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     Samantha opened the door. It was her 

birthday, she was turning ten, and she had been 

expecting something...

 …Only… She had expected it to be a tad 

smaller… and in the mail.

      Before her, now, stood her mom and dad, 

and a brown and cream Gypsy Vanner horse. 

“Happy birthday Samantha!” her parents 

exclaimed in unison.

     That was two months earlier. Samantha had 

named her Firefly. Her dad had built an addition 

onto the chicken coop and Firefly slept there.

     For a while everything went peacefully. 

Samantha took care of Firefly very well and rode 

her every day. But, then, Firefly began acting 

oddly. She barely slept at all. She was less 

energetic. She groaned at night. During the day 

she would stare longingly over the white rail fence 

into the distant field, where horses were frolicking 

together. But, no one noticed any of this.

     One day, when the family came back from dinner at a 

nice restaurant, they were horrified at what they saw. Their 

backyard was flooded. Samantha quickly ran to the spigot 

to see if it was open. Sure enough, the spigot handle was 

up, nothing was coming out. That meant that the well was 

empty. 

     While her parents dealt with the flooding, Samantha 

went to check on Firefly, who was in her stall where they 

had left her. It was unlocked! Samantha was sure she had 

left it locked….

      “Did Firefly open her lock, and then lift the spigot?” 

Samantha wondered out loud. That could be the only 

explanation. Firefly had her head to the ground and looked 

guiltily up at Samantha.

     The next day, when Samantha was going into Firefly’s 

stall, she found her lying on the ground, barely moving. 

Her eyes were glazed over, and she looked sick. Samantha 

ran back to the house, yelling to her parents.

     “Mom, Dad, Firefly looks like she’s dying!” Her parents 

put down their coffees and rushed to the stall. They looked 

at the horse, and her father immediately dialed the vet’s 

number. Samantha ran over to Firefly, embraced her, and 

began praying.

     “Lord, please help Firefly with whatever is wrong with 

her, and please make the vet get here soon.” She could 

hear her father talking to the vet in the background. 

     Ten minutes later the vet was there. He looked Firefly 

over for a long time. Then he stood up, wiped his hands 

on a towel, and declared,

     “Mr. Young, the only thing that’s wrong with that 

horse is that she’s lonely. You might want to start 

looking for another horse, for company - quickly, too, if 

you want to still have her.”

     “You’re saying…” asked Mr. Young.

     “Yes, if you don’t want her to die, you need to get 

her a companion, or you’ll just have to give her to 

someone who has horses,” the vet said sharply, drawing 

himself up.

     “I’m sorry, but there are some other people that 

need me right now.” He walked out of the stall and 

started his car.

     Mr. Young turned around and looked at Firefly. 

“Samantha, you don’t need to be out here. Your 

mother and I will begin looking for another horse like 

the vet said. We’ll be coming inside in a moment.”

     “Yes sir.” Samantha replied, reluctantly, while 

slowly getting up to go inside.

     It wasn't long before everyone was inside. 

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

     “Strange, nobody said that they would be dropping 

by. Hmmm.” Samantha pulled the door open, and on 

the doorstep, stood an old woman, slightly stooped.

     “Hello…?” Samantha said questioningly, wondering 

if her parents would want her to talk to this stranger or 

not.

     “Hello, young lady. My name is Mrs. Wilson, and I 

was wondering if your parents would like to buy my 

horse; I purchased it for my grandchildren to ride, but 

they are older now, and I have no use for it. Would 

you be interested?”

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