They communicated. They understood one another. They were both beings, like spirits, you might say, housed in two different kinds of bodies.

The fact that that made all the difference in the world did not occur to the naive and lovely Melanie Barker.

Her rebellious spirit blinded her to the obvious fact that they were destined for different realities that could never hope to merge as one.

Little women are allowed these impossible fantasies. Rarely do they have the opportunity to make it real. A wicked moment awaited her.

Of course, her awareness was also dulled by the maze of conflicting images that pulsed through her young brain.

Her buried fantasies were finding an outlet because some sin was plaguing her. All these things she knew only in pictures, not words.

Just like her father she felt somehow responsible for the death of her mother. But it wasn't guilt exactly.

It was more like Melanie, as her daughter, was the only one who could erase this unnamed sin. She too instinctively felt, like her father, that Lightning held the answer.

There was something about this horse that was inextricably bound up with her mother, perhaps much more than she knew.

Melanie could see these images inside her mind's eye as they bubbled up to consciousness. But she couldn't control them.

Because she could not express what was happening to her in words, she could not center the images on a focal point.

Something was bothering her, she knew that. What it was exactly she couldn't tell. Her body made her do crazy things that preyed on her mind.

She loved the feeling between her legs as her young cunny bounced on the smooth leather saddle in time to Lightning's steady, rhythmic pace.

She could feel that she was wet down there. It often happened while riding the beautiful stallion through the sun-drenched valley.

It was their favorite spot. Some of their best moments together had happened between the walls of the mountain they lay in between now. A beautiful red-winged butterfly the span of which was outlined in a felt-like black trim flew in front of her blue eyes.