I ride a large white horse, solid gentle, most of the time.

But today we rode in the lonely places, and all the voices around us were suspect, the shadows beneath the cedar trees, headless horsemen.

He stopped with all four feet at once, ears abruptly foreward, pointing at some hidden surprise I could not sense.

His solid gentle became spook, and that will happen in the lonely places.

An elk rose above us up the hill, crashing, not looking.

But we sat…