Early the next morning, Hare-iette was on her way down the road to visit a neighbor. I didn't think anything of it, she loved to visit him, and play with the animals.

Hare-iette walked in the barn and called, "Hi, Mr Piersall".
"Good morning, Hare-iette. You're out early today."

In nice weather, Mr Piersall would set two lawn chairs in the barn doorway. Hare-iette would scramble up into one of them and have a nice chat with her friend. She loved to hear his stories of how things were around here long ago. He also had a lot of stories about horses and ponies. Mr Piersall boarded horses and had trained many ponies over the years.

Today, however, it was cold, so they sat inside the barn on bales of hay. The barn was nice and warm from the body heat of the horses. It was peaceful too, listening to the horses munch their hay. The two friends caught up on all the news of their lives, the town and what was in the paper. Mr Piersall also told Hare-iette about when snow plows were pulled by horses. She was amazed, she had never heard of anything like that.

Mr Piersall had to finish his chores, so Hare-iette went around talking to the horses, and feeding them carrots she'd taken from the refrigerator at home. When she got to the back of the barn, a pretty little pony greeted her with a nicker and a friendly nudge with her nose.
"Hi, Twinkle. How are you today?"
She was answered by a head toss and a soft little snort.

Twinkle was a fairly old pony. She was quiet and gentle. She'd been ridden by all the Piersall grandchildren. The children were all grown now. Twinkle didn't have much to do nowadays. She was glad to have Hare-iette visit and play with her, or go for a little ride.

After she had ridden for a while, Hare-iette slipped off and petted Twinkle, scratched her face and talked to her. The pony seemed very happy.

"I know you've lived here a long time, Twinkle. Do you ever think you'd like to move?"
The pony cocked her head and looked at Hare-iette. She looked curious. Hare-iette can talk with and understand many kinds of animals but she's never had any luck conversing with horses or ponies. Still, she thought that Twinkle understood what she was saying.
Hare-iette continued, "I mean, would you like to be where there are children to fuss over you and play with you and go for rides?"
Twinkle shook her head up and down vigorously. It certainly seemed like she had understood. Hare-iette was certain that Twinkle had agreed. Now to get the humans to agree.

Hare-iette took Twinkle back to the barn. The pony seemed reluctant to go back inside. She had clearly enjoyed the outing.

"We had a good time, Mr Piersall.", Hare-iette said as she brushed the pony down. "I bet Twinkle misses having the kids around to play with her."
"I think you're right, Hare-iette. I'm going to try to get her a new home in the spring."
Hare-iette's heart skipped a beat.
"Would you want a lot of money for her?"
"Nah, maybe $100. She's earned her keep here. She doesn't owe me anything."
Hare-iette's heart almost jumped out her mouth. $100 was next to nothing for a good pony.

"Good bye, Mr Piersall, Thanks for the ride. I'll see you again soon."
Hare-itte raced for home as fast as she could go.