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The huge corn field, stretching eastward for vast distances, was a forbidden area for Karen. Sometimes, before the corn was planted or after it was harvested, she was allowed to venture into the field for short excursions. She liked looking for rocks to add to her collection, or to see what wild animal tracks she could spot. Raccoons and oposums were common in the area and left tracks in abundance. At time Karen would spot dear and wild dog tracks. Once while exploring the field the curious girl had wandered onto large animal tracks which appeared cat-like. Even her father did not recognize them as belonging to any known animal normally inhabiting the area. Since that time Karen had been much more cautious about going too far into the field.
After the unicorn disappeared from sight, Karen longed to run back into the house and tell her mother. She wished she could phone her friend Melonie and tell her what she had seen, but she knew that neither she, nor anyone else, would believe what she had just seen. She almost didn't believe it herself and she had seen it with her own eyes.
Karen wondered what she should name this magnificent and lovely creature. Since the pounding of his hoofbeats had reminded her of rolling thunder, she decided to name the unicorn Thunder. The little blond-haired girl couldn't imagine anything so big and powerful being anything but a stallion.
Karen walked around the fenced-in area to the place where Thunder had made his gallant dash between the rows of corn. She looked down at the soft dirt where the unicorn had landed after gracefully leaping over the fence. Karen found deep imprints in the sandy soil, and somewhat lighter ones where thunder had raced off between the rows of corn. Karen thought the tracks were spaced amazingly far apart; too far for just an ordinary horse.
"They sure are shaped like horse tracks," Karen mused to herself as she wondered whether she should follow the hoof prints. "They are much more sleek and graceful looking, though, than a normal horse, and he's not wearing horseshoes" she finally concluded. Filled with a sense of adventure and curiosity that could not be denied, Karen headed boldly after Thunder. She anxiously quickened her steps as she walked gingerly between two rows of corn. She wanted desperately to get one more look at the beautiful white creature she had seen just moments before. Had she somehow imagined the white horse had a horn? "I simply have to find him and make sure!" the spunky eleven-year-old decided.
The top leaves of the corn plants were well over Karen's head, hiding her completely from view. Some of the jagged leaves of the corn stalks tore at her bare legs and arms, others slashed across her face as she hurried along in hot pursuit. In spite of the warm forenoon, Karen now wished she had worn slacks instead of shorts, and a long-sleeved top instead of the sleeveless one she had put on that morning. "Why didn't I take time to put shoes on?" she moaned as she gainfully marched ahead, wincing every time she stepped on a sharp stone, or tripped over a toppled corn stalk.
Karen had no idea where the tracks would lead her, or how far she would have to go to find the unicorn. She didn't stop to think that her mother might be worried sick about what had happened to her. She barely noticed the welts on her arms and legs where the sharp corn leaves had scratched her skin. She barely even noticed the occaisional thistles and nettles she walked through; pricking and tearing at her bare legs and feet. All Karen noticed were the tracks of an animal her father had told her did not exist. "Well!" she exclaimed out loud. "I'll show him. I'll prove it when I find Thunder!"
On and on Karen walked. The shade from the corn leaves gave her some relief from the heat, but the sun beat down hotter and hotter with each passing minute. Once she stumbled over a large stone, causing her to cry out in pain as she stubbed her large toe on her right foot. Karen noticed that the unicorn must have slowed to a walk. The hoof prints became less visible but much closer together. Karen had no difficulty in following the animal because he kept going in a straight line between the same two rows of corn.
The field of corn ended abruptly and Karen came to a little creek meandering through the countryside. Willows and crabapple trees were growing all around. Cattails lined both banks of the creek in abundance. Above her a giant cottonwood swayed gently in the summer breeze. Was it the shade of the cottonwood, or the sparkling cool water of the little creek babbling and splashing over rocks and crevices that suddenly sent a chill down the girl's spine?
Karen waded slowly across the creek allowing the cool fresh water to soothe her aching, scratched, and bleeding feet. She was suddenly startled by the loud "caw! caw! caw!" and loud flapping of wings as several crows took off nearby. For a fleeting moment she wondered if she should turn and head back home. The thought was quickly pushed aside as she busied herself looking for Thunder's tracks.
On the other side of the creek was an area infested with grasses. wildflowers, and weeds of all types and descriptions; the names of which Karen was not aware of, and many she had never seen. There were more trees farther east: oak, walnut, poplar, birch, and some more cottonwoods of various sizes. Though Karen combed the area, and searched everywhere, she could find no trace of the elusive unicorn. The weeds and grasses were too thick, the ground too firm, to reveal any tracks to Karen's untrained eyes.
Several hundred yards east of the creek, just beyond the last of the cottonwoods, appeared to be a more dense forest. Karen decided she would have one last look in that area before heading home. "Maybe," she thought wistfully, the ground will be soft enough there for the tracks to show."
As Karen neared the edge of the forest she heard a commotion behind her in the area of the creek where she had crossed. Terror gripped her as she saw a number of large scraggly and fierce looking dogs suddenly leap over the banks of the creek headed straight in her direction!
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