Polishing the final version of the manuscript

Name changes all over the manuscript. Neil Diamond is the name of Moms father. The names Mara and Marina were spelt too similar, though I liked having the first names of the sisters all beginning with the sinusoidal letters of W, V, and M, and then here comes the M of Mergatroid the colt ...! Cool. Brenda, the name of a cousin of mine, won the competition.

Iommi and Butler are the names of the POW officers performing for the Diamond family at Camp Custer. 

The author's name printed on the book jacket is (will be) Amy Soldier. The letter to Mergatroid is penned by Amy and Kurt Soldier. I sent a comment to change the cover illustration from the little girl on Merg's foot boot to the cowgirl I saw from the iUniverse photo collection their illustrators will photoshop. 

Along with the original idea of a girl sitting on Mergatroid's foot boot with the stick at a puddle of water, I thought of a girl looking up into the cover, wanting Mergatroid to tie her shoes on an urban sidewalk. I saw the young woman on the horse and thought of Mergatroid(s) with chainsaw upon tree trunks and branches, perhaps one Mergatroid carries an armload of logs in the background.

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I wonder how many readers will, on their own and as they read the story realize Mergatroid to be heaven sent, albeit a burped or coughed or sneezed out heaven sent "thing"? How cool to think people writing book reports will comment in some way upon Mergatroid the horse. Definitely one of my better twists in the story.