Summary

The fourth chapter of the novel, “The Survival Machine,” describes the short but passionate relationship between Henrietta and Allmon. Before sunrise one morning, a wise and experienced veterinarian named Lou (a woman) receives a call from the Forge farm. She rushes over to deliver the horse from Seconds Flat, which turns out to be a girl. As Lou leaves, Henry admires the new horse (foal), and kisses Henrietta on the cheek in celebration.

Allmon, who has been hired as part of the Forge staff, recalls how, after the initial traumas of his handful of years in prison, he was moved to the fresh air of a minimum-security facility when he was 22 years old. There, he started a program for inmates learning how to groom horses, which Allmon became especially skilled at. Allmon had then been connected to the Forge...