Perfect

As we were driving back into our home village, I couldn't help but smile at the familiar sight of green fields and lush trees. We had been on holiday in Paris for a week and although it was a shame to leave, there really is nowhere like home.

We drove past the field not too far from our house and I spared a thought for Mary, the pony who used to live in that field and had passed away from old age. Something caught my eye.

'Mum! Mum, did you see that?!' I said, excitedly.

'What?' She replied.

'There's a new horse in Mary's field!'

As soon as we had arrived home and unpacked, I went to collect our black Labrador, Holly, from the neighbours who had been looking after her and took her for a walk to the field where the new horse was grazing.

'Hello, mister,' I held my hand out over the gate for him to approach me, 'what's your name, then?'

I stroked his soft, white nose and then ran my hand down his smooth, chestnut-coated neck. He seemed to be enjoying it, obviously he was quite friendly so I let Holly say hello to him.

At that moment, I saw someone else approaching the field. He was a boy who looked about 17, with a dark side fringe that lay contentedly across his forehead and slightly tanned skin. He was wearing a green gilet and had his jeans tucked into his wellies, so I presumed he was a typical country boy who had been out for a walk in the fields. As he walked closer to me I could see that he was quite a few inches taller than me and had a relatively slim build. He was actually rather attractive.

He smiled and said, 'I was walking past the field and noticed this little man. He must be new.'

'Yeah,' I replied, 'there used to be another pony here but she passed away'

He frowned 'Oh, that's unfortunate, why?'

'I think she was just very old,' I reassured him, 'so you like animals?'

'Yeah, absolutely love 'em, I used to want to be a vet.'

'Why 'used to'?' I imagined it was something to do with school grades.

'Oh, just complicated stuff. So you clearly like animals too?' He pointed at Holly. I smiled and agreed but I found it strange how he suddenly changed the subject. He bent down to stroke Holly and she greeted him with her usual violently wagging tail, but she suddenly cowered away as soon as the boy touched her, which wasn't her character at all.

'Shall we go in and have a closer look?' He gestured towards the field the horse standing in.

'Oh, okay, sure,' I replied, being brought out of my questioning thoughts.

'I'm Jake, by the way,' said the boy.

'I'm Ellie,' I smiled back, 'so do you live nearby?'

'I live on Bradton Street, how about you?'

'Same!' This was beginning to get quite exciting, I didn't have any local friends. 'I live at number 164, how about you?'

'That's so cool!' He replied, 'I'm a bit further down; number 156.'

Once we were in the field we chatted for ages. I found out that he was the same age as me - seventeen - and that he also had a dog called Misty, but sadly she died in a car accident. He was quite secretive about where he went to school and other similar things, but he was so easy to talk to and we got along so well, I didn't notice that we had been standing in the field talking for almost half an hour and that the horse had lost interest and gone back to grazing.

'Well, I had better get home, my parents are gonna be wondering where I am,' I said, 'are you walking back that way?'

'No,' Jake replied, 'I'm going to continue my walk across the fields, but it was lovely meeting you Ellie, perhaps I'll see you around here again sometime?'