Gypsy Girl and Horse Lovin' Boys

by K. D. Kinney

He scanned through his phone. “Wow! A lot of people like your fan page.”

  I shook my head. “Not really. Peppy’s page has way more likes than me. I don’t post much on mine. Usually people take pictures of me and tag me. That’s how it stays updated mostly. I don’t do anything but post where we’re headed next and answer questions that aren’t stupid. I have a tablet that I use to keep up with my personal page, though.”

  “My Instagram links to Facebook. Can I tag you?”

  “Sure. I want to see what pics you guys took. That was a lot of fun. I do have to get ready though.”

  “I have to go take care of Ezra.” Noah tucked his phone in his pocket.

  “You didn’t get to practice much, did you?” I parted the stage curtains so he could leave.

  “It’s not a big deal. I have more time than Josh to do that. He volunteered a lot so his mom would let him stay all week. Text me after your last show so Josh and I can meet up with you and Cessie.”

  “Okay.” I waved goodbye as he backed away before turning to leave.

  When I went into my turret room, Cessie was fast asleep.

  “Cessie, wake up.” I shook her shoulder.

  “You woke me up early for nothing.” She folded her arms and pouted.

  “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

  “You can make it up to me if you stop being a chicken around the horses so we can maybe ride one a few times before the week is over. You know how much I have always wanted to do that.”

  “I’ll do my best so you can ride a horse.” I really needed to get over my fear. That was too much ammo for The Dark One to have.

  7

  After the last show, I changed into my Minnie Mouse shirt, jean shorts, and glitter Converse. How many favorite shoes did I have? Glittery comfortable shoes were at the top. I was weaving my hair into a fishtail braid when Mom made me sit to have a talk before she would let me leave.

  “Now, don’t ditch your sister. She’s your responsibility all night. If you blow it, you won’t be meeting your new friends the rest of the week.”

  “I won’t ditch her, Mom. They’re excited to meet up with both of us tonight.”

  “You need to behave yourself. Boys like to get into trouble. They also like to have their way with pretty girls like you too.”

  “Mom! Ugh. You met them. They stay out of trouble.” I wrapped the elastic holder around the end of my braid.

  “How do you know? We’ve only been here for three days.”

  “I guess I don’t. I’ll be good and take great care of Cessie too. Can I go now?”

  “Yes. I’ll be out for a while. Some of my new friends invited me to join them at the concert tonight.”

  “Okay.” I wanted to return the advice she gave me.

  “And check on the Caravan.”

  “I will.” I struggled to stay put until Mom gave me permission to leave.

  “You can go.” She tossed a washcloth at me. I ducked.

  Grabbing Cessie’s hand for a second so she’d follow, I sent a text to Noah that I had ready on my phone, and headed for the rides.

  I searched the crowd for the two boys in baseball caps. How lucky was I? I was about to hang out with two boys. I thought about them all day long. My day might have been much different if they hadn’t come over to check on me after the horse incident.

  I waited in front of the smaller Ferris wheel where they said they’d meet me. As I scanned the crowd, I spotted Kelly and her posse heading my way. I turned around and made Cessie turn too. “Do you see Noah over there?” I pointed toward the games.

  Cessie squinted. “No.”

  “Hey, Seraphina and Francesca,” Kelly taunted as she walked by.

  I barely glanced in her direction. I sure didn’t need any more humiliation from her.

  Cessie started to turn.

  “No, don’t. We shouldn’t acknowledge her when she calls us by our stage names.”

  “Okay,” Cessie replied timidly.

  “I see Noah now.” I stayed put.

  The boys crossed paths with the girls. Kelly flaunted her figure wearing the shortest pair of shorts and a skimpy cami. The other two girls didn’t show off that much skin.

  Noah almost passed them without saying anything. Kelly must have said hi. He barely acknowledged her when he pointed straight ahead, right at me, and kept walking. The three girls stopped and watched Noah greet Cessie and me.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to watch one of your shows today,” Noah said.

  “I didn’t expect you too. Once you see one, you’ve seen them all. Except when Peppy or Millie don’t follow the script.” I studied and picked at the missing paint on the railing.

  “Sometimes that’s really funny.” Cessie started giggling. “But mom is never happy when that happens.”

  “That sounds like my kind of show,” Josh said.

  I finally relaxed when we headed to Cessie’s first pick of the night. The four of us stood in line for the kiddie coaster.

  “I want to ride with Noah,” Cessie latched onto his arm.

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek with disappointment. I liked Josh just fine, but it looked as if I would never get a chance to ride with Noah.

  “I think we should take turns riding with each other. I’ll ride with you this turn. After that, we get back in line again so I can ride with Josh and then one more time so I can have a turn with Sera. That way we will all have a turn with each person and get more rides.” Noah winked at me.

  I smiled at him and was almost as giddy as my sister when she was ecstatic over his plan. I glanced over at Josh. He was texting madly and didn’t seem to mind at all. When it was our turn to go, he waved his phone in the air as he led the way.

  “I ride in front on this one so I can take a pic of us all.” Josh climbed in the first car. Once I settled in beside him, he put his arm around my shoulders and leaned back to get the four of us in the picture.

  We were back in line and rotated turns. I settled in the car beside Noah and he pressed his knee against mine, letting his pinkie slide over my pinkie. The little touches sent sparks up my arm and made my heart pound. I side-glanced at him. He leaned forward to make a face in the pic Josh was taking of us.

  We had been on almost all the rides Cessie would ride at least three times when she tugged on Noah’s arm. “I didn’t get to pet your horse much today.”

  “That’s right.” Noah looked at me for approval.

  “I promised Cessie I would get over my fear as fast as I could so she could spend more time with the horses.” I stuffed my hands in my pockets and kicked at the grass. I raised my foot when I noticed how badly my shin was swollen and bruised. A very painful reminder of what a problem my fear was.

  “Geez, those are awful,” Josh said.

  “Yeah, I don’t need a repeat of that ever again.”

  “Ezra is in the barn with all the other horses. Can you handle that? They won’t all be in their stalls.” Noah adjusted his baseball cap.

  “You guys will help me, right?” I pressed my hands against my thighs to dry them off. I hadn’t even seen a horse yet and my heart was pounding so hard, it was attempting to escape out of my chest. “I think today’s scare made it all worse.” I drew in a deep breath. “Let’s go.” Crap, I was trembling.

  Noah held my hand, Josh took my other one, and we walked to the horse barn.

  “Were you ever scared of the monkey?” Josh asked.

  “Well, no. He was the cutest thing when Mom brought him home. Especially when he clung to us like a baby. It’s easy to talk to him like he’s a person. Besides, he’s the fifth one we’ve had.”

  “I’m terrified of monkeys,” Josh said.

  “You can’t be,” I said in disbelief.

  “Yes, I was kind of scared of horses too. Once I was around them more, I saw they weren’t a big deal. You just have to be careful around them like any animal. I’ve only seen monkeys at the zoo, though. When they swing towards me, I’m always afra
id they’re going to fling poop on me.”

  We burst out laughing.

  “I’m not kidding, guys. I’ve seen it happen before. It’s gross. They fling poop.” Josh’s eyes were wide and he nodded making sure we believed him.

  “Thank goodness horses can’t do that.” Noah was still laughing when we were really close to the horse barn.

  I focused all of my attention on Josh. “Okay, are you intentionally trying to distract me?”

  “I told you, I’m not kidding,” he said emphatically.

  “Peppy has never thrown poop before.” I struggled to stop laughing at him.

  “You keep him in pants. Does he wear a diaper? Did you notice I was sitting up behind everyone at the show? Yeah, even in a diaper I can just imagine him looking at me, reaching in that thing, and throwing poop at me.”

  We laughed even harder.

  “That is a visual I can’t get out of my head now.” I wiped tears from my eyes. When I could see again, we were standing in the doorway. Horses poked their heads out over stall doors into the aisle. People filled the space as they petted horses and moved on. I gripped Josh and Noah’s hands tighter. “So if you’re so paranoid that a monkey is going to throw poop on you, do you think all these doors will open at once and all the horses will try to run me over? I’ve heard they smell fear.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Noah said, shaking his head. He pulled me into the wide-open hall. “We are going to walk up the center where none of the horses can even breathe on you.”

  Panic started to rise, tightening my chest. I struggled to breathe like I had earlier in the day.

  “Remember, I told you to inhale deeply then exhale. Holding your breath is going to make you pass out,” Noah reprimanded me.

  “I don’t want to pass out here.” I spotted The Dark One. “Are you serious?”

  “Remember, don’t give in to your horse fears. It’s easier to get over this if you tell yourself it’s really not a big deal.”

  Tears filled my eyes the closer we got to Kelly. I blinked them back and reminded myself the whole fear thing was silly. I needed to stop my freak out. It wasn’t worth any more pain. Once we passed Kelly, I was calm and controlled my breathing again. I hoped Kelly wouldn’t notice me or say a word. Of course Kelly did, she was The Dark One.

  “You boys got yourself a Seraphina- scaredy-cat. Why are the two of you to holding her hands? You know gypsies were whores in the old days. They were chased out of town for their free love ways.”

  “Kelly, shut-up.” Noah took a step in Kelly’s direction. She didn’t flinch and stood defiant.

  “Hippies were into free love. Get your facts straight.” My face was on fire. I clenched my jaw and wanted to punch her. If Kelly wasn’t standing next to a horse, I might have done something I would regret. However, I wouldn’t have regretted hitting Kelly. I would have regretted getting into trouble. It wasn’t like I hadn’t heard those insults before. My sister didn’t need to hear what Kelly said, though.

  “What’s a whore?” Cessie asked with teary eyes.

  “You don’t need to know. We aren’t one of those.” I hugged her.

  Josh strode right up to Kelly and said something only she could hear. Her face turned white, she turned away and walked off.

  He returned and said nothing as he took me by the hand again. They led me farther away from Kelly’s horse. It was probably as evil as she was.

  “What did you say to her?” Noah asked.

  “I have dirt on her I’ve been waiting to use and the perfect opportunity presented itself.” Josh clenched his jaw.

  I stopped. “I don’t know guys. Can we call this walk through a good start?”

  “Sera, I didn’t even get to touch a horse.” Cessie stomped, ready to start a tantrum.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Grab her waist.” Noah placed his hand on my hip. Josh did the same on the other side.

  I wanted to step away from their grip, but they had handfuls of my shirt in their fists before I could get away and they guided me to Ezra’s stall.

  The horse stuck her head out over the stall to greet Noah and whinnied, tossing her head. I couldn’t step back. Noah rubbed the horse in between the eyes before grabbing her mane to hold her head still.

  “Come here, Cessie, and show your sister how nice my horse is.” He held on tight to my shirt.

  Showing off in front of me, the little brat ran her hands all over the horse’s neck. She hugged Ezra and kissed her nose.

  “Geez Cessie, get a grip.” I laughed nervously and was insanely jealous of my sister’s courage as she rubbed her hand gently against Ezra’s upper lip.

  “This is my favorite part. It’s the softest and it tickles.” Her face lit up in pure joy.

  “Watch this.” Noah lifted Ezra’s head.

  Josh held me tighter around the waist when Noah let go.

  He pinched Ezra’s bottom and top lip and made it look like the horse was talking in a silly girl’s voice, “I’m Ezra the lazy horse. That Noah never leaves me alone. He just wants me to run and run. I’m so old and lazy that I can’t wait until he gets off me so I can take my naps. I’m narcoleptic, you know. I fall asleep standing up.”

  Cessie giggled so hard, she was about to fall over. His high-pitched voice killed me. I couldn’t stop laughing over how the horse didn’t care at all with half-closed eyes while Noah made her lips move.

  He let the horse’s mouth go, rubbed her upper lip gently, and pulled a piece of carrot out of his pocket. “She will pretty much let you do anything to her.” He took my hand and I let him place it on Ezra’s head in between the eyes.

  Ezra lowered her head. I jumped but Josh held me tight so I wasn’t going anywhere. Noah covered my hand with his when I cautiously touched the horse again.

  My heart pounded so hard it hurt, but a smile slowly spread across my face.

  “Look at her eyes, Sera,” Noah whispered. Ezra’s eyes were closing.

  I let my hand slide up higher so I could touch the mane. I thought it would be soft and fluffy since it poofed out and didn’t lay flat. However, the hairs were coarse, very thick, and a variety of different colors. “How many shades of gray does she have in her mane?”

  “Fifty,” Josh answered.

  Noah and I laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Cessie asked as she rubbed Ezra’s upper lip again.

  “That’s the name of a book you and I will never read,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “Never mind.” I shook my head. “Just enjoy the horse, would you?”

  “Can I go in with her?” she asked.

  “Of course. I know something else you might like more.” Noah took her hand.

  Josh allowed me to back up when Noah opened the stall door to take Cessie inside.

  “I’m sure it will take a few days before your sister is ready to do this.” He waited patiently while Cessie ran her hands over Ezra’s side. “I’m going to let you sit on her bareback. You’ll need to hold onto her mane and hug her sides with your knees, but don’t kick or squeeze her with your heels. She’ll think you’ll want to go somewhere and your sister might pass out if that happens.” Noah gave me teasing smile and winked again. He was such a cowboy with that one squinty eye. He held Cessie around the waist and lifted her easily onto Ezra’s back.

  The horse stepped to the side after Cessie settled on its back. Her eyes widened and she gripped a handful of mane with both hands.

  “Does this hurt?” Cessie asked, afraid to pull the hair.

  “No. She’s fine.” Noah reassured her.

  “I never imagined the mane would feel as coarse as it does.” I stepped closer to the stall door all on my own.

  Noah made the horse sidestep over so he could reach into a bucket with brushes and other things he needed for Ezra. He pulled out some scissors.

  “Do you have a ponytail holder I can have?” He asked me.

  “You have one already.” Josh poi
nted to the backend of the horse.

  Noah made a face at Josh while he pointed at my arm where I wore a spare one around my wrist.

  I pulled it off and started to hand it to Noah. Ezra followed my hand. I jerked it away and took a step back.

  Josh placed a hand on my shoulder. “Stay where you are, there’s a horse coming up behind us.”

  I whimpered slightly before clenching my jaw to silence myself.

  “I’m here.” Josh rubbed my back lightly.

  I glared at Ezra, swallowed hard before taking a step closer to hand Noah the ponytail holder.

  “I’m fine,” I said to convince myself more than anyone else. Gripping the stall door, I let Ezra nudge me for attention. My heart wanted to escape my chest again as my hand welcomed the horse, running my fingers down her neck. When my feet actually stayed put, I smiled.

  Noah handed me a ponytail full of Ezra’s mane. “I needed to cut more off for her bridal,” he said.

  I held it up in front of me. “I like it. Now I’ll think of that fifty shades joke instead of the horse thanks to Josh.” I bumped my shoulder into his.

  “At least you’ll remember me. Most people don’t.” Josh smiled and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He must have figured I wasn’t going to run away anymore.

  “You want to come in here with your sister?” Noah asked.

  “Not yet. Maybe tomorrow though. Cessie, are you ready to come down?” I asked.

  “No, never. I could stay here forever.”

  “I don’t know about that. We need to go home to check on Peppy real quick and make sure he hasn’t thrown poo all over the Caravan.” I forced my mouth to stay serious as I glanced at Josh.

  “Seriously?” He gave me a disgusted look.

  I laughed at him. “Seriously, it has never, ever happened. I just wanted to see the look on your face.”

  “I didn’t know I was so entertaining.” Josh turned and kicked at the straw to feign being hurt. He side-glanced up at me and smiled.

  “I hope you aren’t mocking me,” I said.

  “No, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t do that.” He touched my arm lightly to reassure me.

  “I just wanted to make sure.” I stepped out of the way when Noah opened the door to the stall.