. . .
Its early in the morning and theres a motor car outside our door, the
first one weve ever seen in the lane.There are men in suits looking in
the door of the stable of Finn the Horse and there must be something
wrong because you never see men with suits in the lane.
Its Finn the Horse. Hes lying on the floor of the stable looking up
the lane and theres white stuff like milk around his mouth.The stable
man who takes care of Finn the Horse says he found him like that this
morning and its strange because hes always up and ready for his feed.
The men are shaking their heads.My brother Michael says to one of the
men, Mister, whats up with Finn?
Sick horse, son. Go home.
The stable man who takes care of Finn has the whiskey smell on
him. He says to Michael,That horse is a goner.We have to shoot him.
Michael pulls at my hand. Frank, theyre not to shoot him. Tell
them.Youre big.
The stable man says, Go home, boy. Go home.
Michael attacks him, kicks him, scrawbs the back of his hand, and
the man sends Michael flying. Hould that brother of yours, he tells me,
hould him.
One of the other men takes something yellow and brown from a
bag, goes to Finn, puts it to his head and theres a sharp crack. Finn shiv-
ers. Michael screams at the man and attacks him too but the man says,
The horse was sick, son. Hes better off.
The men in suits drive away and the stable man says he has to wait
for the lorry to take Finn away, he cant leave him alone or the rats will
be at him. He wants to know if wed keep an eye on the horse with our
dog Lucky while he goes to the pub, hes blue mouldy for a pint.
No rat has a chance to get near Finn the Horse the way Michael is
there with a stick small as he is.The man comes back smelling of porter
and then theres the big lorry to take the horse away, a big lorry with
three men and two great planks that slope from the back of the lorry to
Finns head.The three men and the stable man tie ropes around Finn
and pull him up the planks and the people in the lane yell at the men
because of the nails and broken wood in the planks that catch at Finn
and tear out bits of his hide and streak the planks with bright pink horse
blood.
Ye are destroyin that horse.
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