"Yeha, " he yelled,  "summer! "  "Wake up Derek, it's the first day of summer. " Same yelled.

As Sam galloped downstairs, Derek got up and yelled down to Sam  "Hey cowboy don't forget to get dressed. " Sam came running up the stairs yelling,  "Yeha, Yeha! "

Most of the time siblings don't get along with each other, but in this case they were so relieved over the first day of summer they acted beyond themselves and compromised.

As Sam galloped around the room franticly, mother was downstairs making pancakes. In this particular family pancakes is a rare thing to have so it was made on special occasions. As Sam and Derek ran down the stairs, Sam first yelling like crazy then Derek still half dressed and in his underwear.

As you could tell Sam was overly fond of cowboys and dreamed of owning a horse of his very own. Sam was 7 years old and Derek was 12 years old. They lived on a farm and went to a small school quite a bit away from their house.

After eating breakfast Sam and Derek set out to do their chores. As Sam looked outside he noticed something in the woods. He went outside and walked closer to it then he noticed it was a horse!

He ran inside and grabbed a carrot as he ran back outside he held out his hand for the horse to eat. Very slowly the horse came closer until it leaned its head towards the carrots.

After the horse was done eating it backed away. As the horse did this Sam slowly backed away into the house.

 "Mom " he yelled,  "There is a horse outside! "

 "There is? " Sam's mother said walking to the kitchen window.

 "Yes, there is " Sam answered.  "Can we keep it please " Sam pleaded  "I'll clean my half of the room, I'll do the dishes, I'll take care of the horse by myself! Please, please, " said Sam franticly.

 "You know that you can't keep a wild horse " Sam's mother said.

 "But dearest mother of mine which I love so much this horse doesn't seem wild at all, " Sam said.

Just the Derek came saying,  "Mother there is a horse outside. "

 "There will be no wild horse in our barn. " Mother said.

 "Mother did you see how beautiful it is, it hardly seems wild at all. " Derek protested.

 "Fine I will make a deal if you can get the horse safely into the barn, we can keep it at least for a while, " Mother said.

 "O.K., " Sam and Derek said together.

So Sam grabbed a handful of carrots and they walked outside. Derek followed.

Sam saw the horse that was eating in some grass. Sam handed some carrots to Derek.

 "What do I do with them, " he asked. Sam shrugged and held out his carrots to the horse. The horse slowly crept up to Sam and started eating out of his hands. Sam sooked back and saw that Derek had made a trail of carrots into the barn. Sam backed up so that the horse could see the trail and when the horse did it went right to it.

When the horse was locked in one of the stables Sam climbed up on the stable door to pet the horse's nose.

 "My own horse, " he said.

 "We have to think of a name for it, " Derek said.

 "Is it a girl of a boy Derek? " Sam asked.

 "Looks like a boy, " Derek said.

 "Well then, " Sam said,  "that's easy we'll name him Carrot. "

 "Good, it's late, let's go in and wash up for supper. " Derek said.

The next morning Sam ran out of the house as soon as he could. When Sam got to the barn he saw that he and Derek had forgotten to lock the gate and that Carrot had run away.

Sam sat on the floor and looked at the empty stable. Derek came in and said,  "Mother said that if I go with you that you could ride the horse. "

Sam looked up with sobbing eyes,  "O.K. " he said.

 "Where is the horse? " Derek said.

 "He ran away. " Sam sobbed.

 "Why? " Derek asked.

 "I don't know " Sam said as he wiped his eyes,  "But we have to go after him. "

Sam ran inside grabbed his jacket and quickly said,  "I am going to look for the horse, bye. "

Sam headed for the door, but his mother blocked the way.

 "What horse? " she said.

 "Carrot " Sam said.

 "No. "

 "But mother I have to go look for him. He is my horse. "

 "No you can't go out there. You will get lost in those woods. "

 "But I have to. "

 "No, go help your brother feed the pigs. "

Sam slowly walked outside to feed pigs. Sam went through the whole day doing his chores and thinking about Carrot. He wanted so badly to go looking for him, but he couldn't.

When Sam was in bed he looked out his window at the woods. He had to go looking for Carrot. He just had to. So he quietly crawled out of bed and crawled down the ladder. He grabbed his jacket and a flashlight and slipped outside.

Sam walked into the woods and flashed his flashlight all around. After he walked a while he began to hear scary noises and he forgot which way his house was. He walked around in what seemed like circles till he sunk to the ground. He sat there sobbing till he felt something nudge him. He looked and saw Carrot.

Sam crawled up on the horse's back.

 "Let's go home, " Sam said.

Meanwhile back at the house, Derek had woken up and noticed that Sam was gone. Derek woke his mother and they went outside to look for him. Then they sat down to think.

 "He went into the woods to find Carrot and if he found Carrot he would let Carrot guide him home " Mother said.

 "Carrot might know the way back since he has been here before, but how do we get Carrot back? " Derek asked.

 "Carrots! " Mother said.

So, Derek and his mother pulled out all the carrots from the garden and got all the carrots from the kitchen and set them along the woods.

It just so happened that Sam and Carrot weren't that far away and within half an hour Derek and Mother could see Sam and Carrot coming out of the woods.

Sam jumped off Carrot and ran to his mother's arms and from then on Sam always had his own horse.