An Event to Remember

By Judy Wiesbrock



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"Olivia, where were you?" Mom asked as I ran into the house, as though she did not know. I jokingly told her, "Oh, I was out playing with the pigeons." "Good try, Olivia. Leave poor Maura alone, or you'll make her anxious." "Oh mom," I groaned, as she headed me toward the bathroom to wash my hands for dinner. As I was washing my hands, the lights began to flicker. "Yahoo!" Ben squealed. "Do you think we'll lose our electricity from the snow storm, mom? That would be cool!" Dad, ever calm, reassured us that we would not lose our power. "Darn," Ben said. All he wanted to do was to see us scared by the darkness of the house.

After dinner, we all helped clean off the table and put the food away. It was a school night, so Dad helped us with our homework, and kept things moving so we could hit our 8:30 bedtime.

"Mom, what about Maura. Do you want me to check her during the night? I'll put on my winter coat and boots and walk to the barn if you want me to," I said, trying to negotiate a little more time with Maura. But mom reassured me that Maura's stall was under our surveillance camera, so at any time during the night, mom could a peek at her without even having to climb out of the warmth of her bed. What a bummer! Modern technology had wrecked my effort to sneak out to the barn. "But you know Olivia, you did such a great job clearing off the table, why don't you make one more trip to the barn to see how Maura is doing," mom said, as she was putting the dessert dishes into the sink. I raced out of the house as fast as I could. I was free! I could run and see my buddy one more time before I went to bed.

Upon leaving the house, I was immediately shocked at how much snow we had received since we had come in from sledding. The drifts were over my knees, and I had to jump like a horse to make any progress. I finally made it to the barn and went inside, brushing the snow from my legs as I walked. "Hey girl. I just came out to say goodnight. Don't you worry. We'll be watching you all night long on the camera in Mom's room. Don't have this baby without me!" Maura's soft head and neck wrapped around me as if to say that we would bring this baby into the world together. Oh, the love I had for this mare was just overwhelming. "Thanks sweetheart, I love you. Have a goodnight and I'll see you in the morning, if I don't see you having that baby before!" I then turned out the lights and walked out of the barn. I made sure that I locked up the barn so the fresh snow would not blow in. Holy smokes, the snow was really coming down now, even faster than when I had entered the barn just a few minutes earlier.

"Mom, Dad, you would not believe how much snow we have on the ground," I said as I climbed out of my snowsuit. They both jumped up, peered out the window, and were in shock at the drifts that were forming outside of the window. "I sure hope we don't lose power. Look at all of that snow!" Mom said as her breath fogged up the window. "Maybe we'll have a snow day and we won't have school tomorrow!" Marilyn screamed with delight. "Off to bed kids, unless I get the no-school phone call, we're staying on our regular schedule," Mom said. Of course, we moaned and groaned, but off to bed we went. In spite of my excitement about Maura, in the warmth of my bed I soon fell asleep.

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