyctophobia and Phasmophobia to be exact.” Brian said. James looked jaw-dropped. “What?” Brian asked. “You…You…STUDIED!?” James shouted. “Kinda…” Brian said. James hugged Brian in joy. “Anyway, we’ll do a full check tomorrow afternoon. I have my morning scheduled. Close all warehouses and return home Simon” Mr. Bolt said. “YES SIR!” Simon said and went away happily.

The next day, after school finished, Emily, James and Brian went straight to the warehouse, in search of the ghost. Mr. Bolt was already there. “Oh Brian, you came. Well, which one should we search first?” Mr. Bolt asked. “I’d say we should split up. If we saw a ghost, either it vanishes or one who saw would scream. Right?” Brian suggested. “YES! GHOST HUNT!” Emily cheered. “What if when it saw one of us and would keep following and haunting?” Simon added spooks. James, on the other hand, was chilled and stunned to the core. Almost shivering. “Calm down AJ!” Brian hit James’s back. “Me, James and Emily will check the third warehouse. Dad and Simon check the first. Until then keep the second one closed.” Brian suggested. So, they split up and checked. After a few hours, the night began to fall. The first and third warehouses had no clue about ghosts. All of them came out and stood in front of the second warehouse. “Okay…the last one.” Brian sighed while saying. “Hey Simon, if there’s no ghost you are nuts!” James mocked while hitting Simon with his elbow. “I know what I saw.” Simon said. “Okay quiet down. Let’s go.” Mr. Bolt said and Simon slowly opened the warehouse door. “Oh, for horses’ sake, OPEN IT.” Brian yelled. Simon was shocked and opened the doors swiftly. The warehouse was dark. Perfect place for ghosts to haunt. “I’ll stay outside. Just in case” Simon said and fell back. Mr. Bolt sighed and entered with the team. “Dad, James, you guys check the left side. Dad, I need a torch too. I and Emily will check the right.” Brian said and the team split away.

Minutes after searching for ghosts they found no clue. But in all warehouses, there is some damaged equipment. “Brian, Emily, found anything?” Mr. Bolt asked. “Nothing dad!” Emily replied. “You guys head out, got just a bit more to check.” Brian said. Brian kept running inside the warehouse moving the torchlight left and right. And seconds later he fell over a flat log and the torch rolled over and the light beam fell onto a rug that covers something. Emily saw that something was moving. She helped Brian to get up and pointed toward the rug. His face changed. “Hey James…, it’s the thing I want you to see. Come check it out!” Brian shouted. “Is it, big brother? Do you mean it?” Emily asked and she looked a bit nervous. “Actually, I don’t know. But it wasn’t something I told James about.” Brian whispered. “TwoB, you never told me about any…” “Shhhhh! Quiet! Look.” Brian shushed James and pointed. “Okay. Whatever we see here isn’t going to be seen or heard by our dad. Unless it is serious. Got it?” Brian said and asked. James and Emily nodded. Emily stayed back and kept holding the torch. Brian and James went to left and right and grabbed two sides of the rug. “in one, two, THREE! PULL!” Brian shouted. What was inside the rug was unconvincing. There were two horses. One was black and the other was white. Sleeping under the rug. “We definitely should inform my dad. Maybe he’ll let me keep them, so I can learn how to ride a horse.” This is what Brian said and expected.

“Dad, there’re two horses. One is a black stallion and the other is a mare. About, by my knowledge, about three years old. Can I keep them?” Brian asked. “Okay and NO! We don’t have enough space for two horses. And why two!?” Mr. Bolt asked. “So when Emily gets older she can ride too…” Brian said. Brian and Emily’s eyes showed that they were begging to keep them leaving Mr. Bolt, no choice. Mr. Bolt sighed. “Fine. But the horses will be in the stables of … Gold-key ranchers. They will look after them.” Emily and Brian had to agree. “Okay, Simon call Mr. Paul in the ranch…” “What ranch?” “The Gold-key ranch. And tell them to pick up and take care of the two horses for a while” Mr. Bolt assigned Simon. “Understood. Glad that the ghosts were horses.” Simon breathed gladly. “It’s getting dark, you kids go home and sleep. Understood?” Mr. Bolt said. There were only a few hours to midnight too. “Got it.” James and Brian said. James went to his house and Brian and Emily went to their home.

(Scene three: Care) 

The next day was Saturday; which meant no school. But surprisingly Brian woke up very early, he washed, cleaned and was already done making breakfast. Mr. Bolt and Emily were astonished by Brian’s sudden change. “Wh…Why are you acting strange?” Emily asked. “Oh! Good morning! Nothing strange…I’m gonna visit Goldkey ranch on time when it opens. You coming?” Brian probed. “Nope. I have my studies.” Emily said. “Fine with me. You and the class aces are boring. See you guys in the evening. I’m coming before sundown.” And off Brian went out to the ranch. Mr. Bolt and Emily went dumbstruck. “Hey! Two-B GOOD MORNING!” James arrived behind Brian, on a horse. “YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU HAD A HORSE!” Brian asked in amazement while running. “What do you mean? I talked about my horse almost all interval periods. Don’t you even know his name?” James probed. “Name? AAA…sunshine…?” Brian said while grinning. “Sometime after today, I’ll remember what you just said. I’m gonna hit you with a horse-shoe.” James warned. “I’m sorry! Mind you gimme a ride on this boy?” Brian asked. “Anything possible at any possible time for my best bud. Grab ma hand and jump” James grabbed Brian’s right arm and pulled him over to the horseback. Brian sat behind the horse’ back. “So, you have a shire eh? Are you getting help from this boy to pull weights? What’s his name?” Brian asked. “Whoa there, buddy. I never knew you were such a horse enthusiast. Yes; Mostly in the winter season and his name is Loki. There, I answered all your questions in order.” James said. “Uh…Okay.” Brian acted as he understood. “So, where ARE you going?” James probed. “Gold-key ranch. To meet Mr. Paul and see the horses.” Brian explained. “Okay. Here that Loki…Full speed ahead! Giddy up!” James signalled Loki to go on full speed.

In a few minutes, they reached the Gold-key ranch. James suddenly stopped Loki. “What’s the matter? … AJ?” Brian probed in curiosity. “We gave them two Ma…Mus…MUSTANGS!” James shouted. “I guess we are.” Brian replied while seeing the ranchers training them. But the training didn’t look good. The black horse kept avoiding the rancher and as for the ones who tried to calm it…it sent them flying. However, the white horse kept calm and did not have any training. “I’m going in. Thanks, and see you around later.” Brian said and jumped over the ranch fence and entered. And while going, showed a simple wave back at James.

“Hey Mr. Paul! It’s me Timber Bolt.” Brian shouted and waved. “Well, isn’t this my favourite lumberjack, Timber. How you doing boy?” Mr. Paul asked. Mr. Paul always called Brian by his middle name, Timber. “Lumberjack?” Brian whispered to himself. “Just here to meet the horses you got from my dad’s warehouse.” He said. “Oh yeah? Well, we are NOT doing great on taming them for riders though. Until then, we can’t let you ride them. Too dangerous.” Mr. Paul informed. “Dangerous? We’ll see” Brian thought. Brian was fearless. That had also made him almost lose his left arm. “Boy! What happened to your arm? Wait…are YOU the one Swifty hit?” Mr. Paul said. “Yeah…” Brian said causally. “Hold it. You know her!?” he asked. “Of course. Serena Ryte is one of the elite horse riders…in Steel-lock ranch. Not to mention her Swifty. A jockey, in short.” Mr. Paul said. “Whoa, I got hit by an elite mare. Awesome!” Brian’s cheerfulness creeped out Mr. Paul. “I heard you really wanted to keep the two Mustangs. I’ll make sure you get them after we train those two. But we haven’t named them. So…” Mr. Paul hinted. “You mean it!?” Brian asked happily. Mr. Paul nodded. “OH GOD. I AM NAMING HORSES!” Brian cried out aloud and all ranchers close to him looked in surprise. “Urghm.” He cleared his throat. “Now let’s see…I’ll call the black Mustang… Blacky!” Brian said. “You know that’s what some dogs are called.” Mr. Paul mentioned. “I’ll need more time then…” Brian said desperately. “Well, take your time kiddo. We’ll look after them.” Mr. Paul said. “Okay. Nice to meet you after some time Mr. Paul. I’ll be back.” Brian waved and ran home. “OH, AND DON’T FORGET. COME IN THE MORNING, TOMORROW, AT THIS TIME.” Mr. Paul shouted. “ALRIGHT” Brian said.

Brian came back home around five o'clock in the evening. He actually didn’t head straight back home. All in one word, Detouring. “So, how were the ranchers doing with the horses, son?” Mr. Bold asked. “The white one is calm and motionless while the black one is hyperactive.” Brian said. “They’ll tame them. They are the best. Come join us for tea.” Mr. Bolt said.

A few hours later, about one and a half hours before midnight, Brian got out of his window and silently walked to the ranch hiding in the shadows. Right upon midnight, he jumped over the ranch fence. The ranch’s guardian dog was super friendly with Brian and Emily because they loved animals. Brian slowly entered the stables and found the black Mustang from the warehouse. It was awake but the white mare was asleep. Right on the opposite side of where the black one was. Brian heard stomach rumbles of the black Mustang. Brian looked around and found a tap. He filled two buckets of water and added them to the water trough in the horse’s pen. It looked at Brian curiously. The trough overflowed a bit. Though Brian was a horse enthusiast; he didn’t know about horse meals. He knew what to give but not when and how much. So, he grabbed a large pile of hay and dropped it closer to the water trough. And also filled both of his hands with oats and barley and ran here and there and mixed the seeds with the hay. As a finishing touch, he threw a whole clean carrot too. Brian went back, signalling the Mustang he was in no close range for a threat. He sat down and kept watching how it ate. The Mustang slowly approached and ate, about nine-tenths of the haystack and the carrot. Also drank all the water in the trough. Brian was happy and he stood up. He slowly went closer and closer, raising his right hand to touch it. The horse stood on two hind legs and neighed. “Shhh…shhh…shhh. Calm down. Please calm down.” Brian tried to shush but it didn’t work; so, he climbed up, grabbed horse’s head and rubbed it smoothly so as to signal that he was not threatening. Surprisingly, Brian succeeded to tame the black Mustang, that none of the ranchers could. “Man, you are active and furious. Hey…that’ll be your name from now on. Fury. No, that isn’t right. Maybe, Phantom. Yeah. Sound good?” Brian asked Phantom; the black Mustang. He again rubbed the horse’s head and tousled its hair. Brian put his forehead to that of the horse’s and said, “I’ll be back. Buddy. Good night!” Brian left the ranch. And there were only three hours left for sunrise when he reached home. He sneakily climbed up to his window, and slept, after shutting the window. 

(Scene four: Approved)

The baby in the house two blocks away from the front of Bolts’ house screamed. Brian woke up, startled but still awfully sleepy. Then all the sleep was washed away when he remembered Mr. Paul told him to be at the ranch on time. The time was about an hour past sunrise. Brian quickly opened the window and saw James working with Loki. He signalled him to come close to his house. James came quickly. “AJ, I want you to tell Mr. Riggy, that I’m meeting Mr. Paul for something he called me for…ONLY if I didn’t make it to the classroom before Mr. Riggy. Got it?” Brian said. James nodded. Brian came downstairs after washing his face. And he got his backpack with books and ran to the Gold-key ranch. He made it there after half an hour of marathon running. He was exhausted and b barely able to talk. “So, Paul…What…ARHH” Brian laid on the green grass on the ranch in total exhaustion. “I want to register you as a member of our ranch. You’ll be the third, and one of the youngest members in here. Hope you got the right name for this majestic Mustang.” Mr. Paul said. “Wait, what!?” Brian stood up and asked. “I saw what you did with this black brute. And that alone is marvellous. Absolutely marvellous. Write your name and the name of your horse and, fill the columns.” Mr. Paul gave a comparatively big book, with columns to fill as a new member. “Alright! Now you are permanent, an official member of our ranch group. You don’t need to do chores since you are a schoolboy. But if you are willing to help when you are free, that is fine by me. Here’s your member badge.” Mr. Paul said. “Also, by the way…What is the bag for?” Mr. Paul asked. “Today’s Mon…James, you are so dead.” Brian forgot the date and avoided saying Sunday as Monday. Also, he was angry about what James did for fun. “Where are you running? Ride Phantom!” Mr. Paul suggested. “Really! Uh…Sorry. I should learn how to ride first and I can’t mount him with this stupid arm. I’ll come after a few weeks. I’ll visit him every day.” Brian showed his left arm and said. “JAMES YOU BETTER BE READY!” Brian yelled and ran back home to smack James. After reaching home, Brian threw his bag at James so hard as to push him back. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that today is Sunday.” Brian complained. “Sorry pal. It's a bit fun though.” James said and laughed. “Fine. Anyway, I joined the Gold-key ranch and my horse is the black Mustang. I named it Phantom.” Brian bragged. “WOW! NO WAY. Good for you bud. Now take care of it. Especially when you are with this arm. If need any help or tips tell me. I will be happy to help.” James said and volunteered to help. “Thanks bud.” Brian gave a slight punch to James’s shoulder. “Please use a tap, from now on. The mini-punches of yours are too hard on me man.” James said while rotating his arm. “Understood.” Brian went to James’s left side and slammed to push him to front. “DUDE! That’s a slam. Not a tap” James said. Brian giggled.