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// July 6 [Downstairs Neighbor] 
// Story: Silver Glow's Journal 
// by Admiral Biscuit 
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July 6

When I got ready to go flying the first thing I did was fill my new camelback with water. It was kind of hard to use, and I spilled a lot of water out of it that should have gone in it, but I got it figured out.

Then I had to struggle into the straps—they had to be all the way loose so I could get my forelegs through, then I had to pull them tight. They had a clever kind of plastic tab so that once they were tight they didn't loosen until you pulled them at an angle, which was a lot nicer than the arrangement on the buckle of my saddlebags.

The vest went over that and I felt kind of hunchbacked when it was on. It was weird seeing it stick that far up out of the corner of my eye. And I guess that must be how it got its name, ‘cause it did kind of look like a camel’s hump.

I put on my light and radio, but I left my altimeter behind. I was planning to do a low flight out to the nature park and then alternate groundwork with bits of flying, just to keep my wings limber without putting too much stress on them from the long flight yesterday.

One thing I'd found was fun to do was to jump-gilde off the balcony and pick up some airspeed as I went under my tree. I had to be careful, though, 'cause it was hard to see if there were any cars coming. Luckily, not too many of them went down my road that didn't live on it.

I waved as I flew over a pair of children riding their bicycles across Westnedge Ave., but they didn't see me, and then I cut a little bit diagonally so that I could land in the open field at the nature center which was by the railroad tracks.

There's a big pasture full of tasty-smelling pasture grasses but I'd already been told I wasn't allowed to eat it so it was kind of unfair that there was a small herd of deer right in the middle of it. But I guess if it was their food, it wouldn't be nice of me to take it. They didn't have anyone to take them to Meijer.

I dropped down and skimmed along the trail, going in and out of treeshadow. Then I flared out my wings and made a trotting landing, and just kept up the pace with my hooves on the ground.

I did a lap and a half, and when I crested the ridge I broke into a gallop on the downside and when I was about halfway down I snapped out my wings and with a couple of strong beats the ground was falling away from me.

While I circled, I reached up with a hoof and put the straw from the camelback in my mouth and had a drink, and I decided that this was one of the best things humans had invented. I could work myself a little bit harder and not have to worry about getting too thirsty.

Overall, I did about ten laps on the ground and another five in the air, and I felt like I'd worked just about every muscle on my body. So I did a victorious wing-roll, yawped (but not too loud 'cause the deer were still there) and flew back home.

The clouds that were forming overhead promised some rain, but I didn't think that there would be too much of it. Cyndi had predicted less than an inch, and now that the weather was actually coming here, I thought that was optimistic—there wouldn’t even be a half inch.

I stopped at my apartment long enough to get the birdseed I'd bought from Meijer for Aric's feeder. I hadn't taken it over there yesterday even though I probably should have. But it had been late.

The stupid bag was really heavy when it was full, and it was super awkward to fly with it clenched in my forehooves, and by the time I was halfway there I started to worry that I might drop it.

I made it there with it and I landed on the roof of the garage and tore the corner off so that I could dump it in the bird feeder and then I remembered that there were still some seeds in the garage and I ought to have used those first but it was too late now.

I left it up there while I opened the top of the feeder, and then I flew back, carefully grabbed it and spilled a bunch of seeds on the roof anyway, but then I had better luck at the feeder and hardly spilled any in the grass.

I put the bag in the garage, next to the one that was mostly empty, and went back outside to make sure that the birdfeeder was still working like it was supposed to. And it was; I got a mouthful of sunflower seeds out of it.

Angela was in the kitchen so I waved at her and she opened the window and thanked me for filling the feeder. And she said that I looked really sweaty, and I said it was 'cause I'd been trotting and flying all morning. Then I waved goodbye and went back to my apartment for a shower.

The new shower mat was really nice. My hooves weren't so cloppy on the bathtub floor, and it also kept me from skidding at all.

I shook off and then went out in the living room and looked out the windows. I wasn't going to be drying off outside, 'cause it was raining now.

I put a towel down on the futon and set another alongside it and got my Bible and stretched out, put the second towel over my back, and started reading Job.

Well, I didn't like it too much. In a strange way, it kind of reminded me of The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Right at the beginning all kind of bad things happened to Job, and then his friends weren't much comfort to him, either. They said that the only reason bad things were happening to him was because he'd sinned but he said that he hadn't. Then he asked where wisdom could be found, and decided that God had hidden it from them.

Then Job said all the good things he'd done and demanded that God talk to him, and I kind of thought that was a bad idea. I was pretty sure that all the Israelites knew what had happened to other proud people who questioned God.

And then when God came in a whirlwind, I thought he was just going to strike down Job. But He didn't. He asked Job where he was when the world was created and who made all the wild beasts and who could tame the Leviathan, and it sounded a little braggy, even if it was true. When He was done, he had Job's friends make sacrifices, and then he restored to Job everything that he had taken away twofold.

So I kinda wasn't sure what to think of it. If Job was so good all along, why did so many bad things happen to him? Did God not care? Or was He too busy with other stuff and didn't have time for Job until Job came to confront Him?

I thought I'd have to ask Pastor Liz about that on Thursday.

Then I remembered that I was planning to go to the salon with Meghan on Thursday, so I sent a telephone telegram to Pastor Liz asking if we could meet sooner.

I ate lunch and then sat in the papasan and watched the birds for a little bit. The rain had stopped and so they were back, making up for lost time.

Then my telephone rang and when I answered, it was Meghan and she said that she was really, really sorry but she had to bail on me tonight because her idiot of a boss had scheduled a mandatory dinner meeting and was confused why no one was happy because they’d be eating dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and the company would pay for it.

So I told her I understood—I’d had to change plans real fast in Equestria a couple of times when there was a ship in trouble or a storm that went out of control—and at least we still had the salon appointment tomorrow.  Then, since I suddenly didn’t have any evening plans, I got the Bible back out and looked at the next book.  Maybe it’d be happier.

Well, it was called Psalms and they were like little poems. The first ones were about seeking salvation in the Lord, and some of them said that they were supposed to have stringed instruments, so I thought that maybe once upon a time people sang or chanted them and that would be interesting to hear. There were hymns that we'd sung in church, and maybe some of them were in the Psalms.

I read through the first twenty, and then I put my Bible away for the day. I'd heard a car come in and then the downstairs door open and so I thought it was time that I introduced myself to my downstairs neighbor.

So I flew out the balcony and around and knocked on her door and I heard the clicking of her shoes and then she muttered something but didn't open the door.

I knocked again and I heard her mutter something and then she yanked the door open and looked around over my head and then took a step forward and almost tripped over me.

She looked up and down the driveway and then I said hello and she shrieked and pinned my ears back. Then she covered her mouth and crouched down and held out her hand and so I stuck out my hoof and told her I was Silver Glow and I was the pony who lived upstairs.

She was really pretty—she had dark creamy skin and long dark hair that was held back with a headband. She said that her name was Quinn, which was short for something so ethnic I'd never be able to wrap my tongue around it, and she said she'd kind of wondered who was living upstairs because it sounded like there was a herd of donkeys at all hours of the day and night.

I told her that I'd just gotten a mat for the bathtub so I wouldn't slip and it would make my hooves quieter and she said that was considerate of me.

Then she said that she hadn't thought that anyone would rent the apartment after the old tenant had left suddenly and I asked why, and she shrugged and said he'd gotten arrested back in March and that was all she knew.

I could kind of tell by her look that she knew more than that, but I didn't ask for any more details.

She said that she'd like to talk for longer, but she was between jobs right now and she wanted to take a shower and put her heels up for a little bit before she had to go back out. So I shook her hand again and went back around to my balcony and thought about what I could do for the rest of the evening.

I wanted to know where the farmer's market was, even though I didn't need any food yet. So I filled up my camelback again and put it back on, and then I got my saddlebags too because sometimes at the end of the day farmers sell leftover stuff really cheap so that they don't have to take it home with them again.

Which meant I had to take my camelback off again, because I couldn't put the saddlebags on top of it.

The farmer’s market  wasn't that hard to find. It was southeast of the downtown, and right next to a park that had a big outdoor swimming pool. I was right; it was too late to get any food although there were a few people still there, putting the last things into their trucks and vans. So I didn't land, but I circled around it and then I flew back home.

I had a late supper and then I decided that I ought to write a letter back to Gusty, congratulating her on her role and maybe bragging a little bit that I was on TV too. And I wanted to reassure her that I was coming to see her in Stratford. And I told her about riding horses and I asked if she'd seen any and how close she'd gotten to them.

Then right at the end I thought about asking her about Cayenne and I kind of thought about that for a while. It was kind of rude to end a letter asking about somepony else, and if she wasn't sending letters to Gusty, either, maybe it would be unfriendly to remind her. But on another hoof, maybe she was busy and just didn't have time. So I kinda compromised by not asking specifically about Cayenne but instead saying that this coming weekend me and Aquamarine were going to Bay City to see sailing ships.

When I'd finished up the letter I opened my balcony door and let the gentle wind blow in and it also brought a wayward sparrow who hopped in through the door and then he looked around at where he was and I guess he knew that he wasn't supposed to be inside, 'cause he flew up to go back out but he wasn’t all that smart and bumped into the window a few times before he finally found the door.

He'd left me a little present on the floor, too, so I had to get out of the papasan and clean it up before it dried.

After the birds had mostly flown off for the evening, I closed the door and turned on my computer and wrote a computer letter to Aric. I could see that he hadn't said anything on Facebook for over a week, which probably meant he was really busy with theatre stuff. But maybe he'd get a chance to read my letter when he wasn't, even if it took a couple of days.

I had a lot to tell him about. I thought he'd like to hear about me riding a horse, and I also told him about being an assistant weatherperson, and I also told him when I was going to be gone so that he'd know. And I told him that I'd gone to a barbeque with David and Angela, and that Meghan was teaching me to cook, and I told him that I'd gotten a camelback which was really nice to have and that I missed him and hopefully we'd see each other again before too long.

Then after I turned off my computer I got in my futon without folding it down and lay down with my back against it and my forelegs around a pillow and thought that I ought to have Meghan sleep over after I do laundry.