[Folwren]

For the second time that day in less than ten minutes, Tim found himself once again staring in surprise. He quickly recovered himself, and thankfully before Gerdy had noticed, shut his mouth and turned to the pony.

‘We’ll stable them. If yours is finished drinking we can take them now. There are two stalls right next to each other that they can take.’ The ponies lifted their heads almost together and Tim led his off. Gerdy followed close behind. ‘Here, put yours in there,’ Tim said over his shoulder as he passed the first empty stall. The next one he opened and led the second pony into it. There he took the rest of the harnessing off of the animal and rubbed him down. He went to the neighboring stall once he was finished to check on the other pony and found Gerdy still working on him. He smiled as he turned to get corn and hay for both of them.

He took the lid off of the grain bin and reached down to fill his buckets. His hand was arrested in mid air as he caught sight of a slight, quick movement on the edge. A smile broke out on his face as he went on to fill his bucket. So, there are mice in barn, are there? He had to get enough grain for both ponies. A mouse might come in handy. He chuckled this time and closed the lid.

“Here is some corn for the pony,” he said, swinging open the door to the stall. Gerdy looked up and nodded as Tim set it down. “I’ll be back with some hay in a moment.” He withdrew again to feed the pony he’d taken charge of and get the promised hay.