Addie had gone to swimming lessons and I really didn’t have anyone else I could talk to about parent issues. She was pretty much my only friend. I sat on my bed and tried to read, but I kept thinking about Mom and Sam. And I also thought about Nickel. My cell phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“Is this Piper?”
“Yes, who’s this?”
“This is Angel.”
“Oh, hi.” Why would she call me? “Is something wrong with Nickel?”
“No, Nickel’s fine.”
“Good, but how did you get my number?” My dad doesn’t let me give out my number to very many people.
“Oh, I got it off Chickie’s phone,” she said. “So, Piper, here’s why I called. I was wondering if you could talk to your dad and see if he would come out here and talk to me? He’s single isn’t he?”
“Yes, why?”
“Well, I really think he’s cute and I want to convince him that I’m a lot of fun.”
“But I thought you were going with Chickie.”
“I’m not his girlfriend!”
“Well, he thinks you are.”
“He’s crazy, and he’s a skinny, deadbeat loser. I’m only staying with him till I find someone better. Like your daddy. Now, he’s real smart and I bet he makes a good living, being a vet and all.”
“Why are you telling me this stuff?”
“So you can put in a good word for me. We could be best friends. I could help you learn about makeup and how to dress and what boys like and all that stuff. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
How creepy! I didn’t care about makeup and clothes. That was for girly girls. And even if I did, she was the absolute last person I would ask for advice. But I tried to be nice-- I wanted that horse.
“Angel, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with Dad. You have to do that on your own. And I’m not into all that stuff you said, makeup and things. And I don’t want a boyfriend.”
“But what did he say about me? Did he think I was cute?”
“No, he didn’t say anything.” I couldn’t tell her what Dad really said and how we made fun of her.
“But I want him to think I’m sexy and cute. You could tell him that.”
“Look, Angel, this is getting creepy. Please don’t call me anymore, unless it’s about Nickel.”
“Well, that’s mean. You’re just mean. And weird!” Angel hung up on me, and I sighed in relief.
Now what to do? Should I tell Dad about Angel’s call? She had already called him earlier and he said no to her. Would she cause problems with us getting Nickel? Dad was working, so it would have to wait.
I tried to read, but eventually quit, put down my book, and walked back out to the farm. It was the middle of a hot day and my t-shirt was sopping by the time I got to the barn. I put a halter on Dotty, tied her to a post in the shady barn and started brushing. It must’ve felt good because Dotty stood still with her eyes closed, gently nodding her head.
When I was done with her coat, I brushed her mane. After brushing and untangling her mane and tail, I still couldn’t hold still, so I began braiding them. I had finished the braids when a wet-haired Addie walked in the barn. Her curls went crazy when they were wet. It was pretty funny.
“So is this a horsey beauty parlor? I’ve got some old Hello, Kitty barrettes,” she said.
“I was antsy,” I said. “How was swimming?”
“Agh! Old Adkisson kept us doing laps and treading water forever!”
“I thought you liked Mrs. Adkisson. Does she still have all that red hair and those little curls?”
“Afraid so. I used to like her, but she’s turned into a tyrant. You shouldn’t have dropped out.”
“Oh, so I could suffer, too?”
“So there would be someone to suffer with me. The other kids are stupid and giggly. Except for Richie-- he’s cute.”
“You think guys are cute because they’re guys. You’re going to end up like Angel.”
I told Addie then about Angel’s phone call and how creepy it was.
“What do you think she’ll do if she’s mad?”
“I don’t know. It isn’t her horse and she says she’s not Chickie’s girlfriend, so maybe she can’t make him sell Nickel. It’s really his decision to make. Hey, Adds, I’ve been thinking.”
“Uh,oh, everybody stand back!”
“No, really. I think maybe you should try riding Dotty.” I was determined this time to get her on our pony.
“I really don’t want to. I told you that. I can’t help it if she scares me.”
“Seriously, you should try it and get in some practice. We still need another horse so we can ride together, and Nickel will be perfect for you. But it’s important for you to practice.”
“I don’t want to.” Addie put on her stubborn face and crossed her arms.
“Addie, you have to! She won’t buck, I’ll make sure.”
“I don’t have to,” she said. But then, “How will you keep her from bucking?”
“I’ll guide her with a lead rope at first.” Addie got real quiet then and set her jaw. She looked at me with a hard stare.
“She’d better not buck, that’s all I’ve got to say.” I could usually talk Addie into doing things, and she’d give in, even if she didn’t like it. But she still had her arms crossed tightly in front of her and her mouth pouted.
So I turned around and pulled Dotty’s bridle off its hook, then lifted the old saddle and saddle blanket down and threw them over Dotty’s back.
“I’ll show you how to do this. It’s easy.”
With me directing, we got Dotty’s saddle cinched up, the bit in her mouth and the bridle in place. I showed Addie how to lead her out into the corral and stand on Dotty’s left side.
“See, you always mount on the horse’s left. That’s how they are trained.”
“What would happen if I forgot?”
“I don’t know, the horse might think you were nuts and get scared or something. Left foot in the stirrup, that’s right. Now bounce once or twice and swing your right leg over.”
She had done this before, so this part went pretty well. I was hopeful. I reminded Addie about neck-reining-- how you lay the reins against the horse’s neck to get it to turn. She went in a slow circle around the corral, clicking her tongue softly to Dotty. I had the lead rope attached to Dotty’s bridle so I could help control her head.
“This is okay,” said Addie. “You can take the lead off now.” She walked around the corral again, once, then twice.
“This is fun!” said Addie. “I’m going to try going faster.” She kicked her feet against Dotty’s sides and the horse took off. She wasn’t going fast, but she was definitely trotting. When she began to lope, I called “Pull back on the reins!”
“I dropped them!” Addie yelled back, as Dotty headed straight toward some thorny-looking bushes that grew in the corner of the corral. “What do I do?”
I didn’t know what to tell her, but I didn’t have to. Two things happened at the same time: Dotty planted her front feet to stop and Addie kept going, right into the bushes.
Chapter Ten
~ Scrapes and Bruises ~
Sending up a silent prayer that Addie was all right, I ran across the corral to where she lay on her side in the scratchy, thorny bushes. A horseman’s first priority after they fell off was to catch the horse, but we were inside a fenced area, so I didn’t worry about catching Dotty yet.
“Addie! Are you all right?” A groan came from the form lying at my feet. “Addie?”
“Whose idea was this? Oh, yeah, yours!” She rolled over and sat up. Scratches covered her arms and legs, but at least the thorns didn’t get her eyes. She looked around and took a deep breath.
“Whoa, things are spinning,” she said.
“Did you hit your head?”
“Yeah, I landed on a rock. Help me stand up.”
“Adds, maybe you should wait a minute.” My best friend tri
ed to get up, but sat back down, holding her ankle.
“Ow! My ankle hurts. Maybe it’s broken.”
“Listen,” I said. “You sit still and I’ll call my dad. I think he was going to be close.”
So I pulled out my phone and called my dad, mentally crossing my fingers that it would go through. Sometimes at Miss Julie’s, we couldn’t get cell phone signals. When he picked up, I sighed with relief and explained the problem.
“Dad, Addie fell off Dotty. Yes, she’s sitting up, but she’s dizzy and her ankle hurts too much to stand up. Okay, I’ll tell her. Thanks, see you.” I hung up and turned to Addie.
“Adds, he’s on his way over here. He just got done with a call and is only a couple of miles away. He says you should sit still till he gets here.”
“My ankle hurts and I have weeds in my hair.”
“I know, but sit still anyway. You are a pitiful mess and we’ll get you cleaned up after Dad checks your ankle. Look, I’m going to go unsaddle Dotty, so hang tight.”
I went to Dotty, who ducked away from me and trotted to the other side of the corral. She was spooked by all the strange happenings, and wouldn’t let me catch her. A typical horse trick. I followed her around for five minutes before I finally got hold of her dragging reins. Leading her into the barn, I removed her saddle and bridle and let her back out into her grassy little paddock.
As I walked back over to Addie, Dad drove up in a cloud of dust. He jumped out of his truck and walked over to where she sat. Crouching beside her, he looked in her eyes, checked her ankle and sat back on his feet.
“Well, aside from some scratches and a banged up ankle, I don’t think you are seriously injured. But let’s call your mom and see if she wants to take you to your own doctor, to be sure.”
“My ankle’s not broken?” said Addie, sitting up straighter.
“Don’t believe so. I think it’s just a sprain. You should probably get it checked out, though.”
Dad got on his phone to call Sandy Davis. He explained the whole thing to her and said, “No, it wasn’t the horse’s fault. Or Addie’s. It wasn’t anybody’s fault, Sandy, those things happen when you ride horses. Everybody I know that rides has a scar or a story to tell. Okay, I’ll take her home and you can meet us and drive her to the doctor. ‘Bye.”
He looked at us. “You heard? Sandy wants to get her checked out at her own doctor and I think that’s the right thing to do. Piper, you open the door on the truck and Addie, you hold on to me. I’ll carry you over.”
So with some heaving and groaning, Addie got situated in the cab of the truck. She scootched over so I could sit beside her, and we took off for town. I felt badly about how it had all happened and needed to say something.
“Hey, Addie, I’m sorry. I think I bullied you into riding Dotty when you didn’t want to.”
“It’s okay, Pipe. I had fun for about...five minutes? Dotty wasn’t trying to buck me off. I just thought I should jump off before we got to the bushes.”
“Let me know what your doc says, okay?”
“Yeah, I will,” said Addie.
Addie’s mom met us at her house and with another bout of heaving and groaning, Addie got deposited into Sandy’s little red Honda and they drove off to the clinic.
Dad looked at me. “Piper, I’m proud of you for apologizing to Addie. You do sometimes push her around, but it doesn’t seem like she is mad at you.”
“I don’t mean to do that,” I said, not wanting his criticism. “We work things out.”
Dad let it go and drove me home. I told him about Angel’s phone call to me.
“It worries me that she has your number, and that she’s bugging you now. She’s trouble,” Dad said. “I don’t want you to have anything more to do with those people.”
“But, Dad, what about Nickel? We want Nickel.”
“There are lots of horses in the world. He’s not the only horse that anyone ever wanted to give away.”
“No! Dad! We love that horse! This is our perfect chance to get a nice, calm horse for Addie to ride. She is so comfortable on him and...and she’ll need that even more now that she fell off Dotty! Nickel is perfect for her. And Chickie is all right. He wants Nickel to go to a good home. He’s not a bad guy. ”
“Look, Piper, we need to re-think this. I don’t want you around those people out there. They’re at least trash and they might be criminals. Your mother will agree with me.”
“Now you’re going to gang up on me? That’s just great!” Since we had arrived at my house, I jumped out of Dad’s truck, slammed the door, and stalked up the sidewalk. Immediately, as I unlocked the door and went inside, my phone rang. It was Dad.
“What?” I said.
“I mean it. You need to think this over.” I hung up, but the phone rang again, immediately.
“What?” I said.
“Do not hang up on me, ever,” said my dad. “Will you promise me you’ll think about it?”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll think about it.”
“Fine,” he said. “Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” And we both hung up. I sighed. Now what to do?
Chapter Eleven
~ Visiting ~
As soon as Mom walked in the door and started puttering in the kitchen, fixing dinner, I eased in to start giving my side of the horse argument.
“Piper, I know what you’re going to say. Your dad called me on the way home. And I agree with him. That’s not the right horse if you have to deal with those awful people.”
“But Mom...”
“You know we’re right. And they are trash. Chickie Hyde has a reputation as a ...a supplier of drugs in this county. Sheriff Martin told me that. And Angel has a reputation for being cheap.”
“When were you talking to Harvey Martin?”
“Oh, I stopped by Sam’s office this afternoon and he was there. They were talking about how Chickie and his brother Earl are looking like possible suspects in the recent break-ins.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes,” said Mom. “You know they think Earl was the one who was working with Jake when they caught him for drug trafficking.”
“Is Earl real skinny with long-ish hair?” So they were brothers!
“Have you seen him out there?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Addie and I saw a guy drive up that looked like the same guy we saw with Jake when we were saving Dotty.”
“Another reason not to go out there again. Piper, find another horse. Please.”
I had lied a lot in order to save Dotty, but I didn’t want to lie any more. “I promised Dad I would think about it, but I can’t believe Chickie is a bad guy,” I said.
“Well, good, think about it,” she said, apparently content to leave it at that. Mom went ahead and cooked some spaghetti, while I set the table and made a salad.
We ate our dinner while I told Mom how Addie got hurt. I avoided any more mention of Nickel. I didn’t want to hear more resistance to getting him.
After I helped clean up the kitchen, I called Addie to see how her ankle was.
“It’s sore,” she said, “but it isn’t broken, just a little sprain like your dad said. And I don’t have a concussion.”
“How long till your ankle’s better?”
“Dr. Williams said a few weeks. I’m supposed to stay off it for a day or two. It’s only a month till school starts and it has to be better then. It would suck to have to hobble to class with a crutch. Especially my first day in high school. How would I carry my books?”
“You would have to find a big, strong guy to carry them,” I said.
“Now that’s the best idea you’ve had.”
“Kidding!” I said. Geez, what if she decided to do that?
“I know you were, but I wasn’t,” Addie said, with a giggle.
“Yeah, right. Anyway, how are you feeling about the whole horse thing now?”
“Well, I hated falling off. She didn’t really buck me, did she?”
“No, it wa
s more you jumped off and fell at the same time Dotty stopped.”
“So, I can’t blame her. I think I’m still good with riding Nickel. I felt safe on him, like he would watch out for me. It sounds dumb, but I think he knew I was scared and tried to be good.”
“It doesn’t sound dumb. That’s exactly what I thought, too. He’s a smart horse and the perfect ride for you. That’s why we need him. It doesn’t matter who his owners are now. He’s better than they are. We have to get him away from them.”
“Angel is crazy and she might try to sell him so we can’t have him,” Addie said.
“We can’t let that happen, but now my dad and mom don’t want me to go out there at all. They think we should find another horse. They’ll convince your mom, too.”
“But I wouldn’t be comfortable on another horse! Nickel is the one I want.”
“That’s what I think. We have to work on our parents. Maybe Miss Julie will help. I’ll talk to her tomorrow when I go out there.”
“Okay, ‘bye”
The next morning, Mom had me spend a couple of hours helping her clean the house. She was expecting Sam Applegate for dinner and wanted everything to look as if it was always perfect. That seemed silly and I hoped I wasn’t like that when I got older. It was late when I got out to the barn to see my pony.
Dotty was her usual, sweet self after the exciting events of the previous day. I puttered around, organizing the tack. The saddle went on its board, the bridle and halter hung from pegs. I had two lead ropes that I draped over the halter. After filling Dotty’s water tank, I gave her a back scratch, raising dust and making horsehair fly all over.
I found a nice sunny patch of grass to sit in, lowered myself and tried to calm down and think. Dozens of dragonflies dipped and swirled around over the daisies and clover in the paddock and I wondered what I should do about my parents. Calmly discuss the situation until we all agreed? I didn’t feel calm. Rationally explain why we needed Nickel? I didn’t feel rational. Kick and scream and pout? That’s what I wanted to do.
The Horse Rescuers Page 8
