"Please put your shoes by the door," Aunt Helga said in her shrill voice that grated on my nerves...

Every summer it was customary to make several visits to Aunt Helga's house and every summer Amanda dreaded each one. There was just too much going on back at home to uproot her life for the isolation and frustration of Aunt Helga. Aunt Helga was strict and lived every moment of her life controlled by some rule which Amanda couldn't understand. Since her uncle passed away four years ago, Helga lived alone. Not only alone, but she pretty much kept to herself. Someone as young as Amanda just couldn't understand that side of grief, or what Helga was going through. To Amanda, it was just old age and crazy rituals. To Helga, it was a way to control something in her life which seemed to be slipping by her all to fast. Helga was excited to have Amanda around, she just didn't show it very well.

Kara stepped back as the door blew quietly open... she cautiously took a step forward...

She could hear the age in the door as it creaked ever so slowly in her direction. This barn had been her childhood retreat where she sat and daydreamed about what her life could be like, what she had wanted it to be like. Memories wafted through her like the smells of the old lofts and haystacks. Kara loved this place, more than any other. As she stepped inside, her present world faded away and she was taken back to all the sights and sounds of those bright summer days surrounded by every furry critter imaginable. They were her quiet and peaceful companions. In fact, Kara could almost see old Fred, with his furry little tail, peak around the corner, eyes shining with excitement and purring in anticipation as she stepped closer to him. Mechanically, Kara reached down to grab him but then, almost as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone. Kara was simply lost in another day dream, only this one she wanted to keep and hold on to with everything that she had. Somehow she knew this old place would understand. Old Fred would understand.

"Evidently you don't plan on saying goodbye to me, do you?" Shana said haughtily.

She was so tired of the guessing game and walking on egg shells. If this was so right, it shouldn't be this hard, should it? Anyhow, In Shana's idealistic world, that's how things worked. Life however, was not ideal. Mike was not ideal. Oh, she thought he had been at first but those initial impressions can fade so quickly in the light of reality. Reality was, he loved to argue and they argues about everything under the sun. Shana was tired of always being in what Mike thought was the wrong, and even more, she was tired of him running out the door and shutting her out of his life.

Wyatt grasped the edge of the pool, breathless and looked behind him...he had to hurry!

Chris was right behind him, his little shark fin cutting through the water like a pro. Lisa just loved to watch the two boys play together. Just imagine how comical it was to see Chris with his little shark-fin hat flailing in the water in hot pursuit of Wyatt. Wyatt was out of breath, Chris had a triumphant grin that stretched ear to ear as if he were just the king on the hill. They lightened her heart and made every moment somehow worth something.

Brenda had always feared this would happen...she would be stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire...in the dark...

Plus, it couldn't have come at the more less than perfect moment either. She and Chris were headed home from Christmas vacation, to which Chris was still recovering from surgery that he had just one week prior to the holidays. They had been talking about how crazy the last year had been, and it had been a roller coaster. So much had happened that it was a year she would rather not repeat again. Just as they were both trying to look on the upside of things, the tire blew. Karen could feel the car veer sharply down to the left. As she pulled slowly off to the side, she wondered how they were going to get out of this one. They were already miles from home and miles from the next stop. Not to mention hardly anything would be open the day after Christmas. To top things off, she would have to handle the repair herself, or, so she thought....

She closed her eyes as she remembered her favorite Christmas, the one where she and her brother Jimmy each got a pony...

Christmas on the ranch was magical. Angel loved everything about growing up in Montana where there was room to run, to breathe, to simply be at rest and peace. Angel loved that about her childhood, probably now more than ever. At 20 Angel was as wild as the land she grew up oN. She had left the valleys of Montana for the city skylights of New York hoping for what most hope to achieve in the bigger cities with greater opportunities, or so it seemed. City life, however, was nothing like she thought it would be. Smiles were rare as people became too wraped-up in their own respective worlds to really care about yours. Above all the noise, cars, and hum of the city Angel just couldn't hear herself anymore. Everyday Angel became a little more lost and alone. Christmas was right around the corner though, and she was going home. Tiny was long gone, but she could still picture that little bay pony with eyes that gleamed mischief...oh how she missed home!

The wind blew fiercely against the screen door, slamming against the house with a THUD, THUD, THUD...!

Alexa hated being home alone when it stormed. Chris was out somewhere trying to herd all the cattle in for shelter. They had been here just a little over a month and there seemed to be an endless amount of things to do. This was a new town, a new place, in the middle of nowhere really. In fact, "town" was about 10 miles southeast of where her parent's farmstead was located. Alexa had always dreamed of coming back here. Her tea was warm as she cupped it and sighed deeply, staring out the large bay window that her mother used to read to her in. Those days were so long ago. Mom and Dad must have known she wanted to come back more than anything, that's why they left the house to her. There had been a lot of disappointment in her life, but here, everything had been near perfect. Memories in this place were only happy.