“I must be losing my mind...” She said. “So you’re the man who went missing and somehow you turned into a horse...”
She looked at the pen in her hand. “This pen is magic?”
Dave was overjoyed. She put it all together so easily. He reared back and neighed loudly.
“OK... Just... Uh... Calm down...” She insisted. “What can I do?”
Dave paced a few times then began to scratch a new word in the dirt. “Write...”
“Uh... I’ll be right back...” She said, just before running towards the building.
Dave didn’t understand why she left. What did he do wrong? Would she really come back? He could feel his heart racing and tried not to lose it. She did say she would be back... He just needed to wait... Right?
Terry jogged back to the building and pushed through the back door. In the hall she found Stacey, who was on her way to check on them. “Is everything OK out there? It’s been awfully noisy...”
“A raccoon snuck into the stables.” She lied. “It’s fine now. I chased it off...”
“Well... Alright. Please let me know if you need my help.” Stacey said as she turned and went back to her desk.
“Thanks Stace’” Terry replied as she went to retrieve her notepad.
She didn’t want to arouse any extra suspicion and waited until Stacey was seated and engaged with her work before going back outside. Dave was so happy to see her return with a notepad, he couldn’t help letting out another excited neigh.
“You’ve got to stay quiet. If this is all true, then I don’t want to get anyone else involved...” Terry begged.
Dave quickly calmed down. He definitely wanted to stay on her good side. After all, he had made it this far. All she had to do was write something to change him back.
“Alright... Stomp once for No, twice for Yes...” Terry explained. “Got it?”
Dave stomped twice, feeling a little silly to be reduced to such a simple means of communication.
“You’re the missing man, and this pen changed you.”
He stomped twice.
“Was it an accident?”
He stomped twice more.
“I’m going to write something to turn you back into a man. Is that OK?”
He stomped several times and bobbed his head excitedly...