Pony Dreams (19 page)

“At least you made her smile. We haven't seen
that since you rode off,” he said.

“I bet.” Pony Bob lowered me to the ground.
“Adam asked me to come back with him and tell you the news. Almost
didn't until he told me what happened last year. Sure am sorry
about your parents and brother. Your pa was as fine a man as I've
ever met.” He cleared his throat. “You kids don't have to worry
about providing horses for The Pony anymore.”

I looked up at him in surprise. What was he
talking about? Had the company decided to end our contract? What
would we do now?

“What up?” Mark asked.

“The Pony's done,” Pony Bob said. “The
government strung up the telegraph lines between St. Joe and San
Francisco. Folks would rather send a telegram than pay for a
letter. Now, I heard tell this little gal cooks nearly as well as
she trains horses. Care to let me escort you inside, Abby?”

I giggled. Relief flooded my brothers and
uncle's faces.

“About time,” Paul muttered. “Wasn't right,
her moping all the time.”

We returned to the house and dug into our
meal. It didn't matter if it was cold. The charred bits of meat and
vegetables from the bottom of the pot tasted as sweet as anything
Ma had ever made. After we finished, Adam produced a dried apple
pie.

“Mrs. Carson sent this. She also told us to
stop at the station if we're ever in the area,” he said. “The Pony
let her and her husband keep it as a stopping place for travelers.”
Adam grinned. “I bet you think we forgot all about your birthday.
Well, we didn't. I asked the others to pretend they had, so I could
have Mrs. Carson make something special for you.”

“Oh!” A blush heated my cheeks. “Thank
you.”

While we consumed the unexpected treat, he
leaned back in his chair and poked his piece with a fork.

“I sold the ranch.”

Forks clattered against plates.

“What?” I demanded.

“Why?” Uncle Andy asked.

“The buyer paid three thousand for
everything,” Adam said. “He and his family are coming next week.”
He held my hands. “Abby, it's not right for you to live all the way
out here with just men around you. You need other girls to grow up
right.”

Pony Bob cleared his throat. “May I make a
suggestion?”

“Go ahead,” Uncle Andy said.

“They need another doc up in Carson City. Big
strike in one of those mines. Lots of jobs not related to the
mining, and Abby could have a few more females around her.”

“I don't need girls,” I said.

No one paid me any mind. I stared out the
window while they discussed their plans. Adam wanted to find a job
in a store, or maybe buy one. That sounded dumb. Who wanted to be
stuck inside all day when we had the most wonderful ranch in the
world?

“I'd like to draw again,” Mark said. “Haven't
done much of that since the fire.” He hung his head. “Carson City
would offer plenty of opportunities for pictures. Maybe I'd even
sell them to Easterners.”

My gaze fastened on the corral. No horses
hung their heads over the railings. Maybe it was a good thing we no
longer had to worry about the next delivery. Silence from behind
drew my attention back to my family.

“Anything wrong, Abby?” Uncle Andy asked.

“Just wondering,” I said.

I worked to quiet my fears about leaving.

I wonder if Carson City is too big. Sure
hope not. I don't want anyone worrying I'll get lost.

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

Even though we had
settled in Carson City, one thing still bothered me. I never told
my brothers and uncle. I didn't want them worrying about me, but I
couldn't shake the feeling I had been responsible for the fire that
took our parents and Paul. The Johnsons may have gone to prison for
lighting it, but I still felt like I had set everything into motion
after I yelled at Pony Bob about hitting Blaze.

I wandered out of our store, amused by the
strange crowd meandering along the street. Scantily clad women
shouted invitations to miners. The men tipped their hats and
hurried to their claims. Coaches and wagons threw dust everywhere
while cowboys herded steers to a pen near the railway siding. Since
moving here a month ago, I had tried to get used to the
differences, but falling asleep was hard with the constant
racket.

“Abby, can you give me a hand?” Adam
asked.

After turning around, I stopped in the
doorway. Mark picked up a dress from a pile on the counter. The
pink gingham had white polka dots all over it, and a light blue
ribbon around the waist. A little longing rose within my heart at
how pretty it looked, but my sensible head argued that was for
another Abby, one who obeyed her parents and didn't cause their
deaths.

“Whose crazy idea is this?” I demanded.

“Like it?” Charles asked.

“No.”

“You'll look downright pretty in it,” Bart
said.

“Forget it.”

I folded my arms across my chest. A moan
almost slipped past my lips when he held up a dark green dress with
a light yellow ribbon around the skirt and sleeve hems.

“What about this one?” Adam asked.

“Come on, Abby,” Paul wheedled. “Try on one.
Me and the rest spent hours picking them out.”

“I won't wear a dress again,” I said. “Get it
through your thick skulls.”

What were they thinking? The money we
received for the ranch would disappear if they wasted it on stuff
like that. I liked wearing Paul's cast off clothes. That made it
easier to climb the ladder to reach the top shelf, and no one
worried when I ripped a shirt or a pair of pants. Just because we
lived in a city, I wasn't going to dress like a girl.

“You have to act more like a lady, or folks
might get the wrong idea,” Adam said.

I shook my head.

“Bet Pony Bob likes them,” Charles
commented.

If I knew them, they would soon start
pestering me about going to dances and church socials, just like Ma
and Pa wanted to do right before they died. Well, I wouldn't let
that happen. Weston's General Store had done well since we opened
the doors. I had even gotten used to the women trying to convince
me to give up my pants and boots. It was the only part of my old
life I still had.

“Try on one,” Mark said. “I bet you'll like
it.”

“No. If I was a boy, Ma, Pa, and Peter would
still be here.”

Their lips tightened, but they didn't argue.
Certain I had made them finally understand that I would never
change my mind, I gathered what I needed for our evening meal and
disappeared into the kitchen. No one helped me anymore, I had
become an accomplished cook.

I smiled while sprinkling salt and pepper on
a beef roast. Humming, I slid the meat into the modern stove Adam
installed the day after we unpacked. It had a firebox in the back,
and a well to one side that always kept water hot. After preparing
vegetables and potatoes, I mixed cornbread and wiped the
counter.

A bell tinkled in the store

“Where's my gal?” Uncle Andy called.

“Hey, how's doctoring?” I turned around.

“Better than the grand plan to get you in a
dress,” he said. “Do we have enough for company?”

“Sure.”

A year ago, I would have asked who, but it no
longer mattered. Making my uncle and brothers happy was all I
planned to do for the rest of my life. Maybe then I could make up
for ignoring Ma's advice by talking to Pony Bob.

When setting the table, I wondered about our
visitor. Would it be that gal Mark liked so much? Some friends of
Paul's had asked to come back after I made peanut brittle. Adam and
Bart had invited the new preacher last week. Maybe he was our
company.

“Hey, short stuff. Is there plenty for a
starving friend?

Pony Bob strolled into the room with a girl
my age. For the first time since moving here, I felt out of place
in pants.

“Abby, this is my niece, Cassandra Rose,” he
said. “She's come to stay with me.”

“Hey, Abby,” Cassandra said. “Call me
Cassie.”

“Hey, Cassie. I need to change. Want to
help?”

The sight of Cassie in her pretty blue calico
dress with tiny white flowers dotted across it brought a yearning I
hadn't felt in a long time. I sorted through the clothes Mark had
hung in my closet and decided on the pink one.

“You have the nicest clothes,” she said. “Is
it comfortable wearing pants? Uncle Bob said I could but only when
I went riding. He brought me here tonight because–”

“Because why?” I asked. “Did your uncle tell
you what happened to my family?”

Horror etched into my bones. I didn't want
Cassie feeling sorry for me.

“Did something awful happen to your family?”
she asked. “That's probably why he insisted I come when I wanted to
hide in my bedroom. My parents died in a train accident while we
traveled out here. No one knows how I survived, but I wish I
hadn't.”

I tugged a chemise over my head and added
petticoats before pulling on my dress.

“Can you help me button up?” I asked. “It's
durned hard bending your arms backward.”

“Sure is.” She giggled. “Boys have all the
fun.”

While she fastened the buttons, I stared at
the wall.

“We had a problem a while back,” I said.
“Some folks that hated my family set our ranch house on fire. It
killed my parents, and one of my brothers. I guess that's why Pony
Bob brought you to us.”

“Makes sense,” she said. “What if we make a
picnic lunch tomorrow and explore this old shaft I heard Uncle Bob
talking about.”

We grinned at each other.

“Does anyone else know about it?” I
asked.

“Sure as shootin', not as far as I know,” she
said.

“Yes! We're not gonna let the men have all
the fun,” I said. “We need to check the pies. Can't let them
burn.”

“What kind?

“Peach and apple.”

“My favorites,” Cassie announced. “Hope
there's enough for the men.”

She and I hurried into the kitchen. Uncle
Andy and Pony Bob stepped back from the stove, each holding a
pie.

“You almost let them burn, Abby,” Uncle Andy
said but it didn't sound like a scold.

“Sorry.”

“I caught them in time. Hello, Cassandra, I'm
Doctor Weston, Abby's uncle. Welcome to the family.”

“Huh?” I said.

“Your brothers invited us to move in,” Pony
Bob said. “You gals won't get away with much, not with all of us
watching out for you.”

Cassie and I glanced at each other.

“If you say so,” I said.

After supper, she and I pressed our noses
against the large plate glass window. The usual mix of miners,
saloon gals, and storekeepers strolled past on the wooden
boardwalk.

“Be kind of hard to get away from so many
men,” she said.

The rumble of voices from the storeroom
brought a smile. I peeked in that direction.

“Not really.” I crept to the door. “Wanna
give it a try?”

Naughty giggles slipped out when we made it
to the street. A familiar whinny startled me, and I stared in
astonishment at my brothers—the same brothers I had just heard in
the storeroom—marching out of an alley beside the store. Uncle Andy
and Pony Bob brought up the rear, leading two mustangs.

“Mr. Carson wired me last week,” Adam
said.

“Seems the Pony wanted us to have the
animals.” Mark smiled.

My heart leapt into my throat when I glimpsed
a familiar white blaze on one of the horses. He had come back to
me. Blaze was back!

“Who are they for?” I whispered, letting a
tiny bit of hope creep through me.

“You and Cassie.” Uncle Andy lifted me onto
Blaze.

“Pretty girls need fun.” Pony Bob put Cassie
onto the other horse.

My brothers cleared the street. She and I
glanced at each other.

“Bet I get there first,” she said.

“You're on.” I bent over Blaze's neck and
kicked.

“Riders in!”

Adam's bellow reignited an old desire. I
urged Blaze forward. Hoots and hollers came from the spectators. My
imagination took control, and I visualized another Pony rider
waiting for me at the end of the street.

My braids streamed behind me, and my dress
flapped around my legs. It only seemed like an instant when the
dark desert loomed, and I reined hard, gripping with my knees when
Blaze skidded to a stop.

Seconds later, Cassie whooped, “That was
great!”

“Wanna do it again?” I asked. “We can use the
trail to that old mine tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

We walked the horses back to the store. After
dismounting, I took Cassie's hand, and we stood side by side. Stars
twinkled in the velvety sky. People resumed their evening
enjoyment.

“The Pony isn't finished.” I looked around at
the exciting frontier town. “Not so long as I'm around.”

My promise to keep them in my heart, to
remember the men like Pony Bob, sustained me as I went inside.
Carson City was now my home, but I belonged in the desert training
horses for a mission the telegraph took away.

“Someday, something will get rid of the
telegraph,” I said to Cassie. “Just like the telegraph got rid of
The Pony Express.”

About the Author

K. C. began
writing young, with a diary followed by an interest in English. Her
first experience with publication came when she placed third in a
Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge contest while she was in the
Air Force, but her dedication to writing came after she had her
youngest child, now a teen getting ready to enter his senior year
of high school. K. C., her husband and son live in Northwest
Georgia where she spends her days creating stories about life in
the south, and far beyond. More than a dozen of her short stories
have appeared in several magazines. Six anthologies feature other
short stories, and her teen novel, Softly Say Goodbye, was released
in 2012. In 2013 her releases include,
Who Am I?, Mama's
Advice,
Take Chances, The Ghost Catcher, Family Curse ...
Times Two, Secret From The Flames, Where U @, The Wrong One,
and
Grace.