“Jo, I’m sorry I yelled at you.” Her dad.
Joanna looked up into his concerned face. “That’s okay, Dad. I understand. You were worried about Belle.”
“I was as worried about you. I didn’t want you to see Belle… you know, in pain.”
“I know, and I was scared,” Joanna admitted in a small voice. And it wasn’t over. Belle was still going to die. Soon. New tears beaded the corners of her eyes.
“Oh honey, don’t cry. I’m so sorry.” Her dad pulled her into a hug. “And I know that was a hard thing to see. But Belle’s okay now. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“And to celebrate her miraculous recovery, we’re going to have a wonderful family lunch,” said Mom. She grabbed Joanna’s hand. “Come on, everyone,” she said, and she and Joanna led the family from the barn.
Dad and Jason moved the big dining room table and all the chairs out onto the patio, and her mom laid the table with their best plates and silverware, even using the crystal goblets for their apple juice. For once, Robbie wasn’t too mean to Joanna, and the sight of the mares and foals grazing in the paddock below the house was enchanting. Raven was enjoying a well earned break in his field with Trusty, and even Silver Sky was out, galloping up and down the fence in his small pasture, neighing to the mares who were pointedly ignoring him. It was the perfect setting for a warm flawless afternoon, a delicious lunch, and a completely divine flan for desert.
It was almost 3 o’clock by the time Joanna’s mom got to her feet and started to collect the dirty dishes.
“Wait, Mom,” said Jason, putting his hand on her arm. “Sit down for one more minute, okay?”
“Sure, honey.” She sat, a puzzled expression on her face.
Jason looked around the table, his eyes stopping on each of their faces before moving on. He cleared his throat. “We have an announcement. We’re going to turn you into grandparents, aunts, and uncles. We’re having a baby!”
Joanna’s mom sprang from her chair and threw her arms around her oldest son. “How wonderful! How wonderful!” Then she drew Capri into the hug as well.
Laughing, Dad stood. “That is wonderful news. Congratulations!” He shook Jason’s hand, then put his arm around Capri and shyly hugged her.
Robbie self-consciously shook Jason’s, then Capri’s hands. But Joanna wasn’t shy. She threw her arms around them both. “Awesome! That’s so awesome! I love babies and I’m going to be the best aunt ever. I promise!”
“Now everyone sit down again,” said Mom. “I picked up a couple of bottles of non-alcoholic champagne when Jason said he and Capri were coming for lunch.”
“You knew we had an announcement?”
“You should know by now that mothers know all sorts of things.” Mom smiled at Capri and Jason, then hurried into the house to get the beverage.
“Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?” asked Dad.
“A girl.”
“Oh no. The women are going to outnumber us poor fellows now,” joked Dad. “We don’t stand a chance.”
Only Robbie didn’t laugh.
Finally, the day was over. The minutes had crept like a turtle across a flat plain, agonizingly slow.
The only thing that happened was that Kathy finally seemed to be warming to the horses. She’d spent almost all day in the shed. He spent some time with them too, but felt too tired to do much.
It bothered him, this fatigue, especially when he couldn’t figure out why he felt so exhausted. He was so tired that he couldn’t even remember the apparently careless motorist who’s car he’d helped tow out of the ditch. Hopefully, the car’s owner would be back for it soon. They hadn’t even left a phone number with him – or at least, that he remembered. Maybe he’d done something with it. His memory wasn’t all it once was. Or maybe the vehicle belonged to one of his friends. He hoped so. That way, they’d claim it soon.
Thanks to the car, he’d had a short reprieve from his nightmare. He hadn’t gotten back to the house until after first light, and then, hoping and praying that the dreams wouldn’t return, he’d fallen into bed and closed his eyes.
The prayer seemed to work for a while. He was able to sleep for two hours before the nightmare woke him. Then, in the blink of an eye, he went from staring into Kathy’s flat grey dream eyes to staring at her in the doorway to his bedroom, looking like a frightened rabbit. How relieved he’d been that the accusing look wasn’t yet in her real life gaze. That he couldn’t have borne.
And now it was time to fulfill his last promise. Kathy was asleep. The horses were settled for the night.
Soon Thunder would join them.
Then, and only then, could he rest.
Thank you, Xu, for a lovely day. The things we have seen today will stay with me forever. Chiru and wolves, yaks and argali sheep, all on this wild high plateau that looks so barren from afar. Even a circum-horizontal arc – sunset light slanting through icy haze, making flaming wisps of purple, green, yellow, and red, encircle the horizon. Magical! No wonder some call it a fire rainbow.
And now it is time to say goodbye. I must find David, and with many thanks to you, I am ready for that task. I feel much stronger after this time of no worries, amazing sights, and wonderful companionship.
Take care, my dear Xu, and thank you once more for showing me your bit of the world.
Goodbye.
Joanna took Silver Sky instead of Raven that night. The dark pony had spent long hours standing in the woods alone, and she didn’t want to try his patience too much. Angelica was waiting for them in the same spot she’d tied Raven the last time. Joanna gave Silver Sky some grain and tied him securely, and then the two girls crept into the forest. Moments later, they were over the fence and hurrying across the field toward the shed.
They entered the building cautiously. Cally wasn’t there yet, but the horses were resting peacefully. They were keeping their pledge and quietly, patiently, waiting for Cally’s parents to arrive in the morning.
Without turning on the light, Angelica gave them each some hay, then she and Joanna sat down to wait. The sound of the munching horses, their deep breathing, and the rustling of the straw beneath their hooves seemed amplified in the darkness. The sounds soothed, and the warmth from the hot day lingered in the shed, making Joanna yawn. She leaned against the wall and her eyes drooped shut. Hopefully they wouldn’t have long to wait. She was tired after being out most of last night.
Within five minutes they heard a sound at the door, then it opened a crack. “Are you there?”
“Yes,” replied Angelica, moving swiftly toward the door. “We are ready.”
Joanna was on her feet in an instant. “He’s asleep?”
“Yes,” said Cally. “I haven’t heard any sound come from his room for ages now.”
“What about his hearing aid?”
“He normally takes it off at night, unless he’s too wound up or tired.”
“But you’re not sure about tonight?” asked Joanna.
“No. Sorry. But he went to bed early. He probably took it out.”
“We will search the rest of the house first,” Angelica said. “There may be no need to go into his room.”
The house was deathly still as they walked in the front door. A dimly lit foyer welcomed them, and a dark hallway stretched back into the recesses of the house.
“My grandpa’s room is the last door down the hallway on the right,” whispered Cally, pointing. “The door before his is a den. On the left, the first room is a bathroom and the last one is my room. I’ve already checked those two rooms completely.”
“What’s this room?” asked Joanna, pointing to a door to their left.
“The kitchen, and the living room’s that way.” Cally pointed to another door, this one open, to the right. “I’ve checked them too.”
“So there are only two rooms unsearched, the den and your Grandfather’s bedroom,” Angelica concluded. “Let us start with the den.”
They slipped inside the room and
closed the door behind them before turning on the light. At first glance, the room appeared empty. Angelica hurried to the large cupboard standing against one wall and flung the doors open, to reveal books. Joanna opened the closet. Nothing but musty smelling jackets. She hurried to the desk and looked underneath it. Still nothing. Cally checked the tiny bathroom off her grandfather’s den. Empty.
The girls met in the center of the room. “I think we should check the entire house again before we sneak into Grandpa’s room,” said Cally. “In case I missed something.”
Joanna nodded. “Good idea.” Anything, to avoid sneaking into the old man’s bedroom as he slept.
However, to Joanna’s dismay, the rest of the house revealed no sign of David’s presence.
Reluctantly, the three girls tiptoed to Mr. Thomas’s bedroom door. “Maybe I should go in first,” said Cally. “That way I can see if he took out his hearing aid before going to sleep.”
Joanna and Angelica nodded their agreement.
The door creaked as Cally opened it, and all three girls froze. No sound came from the dark room. After an agonizingly long time, Cally slipped inside. Angelica moved to the door and leaned toward the opening, paused for a long moment, then reached inside and clicked on the light.
Cally yelped and spun around, halfway to the bed.
“He is not here,” Angelica explained. “I could not hear him breathing.”
Joanna looked at the bed. Angelica was right. The unmade bed was empty. Relief flooded through her. Now they could quickly search this last room, find David, and get out.
But Cally wasn’t relieved. She plopped down on her grandfather’s bed. “Oh no.”
“What?” asked Joanna. Angelica was already checking the closet.
“What if he’s gone to steal another horse?”
“David was here.” Angelica’s voice came from the closet.
“You found him?” Joanna rushed to Angelica’s side.
“No. I found this.” She held out a cell phone with a golden chain wrapped around it. “It was on the top shelf and I recognize the chain. It is one that I gave to David, years ago, when he was a small boy. He ran away on his headstrong Skookum and I almost lost them to the river. It was flooding…” Her voice faded away, then grew strong again as her fist closed around the cell phone and necklace. “We must find him. He has to be here somewhere.”
There it was, the barn. Now to get inside and find Thunder. They had so many ponies here. Hopefully, he’d recognize the white gelding when he saw him. His memory wasn’t what it once was, but surely he’d know Thunder the moment he saw him. Guilt had seared the pony’s appearance into his brain.
How happy Kathy was going to be when Thunder joined the others, especially now that she’d rediscovered her love for horses. So good to see the reblossoming of her passion. He’d enjoyed seeing Dancer especially react to her care. It was amazing how calm the big stallion was around her. She definitely had a way with horses, once she opened her heart to them. Of course, he didn’t blame her for being cautious to begin with. After all, they’d been taken away once before. But now she seemed the same loving girl she’d always been. And having her Thunder back home would help her repair her broken heart even more. He was the ultimate surprise.
But enough daydreaming. He needed to concentrate on the task at hand, or he’d never find the pony. Then, after locating him, he had to get Thunder away without being detected. So many things to think of, and he was so, so tired.
“What about Grandpa? Shouldn’t we go find him?” Cally asked, desperately.
“This might be our only chance to find David before your parents come tomorrow,” said Joanna. “Your grandpa would get in a lot more trouble if people knew he was kidnapping teenagers too. Stealing horses isn’t as serious as that.”
Angelica nodded. “Joanna is right. Also, if a horse needs my help, I will know, and will go quickly to their aid. If no horse calls, we will still go find your grandfather as soon as David is safe.” She bent to look under the bed.
Cally exchanged a look with Joanna, her forehead furrowed. What? she mouthed.
Joanna shrugged in response. It didn’t make sense to her either.
Quickly, they explored the rest of the bedroom but found no more signs that David had been there.
“Now what?” asked Joanna, plopping down on the bedside chair. There was nowhere left to look.
“Are there any more rooms that might not be obvious, Cally? An attic maybe?” asked Angelica, her words coming quickly.
Cally sighed. “I imagine there’s a space up there, but I don’t know how to access it.”
“A basement?” asked Joanna.
“Maybe,” Cally said slowly, as if trying to recall. “In the kitchen, there’s a trapdoor. I asked Grandpa about it when I was little, and I think he said it was the crawlspace under the house.”
Angelica rushed out of the bedroom door, and Joanna and Cally hurried after her. When they got to the kitchen, the older girl was standing in the center of the room looking wildly about.
“I think it’s under the rug,” said Cally, pointing, and Angelica flung the braided rug aside. A heavy trap door, covered with the same worn linoleum as the kitchen floor, lay beneath the rug. Angelica grabbed the rusty ring set in the door and jerked upward. At first the trapdoor didn’t move, then finally, accompanied by a loud shriek from the hinges, she was able to raise it. She let it fall back against the floor, then knelt over the black hole.
“David! David, are you there?”
A rustling came from the hole. In an instant, Angelica disappeared into the dark abyss.
Joanna looked at Cally. “Do you have a flashlight?”
“We have candles.” She opened a cupboard near the sink, brought out a candle and matches, then lit it with a trembling hand. Joanna took the meagre light and moved it low over the hole. A rickety ladder descended into the depths.
“Here, hold this,” she said, giving the candle back to Cally. “Then hand it down to me when I reach the bottom.”
“Okay.”
Joanna was infinitely relieved that none of the rungs gave way beneath her feet as she started to descend. The ladder seemed to have no end. She kept going down, down, while the square opening at the top got farther away, the light from the candle more distant, less effective. This was a lot more than a simple crawlspace. It was a cellar.
“You’re getting too far down,” Cally called. “I won’t be able to give you the candle.”
But Joanna could see Angelica bent over the ground below her now, despite there being no obvious source of light. Maybe there was a window somewhere that let in the moonlight? “It’s okay,” she called up to Cally. “It’s not as dark down here as I thought.”
“Should I come down?”
Joanna jumped down beside Angelica. It was then that she noticed the dark form sprawled on the ground near the bottom of the ladder.
The dark form groaned. Rolled over.
“Joanna? Angelica? Do you want me to come down?” Cally asked again, her voice shrill. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to see them from the well-lit kitchen.
“No, stay there,” said Joanna. “We might need you to phone for an ambulance.”
“He’s there?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he okay?”
“Just a sec. I’ll let you know.” Joanna knelt beside Angelica. “Is he okay?” she asked, quietly.
Angelica merely nodded, her face white.
“My head.” David put one hand to his temple, then tried to sit up. “Where am I?”
“Just close your eyes. Rest for a moment.”
“Angelica, you came.” David collapsed back to the ground. “I knew you would.”
Angelica looked up at Joanna with golden eyes. “Joanna, can you go get the candle from Cally?”
“Sure.” Joanna hurried to the ladder, glad to have something to do.
Cally was waiting for her at the top of the ladder, her eyes full of tears and her
face alabaster pale. “Is he okay?”
“He’s talking, so that’s a good sign. We’ll be able to tell more when we can see him clearly.” She held out her hand for the candle. The flame jumped and trembled in Cally’s shaking hand as she gave it to Joanna. “Everything will be alright,” added Joanna, sympathetically. Cally was a wreck – but who could blame her? It must be harsh to think your grandfather could hurt someone.
“Promise he’ll be alright?”
“He has to be.”
Carefully, she descended the ladder, her descent much slower now with the candle in her hand. With her feet finally on solid ground, Joanna lowered the candle to look at David.
The teenaged boy had dark eyes, and seemed about average build and height. Dirt smudged his face and his black hair stuck up all over. A dark line had dried on his face – blood from his head. But other than that, he looked okay. His face was relaxed and not too pale. He even smiled up at Joanna.
“Do you think you can climb the ladder?” Angelica asked, taking her hands from his head.
“Sure. I feel a lot better. Thanks.” The boy rose to his feet. “I’m David,” he said to Joanna.
“Joanna.”
“Thanks for rescuing me, both of you.”
“Do you remember what happened?” Joanna asked.
“I was driving late last night.” He looked at Angelica. “You remember how I always wanted to be a vet? Well, I was accepted at the University and so I was on my way there.”
Angelica touched his arm. “That’s wonderful, David.”
“Thanks. Anyway, I took a detour to visit a friend and left his house late. I was driving back to the highway when I came around a corner and almost struck a horse and rider galloping down the middle of the road. I swerved just in time, but my car went into the ditch.”
“It was Tango and Mr. Thomas that you saw,” said Angelica. “He is the man who later captured you.”
“Too bad I didn’t know that when I came here to ask to use his phone.” A shiver coursed through David’s body. “At first he was okay, acting a little confused, but okay. But then he seemed to recognize me and he became furious. He kept calling me Graham, and dragged me off to his house, then pushed me down this hole. He’s strong for an old guy.”
Silver Dream Page 6
