ir way out of town where Connor had gone to sell the week's produce from the farm. Whistling a tune to himself with a bounce in his step, Connor was sat

came a voice which startle

s in high school. Short and a bit on the round side, he was a jolly good fellow w

ack up to your place" he continued. " Yes I am, couldn't bring my horse with me to town as we had a very busy morning and he is tired" Connor said with a nod. "I understand, one of these days I will come

3" in height with muscles that were defined by years of hard work, strong legs encased in his jeans and boots, he also had closely shaved blond hair, grey eyes and a small beard he kept n

amiss at the way Buddy was barking. His first thought was that perhaps there were thieves up there hiding behind the trees but when Buddy just kept on barking in the direction of home before running to

★ ★ ★

fire. Barnaby Collins, who owned a farm along the road told him " Mcjunkins, I saw smoke rising from your farm a very short while ago and I rushed here to see that your barn was on fire and other neighbours were already here trying to quench it" It still made no sense to Connor as he asked " But how.... why...... what started the fire?" " We have no fucking idea man" another neighbour replied sadly. The fire service were on their way but it would take time before they could get here. Endless buckets of water were thrown on the unrelenting fire whi

hased them out of the barn where he was sure his neighbours would hold them. After freeing and chasing out the last animal, he kept his head down and also ran to the entrance. It was at that moment that a beam fell from the roof and because he was facing downward, he didn't notice it until it almost hit him. He jumped back to avoid the falling beam and in what seemed to him like slow motion, he end

hands and knees to try searching for the exit through the overwhelming smoke. The smoke made this feat seem impossible and the barn started collapsing around him as the fire got bigger. He felt fear resonate deep in his bones and he tried calling for help but the smoke filled his breath and he started coughing. He tried calling for help again when he saw his dog, Buddy, running into the barn amidst yells of "stop the dog " from outside. The dog who seemed to be able to see well jumped over burning logs and ran straight to him and nudged him