Laura Connor's 13th summer suddenly switches from boring to magical flying
mayhem when her favourite Pegasus model, Flash, comes to life during a
violent thunderstorm. Follow their adventures as fantasy collides with
reality and Laura tries to keep her two-hand-high, walking, talking, flying
equine a secret from the rest of the world!


Laura Connor had long ago accepted that horse ownership was out of the question for her, but she did have one passion she could pursue: she collected model horses. Her collection numbered twenty-three so far, most received as birthday or Christmas gifts from her parents and relatives, and a few purchased with money she had earned delivering the weekly paper in their small town. Most of the models were Breyer or Stone creations — standing, running and jumping; quarter horses, arabians and thoroughbreds; foals, mares and stallions. Her bookcases were scattered with them, and she had even fashioned simple "stalls" out of shoeboxes and orange crates. All her models had names and birthdays.
Her very favourite "horse", however, was very different from the rest. He was made of porcelain, not plastic; he was rearing, with forelegs raking the air, silver mane and tail flowing. He had wings, and he was spectacular.
Laura knew the statue was fashioned after Pegasus, the fabulous winged horse of mythology, but she thought that name was too stuffy, so she just called him Flash.
Flash did not reside in the bookcase with the rest of the herd. He was given a special place on the wide window seat in her room, so that he could look outside at the world. Laura liked to believe that he enjoyed his position of privilege. She often rotated some of her other favourite models to the window bench to keep him company, so he would not get lonely. He seemed to prefer the mares — or at least that was what she liked to think.
Laura's mother had found the unusual Pegasus figurine at an estate auction in Toronto when the family had vacationed there several years before. Laura had fallen in love with the statuette on the spot, and although the bidding went higher than her parents had agreed would be their spending limit, her mom determinedly raised her numbered paddle again and again until the gavel fell in their favour. "Consider this your birthday and Christmas presents for the next three years," her dad had joked.
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By seven o'clock, her parents were packed up and ready to head out to work. Laura waved goodbye at the front steps as they pulled out of the driveway. She closed the door firmly and locked it, then headed upstairs to email Krissy again with the less-than-awesome news about the stable job.
It was very hot upstairs. Laura threw open a window and more sultry, humid air wafted in, driven by a slight breeze. She logged onto MSN to see if Krissy was online .... yes! The next hour flew by as the pair chatted about everything and nothing.
Laura and Krissy had been close friends since grade two, when Laura was the new kid at school and Krissy had taken pity on her. They had embarked on many adventures together, gotten into trouble a time or two, swapped clothes, shared a case of chicken pox and more than a couple of flu viruses. Krissy's birthday was only three days after Laura's, and they liked to pretend they were sisters.
With a bit of time to kill before her movie started, Laura puttered in her room, dusting and rearranging her models and deciding which mare would occupy the place of honour beside Flash in the window. She chose a Lipizzaner performing the distinctive Spanish walk, neck arched and right foreleg stepping boldly ahead. She thought they made a handsome couple.
Running her index finger along the top of the row of books in the bookcase, Laura pulled out one of her mythology and legends volumes and flipped to the section on Pegasus. She knew the story by heart, but always enjoyed reading about fantasy and myths, dragons, unicorns, and other fabulous creatures.
As the story went, Pegasus was the magnificent winged horse that was the offspring of the Gorgon Medusa and Poseidon, ruler of the sea. When the Greek hero, Perseus, cut off Medusa's head of snakes, Pegasus was born. The goddess Athena was the first to catch Pegasus. She presented another warrior, Bellerophon, with a golden bridle with which he was able to ride Pegasus. Together, the pair slew the monster Chimera, but when Bellerophon attempted to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus to visit the gods, he was thrown off. The job of Pegasus from that point on was to bring thunderbolts to Zeus. His name, in fact, is thought to have come from the Luwian word for lightning, pihassas. It was said that wherever Pegasus' hoof struck the earth, a spring would burst forth.
According to some stories, Pegasus took a wife later in life, and the pair began a family which became the origin of all winged horses. When he died, Pegasus rose to the heavens, where he became a constellation of stars.
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Several hours later, movie viewed and popcorn eaten, Laura decided to turn in. Upstairs, with the windows open and curtains wafting gently in the breeze, she heard thunder rumbling in the distance. This did not bother her much While she used to be terrified of storms, her dad had patiently sat with her on the window bench, storm after storm, pointing out the different types and colours of the lightning, teaching her to count between the flash and the thunder to estimate the distance of the strike. She learned to appreciate the pinkish cloud-to-cloud illumination of summer heat lightning, and had once even smelled the pungent ozone smell seared into the air following a particularly close strike.
Not a scared little kid anymore, now Laura would simply listen to her little MP3 player if the racket from a storm kept her awake. This particular squall was approaching very fast. She popped in her earbuds, pulled a light sheet over her and closed her eyes.
Maxine, who had been curled up among the throw pillows on the window seat, stood, yawned and did her best Hallowe'en cat stretch. Lightning dramatically backlit the feline's form. Laura saw this apparition through half-closed eyes and smiled. It would have almost been creepy, except for the fact that Maxi was kind of overweight — well, really overweight — which ruined the whole effect. She giggled and closed her eyes.
The fat cat, moving to take her place on the quilt at the foot of Laura's bed, jumped less than gracefully to the floor. The effort sent a pillow skidding backward into Flash and his girlfriend-du-jour. The Lipizzaner teetered and then settled back onto her dainty hooves. Flash tipped to the side, leaning precariously against the window frame like a tiny drunken fairy.

The storm raged outside. Trees in the town square were whipped by the wind, and flashes of lightning illuminated the pelting rain.
In one simultaneous, thunderous moment, lightning hit the rooster weather vane atop the Connors' house. The huge surge of power swept across the rain-soaked roof, along the eaves and into the metal trim of the upstairs windows. Three hundred thousand volts entered the little porcelain Pegasus at the point where his head and chest rested against the frame. A hot silver glow spread across his body to the tips of his wings, then slowly faded.
Laura woke with a yelp. She tossed the earphones aside, heart pounding, and sat up, terrified. She could smell something strange, something hot and disturbingly foreign. Was something on fire? Had lightning hit a tree outside? Had lightning hit the house?
She snapped out of her stupor and turned on her bedside lamp. Good, the power wasn't out. But what was that odd smell?
Downstairs, Laura found the answer. The cord to the old television set in the spare room was blackened and melted. She gingerly pulled the plug from the wall socket and dropped it to the floor. It was very hot. She ran her hand down the wall near the socket, but it seemed cool enough. She was pretty sure there were no flames smouldering inside. The same seemed true of the TV — now ex-TV.
Satisfied that the house was in no immediate danger of going up in flames, the shaken girl continued her inspection of the house.
In the kitchen, it appeared that the microwave had suffered the same fate as the TV. Laura carefully unplugged the sticky black wire and laid it on the counter. Room by room, with Maxi trailing curiously behind her and complaining loudly, she checked all the appliances and found no more casualties. She glanced at the clock; her parents would be home in about an hour and a half. She decided to stay awake until they returned. She doubted she could get back to sleep anyway.
Laura scooped up Maxi and carried her upstairs, then stopped abruptly. The computer! She hoped it had been spared from incineration. As she pushed the power button, she remembered with relief that they had wisely installed a surge protector just a couple of months earlier. She typed a quick message to Krissy, which made her feel a bit less alone, more connected to the outside world.

Hey K:
House was just hit by lightning (I think). Fried one of our TVs and the microwave was nuked. Scared the poop out of me! T@YL.
L.

As quickly as it had arrived, the storm moved off to terrorize some other community with its wrath. Back in bed, her jittery nerves calmed considerably, Laura fought to keep her eyes focused on the horsey teen novel she was reading. Slowly, slowly, her sleepy lids closed.
*************************************
"Nichew!"
Laura's eyes fluttered open. She lay motionless, heart pounding, still laying on her back with the open book on her chest. She listened ... listened ...
"Nicheeeew!"
It was a sneeze. A very tiny sneeze, like a mouse with allergies. She sat bolt upright. Maxi was still on the bed, but the feline's gaze was focused intently on something by the window. Laura squinted. Something was missing. Flash! The white mare was still in her place on the window seat, but Flash was gone.
Thinking the winged figurine had fallen off onto the floor — and shattered? She hoped not — Laura eased out of bed and tiptoed over to the window, careful not to step on any broken bits in her bare feet. The floor, however, was bare — no tiny ears or hooves or amputated wingtips. So where was he?
Suddenly, one of the throw cushions moved. Once, then twice, it wobbled. Again, Laura was paralyzed with fear. To her horror, an elegant white nose appeared, followed by a slender alabaster feathered wing, which sprouted from between the brocade fabrics. The pillows parted and Flash stood to his full height and slowly flapped his magnificent wings.
He spoke. "Hello, Laura."
Laura shrieked and fell backward, running into the bedpost, hard, in her panic and haste to get to the doorway.
"Oh, please don't be frightened," said the voice. "I'm so sorry I woke you, but it was all the cat hair in the cushions, you see.... I've been needing to sneeze for years."...........................