#elsewhere

"Again, I think the secret ingredient might be butter. Or garlic. I think you could cook cardboard in butter and garlic and it would taste good." She makes sure that Irene is settled on her back before rising. "Maybe I could put in a little garden."

"Oh, you should! Could you plant strawberries?"

"I'll have to see what will grow around here... and if that's okay. Otherwise, a window box would be nice. But that's just herbs or flowers."

"I like flowers."

"Honestly I never was much of a cook and flowers are not my style" He admits "i'm a manly man" wink

"But flowers are very pretty" He addss for Irene's sake

She grins. "Well, plants can be manly too. Strong scents like Sandlewood, ones that say 'tough' like a cactus!"

"If I head down the trail this way, you can follow in your truck - if that works for you? When we get closer to the clearings, maybe you can park and walk over and we can look together."

"Yeah, my truck cann follow you up to a point"

And off they go, searching for horses, starting where they were seen before

It takes about an hour, when Nessa finds sign of them. Her dad taught her more than a little onn where wild horses might be found

She rides along at a loping canter - easy enough for Bix to keep up, a mile-eating pace, but smoother ride than a trot. "You okay back there, Irene?"

"Oh yes!"

Then they see them

"Oh, oh, oh, oh! Look look look!"

"See here, where the bush is missing some of the leaves at around my knee height? That's a sign of grazing...." She is pointing out, so Irene actually gets the first sight of them!

The stallion looks like the spirits sprinkled him like a donut with a kind of powder, it's a neat effect. He's on guard, but it is clear the others are a bit more content and enjoying spring's lush offering