Horse Girl Rides Again

by John Larkin

  ‘Good luck, my dear.’ The Amazing Beryl gave Rebecca a hug and then disappeared back inside her hut to tend to her toucan.

  ‘Want a lift?’ said Kevin as he revved the accelerator. The engine roared. Actually Kevin was making the roaring noise himself with his mouth, but he wasn’t to know that and Rebecca didn’t want to ruin it for him.

  ‘C’mon, Rebecca,’ said Kevin between roars. ‘Get in. There’s room for both of us.’

  ‘No thanks,’ said Rebecca, as she looked up at the clouds. The blizzard had cleared and it was a beautiful, clear sunny day in the Upper Langtang Valley. All was right with the world. ‘I think I’ll walk.’

  ‘See you at the one-legged Sherpas’ café,’ yelled Kevin above the deafening roar of the engine. And with that he released the handbrake and screeched off down the valley at a whopping five kilometres per hour.

  Rebecca smiled as she watched Kevin trundle slowly off down the hill in his Formula One bike with its wobbly front wheel.

  It had been tough being a horse these last few months; or at least thinking that she was a horse. But if she did manage to achieve all those amazing things when she’d been a horse, or at least when she thought she’d been a horse, then imagine what she could do now that she was back to being a twelve-year-old girl again.

  Rebecca zipped up her tracksuit top against the chilly breeze and with a loud whoop she galloped off down the Upper Langtang Valley after her mystical one-legged brother.