by K. D. Kinney
5
Saturday
The alarm on my phone went off and it took me a minute to figure out why I was waking up so early. I sat straight up when I remembered and shook Cessie’s shoulder.
“Wake up. We get to go see Noah and Ezra this morning.”
“Hmm? Who’s Ezra?”
“His horse, stupid.”
Cessie sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Oh yeah.”
“Don’t put on your gypsy stuff yet.”
We threw on our jeans and t-shirts. I jammed my feet in my boots. I’d tie them later. I grabbed a couple of muffins and clomped as fast as I could with Cessie trying to catch-up over to the horse barn. I stopped once I could see other teens leading their horses out of the barn and some were bringing in hay. I handed Cessie my muffin wrapper so I could tie my boots as panic tightened my throat. My heart began to race. Even far away, the horses were so big and tall.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Noah said behind us.
He startled me and I nearly fell over. He caught my arm before I did. A thrill jolted through my body when he touched me. When he helped me up, I drew in a long slow breath to stop my cheeks from burning. It was no use. I couldn’t put the fire out that way.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I think I set myself up for that.” I tried to smile but I was too twitchy. Glancing over at the stables, I was scared to death that I was about to walk into a sea of my worst fear.
Noah squeezed my shoulder. “You’re really scared, aren’t you? Don’t worry. We aren’t going in there. I have Ezra over here.” He pointed his thumb over to the path leading out of the fairgrounds.
He had a slight cowboy swagger when he walked over to where he pointed. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my thighs and didn’t quite keep pace with Noah and Cessie. My sister talked non-stop about how she loved horses. Could she ride his horse? What breed of horse she loved most, how many horse books she’d read. Normally I would have told her to shut-up. She was actually helping draw attention away from me as my fear escalated when Ezra came into view. The pretty gray horse stood in front of a wooden fence with her lead rope wrapped around it. The horse was chomping on some grass until she spotted Noah. She tossed her head and nickered as he approached.
I hugged my chest and slowed even more. Noah guided Cessie right up to Ezra’s muzzle. She giggled with delight as she fed Ezra a piece of carrot he handed her.
Noah motioned for me to come closer. I hadn’t noticed I stopped. I tried to convince my feet to keep going. He reached for my hand and pulled me gently. I focused my attention on his hand holding mine and that felt really awesome. So I allowed him to bring me up to the horse. I stopped when there was still at least five feet between me and the horse’s muzzle.
“How did you get as close as you did the other night if you’re this scared?” Noah asked, slightly humored by my irrational fear. He asked me so gently that I was only a little embarrassed instead of completely mortified.
“I didn’t see the horse until after we bumped into each other.”
“Maybe I should have blindfolded you. Maybe it would have been better.”
“No. Worse.” I tried to let Noah bring my hand to the horse’s muzzle. I couldn’t help it when I kept pulling it back.
“What are you scared of? Ezra doesn’t bite. Besides, she can’t do anything but back away with the rail between you and her.”
“She’s enormous.”
“Oh please, she’s the most well-behaved, over-grown puppy you’ll ever meet. Do you like puppies?”
“Yes, but we’ve never had one.”
“I’m scared of macaws because of their strong beaks,” he said.
“It does hurt something awful when Millie bites.” I showed him my bruised finger.
“Is that supposed to comfort me? Good thing you aren’t the one helping me with my fears. This is nothing. Look at her eyes. They’re gentle. You can see it.”
I took in Ezra’s brown eyes and he was right. The horse looked sleepy or bored standing there. Noah stepped behind me. I trembled even more when his breath fluttered my hair. Oh, my. His arm was alongside mine and he cupped his hand around mine, pressing his thumb against my palm.
“Stretch out your hand. I’m right here and I’ll protect you … from nothing. She’s not going to do anything. If it helps you feel better, lean back into me.” His other hand rested on my stomach, my back pressed against his chest. Not intentionally, I couldn’t help it. My heart wasn’t just pounding because I was scared, I was in physical contact with adorable patient Noah and my knees might not hold me up. The closer he moved me to the horse, the more I pressed my back against him. He stifled a laugh and kept apologizing, which made him even sweeter. I didn’t know what to do with the mix of terror and exhilaration overwhelming me from full body contact. He stopped making me move closer to the horse.
“You’ll pass out if you don’t breathe. Now inhale,” he said.
I did.
“Exhale.”
I swayed slightly from dizziness when I looked at the ground.
“Now tell yourself you will be fine.”
I nodded.
“I want to hear you.”
“I will be fine,” I whispered, feeling completely ridiculous.
Noah moved me forward another step. “Again.”
“I will be fine,” I said with a little more confidence.
“Spread your palm and fingers out flat.”
The horse was so close, I started to whimper.
“Shhh … Close your eyes or look away. You’ll feel something soft and velvety.” He took another step.
I tried to pull my hand away when Ezra’s muzzle touched my hand. Noah controlled my movement.
“Let me help you.” Noah eased my hand away and slowly brought it back to the muzzle. “Feel the velvet tickle on your hand? It really does tickle. There’s no pain.”
I pressed my eyes closed. The velvet did tickle. Ezra’s lip twitched and a couple of fine whiskers brushed against my palm. My whimpers turned to giggles.
Cessie clapped.
Noah’s mouth was right by my ear. “You did it. You touched a horse.”
His breath gave me chills and my knees weakened. I would almost do anything to have his lips close to my ear again. I might even touch the horse between the eyes.
“You want to feed her a carrot?” he asked.
“Umm … no thank you.” Maybe not anything. I wasn’t ready for that yet.
Noah whispered in my ear again. “I’ll help you.”
I needed him to hold me up. “I’m sure there are some really big teeth in there. Just help me touch her between the eyes.”
Noah laughed and held my waist even tighter. I held onto his arm because I was melting into him. His laugh was the best. I needed to stop liking him so much.
“You can do it, Sera,” Cessie said.
I clenched my jaw. My own little sister was cheering me on. How pathetic I must look. I needed to hurry and get over being scared.
“Yes, I can.” I reached out for the white stripe on Ezra’s snout. The horse moved and nickered again. I jerked my hand back.
“Hey, Noah.” Rachel was on her horse on the path, way too close. “We have permission to take the horses in the arena. I’m headed over now. Are you coming?”
Rachel turned her horse towards me and I tried to back away. Noah wouldn’t let me move much. I closed my eyes and turned my head.
“Rachel, back your horse up,” Noah said.
“Is she scared or something?”
I begged him silently not to tell even though it had to be obvious I was terrified.
“She’s just not use to them yet.” He continued to hold me against his chest.
I sighed in relief and opened my eyes.
“Oh. Well, are you coming?” Rachel eyed me suspiciously.
“Do you think they’ll let us again later?” he asked.
“We don’t know. You should come.”
<
br /> Noah didn’t answer right away. I felt tension in his shoulders build and he relaxed his grip around my waist.
“You can go if you want,” I said.
Cessie’s face fell.
“We will have lots of time to play with the horses, Cessie.” I furrowed my brow at her.
“You guys could come watch.” Noah unwound the lead rope from the fence rail. “We don’t compete until Monday, but we need to get familiar with the set up out here before then. The opportunities are tight with our volunteering obligations to the other groups.”
“We understand.” I gave Cessie a death stare so she’d agree.
“Thank you so much. I need to saddle up Ezra. If you follow Rachel, you will find the arena and the stands where you can watch.”
“Follow the horse. Right.” I wrung my hands.
“You won’t get lost if you walk really far away from the horse, you know.” Noah rubbed the smile off his face. “I promise you won’t be scared of horses by the end of the week. I think it would be the coolest thing if you were brave enough to ride with me before I leave.”
I nodded politely, but seriously doubted that would ever happen.
6
With a huge distance between us, I followed Rachel’s horse to the arena. I had never been more relieved once I made it to the metal bleachers with Cessie. We watched Kelly, Bree, and Rachel ride their horses around the arena. The three girls chatted more than they practiced. Josh arrived on a nice looking Appaloosa. He trotted around the arena once before he stopped at the fence in front of the bleachers.
“Hi there. I didn’t expect to see you this morning,” Josh said.
“Noah was helping Sera.” Cessie piped up.
I kicked her foot. What a big mouth.
“Oww.” She glared at me.
“Help with what?” Josh asked.
“Nothing. Well, something.” I hung my head and sighed.
“She’s scared of horses.” Rachel walked her horse up beside Josh.
“No!” Josh said.
“Yes!” I responded in mock disbelief and scowled at Rachel.
All the girls laughed as Rachel turned her horse to join her friends again.
“That’s a problem.” Josh shook his head as he jumped off his saddle, looped the reins over the rail before hopping over the arena fence. He bounded up the bleachers and plopped down beside me. “You never said anything about that.”
“Well, it seems a little silly to talk about it for no reason. Next time I meet someone I’ll say ‘hi, I’m Sera. Just so you know, I’m deathly afraid of horses.’” I gripped the bench. “But I did touch a horse this morning.” I did my best to smile at Josh. “I survived.”
“Progress?” Josh asked.
“I’d say so.” I nodded. A black horse’s head came at me from the side, heading right for my face. I slid my butt over, colliding into Josh. When I jumped up to get away, I smacked my shins against the bleacher. I grabbed the metal bench seat but couldn’t stop the momentum as I rolled down, landing on my butt on the footrest below.
Kelly doubled over laughing on her saddle.
Josh reached out to help me up with his mouth scrunched over to the side .
“Are you all right?” he asked with humor tainting his voice.
All three girls keeled over in laughter on their horses. My face burned as I glared at Bree and Rachel. I wouldn’t give Kelly the satisfaction of looking at her.
I couldn’t answer Josh. Grabbing Cessie by the arm, I pulled her down the bleachers, jumping off the other side, far away from Kelly and her horse.
“There’s Noah.” Cessie pointed over to the arena entrance.
I didn’t dare look. Holding back tears, I pulled Cessie along until we were far from any horses. I gasped for air, heading for the Caravan. I might have been hyperventilating when I burst in the door, heading straight for my bed. I held a pillow over my face until I could force myself to stop crying.
Once I calmed down, I climbed out to the roof for some fresh air. I could watch the arena if I wanted to. However, I absolutely didn’t want to see any of them. That was until I heard yelling. Peeking over the edge, it was Noah and Josh telling Kelly off. She stormed off, grabbed her horse, and left. Noah and Josh headed right for the Caravan. I ducked down, wiping away the tears that wouldn’t stop seeping out of the corners of my eyes. Maybe they were headed somewhere else.
Of course that wasn’t possible. They were such nice boys. I heard their voices getting closer.
“I still can’t believe Kelly did that,” Noah said.
“She likes you and she’s jealous.”
“I don’t care. That’s no excuse.”
“You think Gypsy Girl came back here?”
“Her name is Sera. I don’t know. You wanna knock?”
“No, you.”
I rubbed my face dry and unrolled the rope ladder down the side of the Caravan before they finished arguing who was going to knock first. I peered over the edge.
“Careful. It rocks the Caravan when you climb up really fast,” I said.
“Is your mom here?” Noah was the first on the rope ladder.
“I don’t think so. She was supposed to go to the store with some of the out of town vendors.” I hugged my knees as Noah and Josh climbed over the edge to sit on the roof with me.
“This is really cool.” Josh pointed to the pirate ship mast and flags. He examined one of the smaller porthole windows to my room.
Noah turned the captain’s wheel. “This is like a castle and a pirate ship camper?”
“Yeah. My uncle built it for Mom’s show.” I rested my chin on my knee. “His imagination is just as crazy as my mom’s. Sometimes I love it. More often I wish we were in a real house and could stay put for a summer.” I rubbed my face again, hoping they couldn’t tell I had been crying.
Nothing went over Noah’s head. He scooted closer. “If it helps you feel any better, we told Kelly off after she did that to you.”
“I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t hang out with you guys since it causes so much trouble.”
“You don’t cause it. Kelly does,” Josh said. “We just need to leave Kelly behind.”
“It’s okay. Tonight I can’t even go on all the rides I missed because I have to take Cessie. She only does the kiddie stuff and a few of the bigger rides.”
“The kiddie rides might be fun. Don’t you think?” Josh elbowed Noah. “The girls won’t want to do them.”
“Sure.” Noah’s eyes danced when he smiled.
Relieved, I was able to smile back.
“I need a selfie of us on this cool ship castle.” Josh scooted closer to me.
Noah leaned in on the other side.
“I look awful.” I pushed my wild hair out of my face.
“You look like the gypsy you are.” Noah winked at me.
If he liked that I was a gypsy, I wouldn’t tell him otherwise. I still preferred my cartoon character T-shirts over my cartoon colored hair, though.
The three of us squeezed together as Josh took a selfie.
I took pics of the boys pretending to be pirates with the cameras on their phones. They made me join in on some videos with strong-arm poses and pretended to be kings and queen of the castle.
“I didn’t know you were having friends over,” Mom yelled from the grass with several grocery bags dangling from her hands. Noah and Josh immediately climbed down the ladder.
“Let me help you, ma’am,” Noah said and took the bags from her.
“Thank you, boys. What nice young men you found, Seraphina.” Mom opened the door and took the bags from them once she was inside. She quickly set them on the floor and was back outside. “We need to get ready.” Mom walked around the Caravan and unlatched the locks that turned the wall into the stage.
I unlatched the other side and the boys immediately offered their assistance. After that, all Mom had to do was give them instructions and the stage was set, the shade over the stage extended, and everything
else was ready in no time.
“I guess I just need to find me a crew and it makes the whole thing a piece of cake.” She rested her hands on her hips. “Thank you, boys.”
“I need to go. I’m supposed to help the judges going over presentations today.” Josh ran off.
“I’m going to change.” Mom went into her turret room and closed the door.
“This whole thing is really cool. You have no idea.” Noah stood at the front of the stage looking at all the details inside. It really did look like an old-fashioned gypsy wagon inside with the colorful ceiling and walls. In stage mode, the kitchen was well disguised with details only her uncle could come up with making it look as if it had been brought through a time warp from long ago. The Caravan was only about five years old.
I put the groceries away that Mom left on the floor. “It gets a little cramped sometimes. We aren’t able to buy much on the road. Most of our personal stuff has to be hidden away for the show.”
Millie and Peppy’s cages were in the front corner built into Mom’s side of the Caravan. They screeched for some attention. I tossed some fruit in their cages to shut them up.
“Can I post the pictures we took today on Instagram?”
“Sure,” I said. “I don’t have Instagram. Do you have Facebook? You should friend me if you do.”
“Okay.” He scowled at his phone. “Can you type your name? I keep getting this other name that looks like a fan page for a famous person or something.”
I looked at it. “Oh that’s me. I go by Seraphina on my fan page for the show. Kind of silly I even have one. Mom realized it was great free promotion so she’s pushed it even more. You can like that one if you want. Here, let me find the page for my real friends.” I typed in Tera Sue.
“Is your middle name Sue or something?”
“No, it’s just so I’m not as easy to find for the creepers. I’ve met plenty of those.”
