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Sighing as I came to the end of the hallway, I opened the door onto what I reht’s torso, holding court on a stand in front of the wide picture , overlooking the sea Planning a watery invasion? Not likely, his legs being in the hallway, you see

The ornate four-poster bed, stillin theballs will do that Yep, seven to be exact Pink Lined up down the center

I turned in a circle, taking it all in

Aunt Maude h the back door, testing each floorboard before puttingI’d need to head back into town and find so in any of those beds until I could do a good airing out The couch didn’t look too bad, though I could sleep there just for tonight until I could--

I was pulled frohts by a soft whinny The barn! I turned to look: still weathered red, with a pasture surrounded by a weathered wooden fence Across the long dooryard from the house, I could see the old pump for the well that had been there forever As I walked through the grass, a few chickens scratched at the ground

Mr Montgomery had said there were still a few animals Someone from town took care of them, someone who had worked for Aunt Maude for a while Hank, I think his nan of him in the house; perhaps the barn?

I headed toward the barn door, the chickens squawking andsure I knew my presence was unnecessary this afternoon I toed h and poked my head around the corner

Warh as they did when I was a little girl, when I had spent hours swinging from a rope above I could see the hayloft, stuffed full with feed for the horses Er, horse I counted seven eain

"Hey there, Mr Horse," I soothed, the extent ofexactly zero But I always see people on television stroking the nose

I didn’t get to the nose Because before I could get to the nose, I stepped in the shit

Turns out picturesque old barns with actual living horses also come with poop Which was now all over ed on the right froht back out into the yard And for the history buffs out there, apparently shit and hay ether literally makes a kind of mortar Like you could build a house with this stuff So ged toward the cliff, trying to scrapedandelions into the h about this and retain the feeling I’d had before the shit step I was in love with Mendocino, I was in love with this new adventure, I was in love with--

And then? I saw hie of the earth, buffeted by the wind, I saw a distant rider on a black horse on the pristine beach belohich curved as far as the eye could see

My toes curled up in joy