‘It’s cold so don’t work him too hard now,’ Jack cautioned.
‘I won’t,’ I said, nuzzling my face into Dutch’s cold fur and listening to the sugar crunch between his teeth.
‘Great. Give us a shout when you get back,’ he said.
I climbed onto Dutch, gave him a pat on the neck, and picked up his reins. I shifted my weight and dug my heels into his sides and he took my lead perfectly, and began to trot, his mane
bouncing with each stride. In perfect rhythm we went out into the frigid, ice-kissed world.
The leaves and berries in the bushes were bejeweled with frost. No one had disturbed the snow and except for a few fox marks it lay in a pristine layer on the ground. I looked at the
beauty around me, breathed in the still silence, and felt pure joy. Dutch too seemed pleased to be out.
We had travelled peacefully for about fifteen minutes when my skin began to tingle. Not from cold. It was an unfamiliar sensation. My hands felt as if they were numb and yet so sensitive
I could feel the blood throbbing inside the vessels. I squeezed my hands into fists.
However, the odd feeling persisted.
Then my head started to feel light and strange. Concerned, I slid off Dutch and my boots sunk into the snow. I held on to Dutch and tried to understand what was happening to me. The
tingling in my hands spread to my arms and culminated in a delicious warm glow all through my body and brain.
I should have been frightened, but I wasn’t. How could I? It felt incredible. I felt as if I could taste the air. It tasted clean and I could actually feel the oxygen in the air I was
breathing. Every little movement and thought made me extremely happy. Everything felt good to touch. Even my clothes against my skin was pleasurable. I rubbed my face against the fur
lining on my collar and it felt as if I was not rubbing a strip of dead fur, but the indescribably soft warm fur of a baby chincilla that was alive and curled around my neck.
I experienced the beauty around me the way I had never before done. I started to feel as if I was one with the landscape, as if I knew how the trees and animals felt. We were all one
organism. It was, you know, peace and love. At that moment I loved every single person on earth. I guess I was being in the moment. There was no yesterday and no tomorrow. There was only
now, where everything was perfect.
I saw the most gorgeous squirrel run down a tree and come towards me. He stopped about ten feet away. The little creature’s eyes were so bright and alive I felt as if he was my special
mate.
I dug around in my jacket and tried to share my cookie with him. I was disappointed to the point of tears when his beautiful bright eyes stared greedily at the cookie in my hand, but he
refused to come closer.
I became sure that the reason he was refusing to come to me was because I had once eaten squirrel meat.
‘Look, I’m really sorry,’ I told him. To my ears my voice sounded high and cartoon like. I paused, giggled, and continued. ‘Now that I know you I’ll never do such a thing again.’
I threw the cookie towards him. He scampered away at first and then came back to snatch the cookie and rush away back up a tree. Sitting on a branch, he began to nibble at the cookie. I
laughed so hard I had to hold my belly. His antics seemed to me the funniest thing in the world. To my delight it started to snow again. Big, fat flakes. What grace. What elegance. I
opened my mouth and they melted on my tongue. Delicious. Absolutely delicious. I lifted my face to the heavens, and with my hands outstretched, I twirled around just savoring the
marvelous sensation. It made me dizzy and I fell to the ground. Feeling deliriously happy, I stared up at the white sky.
One moment I was eating snow and laughing, and the next I was a snow-covered lump in the bleak landscape. I don’t know how long had passed. I was conscious I was becoming cold, but my
legs felt funny and I didn’t trust myself to ride home. Anyway, the horse was nowhere to be seen.
I should call someone, but the only person my buzzing brain wanted to call was Ivan. He had such a sexy mouth. I remembered again the way he had looked at me for that one second during
dinner last night, and I was determined that I really, really, really should kiss those lips. At least once.