The brilliant blue moon shone in the sky, its radiant light flowing onto

the swirling water of the sea in a waterfall of brilliant white beams. It

sparkled and twinkled like the stars in the sky, its enchanting patterns never

ceased to hold Deborah's attention. She would sit and look at the tiny waves,

each with its own personality, as they would each race at the beach, climbing as

far as they could before running out of steam. Screaming their sighs of

exasperation before rejoining all their friends in the wide expanse of water.

The little pebbles underneath chattered and danced in the excitement of each

race, all singing their own little tunes before coming to a rest, waiting for

the next wave.

From her high vantage point Deborah was able to see for miles in each

direction, and could hear all the millions of constant races taking place up and

down the beach. She sat and watched a large piece of driftwood as it tried to

join in the races but simply sat and rocked, hindering the racers. It looked

water-logged and was barely floating, she felt sorry for it. It looked sad. It

had once been part of a tall and proud tree, its leaves and nodes shooting in

all directions soaking up the Sun's life-giving light, shading all those who

needed it. Now, it was old and dirty. No more the fine leaves. No longer

spreading its comforting shade, it lolled in the water - moss and weeds growing

upon its sides, helpless.

Deborah's attention was caught by a faint whisper of a sound carried on

the soft sea breeze, it sounded very much like long rolling thunder, becoming

alternately louder and quieter, but, in general it was getting louder. She felt

something inside her sink and she got a feeling of anticipation, no, more like

fear. She had no idea what was creating this sound but she wasn't sure she

wanted to find out, she tried to stand but found herself unable to - she was

firmly rooted to the spot, as though her muscles had conspired against her and

were on strike. This only added to her fear.

She looked in the direction of the sound, it was getting louder but

there was nothing to be seen for the miles she could see. She stared intently

down the beach, her eyes scanning every square inch for something - anything -

that might be heading towards her.

She saw something.

Or at least she thought she did. It wasn't that something moved, but

more that the scenery had changed, it shimmered and warped slightly then

returned to its normal state. Almost as though someone had passed a heater below

it and the heat haze had momentarily bent the light and mutated what she could

see.

Deborah stared harder, she couldn't see anything, had she imagined it?

In all honesty, she just didn't know. Her fear was now giving way to a strange

sense of curiosity, the sound had become louder and was becoming clearer, it had

a rhythm to it.

Then she did see something. A faint white wisp, something very much like

a small cloud, was drifting along the beach. It was almost completely

transparent, but it was definitely there. As she watched it seemed to become

larger and more dense, it had begun as a small patch of white cloud and was

slowing expanding and becoming less transparent.

It was taking shape, it was materializing as something. She had no idea

what it could be but it looked as though it was quite large, larger than a man

and it was long, about seven feet long. It was getting more and more defined as

she watched it, and it appeared to be changing much quicker now.

The sound was a lot clearer too, it was a long, slow thumping beat, much

like.... a horse. It all fell into place, the sound, the strange cloud which was

almost solid now, was forming into a horse. She fixed her eyes on it as it

slowly faded into sight.

Within a matter of twenty seconds it had become totally solid. As though

it had always been a solid object and not the faint cloud it had been not more

than a half a minute ago. The horse was beautiful. She had never in her life

seen such a lovely horse, she had never been particularly fond of horses but

since she had seen this horse she had been a virtual fanatic. It was a beautiful

grey horse, she had no doubts it was a thoroughbred of some kind, but it was

certainly not an Arab. It was much more heavy than an Arab horse but it still

had a wonderfully defined body.

It was a he. She blushed to herself that she had almost immediately

looked there but she wanted to know whether it was a stallion or a mare.

His incredibly powerful legs thundered on the beach, his shoulder and

hind-quarter muscles flexed and worked as the huge horse galloped down the

beach. His head rode high and nodded as he flew along the ground with amazing

grace, his muscular body pushing him across the beach with enormous speed.

His silken coat shimmered and glistened in the soft moonlight, great

waves of light fell across him as the sturdy muscles beneath his skin contorted

and stretched his supple hide, not completely unlike the waves that had

interested Deborah so much earlier. His mane was exceptionally long, at least a

foot and a half, and was soft and light in the turbulent air left behind the

great animal. It danced and floated behind him like a great silken banner, the

moonlight shone onto and through it making it incandescent. Much as one might

imagine the brilliant blue light of the moon being shone forth through the still

night air.

That thought appealed to Deborah, Blue moonlight. Blue. That's what she

would call this mighty stallion, 'Blue'. After his magnificent mane, flowing in

the breeze with its settling blue aura.

While Deborah had been busy in her thoughts she had failed to notice

that the beautiful grey stallion had slowed and approached her and was now

contemplating her. She looked up, surprised. Blue's deep and dark, yet gentle

eyes, were fixed upon the small girl in front of him, her knees bent and tucked

beneath her folded arms. She looked at him shyly.

He was a good fifteen or twenty metres away from Deborah but she could

clearly see his bulging veins pulsing beneath his lithesome skin. His huge

nostrils flared as his powerful lungs sucked the fresh sea air in and exhaled in

a billowing cloud of water vapour. Deborah watched as a cloud floated off into

the night, it writhed and squirmed as it slowly shrank, seemingly imploding. And

then it was gone.

He tentatively moved toward Deborah, his firm neck stretched to its

fullest to ensure plenty of breathing space should he need to turn and flee,

although Deborah was not sure why, since this mystical animal was certainly not

of the usual breed of horse since none she had heard of had a habit of

materializing from white clouds.

Blue's nostrils were flared wide and he was snorting deeply, obviously

checking to see what scents he could pick up from this young girl sitting in

front of him. His deep eyes stared intently, as he hesitantly came closer to

Deborah, his hooves sinking into the soft ground beneath him. Yet strangely,

Deborah could not see any tracks behind him, as though he had never walked nor

galloped across the sand toward her.

He came yet closer until he was nearly within arms reach. Deborah sat

quietly, not wanting to move for fear of scaring this wonderful beast away. Blue

pushed his head forward to within half a metre of Deborah's face and he snorted

softly at her. She raised her arm slowly and neared his well defined face, her

hand made contact with his majestic face and a wave of pleasure rushed over her.

© Richard Burman 1994

Email: Richard@misterb.demon.co.uk

Web: www.misterb.demon.co.uk