Bam went the front door. Clomp, clomp, clomp said the cowboy boots on Stevie's feet as he ran to catch up with dad and Julie.

Spook looked over the fence and watched them coming. Now Spook was a curious fellow for a young horse. He was also very friendly and very handsome, being a shiny dark brown color called a bay. Spook lived in a pasture with his mother and one other horse. Their favorite time of the day was when their people came to visit them which happened every day in the early evening. Bruce fed them oats and hay and the kids came along so they could talk to the horses and pet them.

Each night followed the same pattern. While dad was opening the hay bale and scooping up oats in the bucket, Stevie and his sister climbed the high wooden fence where the horses pressed close to the gate for their food. Then Stevie and Julie petted the horses over the top of the fence.

This night, Spook saw Julie and Stevie coming toward the fence and ran to meet them. He saw little Stevie first, dressed as usual in his jeans and boots and wearing a cowboy shirt. Spook didn't notice Stevie was not wearing his sloppy cowboy hat he kept pulled down tight to make his ears stick out. He also didn't notice Stevie's head was cropped short in a crew cut. (Looked like dad just gave him a haircut). Stevie marched right up to the fence, and looking down at the rails he carefully placed his boots on each rail. Up he climbed to pet Spook. All of a sudden Stevie felt something funny on his head.

Now when Spook saw Stevie start climbing up the rails, he said to himself, "Hmmm, looks like Stevie has some short stubby hay for me to try as an appetizer." Then Spook hung his head over the fence and began to nibble the hay. Only his lips closed over the hay because it was really short stuff. He tried about three nibbles but couldn't get it to crop off into his mouth and no teeth would fit over it without sliding off.

Just then Stevie gave a shout, "Hey, Spook, quit eating my HAIR! You're slobbering all over my crew cut, you big dummy!” 

Spook looked down and thought, "No wonder it wouldn't come loose. It was fastened onto Stevie's head. Wonder how he did that? Oh, well, it didn't taste good anyway."