No Horse Wanted (27 page)

“It’s not his fault that he didn’t get fed.”
I stopped to think. Okay, she had a point. “I have to go muck
stalls, and maybe I was too hard on Bill.”

“Then, I’ll let you figure out how to make
amends.” She gave a little wave of her hand. “Go shovel poop. It’ll
be good for you.”

After I finished the rest of the chores, I
came back to the arena. Rocky had me longe Twaziem for a few
minutes before I led him to his stall for supper. “How often are
you going to come train him?”

“Either Sierra or I will be here every day to
work with him. Groom him at least an hour a day and clean his feet
several times during the process. Many young horses hate having
their hooves done, and you don’t want to have new problems
start.”

“I hate picking hooves,” I said, “and today I
had to do everybody else’s feet.”

“Poor baby.” Rocky didn’t sound like she
meant it. She patted my shoulder as if I were my horse. “Actually,
you’ve done a good job training Twaziem so far. I’ll need you to
keep helping me and Sierra. He trusts you, and it’ll be easier for
him if you spend time with us.”

I nodded. “Okay. I think I’ll probably keep
him longer than I originally planned. He needs to bond with people,
and so far I’m one of the few that he actually likes.”

“What are your plans for him?” Rocky asked.
“You’ll be riding him next summer.”

“I’d like to show him the way that Dani shows
Lady.”

“Then, we’ll concentrate on training him for
western pleasure.”

I was in the middle of my algebra assignment
that night when Jack limped into my room. “What?”

“Vicky’s on the landline. We’re done talking,
and she wants to connect with you.” He gave me an older brother
look. “This is the last time I’m going to ask you to stop being
mean to Bill. He’s taking it hard. I had to tell him that punching
out Caine wasn’t an answer, and that’s pretty touchy-feely for
me.”

“Yeah, well, Rocky jumped on my case about it
today too.” I got up and headed for the door, stopping to give him
a baby hug on the way. I didn’t want to hurt his ribs. “I guess I
wanted to be mad at someone about that video, and Bill was handy. I
sure couldn’t go kick Caine’s butt.”

“Life will kick him in the teeth for us.”
Jack hugged me back. “Glad you’re not mad at me anymore.”

“Likewise.” Mom was in her craft room and Dad
was in his study, so I nabbed the living room extension to talk to
Vicky. “Hey, what’s up? Jack and I aren’t fighting anymore. Are you
okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I finished whining at him
about my family, and he sniveled at me about having to help cook
supper and then do dishes. So, we decided it’s your turn to
listen.”

“Yeah, well how do I tell Bill I’m sorry I
was a jerk?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Send him flowers?”

We both laughed, but actually it wasn’t a bad
idea. I could have them delivered to him at school. We threw around
a few other ideas, like a card or candy or just walking up and
saying what I had to say.

After a few minutes, Vicky cut to the subject
on her mind. “Anyway, I was talking to my mom about helping you out
in the barns because I’d be off the cheer squad if you hadn’t
stepped up to help me. She says the only days I could come would be
Fridays and Saturdays since that’s when my dad has the kids and I
don’t. Will it be any help?”

“It’d be a lot of help,” I said. “Friday, we
could take you to the game after chores, and if you spent the night
here, then we could go straight to Shamrock Stable. When I finish
my lesson, I go to work down at the Mustang Corral.”

“How do you like it? Washing cars seems like
a stupid job to me.”

“I love it.” I giggled. Then I told her all
about cutting loose with the hose on Brenna’s heartthrob. We talked
for another half-hour before I went back to my algebra and knocked
the problems into submission. I didn’t have a hose, but then again,
I didn’t need one.

Afterwards, I went online and found a cool
arrangement of ten long-stemmed blue iris and ten yellow roses.
School colors. Awesome! They’d be perfect to send to Bill. I didn’t
talk to Dad about it. He was such a guy, and he wouldn’t believe I
wanted to give flowers to Bill. I headed for Mom’s sewing room. She
listened to everything. She totally understood how I felt. And she
loaned me her credit card. Yippee! I’d have to pay her back from my
first check at the Mustang Corral. That was cool. Now, the flower
arrangement would truly be from me.

* * * *

Wednesday, October
30
^th
, 3:30 p.m.

The meet was back in Snohomish this week. I
spotted my parents and Jack in the grandstand with Mrs. Bartlett.
Leaving Harry to run the lot, Brenna had shown up with her guy who
wore camouflage, another beret, and more combat boots. They sat
next to the rest of my personal cheering squad. I popped up to show
Mrs. B. the latest pics of Twaziem. Rocky had saddled and bridled
him for the first time yesterday, so he looked almost like a
horse.

“Is it my imagination or is he a bit thin?”
Sergeant Dawson gave me a wary look. “Just a question, not an
accusation.”

“Don’t worry,” I told him. “They don’t allow
me to have a hose at the meets. And he’s gained a lot of weight in
the last six weeks. The vet says he’s put on almost two hundred
pounds.”

“Do I want to know what you did with a hose,
Robbie?” Dad asked.

“I handled it since it happened at the
Corral,” Brenna told him, “And now Kyle knows to stay out of the
way when we’re washing cars.”

“What she said.” Kyle Dawson glanced past me.
“Some old guy’s waving at you, Robin. Is that important?”

“Yes.” I looked over my shoulder. “It’s my
coach. Got to go. Mrs. B., you need to come see Twaz more often. He
misses you.”

She straightened her wig. “I will. Go win,
honey.”

“Are you sure about that? Your grandkids are
running, too.”

“You work a lot harder at things than they
do, so go show them what happens when people do their best.”

Good advice. I hurried down the steps and ran
over to join my team. Olivia high-fived me. “We’re ready to rock
and roll today. Isn’t that the Bartlett beasts’ grandma?”

“Yeah, but she’s a nice lady,” I said. “And
we choose our friends, not our relatives.”

Coach Norris came up and gave the usual pep
talk. “I know you think it’s going to be easy because we’re down to
the end of the season and you’ve won all the other meets. People
are going to try harder so you need to do the same. Remember—”

“Winners never quit,” I started up and the
rest of the team joined in, “and quitters never win!”

The long distance runners headed over to line
up. Once again, we took the lead and held it. The trail was a bit
cooler today. We’d had a few rains, although none of the regular
storms had hit yet. Once that happened, we ran through the mud and
creeks. A breeze ruffled the trees. Gold, red, and green leaves
from the alders and maples scattered across the paths. We hit the
groves of cedars, up and down the hills, around curves and then
along the lakeshore.

The rest of my team was with me as we came
down the last slope and hit the track again, running full out for
the finish line. I was the first through the tunnel, followed by
the rest of the Lincoln High team. I heard Jack yelling. He sounded
really loud. When I looked up, I saw Bill next to him. I waved at
them and kept going.

Bill wound his way through the audience and
came toward me, a huge grin on his face. I was so forgiven. I ran
into his arms. He scooped me up and kissed me. He wasn’t mad at me
anymore, and I wasn’t mad at him either.

When he lifted his head, he said. “So next
time you make a mistake, do I have to send flowers if I yell at
you?”

“Possibly,” I said, “but only if you yell at
me for something that’s truly not my fault.”

“Okay. It’s a deal.” And he kissed me
again.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Thursday, October 31
^st
, 4:05 p.m.

I’d finished up early with the cars. I was
too old to go trick or treating, but Porter was having a Halloween
party at her house. I needed to do chores so I would be ready when
Bill arrived. When I made the barn, Rocky was busy with Twaziem.
She’d already groomed, bridled, and saddled him. Now, she was
teaching him to ground drive. He didn’t much like the idea so Harry
was leading him. Surprisingly, my horse didn’t try to chew on
him.

“Why isn’t he going after Harry?” I asked
Dani, who was filming the class.

“Horses can see some colors,” Dani said, “and
he has blond hair, not black. Plus he looks thinner than Jack.”

“I never thought of that.”

“You might ask Jack what aftershave he uses,”
Dani went on. “Because they’re prey animals, horses have a keen
sense of smell. If Jack used the same kind of cologne as Caine,
then Twaziem would associate the two of them as threats.”

Those were all good points. I went off to
clean stalls, wondering if I could convince my brother to wear a
hat when he worked around Twaziem. If my horse didn’t see black
hair, perhaps he wouldn’t hate Jack so much. I’d ask him to wear
the same lime aftershave that Bill did and bring Twaz apples. Every
little thing would help.

After I cleaned, fed, watered, and groomed
the other horses, I returned to the ring. Rocky was teaching
Twaziem to stop and stand square on all four feet so his weight was
evenly distributed. She would lead him forward, stop, make him
balance, back up, balance, jog forward, and then repeat the same
pattern again.

“It’s like what you do in halter class,” I
told Dani.

“How do you think that Lady learned it? We do
this for hours to get ready for shows.”

Rocky waved at me and I went to her. “Hi.
What do you want me to do?”

“The same thing I was,” she said. “You need
to review basics with him. Keep him at a walk as much as possible.
You probably take in a lot of calories when you run.”

“Of course, I do. I have to or I’d pass
out.”

“The same goes for your horse. Hard work
makes him lose weight.”

“And we want him to put on the pounds,” I
said, “not take them off. I got it, Rocky.”

I clicked to Twaziem, and we headed off to do
the same pattern he’d already learned. We had a half hour more to
work before I finished chores. Then, I’d go up to the house,
shower, and get into my dance-hall costume for Porter’s party.

* * * *

Thursday, November
7
^th
, 3:45 p.m.

The next week rushed by. Between a haze of
classes, barn work, training Twaziem, riding lessons, cross-country
practices, visits from the Animal Control guy, and my internship
hours with Dr. Larry no wonder sometimes I felt like I didn’t have
time to breathe.

The last meet was back at the park outside of
Arlington where the first one took place. It’d rained a few times,
and Coach Norris told us they’d changed our route to bypass the
wasp nest. All we had to do was win this time and we’d be school
champions. He promised us that we could hang a banner in the school
gym. Mom was already designing it. Talk about having faith in
us.

We lined up with the other long distance
runners. Ashley Bartlett scowled at me and Wanda flipped me off.
Those two so needed to get a life. I wondered where Caine was
hiding. I hadn’t seen him anywhere today. The starter fired his
pistol and we were off, Lincoln High taking the lead as usual.

The trail wound up hill and down, twisting
through the maple trees. I heard the gurgle of the creek up ahead.
It was higher than last time, but I didn’t have to run through it
yet. I leaped over it and kept going. Out of the corner of my eye,
I saw Porter right behind me. We were making great time. A log up
ahead and a couple evergreen branches lay across the path. Were
they the same ones we’d seen last time? We raced through a grove of
pine trees.

This time, the trail led along the river. I
heard a dog bark a few times, then yelp. What was going on? There
shouldn’t be any hikers out, not during a cross-country meet. Gwen
caught up with me. She pointed and I saw Caine on the bank. He held
a big white feed sack, the kind that held horse grain. A gold and
white collie mix leapt around him, barking at him.

Oh my Gawd. Not again!

We ran toward him. He waited until we were
closer. He swung the bag over his head. The dog went nuts. He
hurled the sack right into the river. The collie broke for the
bank. She dove into the water.

She. I knew it was a she. And she’d had pups.
Her nipples hung down below her belly. They were still nursing.

“You son of a...” I gave him a hard shove. He
landed on his butt in the path.

Then, I was past him and running for the
water. It had barely rained, I told myself again and again. The
water wasn’t high. If I got them now, they wouldn’t drown. I
wouldn’t let them die. I splashed into the river. The rocks slipped
beneath my shoes.

“What are you doing?” Olivia screamed from
the trail.

“Puppies. He threw them.” I saw the bag
floating ahead of me. “Send Cedar and Kanisha. They have to
win.”

“Okay.”

I grabbed for the bag. Missed it. The mom dog
snarled at me. I gave her a quick pet while I splashed toward the
bag. “Come on. Let’s get your babies.”

I heard high pitched yelps and puppy barks
now. I snagged the feed sack this time. It was heavier than it
looked. Of course. It was waterlogged, or rather the pups were. I
pulled it toward the bank.

Steve and Lew waded toward me. As soon as I
was close enough, Lew grabbed the bag. He carried it to the bank.
“If a single pup dies, I’m kicking the hell out of Caine. He’s just
sicko.”