Moon Shadow

by Chris Platt

  Justin coiled his rope. “Are you up to bottle-feeding around the clock?” At Callie’s nod he continued, “It’s a good thing you’re on summer break, because you’re going to be busier than a bear on a honey farm. It’s going to be an all-day job until she’s a couple months old and eating hay regularly.”

  Old Harvey spoke up. “You’d better find yourself a good milk goat. You can buy powdered foal milk at the feed store, but I don’t think they do as well on that. Cow’s milk is too rich. When I was on the payroll here, we had several goats on the property.”

  Susan started toward the long wooden building where extra supplies were kept. “I’ll get the bottle.” She turned to Harvey. “There’s still a little bit of mare’s milk left in the refrigerator in the main office. Could you please bring that to me?”

  While Harvey hobbled off to the office, Callie helped Justin herd Moon Shadow into a smaller pen. There were no other orphans—or Leppy foals, as the people who worked with mustangs called them—on the property, so Moon Shadow would be kept separate.

  “Here, let me help you catch her,” Justin volunteered as he moved quietly toward the little mustang. “Stretch your arms out so she can’t get past you, and we’ll herd her into the corner.”

  Moon Shadow nickered in concern when she saw she was being approached by two humans in a crouched position. “Easy, baby,” Callie crooned.

  The filly made a sudden bolt, and Justin reached out to capture her in his arms. “Easy, easy,” he spoke in a calming voice, holding on until the foal stopped struggling. He nodded to Callie. “Come on over and pet her. We need her to realize that nobody’s going to hurt her. She’s had a lot of action this morning and she’s a little upset.”

  Callie ran her hands over the soft baby hair of the filly’s trembling body. “You’re going to be okay,” she said. “All we want to do is help you.”

  “Let me show you a secret I learned from my grandfather,” Justin said. He moved his face closer to the filly’s head. “Have you ever seen a baby horse chew when an older horse that isn’t its momma comes near?”

  Callie nodded. She knew that when an older horse approached a young one, even if there was a fence between them, the baby would make a chewing motion like it was eating bubble gum with its mouth open. It made a funny, smacking sound and always made her laugh when she heard it.

  “They’re telling that bigger horse, ‘I’m just a baby, don’t hurt me,’” Justin explained. “And the older horse will usually just pin its ears or swish its tail to warn them off. They rarely hurt the baby.”

  Justin put his face next to the foal’s muzzle and made the chewing sound. Moon Shadow instantly showed interest and pricked her little fox ears in his direction. She seemed to relax and even took an eager step forward.

  “Now you try it,” Justin said as he gently corralled the filly in his arms.

  Callie put her face parallel with Moon Shadow’s and began the chewing motion. The foal stretched her neck and blew softly on Callie’s cheeks. “I think she likes me,” Callie said, trying not to laugh as the filly’s long curly whiskers tickled her chin.

  Justin released his hold on the foal, and Moon Shadow stepped toward Callie, bobbing her head and sniffing her clothes. Callie raised her hand to pet the filly’s neck, but Moon Shadow spun and ran several steps before turning to face them.

  “You’ll have to move slowly until she gets used to being around us,” Justin said as he went to catch the filly again.

  Moon Shadow was much easier to round up this time. They were still trying to make friends with her when Susan returned with the milk. She handed the bottle to Callie. “Since you’re going to be doing the work, you might as well start right now. I know you’ve bottle-fed calves before. This should be a little easier, because foals don’t usually butt you with their heads.”

  Callie gave a short laugh. She remembered being knocked over by one of the bull calves her parents were raising. Feeding Moon Shadow would definitely be easier.

  But the little mustang proved them wrong. Every time Callie tried to get Moon Shadow to accept the bottle, she spit out the rubber nipple. Justin and the vet stayed around for a while trying to help, but eventually they had to go finish other jobs around the pens.

  “Just keep trying,” Susan encouraged. “We’ll be back to check on you in a while. I’ll send Harvey over to help you. He used to work with the orphaned foals.”

  While Callie waited for Harvey, she spoke softly to Moon Shadow, smiling when the filly curled out her tongue and made sucking noises. “You look like you’re hungry enough to eat all of this, even if it is in a bottle. Why won’t you drink?” She tipped the bottle up and poured some of the milk on her fingers and tasted a drop with her tongue. It wasn’t the best thing she’d ever tried, but it wasn’t too bad. She slowly raised her hand and rubbed the little buckskin’s soft coat. “We’ll make a good team, you and I,” she said softly as she picked up the bottle again. “Now, if I can just get you to eat.”

  Moon Shadow made more sucking sounds with her tongue. Milk was still dripping from Callie’s hand, so she offered it to the filly. To her surprise, Moon Shadow sucked the milk from her fingers. Callie picked up the bottle and tried again, but the foal immediately spit it out. “Okay, we’ll do it your way,” she said, pouring more milk over her fingers. She giggled as the foal’s soft tongue tickled her hand.

  “It looks like you’re making progress,” Harvey said as his cane tapped across the packed earth of the roadway that circled the mustang pens. He was carrying a bucket, but Callie couldn’t see what was inside.

  “What do you have there?” she asked.

  Harvey took the unlit corncob pipe he kept clamped in his jaws and shoved it in his front pocket. He smiled, showing off his new false teeth. “I managed to round up some goat’s milk. I figured it might come in handy,” he said as he hung his cane on the side of the pen and let himself in through the gate.

  Callie shook her head. “This isn’t going well at all. Moon Shadow won’t drink from the bottle. The best she’ll do is suck on my fingers.”

  Harvey set the milk bucket down near the filly. “She doesn’t have to drink out of the bottle,” he said. “If you can get her to drink from a bucket, it’ll be even better.”

  “What do we have here?” an impatient voice questioned from the far side of the fence.

  Callie’s head swung around at the sound of the familiar nasally voice. The boss man of the Antelope Springs Mustang Facility stood outside Moon Shadow’s pen, staring in at them. Callie always felt creeped-out whenever Ron Jeffers was around. The man’s small, pig eyes made him look mean and unintelligent. And the frown on his long, pointed face made it clear: he was not very pleased.

  Callie knew from the gossip she’d heard around the pens that Mr. Jeffers didn’t like the hassle of attending to orphan foals. He felt his hired hands could be put to better use.

  “We’ve got ourselves an orphan,” Harvey said.

  Callie’s stomach sank. She wanted to kick Harvey right in the shins for making such a blunder. But the old man’s mind wasn’t what it used to be. He’d obviously forgotten how Mr. Jeffers felt about orphans.

  Nine

  Mr. Jeffers leaned his thin frame on the fence. His eyes got even smaller as he scowled in Harvey’s direction. “What do you mean, ‘we’?” he scoffed. “You haven’t been on our payroll in years. You’re a visitor here who helps out every now and then. Don’t forget that your visitor’s privileges can be revoked at any time.”

  Harvey blanched at the rude remark, but he turned back to Moon Shadow without responding to Mr. Jeffers.

  How could anyone be such a jerk to a nice old man? Callie wondered.

  “I take it that broom-tail didn’t make it last night,” Mr. Jeffers observed. “It’s unfortunate that her filly survived.”

  “Don’t say that!” Callie cried, feeling as if Mr. Jeffers had just slapped her across the face.

  The boss man cleared his throat and smile
d condescendingly. “What I meant to say was, some foals in her situation die anyway. It takes a lot of time to care for an orphan and I’m short on manpower already.” He cleared his throat. “I can’t afford to have someone watching this mustang around the clock. I’ve got over three hundred other horses here to take care of, and a new batch that just came in. It’s hardly worth the man-hours we’d have to put in to save her.”

  Callie clenched and unclenched her fists. She was so angry she couldn’t speak. It was a good thing, too, because what she wanted to say to Mr. Jeffers at this moment would probably get her banned from the mustang pens and grounded by her parents for life.

  Harvey caught her eyes, warning her with a quirk of his brow to stay silent. He softly stroked Moon Shadow’s coat and spoke over his shoulder to Mr. Jeffers. “This filly won’t be any trouble to you, sir. The girl and I will get her eating on her own. Callie has volunteered to take care of her.”

  Mr. Jeffers gave them a doubtful look. “You can’t really expect me to believe that this girl’s parents are going to let her stay out here around the clock to care for this orphan?”

  Callie had to admit that Mr. Jeffers had a point. Her parents probably wouldn’t let her spend the night at the mustang pens unless one of them was with her, and she doubted she could talk her parents into sleeping on hay bales in a sleeping bag.

  “We could take her back to my place,” Callie said hopefully. “We’ve got plenty of room, and it might make things easier.” Bringing Moon Shadow to their farm would be the perfect solution! Her parents were all for volunteer projects. And the best part was, it would give them time to get to know Moon Shadow and fall in love with her before she broached the subject of adopting the filly.

  Mr. Jeffers shook his head. “This mustang is government property. You’d have to adopt her in order to take her home. Do you have the $125 fee to adopt this mustang?”

  Harvey’s head snapped around. “In the past, we’ve given these Leppy foals away to a good adoptive home.”

  Mr. Jeffers shook his head. “This isn’t the past, old-timer. You know our rules. You can only adopt a mustang if you’re eighteen or older and have the right kind of fencing and housing, and you pay the adoption fee.” He nodded to Callie. “If you want to adopt this filly, I’ll send the paperwork down to you, and you can bring your parents around tomorrow to write out the check. No exceptions.” He turned and stalked toward the office.

  Callie let out the breath she’d been holding.

  “Don’t pay him no never-mind.” Harvey lapsed into old cowboy talk as he took the unlit corncob pipe from his front pocket and clamped it between his teeth, his eyes drilling holes in Mr. Jeffer’s back. “There goes a scoundrel if I ever did see one. You’d do well to stay clear of him, young lady.”

  Callie couldn’t resist sticking her tongue out at the retreating Mr. Jeffers. Harvey gave a hearty laugh, startling Moon Shadow, who jumped sideways and almost knocked over the milk bucket.

  “Whoa, sis,” the old man crooned. He gathered the filly between his arms and cradled her while Callie offered some more milk on her fingers. “That’s it,” Harvey instructed. “Now, each time she takes the milk, just drop your hand a little lower into the bucket.”

  Callie did as she was told. Within another ten minutes, Moon Shadow was sucking milk from the small pail. “She’s got it!” Callie crowed in triumph.

  Dr. Susan walked up and leaned her elbows on the fence. “Looks like Harvey’s been teaching you some of his tricks.”

  Callie smiled broadly. “Isn’t it great? Now that she knows how to eat, she can be adopted. Mr. Jeffers said he’d send the adoption paperwork down later.”

  Susan slapped her a high-five through the bars of the corral. “I don’t think you’ll have any problems being approved,” she said, “as long as your mom and dad sign for you. Underage kids are allowed to care for a mustang under their parents’ approval, but the horse can’t be put into your name until you’re eighteen.” She took off her glasses and cleaned the lenses on her shirttail. “The trouble is going to be in trying to convince your parents that you need this filly. Your dad was just here a few minutes ago to pick up Celah. I was going to mention something to him then, to see if maybe I could soften him up, but he was in a big hurry to get home. He said something about not being able to get the right parts for the tractor.”

  Callie felt the hope drain out of her like water out of a leaky trough. A broken tractor meant more money going out the door. Who was she kidding? Her parents would never let her adopt Moon Shadow. It would be years before the tiny mustang could pull her own weight. Callie took a deep breath. She would not cry in front of Harvey and Susan. Things would work out. They just had to!

  “Would you like me to come in and talk to your parents when I drop you off tonight?” Susan volunteered.

  Callie wanted to leap at the offer, but she knew her mom and dad. If she wanted this badly enough, she’d have to go to them by herself and plead her case. She only had a couple more hours to come up with the right thing to say. How could she convince her parents that Moon Shadow would be a worthy addition to their family?

  She really needed to call Billie when she got home. Her friend was good at saying just the right thing. Callie felt a momentary pang of guilt. Billie was her best friend, but she’d been so worried about Moon Shadow that she hadn’t even bothered to call her. That would have to be the first thing on her list when she arrived home. Hopefully, Billie could help her find a way to convince her parents to let her adopt Moon Shadow.

  Callie removed the empty milk bucket, smiling at the way the little buckskin followed her back to the fence. “Thanks a lot, Harvey,” she said as she handed the pail through the fence to Susan.

  Susan opened the gate for her. “We’ve got some more bumps and bruises to doctor on the new horses. You’ve got another two hours before you have to feed again. Let’s see if we can get this done and knock off early today.”

  Callie waved good-bye to Harvey and followed Susan back to the sick pen. Justin was waiting for them with a handful of papers.

  “So, you’re really going to do it?” Justin asked as he turned over the adoption forms to Callie.

  She shrugged. “I’m going to try, but I don’t think my parents are going to say yes.”

  “How about if my dad and I take care of Moon Shadow again tonight?” Justin asked. “That way you can stay home and work on your parents.” He gave her a thumbs-up sign. “I’ll be rooting for you.”

  “That’d be great,” Callie said. “Thanks.” She watched as the young cowboy walked away. She wished that she could be the one to stay and feed Moon Shadow, but she knew she’d have to get her parents’ permission first.

  Callie shoved the papers into her pocket and went to help Susan. They finished the sick pen in just under two hours, so Callie had a chance to hurry back to Moon Shadow while Susan got ready to leave. Harvey had another bucket of milk waiting for her when she reached the filly’s pen.

  “This one has some powdered milk substitute mixed in with the goat’s milk,” he said. “We need to stretch the milk we’ve got, and we’re not sure if you’ll be able to get a goat right away. We’d best get her used to the powdered stuff now.”

  Callie walked into the pen, and Moon Shadow shuffled over in her unsteady gait. “Shouldn’t she be getting stronger by now?” Callie asked in concern.

  Harvey handed her the bucket. “This little girl has been through quite an ordeal. She was born before her time, and all of the stress her mother went through during that roundup didn’t help her any. Her health will probably be touch-and-go for a while. We’ll have to watch her closely. Sometimes these orphans seem like they’re doing fine, and then all of a sudden they go downhill.”

  Callie offered the milk to Moon Shadow. The filly fumbled around the edge of the bucket, her velvety-soft nose bumping Callie’s hand as she lipped the sides of the pail.

  “You’re supposed to put your head into the bucket,” Callie said
as she tried to guide Moon Shadow to the milk. But the filly continued to work her mouth around the lip of the pail. Finally, Callie resorted to dipping her fingers in the milk again and offering the feast to Moon Shadow. It took a couple of tries, but eventually, the filly was drinking on her own again.

  Susan pulled her truck to a stop outside of the pen and rolled down her window. “Is everything all right?”

  Callie nodded. “Justin and his father are going to take care of Moon Shadow tonight while I go home and figure a way to convince my parents to let me adopt her. I’ll be ready to go as soon as Moon Shadow finishes her lunch.”

  Callie stared into the filly’s soft brown eyes, smiling at the slurping noises the orphan made while drinking her milk. She wished this moment could go on forever. The truth was, she didn’t want to go home and face the adoption battle with her parents. She was afraid it was a war she couldn’t win.

  Ten

  Callie borrowed Susan’s cell phone to call Billie on the way home. She could tell that her friend was a little hurt that she hadn’t called sooner, but after she heard about all that had happened, Billie understood. She was excited that Callie might have a chance to adopt the newborn foal. “Don’t try to finagle your parents into anything,” she said. “They won’t buy it. Just tell them the truth and hope they realize how much Moon Shadow means to you.” Callie knew it was good advice.

  Susan pulled into the driveway and Callie climbed out of the truck. “Thanks for the lift,” she said.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you and help you talk to your parents?” the veterinarian offered.

  Callie shook her head and waved good-bye to Susan. She wasn’t ready to ask her parents about Moon Shadow just yet. She needed to have all of the details straight before she approached them. This was too important to risk their saying no before she even had a chance to explain.