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(The following is Part 1 in a series of 2 Parts):

The Mystery of the Mud Track Trail by Tom Reeves

To some people, the story I am about to tell may seem strange, ah, but yes, the facts are true. It's the story how I, the husband of a model horse maker, came to know and befriend the horses of Itzasmall Ranch.

Paula and I met many years ago. I was a younger man full of energy and vigor and elated with the charm and beauty of my young wife-to-be. Everything about her was exciting and new. How happy I was that she had agreed to be my wife.

One day before we were married she said, "Honey, I want to introduce you to some friends of mine." Little did I know that those friends would be small in stature and of a four-legged kind.

She took me around and showed them all to me. It was obvious they meant a lot to her. How happy they seemed to make her. I was glad she had a hobby, one she enjoyed so much. But I never realized how big a part of my life they would become.

Soon we were married. Our life moved forward and the collection of Itzasmall Ranch continued to grow. Paula made more and more horses and took more and more pictures. We often had lots of fun coming up with new names for them. Sometimes the names were majestic sounding, sometimes they were comical and other times we were not too sure what they were, but it was fun none the less.

Then one day something happened that was soon to change the way I looked at or felt about model horses forever. It happened early one Saturday morning. I woke up early that morning and went into the kitchen to fix myself some coffee, to get the old engine going for another day, if you know what I mean. I poured my cup full, then walked toward the front door.

Immediately, I noticed something unusual. There was a small trail of mud not much wider than about half an inch leading from the front door to approximately three feet into the house on the carpet. What was more, the front door was ajar!

Immediately, my mind began to wonder "What is this? Has someone broken into our home?" I closed the door and began a careful, cautious search of the house. After a thorough investigation, I was sure that everything was fine, but I wondered "How did that small trail of mud get on the living room floor?" Paula is a meticulous housekeeper, so I felt sure she didn't do it. None the less, I showed my newly discovered mystery to her. She was a surprised as I was.

Well, shortly the vacuum cleaner was out and almost as quickly as I had spotted the mud on the floor, it was gone. We talked about what we had seen for some time, but after exhausting all of our ideas and theories about what could have happened, we just dismissed it and forgot about it.

Several days went by. The days turned into weeks and before long the rainy season for our part of the country began. It was another Saturday morning. I roused myself up refreshed from a good night's sleep and ready to begin a brand-new day. The rain we had received during the night made the air smell so clean and fresh. Once again, as I have done so many times, I went to the kitchen to get my first cup of coffee. Um ... the smell was good; just right to wake a body up. I thought, "The rain must have really perked up the plants. I think I'll go take a look at them." So, I headed toward the front door.

What I saw as I got to the front door took me very much by surprise. There it was, just like before! A muddy trail, not much wider than about a half an inch. The door was closed this time though. "What could be going on?" I wondered. "What could have done this?" Once again, I cautiously looked around the house to make sure everything was secure and sure enough it was, but this was quite a puzzling mystery.

I began to try to come up with ideas as to why this had happened, and twice at that. My ideas ranged from a small animal getting into the house, to someone breaking in while we were asleep and dragging something across the floor. But, the more I thought about it, the less my ideas seemed correct.

I thought to myself, "Well, over the years, you have been trained to find solutions to problems using all kinds of different methods. Now is a good time to put them into practice." I began to write down my ideas and possible causes, then after a time I noticed some things that were common about both occurrences of the mud being on the floor. First, it had rained the night before I saw the mud on the floor each time. Second, the trail of mud was about one-half an inch wide and about three feet into the house on both occasions. The only difference that I could see was that the first time, the door was open; with this new incident, it was not. I concluded by thorough analysis that both times, what I saw was caused by the same thing, and that somehow the door was involved.

I also took a closer look at the muddy trail and noticed that the further the trail got into the house, the thinner it was. That led me to believe that the trail must have been made by something coming into the house. "Coming in to the house?" I voiced out loud as my mind raced forward to the obvious next question which was, "Is it still in here?" Fear of the unknown began once again to take over. I reasoned, "Could it be a snake? What else could make such a trail as this?"

Rather cautiously, I began to investigate every nook and cranny of the house. Well, no snake found, nor any other creature for that matter. Then what I thought was a flash of brilliance came to my mind. "If the trail was made from something coming inside, then perhaps there was also a trail outside that might help unravel this mystery.

I walked out the front door and carefully looked around. Sure enough, there was a small trail on the sidewalk that went straight from the front door to the front lawn. "Hum..." I muttered, "What could be going from the lawn into the house?" I didn't see any burrows of any kind in the lawn, but a careful close-up investigation did reveal something. There were small tracks of some kind in parts of the front yard near the trail where the lawn was thinner. I now felt much better about my mystery and concluded that what I must be looking for is some kind of animal. But what could it be? How could it open the door? Why did it want in our house? No food or anything else seemed to be touched. Was it just coming into our house, and then leaving; could that be the case? It would explain why the mud showed up in one direction only. Obviously there would be no mud if whatever it was headed back outside. The thought of whatever it was leaving the house made me feel a lot better.

I told Paula once again what I had seen and what I thought I had figured out. She was very interested, but since it appeared to be an animal of some kind, we felt that by locking things securely, we could prevent this from happening again. So, we just put this incident in the back of our minds, although I must admit, I continued to think about it.

Then early one morning, it must have been around two or three in the morning, I woke up wanting a drink of water. So, I got up quietly so as not to disturb Paula, and was going to get a drink. But, as I was getting up, I heard a tiny sound that, of all things sounded like a small version of horses snorting. I listened carefully as the sound continued on for a moment than decided I had better find out what it was. I grabbed my flashlight and carefully crept around the bedroom door into the hallway. I could still hear the sound. The sound got louder and louder as I got closer to the living room. The moon was bright and there were beams of light shining into our living room. Then I saw something move! There, near the front door, I could make out several snimals, or something moving. It appeared that they were coming into the house! The door was open!

My heart must have been pounding a mile a minute as I turned on the flashlight and there before my eyes was something I could not believe and will never forget as long as I live! There, coming into the house were small horses that I had known for so long as the model horses of Itzasmall Ranch! They were alive! but how? By the expressions on their faces, I could tell they were as shocked to see me as I was to see them!

I could feel myself getting faint. I began to tell myself, this is a dream; you're not really seeing this, but when I looked down at the floor and saw them I knew what I saw was real. I pinched myself to make sure I was awake. The pain left no doubt that I was. Then I noticed that some of the horses began to assume poses that I had become familiar with and in just moments, they once again began to look like model horses. All of them were doing it except for one or two. Then, of all things, a stallion that I had come to know as Cygnus, a Polish Arabian Stallion, spoke up in its small voice in English! Now I was sure I must be losing my mind! But Cygnus said, "Well, it appears we have been found out. We would have preferred for no human to know, but now you do. We could all freeze back into our poses right now and leave you in a situation that no doubt would cause you a lot of mental anguish. But, because we have known you all these years and you have been kind to us, we are not going to leave you in that situation. If you will promise never to reveal to Paula what you have seen here tonight, we will tell you about ourselves, about our secrets, and how we come to life." "Of course!" I said. "I promise!" No sooner had I made my promise than the other horses that had gone back into their poses came out of their poses and began to move around. Some of them walked up closer to me in a curious fashion as if to check me out. They had never before been able to move freely around a human. (To be continued)