story from a word - part 1

A couple years ago, I took an online writing class from author David Farland. The first assignment required us to create a single paragraph story based on one word. In this assignment, there were seven such words, each requiring their own story. I’d like to share one with you (and perhaps more later). The word for this was “Horse” (of course!)

The golden-brown dappled mare was one of Ike’s favorites. He pictured himself brushing its long, white mane. He admired the same gleaming hair that sprouted around its hooves like thick wool socks. He’d given it the name, “Bucky” because of the way it danced around the stable, kicking high in the air as if about ready to fly. This noble beast, however, did not belong to Ike (as if any man could really claim to own an animal). In truth, its stable was only a pleasant stop on his daily walk to work. This did not keep Ike from imagining himself riding off with Bucky as the light of the sunset gleamed against the creature’s sleek, muscle-bound flanks. As they rode off, Bucky would kick up the dirt of their dusty old town and Ike wouldn’t bother to look back. Later, someone would find his parting gift, a battered orange hard hat, lying on the ground and they'd wonder where he'd gone off to.