FREEDOM

We thought he was being playful that day, galloping wildly around the yard.
We had driven back from the weekly market, when our horse stormed towards the gate, as if the devil were after him and asked us. “What’s this chasing me?”
We took a while to recover. My husband did first. He walked towards Black and hesitantly asked, “What’s bothering you?”
“It’s this black horse underneath. Follows me everywhere I go.”
“It’s your shadow. Nothing to worry about,” my husband grunted. The horse jerked back and continued galloping restlessly.
There was nothing more we could do.
In the evening, he drove to the village and brought along the priest and a tantrik and a double-barrelled gun.
The excited priest walked to the fence and called out, “Black, come here.”
Black, who was still leaping about, trotted towards him. After they talked for a while, the priest returned, saying he would report the miracle to the Bishop.
The tantrik… he pointed his forefinger towards the sky and then at the horse. Black trotted towards him again. He muttered something in horse’s ear and Black grinned.
The tantrik did not even look at us on his way back. He merely pointed his forefinger at the sky again and shuffled away.
A shard of lightening blazed overhead. It was already dark. We hadn’t noticed.
“We do not want any miracles here. He is a horse, but he isn’t behaving like one,” my husband muttered under his breath and even before I could say a thing, took the loaded shotgun and walked up to Black.
As he raised his gun, Black looked at him in the eye. “Kill me when the sun’s up. I have come to terms with my shadow.”