Control

CONTROL

The old gelding stands, legs spread as though at any moment gravity might win an eternal battle begun the moment a foal slips from the womb and, before its coat is even dry, unfolds its stilt-like legs to stand. A sound like wind through dried grass catches the horse's attention. Its ears swivel and the animal moves to the boy. The youth's scrawny arms strain as he places a heavy collar about the horse's neck. Hanging on one ear momentarily, the collar appears as a lopsided crown. A suitable symbol of the horse's servitude.

The boy tugs until the collar is freed, then the horse raises its head into the air and twitching the muscles along its massive neck, the horse moves the collar into place, resting upon its massive shoulders. The boy grabs a lock of the horse's mane and leads the beast toward a stone wall. To avoid stepping on the child's small brown toes, the horse moves carefully. At the wall, the boy climbs upon the horse's back. From here he can reach the aging harness which hangs from wooden pegs driven into the wall by his father. Carefully he puts each strap into place on the horse, then slips to the ground. One thing remains: the heavy tugs on each side of the horse must be connected to the plow. Now the boy, who is not strong enough to move the plow into place and hitch it to the tugs of the harness by himself, must wait for his father's help. Squatting down beneath the horse's neck the boy leans against the animal's knees and stares in the direction his father was marched away by the soldiers. Throughout the day the only sound in the tableau is the buzzing of flies' wings. The sun stifles time until arriving shadows reveal it, as precisely as any clock. The child stirs and stands. Going to a partially collapsed hut he emerges with a rusty pan and scoops water from a muddy spring into the basin. Sucking at his wet fingers, he carries the water to the horse who stands unmoving still. Its anvil-like head lowers and large, rubbery lips suck at the water until the basin is dry.

One last time the child's eyes sweep the horizon, then he sighs deeply. Grabbing the horse's mane he leads the animal back to the wall, where he climbs upon the horse's back to remove the harness put on at sunrise. As the boy moves through their ritual he signals the horse to lower its head. When the animal obeys the boy places both feet against the heavy collar and pushes with all of his might. The collar begins its earthward journey down the length of the horse's neck. Vesiculating the muscles in its thick neck, the horse helps move the collar until it lodges against the back of its ears. Dropping to the ground the child grabs the collar, pulling at it until the collar falls at the child's feet and the horse is free.

Now the boy makes his way to the hut and returns carrying two dried cabbage leaves. The tiger in the boy's belly has grown quiet, so he offers both leaves to the horse, who eats them. The boy, laying on a bed of dried dung, prays for his father's return before sleep takes him.

Every instinct in Druzel's mind screams for action: shorten the child's suffering! But the Sentinel stands unmoving and Druzel knows only the horse, favored of God, may decide the time of the child's departure.