Just a Horse Called Sulie

Book excerpt: What kind of tracks do animals make in our lives? My Friend Flika is a favorite tale of a boy and his horse, and National Velvet remains a favorite about a girl and her horse. Countless stories exist about boys and their dogs even though our faithful friends are never allotted our same number of years. As adults we can consider animals our protectors to bite our enemies, sniff out bombs and cancerous tumors, or help us travel using their eyes. We raise livestock to market as meat. We ride animals in races and rodeos, train them for circuses, and send them into outer space before we are sure we can go. But what effects do they leave on us? Without animals, the people in this collection of stories would have lived different lives. On an Iowa farm, when Lizbet is too old for dolls but too young for boys, her horse Sulie becomes her perfect companion. Lizbet goes to college during the turbulent Sixties where she must search for another place as peaceful as the farm and a friend as devoted as her horse. On another Midwestern farm, Pru watches her children grow up, satisfied they are safe from the violence she saw in New York City. She doesnt realize they are all in danger from her brother-in-law, a returning veteran who claims he can handle their Holstein bull. Jackie loves all kinds of pets like papillons and Jack Russell terriers, but her sister Jeannette demands her complete devotion. A stroke leaves actor/director Caleb Pavlock unable to speak or remember the lies he has told. How long will his current lover care for him when he can only bark like the dogs that he hates? And did Greasy, a Maine coon cat, come to Duff and Jorie at the end of their lives so that they would never be separated?