Blue Ribbons
Page 6
The dinner conversation was loud and rapid and I loved it. I loved everything about Hailey’s house—her mom, the animals, even Owen and his gross snake.
“So tell me about Jane’s new pony,” Mrs. Mullins said.
“It’s got this funny brand,” I said. “In the shape of a half-moon.”
“Does that mean something?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about brands really. But it means it wasn’t one of Vi’s ponies, which Tommy thought it was.”
“Hmm,” Mrs. Mullins said. “A mysterious past . . . I’ve met many men with those.”
I glanced at Hailey to see if she was interested in the pony. “I wonder where it came from. I mean, how did it end up in one of Vi’s fields?”
“That part is totally weird,” Hailey agreed.
After dinner Hailey and I moved her mother’s half-done scrapbooking project and Owen’s Legos from the couch to watch last year’s live stream of the Medal Finals. We’ve watched it a bunch of times but it never got old. We knew each of the two hundred plus trips and just what happened. There were some really terrible rounds where riders crashed and fell off and we always replayed those again and again.
“Here comes the first jump fiasco,” Hailey said, reaching into the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table and spilling some on the floor that Milo rushed in and snarfed up. Hailey’s cat, a tiger striped one with a partially ripped ear, walked along the couch. At my feet lay their other rescue dog, Chopper. All told Hailey’s family had three birds, two dogs, a cat, two hamsters, and Owen’s snake.
The rider on course looked okay in the opening circle and then at the first jump the horse did this really lame little refusal and the rider went straight over the horse’s head, taking the bridle with her. We started laughing and Hailey replayed it again.
“Seriously, though,” I said, as the poor girl stood up and brushed the dirt from her breeches. “You go all the way to Harrisburg and then you fall off at the first jump? That stinks.”
“Yeah, I know,” Hailey said. “I’d die if I did that.”
Hailey and I both stopped at her choice of words. The live stream kept playing and both of us stared at it, barely watching. Hailey looked down at the laptop as if she was considering whether she should stop it.
“You know about my mom,” I said. “About the cancer being back.”
Hailey nodded. “I should have just said something.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m sorry.”
I wondered if she was sorry for not having said something, or sorry for the cancer. Probably both. “It’s like all of a sudden everyone knows. I overheard Dakota say that’s why Mom wanted to get Tyler.”
“She’s the devil in breeches.” Hailey made a disgusted face and then paused. “Do you think that’s why your mom bought Tyler?”
I was sort of shocked Hailey asked that question, but I shouldn’t have been. This was Hailey, after all. But instead of being annoyed by her lack of tact, for once I was kind of glad she was honest. She wasn’t just being nice to me because my mom had cancer.
“Sort of, yeah. Like maybe it’ll make up for it.”
“My mom says your mom’s strong—if anyone can beat this, it’s her.”
“Yeah,” I said. But it wasn’t that easy. Before my mom got cancer I believed in everything happening for a reason, the best man winning, what goes around comes around, and all those reassuring clichés. But they didn’t work in cancer land. People who didn’t smoke got lung cancer. Strong people who vowed to fight ended up dying anyway. I couldn’t blame Hailey for what she was trying to do—offer hope and support. Like everyone else, she was just trying.
Chapter 15
* * *
After watching the live stream, we decided to google Frankie’s brand. We took the laptop into the kitchen so we could get snacks at the same time. Hailey’s mom was on her computer and pots, pans, and dishes still covered the stove and counter. Anna was at the kitchen table with markers spread out around her, drawing horses with rainbows in the background. A few markers had fallen to the floor. Owen had gone to his room, but his leftover ice cream was melting in its dish on the table.
“What do you think of this one, girls?” Her mom read out loud: “Divorced Dad looking for fun, upbeat woman to enjoy the rest of my life with. Enjoys jazz, documentaries, and ethnic food.”
I stepped closer to get a better look at the photo. It showed a guy with a receding hairline and gold glasses.
“He looks kind of cute, right?” she asked.
“I guess so,” I said to be nice. I mean, he was fifty or something—how could I tell if he was cute?
“Or there’s this one—”
“The second one has more hair,” I pointed out.
“If it’s real,” Hailey said. “You should see some of the guys with disgusting fake hair Mom’s gone on dates with.”
Her mother laughed. “Remember that one guy with the hair sprouting out of his forehead?”
“There have been some real winners over the years.” Hailey shook her head.
“I swear I should just give up.” Mrs. Mullins closed the screen.
“No way.” Hailey’s voice was mocking. “True love is out there waiting for you!”
“Okay, that’s enough out of you.” Her mom playfully poked Hailey in the ribs. “What are you guys up to anyway?”
I said, “We’re going to google the brand on the new pony.”
“Can you cut up some apple slices for us?” Hailey asked.
“Anything to stop me from browsing Petfinder—the last thing we need is another animal.”
Hailey opened up the screen to Google. “What should I type in?”
“Half-moon pony brand?” I suggested.
A slew of hits came up. There was a farm called Half Moon Farm in California and we clicked on that, but it didn’t say anything about brands. A few were for products—a handbag with a half-moon stamp on it, and, of all things, a makeup brush made from horsehair. We tried “half-moon brand” and got a bunch of different sites, none of which had anything to do with horses.
Mrs. Mullins slid a plate full of apples next to us, sliced thin the way Hailey liked them. “Maybe just type in equine brands,” I said. “We could start there.”
Behind us, Mrs. Mullins sang a Top 40 song as she started in on the dishes.
“Mom! Can you please shut up?”
Mrs. Mullins shut off the water. “Sorry, was I being too loud?”
I was cringing—why did Hailey talk to her mom like that? And why did her mom let her?
Mrs. Mullins turned the faucet on again. For a minute or two she was quiet, but then she started humming.
“She is so embarrassing,” Hailey whispered to me between bites of apple.
“It doesn’t bother me,” I whispered back.
I pointed to the first entry under equine brands. “What about this one?”
It was a site with a list of many common brands and images of the brands, a few of which looked familiar.
“That’s what Daria has,” Hailey said, moving the cursor over an image of a crown. “She’s a Danish warmblood.”
There were all sorts of icons. Letters of the alphabet, circles, stars, shields, but no half-moons. Most were horse breeds, but there were a few pony breeds like the Dartmoor, Exmoor, New Forest, and American Sport Pony breeds. But again, no half-moon.
Mrs. Mullins ran the disposal and then turned off the faucet. The pots and pans were now all piled up in the dish rack and looked like at any moment they might come crashing down. She dried her hands and came over to the computer. “Find anything?”
“Not yet,” I said.
Hailey stood up. I wasn’t quite ready to give up, but I guess Hailey was. “Come on, let’s go watch some TV,” she said.
“And then it’s off to bed.” Mrs. Mullins looked at me. “Your mother will have my head if you don’t get a good night’s rest. I can’t have you riding terribly tomorrow.”
Chapter 16
* * *
Hailey got excited because the next morning it was sprinkling. But by the time the mediums went, it had cleared up and was actually kind of warm. I finished up champion with Drizzle and I put in really good rounds with Sammy, too. My first round with Tyler was perfect and Susie whooped loudly. I entered the ring for the second class, which was the handy hunter class, knowing that, if I put in another good trip, I would probably win both classes again, which would mean a clean sweep of the division.
Mom was standing on the sidelines and I met her eye, but she didn’t smile at me or give me a thumbs-up. She was always so serious when I was riding, like she didn’t want to ruin my concentration. Mom had been a competitive swimmer when she was a girl. She’d spent hours in the pool after school and entered meets on weekends, but her parents never came to watch her, not even in the championships. Her parents had died when I was younger and I’d only met them a few times. They’d lived in a tiny house in a tiny town in Michigan and Mom hadn’t liked to visit them. Everything she did seemed to be the opposite of them—she lived in a big city, had a big corporate job, and had a big apartment and a big country house. And it felt like she was going to do the opposite with me, too—she gave everything to my riding and never missed a show.
I entered the ring and picked up a canter and it was like I had a ringing in my ears. I did my opening circle and rode the first line and the rollback to the oxer perfectly, but I didn’t quite feel like me. I almost couldn’t feel my hands on the reins. I rode up the outside line, made a neat turn to the trot jump, rode the single fence on the outside of the ring, and then it was down the diagonal home. As I turned the corner, I saw the distance, but instead of flowing up to it, I pulled on the reins and fit in another extra stride. It wasn’t a straight-out chip, but the distance was tight and Tyler had to try extra hard to still jump in good form.
Susie clapped for me. She didn’t whoop. When I exited the ring, she was making a face. “What happened? You were right on it and then you just pulled.”
“I know. I don’t know what I was thinking.” My face felt flushed and I was hot under my show coat.
Susie smiled. “No worries. It was still a good trip.”
As I walked Tyler away from Susie and over to Martha, I saw Mom coming over from the side of the ring. “What was that?” she said when she reached me.
I slid off Tyler and pulled the reins over his head. He lowered his head and sighed.
Martha took the reins and started pulling off his saddle for the jog.
I patted Tyler’s neck. “I don’t know. I just made a mistake.”
“Are you tired?” Mom said. “Did you stay up too late with Hailey?”
I peeled off my gloves. “No, we went to bed at ten just like you said.”
Mom made a clucking sound under her breath. “You could have won all five classes, you know.”
I turned toward Martha. I could tell she was trying to act really busy with Tyler so we’d forget she was there. “Can I take him for a little walk to cool him down?”
“Let me just rub his saddle mark off and get a fly sheet on him,” she said.
I waited while Martha brushed Tyler’s back and threw on a scrim. Then I led him away from Mom. When I was further away I glanced back and saw Martha and Mom talking. Hopefully Martha was talking some sense into her.
I had missed Hailey’s first round. I saw her go into the ring for her second round and walked Tyler over to the end of the ring to watch her. She went straight from the walk to the canter so the judges wouldn’t see what a bad mover Donald was at the trot. His canter was passable and she found a great distance to the first jump. In my head I willed her not to override the lines. She must have been listening to my ESP because she rode out the first line perfectly and headed around the corner. Donald didn’t always round his back like Tyler, but he gave a really good jump, pulling his little knees up to his chest.
Hailey nailed the first seven jumps and was headed down the diagonal home. I held my breath for her—this was turning out to be a really good trip. Donald had never changed his pace with every jump coming up right out of stride. He wore his ears well, too, eagerly looking through the bridle for the next jump. Hailey saw the distance and nailed the last jump. Susie erupted in whoops and Hailey left the ring with a huge smile on her face. I was smiling, too.
I walked Tyler over to the in gate and waited for Hailey to finish talking to Susie. Susie just kept saying how great Hailey had ridden and that she was really proud of her for trusting herself and not overriding the lines.
Hailey jumped off and I gave her a huge hug. “That was awesome!”
“Thanks! I was so nervous to the last jump and then I finally saw the distance. Have you seen any other good trips?”
“Olivia was good but her trot jump was weak. Ava was really long to one jump.”
I gave Tyler back to Martha, and Hailey and I watched the rest of the trips from the in gate. When Dakota came into the ring we exchanged a look and I knew we were both silently putting the hex on her. Dakota’s pony, Smitten, was a fine-boned chestnut mare that did well in the hacks, but tended to jump flat. Outside of the ring she pinned her ears and in the jogs she always tried to bite Dakota’s show coat. I guess I couldn’t blame her for being such a witch since she was stuck with Dakota for a rider.
Dakota was putting in a really good trip. On the approach to the single oxer she saw a really long distance and kicked for it. Her pony tried to leave the ground, but ended up doing a Superman, front legs flying straight out. Her pony tried hard, but couldn’t quite get over the jump, knocking down the top rail. Hailey and I shared a second, excited look—that would put Dakota out of the ribbons.
Usually I was a generally nice person, but when there was someone I didn’t like, it was scary how strongly I could root for them to screw up and how much satisfaction I felt when they did mess up. At least I knew I wasn’t alone—Hailey felt exactly the same way.
When it came time for the jog to be announced Hailey looked more nervous than she had before she went in the ring for her rounds. I kept thinking how exciting it would be for her if she won. Hailey had never won a class at a big show like this. She’d been second a few times in the rain but that was the best she’d placed.
The first jog was called and Tyler was on top. I could have predicted that one. But with my tight jump in the second class there was no way I was going to win. Olivia might beat Hailey, but I wouldn’t. I reached out and grabbed Hailey’s arm as the second class was announced. The first number called was mine again. “Wait, what?”
Hailey’s number was called second, Olivia third. “Congratulations,” she said, turning to me. She was trying to smile, but I could tell deep down she was upset. How could she not be?
“But that can’t be right,” I said.
“Come on—” Hailey said. “We have to go jog.”
“You got totally robbed,” I told Hailey as we went to get our ponies. I gave Susie a pleading look and she just shrugged.
She put her hand on Hailey’s shoulders, though. “You nailed that second round.”
We jogged in as called for the first class, picking up our ribbons. Hailey finished sixth. Jane jogged Sammy for me in fourth place.
Before I went in for the second round I thought about not jogging. Hailey would win if I didn’t jog. But that would be bad sportsmanship. So I had no choice but to collect my second blue of the day, with Hailey right behind me in second. I had won all five classes after all.
The announcer asked me to stay in the ring for the champ
ionship and made a big deal about announcing how it had been a clean sweep.
At the in gate I asked Susie how I could have possibly won. She said that maybe my tight jump didn’t look that bad from where the judge was sitting.
“Sometimes you win some you shouldn’t,” she said.
“And sometimes you lose some you should win,” I said, looking hard at Hailey.
It must have been awful to be friends with me sometimes. If I rode at another barn and this had happened she could just hate me, the way we hated Dakota, and that would be so much easier. She smiled back at me and I hoped it wasn’t a cancer-pity smile. Like she was thinking I needed to win more than she did right now. I had to count on Hailey being Hailey, honest no matter what.
Chapter 17
* * *
If Hailey was mad at me, I couldn’t tell. We spent the afternoon cruising around with Danny in his golf cart, along with two of the dogs available for adoption: Peanut, a poodle-mix, and Major, a lab-hound mix with the cutest brindle ears. Jane was busy riding other ponies—schooling some, showing others. It seemed like she spent most of every show day in the saddle. It was almost weird to see her on her own two feet.
We had three of the shrink-wrapped baskets in the cart, too: the iPad basket, the horse-dog combo basket, and the Belle & Bow basket. The Clothes Horse had totally come through on the blankets, donating a gorgeous plaid Baker horse blanket and matching dog blanket. We parked at the different rings and Hailey and I walked around with Peanut and Major, asking people if they wanted to buy tickets to the raffle. Sometimes people would ask about the dogs and we’d tell them all about how sweet they were. Usually I was shy about approaching people, but when it came to the dogs I would do anything. It was like I became a different person and could just walk up to someone and ask them to open their wallets. I got one woman with two purebred corgis talking and ended up asking her why she’d ever pay thousands of dollars for another corgi when she could have a lovable dog like Peanut who needed a home. Peanut crawled into her lap and licked her face and by the end of our conversation she’d bought five raffle tickets and taken Danny’s number so she could think about Peanut more.