“App... Applejack? It’s little Applejack?” he asked, stunned.

“It sure is, Uncle Orange!” she grabbed his hoof and shook it furiously. “Only I ain’t so little no more!”

“My goodness! I’ll say! Look at you! You’re a grown mare!” She did a little pirouette for him, still in the hallway. “What... what on earth are you doing here?’

“Well, as it happened, I was in the big city on... business. I was in the neighborhood, so I just thought, ‘I’ll go give Uncle Orange a visit.’”

“My gracious!”

“I hope that’s OK and all. I thought I’d surprise ya, but if you’re busy or something...”

“No, no, no!” he said. “Please, come in! It’s so good to see you again. But, I should warn you now, I haven’t picked up in a while. I don’t get a lot of guests.” Uncle Orange opened the door wide, and Applejack strolled in. He hadn’t just “not picked up”, the place was a mess. It wasn’t dirty though; there weren’t dirty dishes or dirty laundry lying around, or anything like that. There was just a lot of clutter. There were stacks of books on everything. Half packed cardboard boxes, or perhaps half unpacked. The television, unplugged, was on the coffee table. There was an iron on top of it. Various household items were in all sorts of odd spots. There were little paths in between all the clutter. The place looked like it had been a mess for some time. It was no wonder he didn’t have many visitors. Other than that, it was the same old apartment she had visited all those years ago. She remembered loving the view from the window.

“Please, please,” he said. “Do sit down on the davenport.” Applejack blinked a few times, then sat down on the couch. She guessed that was the right one, based on his reaction. “Can I get you something to drink? Tea? Coffee? I just made a pot.”

“Oh, that sounds lovely,” Applejack said, trying to remember her formal education. “Uh, black, please.”

Uncle Orange fussed around in the kitchen for a moment, then came back with two mugs. He took a seat next to her. Applejack took a sip. She didn’t know when he had made the pot, but it didn’t taste like it was recently. “Well,” Uncle Orange said. “I should just go ahead and tell you upfront. I hope you weren’t expecting to visit her... and... I don’t know if your grandmother has told you this or not... but... your Aunt Orange and I have split up.”

“Oh, Uncle Orange,” Applejack said, “I’m so sorry.” If she hadn’t already known, it was pretty obvious based on the mess in the apartment. “How long ago was that?”

“Well...,” he said, “the lawyers are still going over the paperwork. You know. Lots of paperwork in a divorce. But I guess you could say that we’ve been separated for... oh... let’s see. Two, going on three years.”

“You don’t say!”

“Oh, it’s true.”

“And you’re still doing the paperwork?”

“Hah, well. We just started finalizing it, actually. Your aunt has become insistent on that.”

“Where is she now?”

“The Caribbean, I think. Our lawyer... her lawyer is taking care of the business.”

“And you haven’t seen her in all this time?”

“I haven’t.”

“Now what on earth got into her.”

“Oh, she ran off with her dentist.”

“What?” Applejack was incensed. “And now she’s demanding paperwork from you? Why, if anything you should be the one demanding things from her.”

“Now, now, Applejack. She’s a very nice pony. You like her just fine.”

“Nice, my buns!” she said, trying not to swear too hard in the same apartment where she was taught refinement. “I liked her just fine before she ran off on you. The tramp.”

“Applejack! She’s your aunt!”

“Not no more! And she was only my aunt by marriage. But you’re my uncle. And that’s blood. Blood’s thicker than paper or ink or any marriage certificate or whatever. Nobody messes with my family.”

“Pff! Ha!” he laughed.

“Now whatchu lauging for?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t mean nothing... I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just... now, please, Applejack. Don’t take any offense by it...but there’s just something about... about country folk. They’re just so plain speaking. After all these months, years - after talking to all my friends and associates about it, I think you’re the only person to actually take sides on the issue. Certainly the only one who’s taken my side. And you ain’t-, and you haven’t even been here for five minutes.

“Of course I have,” Applejack said, not finding any humor in the situation. “You’re relations. Blood relations. We always stick up for each other. Family’s the most important thing there is. The only thing you can count on.”

“Ahh,” he said. “That’s migh... that’s very sweet of you, Applejack.” He set his mug down on a stack of books, and they both sat there, silent for a minute. They both thought about what family really meant to them.

“Country folk,” she finally said. She shoved Uncle Orange in the shoulder with the tip of her hoof.

“What?” he smiled.

“Country folk. You called me country folk. You’ve been living in the city a long time, Uncle Orange. But I think you must still remember that you yourself grew up in the country.”

“Ohoho,” Uncle Orange chuckled. “That was a long time ago.”

“I bet it was. But surely you can recollect.”

“I love the city, Applejack.”

“Hmmm, you can take the pony out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the pony. I bet you still dream about it, from time to time.”

“Well...”

“Fresh country air. Wide open spaces. Hard farm work rewarded after a long day by a delicious, home-cooked meal.”

“I remember the meals,” Uncle Orange laughed.

“Sure you do. And the long hot summers? And the great big snow drifts that you could play in during the winter? But you still had to go to school?”

“Ha! I remember walking to school. There was wildlife, Applejack. Eagles! Buzzards! Great Blue Herons!”

“Sure, I bet you don’t see them in the city. And kite-flying? Swimmin’ holes? Skinny dippin’?”

“Sure,” Uncle Orange said. He had a sort of blank look on his face, but his grin was growing wide.

“Catchin’ fire-flies in the evening. Family reunions...”

“Reunions!” Uncle Orange shouted, his eyes suddenly focused.

“You remember something now?” Applejack asked.

“Boy, do I,” he said. “This one in specific. Ah musta been, I don’t know. I was just a little colt. Didn’t even have my cutie mark. It was the biggest reunion I ever seen. I met relatives I didn’t even know I had. I guess I was a little shy around most of them; they were strangers in a sense. But there was one little filly...” he paused, lost in memory.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know if you ever met her. She’s my age, but the far end of the family. She was a cousin of mine, one of the Peaches.”

“And what about her?”

“Oh, well...we just played all day is all.”

“Uncle Orange?” she leaned over and placed her head on his shoulder. He almost melted. This was the first time he had been touched affectionately in years. “I bet it’s a sweet story. Why don’t you tell me the whole thing. I know there’s more.”

“Well, I’m not sure I should even be telling you this. But during the big picnic lunch, when everybody was gathered and busy eating, we finished fast and both ran off into the orchard.”

“Yeah?” Applejack said. She moved her head up to look at him, their noses just inches from each other. She placed a hoof on his knee.

“Well, this may be weird, but she was my first kiss.”

“T’aint weird,” she said “They don’t call them kissing cousins for nothing.” AJ slipped her butt off the couch and got down on her knees in front of it. “Then what happened.”

“Well... I don’t know if this is appropriate.”

“Now Uncle Orange, I’m a big girl now. You can tell me everything.”

“She... laid me down on my back under a tree, and...”

She shuffled up between his knees. “I can see why you remember this so well. Then what happened.”

“Ah... ah... ah promised not to tell.”

“That’s alright, Uncle Orange. If it’s a secret, I won’t ask you. But I bet I can guess. That’s the thing about families. Especially good old country folk families. No matter what. No matter how bad things get, we always keep in family, Uncle Orange.” Applejack lowered her head.

He gasped. “Call me Julius,” he whispered, as he watched his erection grow up and into her eager mouth.

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