Scarecrow on Horseback
Read Scarecrow on Horseback Online
Authors: C. S. Adler
Tags: #coming of age, #teen, #teenage girl, #dude ranch, #cs adler, #scarecrow on horseback
by C. S. Adler
Published by
Fire and Ice
A Young Adult Imprint of Melange
Books, LLC
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
Scarecrow on Horseback, Copyright
2013 by C. S. Adler
ISBN:
978-1-61235-795-9
Names, characters, and incidents
depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States of
America.
Cover Design by Becca
Barnes
SCARECROW ON HORSEBACK
by C. S.
Adler
A humiliating experience keeps Mel from
riding a horse, but she is happy to do scut work at the dude ranch
where her mother works. Every horse she bonds with though is sold
off by the arrogant head wrangler. Finally, she develops a special
relationship with a wild horse down the road. To make Cheyenne, the
mustang, her own, she must risk disaster by agreeing to lead family
rides for the ranch. Can she do it?
Table of Contents
For my horse loving Daughter in
law, Karen and granddaughter, Julia.
Chapter One
In the wan light of early dawn, Mel stood
shivering outside the dude ranch's main building. She heard the
hoof beats first. And there they came, just as Mr. Davis, the ranch
manager, had promised. Forty horses pounded past her, their bodies
flowing in a muscular braid of brown and black and white, paints
and palominos. Their clattering hooves vibrated through her as they
galloped onto the road off the path from the corral on the mountain
where they'd been penned for the night. Their breath came out like
smoke as if they were children of the wind, mythical creatures.
They seemed wild and free, unlike Lisa's cosseted Wonder Boy who
pranced about his corral tossing his mane, a fashion model waiting
his turn on stage.
Just past where Mel was stood, the thundering
herd turned into a big corral. Quickly, each horse settled into
place at a feed bucket inside the fence rail. So they weren't wild,
just hungry for breakfast. Dummy, this is a dude ranch, Mel told
herself and followed the last animal through the gate past the open
door of a small barn lined with tack. A wrangler came out of the
barn carrying a saddle, bridle, and saddle blanket. He had a lumpy
face, lots of wavy black hair streaked with gray, and a friendly
smile.
“Morning,” he said. “You looking for
someone?”
“I'm Mel.” My mother's the new office
manager. We just got here late last night.”
“Oh, you're the folks from Cincinnati. Well,
welcome to Colorado and Little Creek Ranch. I'm Sally.” His grin
was so warm that she melted right into it.
“Sally's a girl's name,” Mel replied, awkward
and blunt as usual with strangers.
“It's from Salvatore. My mother was
Italian.”
“Oh, well, my nickname's a boy's name. Mel,
short for Melanie.”
“Pretty name either way,” he said. A horse
with a white muzzle came up behind him. It lifted its upper lip and
aimed its teeth at Sally's hip pocket.
“Watch out!” Mel gasped. “That horse's trying
to bite you.”
“No, no, not Rover. He don't bite. He's my
buddy. He's looking to see if I have a treat for him today.”
Rover had managed to tug a piece of carrot
out of Sally's back pocket. The horse crunched and swallowed, then
looked expectantly at Sally who said, “Watch this.” He tickled
under the horse's boxy head. Rover's lips lifted to show his big
teeth in a smile.
Mel laughed. “Rover's a dumb name for a
horse. It's a dog's name.”
“Yeah, well, I didn't name him. Can't blame
him or me or you for our names, can we?”
“But it would be easy to change his name,”
she said, blundering on even as she winced inwardly at the awkward
remarks spilling from her.
“Oh, I don't know. It might confuse Rover.
“He's no youngster. Been answering to Rover for over twenty years
now.” While Sally had been talking, he'd fitted a metal bit in
Rover's mouth and slipped the leather cage of the bridle over his
head. Next, the wrangler threw a blanket over Rover's back and a
saddle over that. Then he reached under the horse's belly to
tighten the cinch that held the saddle in place. Neither bit, nor
bridle nor saddle stopped Rover from poking at Sally's other
pockets for treats.
“So you want to pick out a horse to ride this
morning?” Sally asked. ”Plenty to choose from now. Later in June,
when it's warm enough for the season to start, guests get the best
horses.”
“Oh, I don't ride.” Mel grimaced. “I'm no
good on horseback.”
“You don't like horses?” Sally sounded
disbelieving.
“I love horses! I'd give anything to have one
of my own.”
“But not to ride?”
“No.”
“I don't get it,” he said frowning.
“Well,” she said, “horses are beautiful, but
they depend on people to take care of them, and that's what I like
doing.” She held her breath, waiting to see if he'd understood.
“That so? Well, to each his own. Right,
Rover?” Rover, who was at Sally's shoulder, nodded.
Mel laughed. “Did you train him to do
that?”
“Nah, Rover didn't need training to act
human. He thinks he is. Get out of my way now, fella. I've got work
to do.”
Rover turned and ambled obediently off to an
empty feeding post across the corral. Sally closed the gate and
went back into the barn for more tack. Mel followed him.
“I could carry some of those,” she said when
she saw him picking up saddle blankets.
“Good. I need a helper.” The blankets he laid
across her outstretched arms were scratchy and smelled of horse.
Mel rather liked the smell.
Sally kept talking as he worked to tack up a
small brown horse feeding noisily at the rail near the water tank.
He told Mel the little mare had been born at the ranch, the foal of
the bay next to her with the long black tail. “She's kind of
spoiled,” Sally said, “bucks if anyone she don't like tries to ride
her. Likes a light hand on the reins.”
Like Lisa's horse, Mel thought. Spoiled and
touchy. Mel had been able to handle her though. Lisa had even
gotten jealous because Wonder Boy calmed down fast when Mel spoke
to him. Something about Lisa's voice or manner had made him
nervous, maybe because he and Lisa were both spoiled and
touchy.
“So what are you figuring on doing here on
the ranch this summer if you're not going to ride?” Sally
asked.
“I don't know.”
“Nobody around here your age. What are you,
sixteen, seventeen?”
“Fifteen. I'm tall so I look older.” Also,
she knew her long, narrow eyed, unsmiling face made her seem
older.
“You look as if you're mad or scared or
something,” Lisa had said. That had been at the beginning after the
wedding, when Mel and her mother had first moved in to Max and
Lisa's house. Mel had been overwhelmed by Max's beautiful colonial
house surrounded by acres of rolling fields, and by Lisa, his
beautiful teenage daughter who said, “Now that we're sisters, I'm
going to make you over. You don't mind, do you?”
Mel hadn't minded. She'd been thrilled to
have Lisa show her how to use lip gloss and eye makeup and pick her
clothes when they went shopping at the mall. Of course, she'd never
fitted in with Lisa's friends. She'd been silent and stupid when
they talked about boys and clothes and the latest pop stars, but
Lisa hadn't seemed to care. She'd dragged Mel along to parties and
sleepovers. She'd confided in Mel. It had all been wonderful until
Lisa broke her arm just before the Hunter Under Saddle competition
that Lisa had counted on winning.
After Sally had readied six horses for riding
and acquainted Mel with each of them, he said, “You want to learn
how to tack up a horse?”
“I know how.” Mel had gotten up early every
morning in the year they lived with Max and Lisa to muck out Wonder
Boy's stall. She'd fed him and saddled him so that when Lisa came
yawning from the breakfast table to ride him, he was ready.
“You sure?” Sally asked.
“I took care of my stepsister's horse. I mean
my mother's husband's daughter's horse.” She wrinkled her nose at
the muddle she was making of that short-term relationship. Mom had
only stayed married to Max for a year. But again, Sally didn't
probe.
Instead, he said, “Horses are like people.
Most mean well, but some you got to watch out for. This feller
here, Stilts,”—he was working on a white horse with very long,
skinny legs—“he likes to bite. You don't want to turn your back on
him. Once you're in the saddle though, he goes real good. You sure
you don't want to find yourself a horse? You could try out one of
the gentle ones we use for kids.”
“It's not that I'm afraid,” Mel said. “I'm
just a bad rider.”
“Someone told you that?”
“Uh huh.” She bit her lip to hold back the
painful memory. “Scarecrow,” Lisa had screamed at her in front of
everyone. “You made him mess up. You flopped on him like a
scarecrow.”
“Well,” Sally said, again accepting without
further comment, “I guess there's other stuff you can do around
here. There's the swimming pool once it warms up some and hiking
trails.” He sounded dubious about those offerings.
“Couldn't I just hang out here and help with
the horses?” Mel asked quickly. “I mean, I wouldn't get in your
way. I could do things.”
“Like shovel manure and fill feed buckets?”
He was grinning at her.
“Sure.”
He laughed. “Sounds fine to me. I could use a
second pair of hands.”
A tall, movie-star-handsome cowboy complete
with square chin and suntan strode into the corral.
“That dude that ordered up two gutsy horses
is here with his kid, Sally,” he said in a deep voice that rang
with authority. “You got Zorro and Stilts ready yet?” He was eyeing
Mel as if he expected someone to explain her presence without him
needing to ask.
“We're working on it,” Sally said. “You met
Mel yet, Jeb? She's the new office manager's daughter. Mel's gonna
give us a hand with the horses. She don't want to ride though.”