She Belonged

She sat on her front porch. Her dog lying at her feet. Her gun resting against the wall between the door and the window. The sun was going down. It was just her. Wolves howled in the distance. They knew better than to bother her now. She sipped her beer. The grass gently swayed in the breeze rolling over the land. She started humming a melody she remembered from her childhood. Sometimes she missed living in the town. But nothing beat the silence out here. She could hear herself think out here. And she could turn her thoughts off out here. They would drown in the day to day tasks of staying alive on your own out here. Many people asked her why she didn't have a man. How could she ever hope to feel safe on her own out there with nothing but a big dog and a gun to protect her. She always rejected their doubts and never showed the ones she had. Doubting herself had never helped her. And she belonged here. As hostile this place might be, this was where she was supposed to be. She belonged to this land.