Matthew and the Stone

by Bob Blanton

  “Hey, congratulations,” Matthew said.

  “Oh, thanks.” Emily leaned over and gave Brianna a hug. “I couldn’t have done it without your coaching. I really owe you one. Give me a call and we’ll do lunch next week.”

  “Sure. We should let you shower; you must be burning up after that long match and this heat.” Brianna grabbed Matthew’s hand and pulled him toward the clubhouse.

  They had a nice lunch. Brianna spent most of the time quizzing Matthew about his martial arts. She asked how many boards he could break and what weapons he knew how to use. Matthew really enjoyed telling her about his training.

  “What would you do if a guy pulled a gun on you?”

  “Whatever he told me to. A bullet is faster than any martial art move.”

  “I’ll bet you’d find some way to disarm him,” Brianna eyes were sparkling as she quizzed Matthew.

  “Maybe, if he made some kind of mistake. But you’d have to wait and see if he did.”

  Brianna’s cell phone rang. She grabbed her purse and pulled it out.

  “Hello, Oh hi, Mommy. We’re just finishing up a late lunch. OK, we’ll meet you out front in 10 minutes. Bye.”

  Race Day

  Saturday evening Matthew pulled out his notes on the horses.

  “Okay, I’ve got two likely winners here. What can I do to figure out if they’re going to be run to win?”

  Matthew thought about what Mr. Winthrop had said last week at dinner. “You have a whole different discussion when you’re prepping a nag that just can’t win versus a horse you are holding back for the right odds.”

  “I need to get a look at their stables,” Matthew said to himself. “See if there are any indications that they’re going out to win.”

  He fingered the stone around his neck, relaxed his breathing, and then thought of the Del Mar Racetrack. His virtual camera was viewing the racetrack from the freeway as though heading north from San Diego. It was the best view of the fairgrounds and racetrack, the one he typically saw when coming home from downtown San Diego. He steered the virtual camera over to the racetrack and then to the stable area where the horses were housed the night before the race.

  The place was abuzz with activity as the horses were being put into their stalls, fed and bedded down for the night. Most of the conversations were in Spanish. Matthew grimaced and almost lost his view. He hadn’t thought about a potential language problem, but he should have known better. In California, cheap labor meant Mexican or Central American workers.

  He came to the stall of Tango Dancer, the horse in the seventh race. There was very little activity. The horse was being fed and blanketed by a couple of Spanish-speaking stable hands. Matthew headed off to find Peace Pipe, “I’ll come back later to check if anything changes here,” he thought as he moved his virtual camera over to the stall where Peace Pipe was being put away for the night. There was quite a bit of activity there as an older white guy was instructing the Mexican stable hand what he wanted him to do.

  Matthew had been practicing hearing through the portal. It had gradually become easier to hear with each day. Now the voice of the trainer came through as though he were standing next to him.

  “Now you make sure he’s got plenty of clean straw in there and change his water. I’ll be back at 5:00 tomorrow morning. I want him fed and watered by then. We’ll take him out to stretch his legs, and then let him rest until the race. Do you understand me?” the man asked.

  “Si, I’ll change his water right away,” the Mexican said. “He looks good, no? I think he wants to run fast tomorrow.”

  “Now you keep quiet,” the older man looked angry. “I don’t want you talking about Peace Pipe to anyone, do you hear me?” His voice was low but harsh.

  “Si, no talk to nobody. I feed and water horse, no talk.” The Mexican carried some straw into the horse’s stall. He patted the horse on the rump as he walked around him.

  The older man walked out of the stables to a BMW parked in the lot. Matthew followed him assuming he must be the trainer. The man pulled a cell phone from his pocket and punched in a number.

  “It’s Johnny here.” He fidgeted with the cell phone. “Yes, we just bedded him down for the night. He’s looking good, real peppy like he knows he’s running all out tomorrow.”

  The trainer listened to the caller for a while, nodding his head and say huh-huh occasionally.

  “Yes, the only real competition is from Saffron, and he’s running on short rest and carrying a two-pound penalty. He’ll get boxed in coming off the pole position. That horse doesn’t like a crowd.”

  Again, he listened for a while.

  “That’s the best I can do. There are no guarantees, but I’m putting my money on him. Yeah, I know, I’m putting it all down in Vegas.”

  “Okay, I’ll call you after we stretch him out tomorrow to let you know how he looks. Yes sir, don’t worry. Bye.” The old guy closed the phone and sighed, “Promises, he wants promises.”

  Matthew closed his virtual camera. “I’ll have to set my alarm for 4:30 so I can check things out tomorrow,” he thought. I guess Tango Dancer isn’t going for a win tomorrow since nobody checked on him when he was put to bed. Matthew set his alarm for 4:30 and went back to researching the horse on the Internet.

  . . .

  On Sunday Matthew’s alarm went off at 4:30, waking him with a start. “I hope this horse wins, this getting up in the middle of the night deserves a payoff,” he thought as he got out of bed. He went through his morning routine quickly. At 4:45 he had his virtual camera on Peace Pipe. The horse was quiet, “Probably sleeping,” Matthew thought. The activity in the stable started picking up. Peace Pipe shifted his weight and let out a snort. “He’s waking up,” Matthew thought. “Well at least he got to sleep 15 minutes more than I did.” The stable hand fed and watered the horse; he was just coming out of the stall when the trainer showed up.

  “How did he sleep? He’s looking pretty rested. What are you waiting for? Get him moving,” the trainer said, as they took the blanket off the horse and started brushing him down.

  Matthew hung around long enough to see that the horse was looking good and the trainer was happy. Then he closed his virtual camera and went to work out. At 10:30 he called Simone to check on things.

  “Hello, Simone, I was just calling to make sure we’re still on for this afternoon.”

  “I haven’t forgotten about you. I’ll be by to pick you up at 2:30 on the dot.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t forget. I just wanted to make sure nothing had come up that you had to do instead.”

  “Nothing’s come up, and I found a sitter for Jalin so we’re on our own. I’ll see you at 2:30. Bye for now.”

  The line went dead as Simone hung up. Matthew went to the ATM and withdrew $300 to add to the $300 he withdrew yesterday. He was thinking, “I hope I don’t lose this, a week’s pay from Webmasters.com is a lot to pay to learn Jason’s dad is just another hopeful racehorse owner.” But Matthew had done his research on Skywalker, too. He had an impeccable pedigree; he’d started this year slowly, like he had his first racing season but he’d finished strong last year. If he held to form, he should do well this race. “If not, I’ll have to do a few extra side jobs to make it up. Thank you, Bill Gates.” Microsoft’s operating system always had problems when people installed too many applications. Matthew made a good income fixing those problems for people.

  At 11:30 Matthew went to Mrs. Maier’s house to pick up his sister, Jessica. The Maiers were the family across the street; Jessica was the same age as their son, Ari, and the two had hit it off well when the Maiers had moved in last year. She was over there playing with him while their mother was shopping. But Ari was going to a party at the Jewish Community Center, so Matthew had promised his mother he would pick up Jessica, make her lunch and baby sit until she got home.

  Matthew put his bike in the garage and walked across the street to get Jessica. He could hear the kids splashing in the Maiers’ pool so h
e went around the side yard. The two kids were both excellent swimmers for five-year olds, having taken lessons together right after the Maiers had moved in. Lots of practice this summer had them swimming like fish. As he rounded the corner and came into the back yard, he saw the two splashing while lying on the Maiers’ floating lawn chairs. Jennifer was watching them.

  “Hi Jen. Where’s Mrs. Maier?”

  Jennifer looked up, “Oh hi, Matt. Mrs. Maier had to run and get something for the party. She asked me to watch both of them until you got here. I’ve got to get Ari ready for the party; are you ready for Jessie?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got to take her home and feed her. Then I’m stuck babysitting until Mom gets home.”

  “I’m not a baby!” Jessica shouted, slapping the water with her hands.

  “Of course you’re not. You’re a big girl and can swim all by yourself,” Jennifer gave Jessica a big smile. “Well, let’s get them out of the water.”

  Jennifer made an unsuccessful grab at Ari, who dove off the chair into the water. “Come here, Ari, so I can dry you off,” she called out.

  “No, I’ve got to catch Jessie,” Ari yelled, as he swam over to Jessica. She immediately swam away from him.

  “Jessie, come over here,” Matthew stomped his foot for emphasis. “We’ve got to go home and let Ari get ready to go.”

  “No!” Jessica yelled and swam to the other side of the pool from Matthew.

  After several vain attempts to corral one of the kids from the poolside, Jennifer clinched her hands in frustration. “Grrr, it looks like one of us is going to have to get wet.”

  Matthew looked at his shorts and tennis shoes with a blank expression on his face. Jennifer just laughed and slipped out of her sundress to reveal her bikini. “I came prepared since I’m the lifeguard.”

  Jennifer dove into the pool and with a couple of quick strokes she pulled up beside Jessica. She grabbed Jessica and pulled her to the side of the pool.

  Matthew grabbed a towel and went around to the side where Jennifer had hauled Jessica. “Thanks,” he pulled Jessica out of the pool and wrapped the towel around her. “Come on Jessie, stand still.” As Matthew adjusted the towel to dry her hair, Jessica ducked down and dove back into the pool, surfacing with a burst of giggles.

  “Jessie, that’s not funny, now come back here!”

  Jennifer abandoned her quest for Ari and swam back over to gather up Jessica. She handed the wet five-year old to Matthew. “Don’t lose her again. I’ve got to get Ari ready.”

  “Sorry, I’ll keep hold of her this time,” Matthew started drying Jessica again. He watched Jennifer swimming after Ari, thinking about how nice she looked in her bikini.

  “I’ve got a towel here for Ari when you catch him,” he shouted, hoping to be a little helpful.

  Jennifer took a couple of quick strokes over to Ari, grabbing him before he could dive underwater. She swam back to the side of the pool and dragged Ari onto the deck. “Matt, are you going to the PCA Winter Ball this year?”

  “I’m not sure yet; are you?”

  “I don’t go to school there, remember?”

  “Oh, I forgot. You hang out so much with Brianna that I figured one of her friends would have asked you.” Matthew hoped Jennifer would buy his weak attempt to cover his brain lapse.

  “When we hang out, there usually aren’t any boys around. Besides I’m not sure I want to go to such a snobbish party.” Jennifer turned her nose up into the air to emphasize the snobbish part.

  “Well, Brianna and Jason aren’t snobs. In fact, most of the kids at school are pretty cool.” Matthew gathered Ari into the towel and struggled to hold on to the two squirming five-year olds. He pulled them away from the edge of the pool while Jennifer got out and grabbed a towel to dry. “Stay still Jessie. You can’t play in the pool anymore. We’ve got to go home and have lunch.”

  “And dessert?” Jessica was clearly intent on a little bargaining.

  “Sure, and dessert. If you stand still, I’ll give you a Popsicle. But you have to be nice.”

  “A purple one?” Jessica went for full advantage.

  “Sure, a purple one.” Matthew handed Ari over to Jennifer.

  “And a red one,” Jessica decided to see how much she could get.

  “No, just one. I’d better get her home before she escapes again. See you around.”

  “See you,” Jennifer grabbed Ari and carried him toward the house as Matthew let himself out the gate.

  Matthew carried Jessica across the street to their house so she wouldn’t have to walk on the hot pavement. After he helped her change into dry clothes, he took her into the kitchen. “What do you want for lunch?”

  “Ravioli, ravioli, ravioli.”

  “Okay, ravioli it is,” Matthew got a can of ravioli out of the cupboard. As he spooned it into a microwave dish, he scrunched up his face. “I don’t know how you can eat this stuff.” He heated up the ravioli, poured a glass of milk and set them in front of Jessica as she sat at the counter. “Now don’t spill it, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  While she ate, he made himself a sandwich, a PB&B, one of his favorites: bread for carbs, peanut butter for protein, banana for carbs and potassium, and a little honey to sweeten it up. “Um-um good.” Matthew did a quick check on Peace Pipe. They were putting new shoes on him, getting him ready to race. “Good,” he thought, as he turned his attention back to Jessica who was finishing up her ravioli.

  “Popsicle!” she demanded as her payment for being good.

  “Finish your milk first.”

  Jessica drank the rest of her milk in one long drink, gasping as she put the glass back down. “Popsicle!”

  “Okay,” Matthew went to the freezer and extracted the bribe. “Here it is,” he handed the Popsicle to her with a flourish.

  Jessica grabbed it and ran into the family room. Matthew followed, hoping she didn’t drop it on the couch or something. She grabbed a worn-out teddy bear and hugged it to herself, then she scooched up onto a chair to eat her Popsicle.

  Matthew hadn’t seen the bear before. “Jessie, where did you get the teddy bear?”

  “It’s Ari’s. He left it here; I’m watching it for him.” Jessica straightened her back, trying to look very important.

  When Jessica had finished her Popsicle, she started to put the stick down on the speaker next to the chair. Matthew ran over and grabbed the stick from her. Then Jessica got down leaving her charge behind. She went over to the TV stand and put her Lion King DVD into the player. Matthew thought, “She watches that movie almost every day. I don’t see how she can stand it.” Matthew picked up the bear and looked for a place to stash it until he could return it to Ari. He wondered if Ari was missing his bear. As he thought about Ari, he relaxed his breath and, presto, his virtual camera was showing Ari sitting in a car seat behind Mrs. Maier. Matthew was surprised, “I’ve tried to see Ari before but it didn’t work. I wonder.” He put the bear down and tried again, nothing. He picked up the bear and there was Ari again. “Hmm, a new twist,” he thought as he fingered the stone around his neck. “I wonder if this new ability will come in handy.” Matthew put the bear up on the bookcase for safekeeping.

  A Day at the Races

  Matthew’s mother got home at 2:00 to take charge of Jessica and he got ready for the races. He decided he’d wear white slacks and a green polo shirt with his deck shoes. He was waiting at the curb for Simone at 2:20. Simone drove up in her Honda Civic at 2:30 on the dot.

  “Hi, Matt, are you ready?” She made a U-turn and pulled up beside him.

  “Definitely.”

  “I’m glad I found a sitter for Jalin. I decided that Mama needed to have some fun at the races today.”

  Matthew climbed in and they sped away to Del Mar. They arrived at the racetrack just as the third race was being called over the loud speaker. “And they’re off. Jet Away takes the lead with Go Flyer ….”

  “This is so exciting!” Simone grabbed Matthew’s arm.

>   Matthew paid for their tickets, spending the extra to get into the Turf Club. “Let’s go scope out the betting windows.” They walked into the area under the grandstand and stopped to gaze at the lines of betting windows.

  “Wow, they sure have enough betting windows.”

  “I guess so; they obviously don’t want you to leave any money in your pockets.”

  “We should put some money down now.”

  “Why the hurry?” Simone asked.

  “We don’t want anyone noticing us betting on him. If we hurry, we’ll be able to catch the fourth race.”

  “Sure, what do you want to bet?” Simone asked.

  “I want to put $500 on Skywalker to win.”

  “Whew,” Simone rolled her eyes. “$500, you sure you want to put that much money on one horse?” Simone was surprised at how much money Matthew wanted to bet.

  “Yeah, that’s a week’s pay, so I figure I can afford it. Besides if he goes out at ten to one, I’ll win five grand.”

  “That sounds like a lot.”

  “It’s not that much when you consider all the medical bills my mom’s still paying.”

  “Okay, I’m planning to put $50 on him. Is that okay with you?”

  “Sure, just remember there are no guarantees,” Matthew cautioned.

  “Don’t you worry about Simone; if anyone understands no guarantees it’s me.”

  “All right, why don’t you do three windows in here, your $50 and $500 for me. Place your bet at one window, then split my bet between another two. Then we can watch the fourth race.”

  “All right, let’s get out there. But first, I need a drink.”

  Simone got a beer and they headed out to the viewing area. There weren’t any seats available so they found a spot close to the finish line where they could stand and watch the race. “I put some money on Betonme to win. I couldn’t resist the name.” They perched on the rail as they waited for the race to start.

  “I hope you didn’t bet too much on just a name.” Matthew was amazed that she would bet on a horse just because she liked the name.