It’s launch time for Equus. Enjoy a teaser taste of my story!

Scatter the Foals to the Wind

My mom always said, “Michelle, never trust a short man. They’ve always got something to prove.”

Most of her advice hadn’t stuck, but that tidbit had; one reason most of the guys I’d dated had been the size of vikings. The latest was a bruiser of a redhead named Ted. More tattoos than a biker. Mouth like a sailor. Smoked like a chimney. Mom would’ve hated him, 6’4” or not.

We’d had a few dates. I’m sure he’d made the same plans for tonight I had.

He’d come over to my condo and made me dinner. We were having a toke on my balcony, the air was brisk, but warm for a Winnipeg November. He had one arm around me and the other pointed up at the stars, toward the constellation of Orion.

“So there was this giant, name of Veggbyggir,” he said. “And he had this horse, big strong bastard went by Svaðilfari. Could tow a fucking mountain.”

The story of the myth behind the stars had a practiced feel, as if this was something he said to all the girls. It was also wrong. The “horse” constellation he’d pointed to had been Taurus.

“Veggbyggir and Svaðilfari were tasked with building a wall around Asgard—that’s the home of the Norse gods—in only three seasons or they won Freyja—the most beautiful goddess in Odin’s court—and the sun and moon besides. And they’d almost done it. So Loki had to stop them.”

Practiced or not, wrong or not, it was working. I wanted to hear where his story went. “Wait? Isn’t Loki a bad guy?”

“You know Loki?” Ted’s eyes caught the starlight and he laughed.

“Not personally,” I said. “Who won?”

“Not the giant,” Ted said. “And not Loki.”

I took a deep toke, held the smoke in my lungs for a three count, and passed the joint back to Ted as I exhaled. “How’d Loki manage to stop them?”

“He turned into a mare and lured the stallion away.”

“Classic honey pot,” I said.

Ted laughed. “Right?”

“So why’d you say Loki lost? Sounds like he had the last laugh.”

Ted shrugged. “He came back pregnant with an eight-legged horse son.”

“Bummer,” I said. “Which constellation is Loki? Where’s he hiding?”

He stopped pointing at the stars to pull me close, and I figured he was going to kiss me, so I closed my eyes, leaned in, and over the balcony I went. As I tumbled ass over tits, his grin flashed; a crescent that glowed bright as the moon.

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