The sun was high in the sky, beating down on the old west town with unbearable heat, and making the ground scorch any unlucky bare skinned creature to touch it. The midday rush brought many people walking through the street acquiring goods and socializing, as it was the only time they had in the midst of the work day to do so. All the while a horse stood, tied to a post, panting, due to the water in the trough being finished long ago. With a glazed look in the horse's eyes, the coughing up of a ball of mucus, and a final heavy weez, the horse’s legs gave out and it collapsed onto the baked ground. The horse lay wheezing, and lightly moaning. The ground burned it’s skin and yet with no water it was too exhausted to get up and stop the searing pain. So there the horse laid Unable to stop the pain, and slowly dying of thirst. Being the midday rush the sight of the horses collapse was not under the radar of the socializing townsfolk. The bell rang to return to work and all the towns people scampered inside to their work. Leaving the horse laying on the scorching ground weeping and painting close to death. However when the bell rang and the townsfolk went back to work a few took a little longer to get the their jobs.

A shop owner walked past the horse on his way to his store. As he walked past the horse he paused, as if he had known what to do. Turning he looked down at the horse and met its glazed over yellow eyes. He saw the pain in the horse's eyes, the fear and despair, for a moment he thought about getting the horse some water and grain, and as he turned around, and the horse’s eyes lost his sight, he thought to himself, “ the horse’s owner must be retrieving the poor creature some water,” and if he brought some the owner might be upset that he had paid for the water and grain to sustain the horse and someone had already done so. The shop owner imagined the horse’s owner, a large man with pistol in hand and a short fuse for a temper. The shop owner was sure that the owner would be back any moment to help the animal, and so he scampered off to go run his store. Leaving the horse laying, painting, and dying on the hot ground. 

Scampering back to there looms, two woman chatting as they walked back. The younger of the two had always looked up to the older, even though they were only two years apart the younger followed in line, as if learning the ropes of how to act. As the two ladies walked past the horse they both stopped and caught the gaze of the horse. Seeing the despair in its eyes and the pain expressed by its whining, the younger immediately empathized with its suffering and was about to ask the other girl if they should go get water, when the older broke out laughing and said, “look at this stupid animal, too weak to stand.” Bending down she looked the horse in its yellow eyes and taunted it saying, “ looks like someone needs to be put down.” grinning she cackled away. The younger saw this act and was disgusted, yet she knew that the older was a role model. She had a husband and if she wanted one as well she needed to act like the older. The thought of assisting the poor creature fleeted from her head, and as she bent down to the same height as the older, gazing into the yellow eyes she forced the words out, “ I’ll tell daddy to come by and shoot it, we can watch.” the words sickened her and she forcefully brought a smile to her lips that burned her soul. Disgusted at herself, and thinking what had she done, a voice interrupted, “ Great idea we will get him after work, that is if the animal is still alive. It’s no fun to shoot a dead horse.” The older grabbed the younger's hand and ran off, back to work leaving the horse laying, painting, and dying on the hot ground.

Some time went by and as the horse came closer and closer to death its wheezes and painting slowed and just as its yes closed; a young child on a water fetching errand with his mother saw the horse laying on the ground, he saw its pain, he saw that its trough was empty, and he saw its lungs heaving in the hot sun. The boy let go of his mother's grasp and ran over to the horse. He emptied his lunch box onto the ground and poured the water he had been caring into the empty trough by the horse. The horse close to death, dozing into nothingness heard the water splash and opened its eyes. As the giant yellow eyes opened they revealed a young boy bent over the horse with a carrot in his hand. And with its last strength the horse dragged the carrot to its mouth and slerped some water. The boy's mother had soon after run over to pull the boy away from the diseased animal. When sh saw the horse eat from her sons hand, she stopped and watched as the horse pressed its front hooves into the ground, and as its legs trembled and its body shook. The horse awoke from its death like slumber and regained its life.