A horse had bolted. On its own that wouldn’t have been a problem, but the terrified animal was still in the shafts of a cart at the time.
The owner of the horse and cart, a man by the name of Terry Godley, attempted to stop it, but as the horse fled, the man became impaled upon one of the shafts, passing right through his abdomen.
This was witnessed by his next-door neighbour, Maisy Peterson, who screamed at the sight of horse, man and cart hurtling through the village.
Maisy and Terry had been born twenty-eight years ago on the same day, an hour apart, in the same village, in cottages next door to each other. The same midwife had attended them both and assisted in bringing them both into the world.
They had grown up together, played in the mud together, gone to school together, fallen out and made up again with each other hundreds of times over the years.
Many people thought they were brother and sister because they fought and reconciled so often.
Now Maisy was running through the village, screaming Terry’s name, tears running down her face.
Eventually she caught up with the cart, the horse too tired to go any further. Maisy stopped running when she saw Terry, slumped and lifeless over the horse’s back.
She walked slowly up to him, noticing the he had lost a boot, his stocking and the foot within it torn and bleeding. Nuzzling the side of his head with her own she whispered, “Oh Terry, now I’ll never get the chance to tell you how much I love you.”
Then she screamed when he asked, “Why not?”
“But, your … I saw you … how… ?” Looking down she then saw that the shaft had pierced his shirt but had actually missed him completely. Instead, he had become wedged between the horse and the length of wood, and then been carried along helplessly as the beast ran off.
Wincing as he finally pulled himself free, holding onto Maisy for support he said, “I love you Maisy. I’ve always loved you. I …will you marry me?” then his voice was cut off as Maisy kissed him.
“Shut up you oaf. I love you too, and yes I will marry you but never …” he winced as she thumped him on his chest, “ever …” another thump, “do that to me again”.
