To my three young readers....

Good day everyone...and especially my three young readers who are driving their mummy insane with "please check mummy",

Please forgive my absence from our story.

'Where have I been?' I hear you ask.

Here and there, on amazing adventures! They have, unfortunately, keep me from our story. But the good news is that Jett has emailed me and told me a bit more of his story that I will tell you on Thursday.

'But Nixie!' says one.
'Please Nixie,' says another.
'Not fair,' says the third. 'Why won't you tell us now?'

Well, my loves, because I have something else to tell you today. Something that isn't part of Jett's story. I do hope you like it.

You may, or may not, know that I have a very good friend by the name of Anabelle. She's eight years old and lives with a ragtag group of friends. I hope to have many stories of hers to share in the future because her life is very funny from time to time. The very short story I have to tell you today stars a group of friends and a new person coming to their home. So, here we go...

It was already getting cold when Nixie and Nay came to pick me up and bring me in for the evening. Normally, I would stay out with all my friends. We are so close that we are almost like family. There are 31 of us. From time to time, someone will move away and someone else will move in...but normally there are the 31.

So, I followed Nay in as the sun was setting and Bailey, my best friend, was coming in with Gracie. We saw that we were not going to be the only people in that night. Marcus, another of our friends, was already in. He had been away for a week down at the beach with his family and his mum left him in so that she could easily check on him in the morning.

As Nixie and Nay and Gracie left, Marcus, Bailey and I settled in for the cold night. There was plenty of food and nice water to drink. We were feeling pretty happy. After all, this was the closest thing to a sleepover we can get.

It was well past dark when we saw the lights on the long road that slices through the grassy hillside to the north of were we were - none of us were sleeping, even though we were meant to be. I'm sure that you have stayed up well past your bedtime talking to friends before...

So, we all saw the yute coming. As the yute pulled into our parking lot, we noticed the horse float behind it.

Soon, a new bay horse stepped off. We all welcomed him, introducing ourselves. It is the thing to do for a new kid. His name is George (and he is very nice, by the way).

George came to stay with us before going too join everyone else in the morning. It can be treacherous to walk all the way up at night. Especially if you don't know the way.

We spent the rest of night chatting and getting to know George.

As dawn broke, some of our other friends came to visit. One of them was Regal. He's new to our paddock as well. He was busy letting George know all the important new kid information. You know, like where the bubblers are and were to hang out at lunchtime. George was impressed that Regal knew so much. That's when it happened!

Coming down our road was Kate's truck. I was so excited that I ran to the fence and stuck my head over. I was hoping that her truck was for me. She always takes me fun places and the truck is so big...it's like going on the bus!

As excited as I was, someone was equally as scared!

Regal took one good look at the truck and shorted. He didn't wait around to find out who Kate was coming for. He just knew that he did want to leave our group. He turned and ran off as fast as he can run. Let me tell you, that is fast! He cantered up the steep hill that leads to were we spend most of our time and just as he got to the top and turned to head towards the others, his feet slipped out from under him. It was only funny because he landed so well, he wasn't hurt at all. But he did look rather silly flapping around on the ground like a fish out of water. By the time that he finally got his legs back under himself, Kate was parking.

Regal stood and, too proud to show he was afraid, shook himself off and started back to the others at a defiant walk. You know that 'nothing happened here' walk? The only problem with that being believable was the mud all over his side and the yellow flower stuck in his main.