Heartbreak Bronco

by Terri Farley

  The stallion gloried in his own speed, staying a half length ahead of the grulla’s reaching brown-black legs. Puffs of foam blew from Jinx’s open mouth. His ears pricked ahead. Gusts of breath sounded over his battering hooves. Once more, Jinx was transformed by running.

  Sam imagined the broken heart brand on his shoulder and saw the two halves fusing closed.

  Chapter Twelve

  Witch was galloping about a length to Jinx’s right, working to stay even with Jinx’s hindquarters, when Sam heard Jake say something.

  “Peel off, Sam.”

  Careful not to make Jinx shy with Sam in the saddle, Jake didn’t shout. He moved his head to one side, indicating she should swerve away from the Phantom.

  A quick glance showed Sam that Jake didn’t look worried.

  Unbelievable! Sam felt her lips turn up in a grin.

  The horses were running for the joy of it and so was she. A year ago, she wouldn’t have believed she could be riding at a gallop, safely and in control, across Nevada’s high desert. But she was.

  She let Jinx run a minute more, then slowly and carefully flexed her fingers against the reins.

  “Easy,” she told Jinx, but she braced for the sliding stop he’d pulled before.

  Abruptly, he settled into a jolting trot. Witch stayed alongside him, though the Phantom ran on.

  Come back, Sam thought. Her heart yearned after the wild stallion who’d once been her own.

  Necks arched and nostrils distended, Witch and Jinx slowed and stopped, but Sam’s eyes followed the Phantom.

  “Look,” she said breathlessly, and Jake didn’t have to ask where.

  The silver-white stallion swung his muscular shoulders to one side. Then he circled back.

  Yes!

  The Phantom half reared. His teeth clacked on summer air. Then his front hooves touched down and he shook his mane.

  “Wants to play,” Jake said. “Like a big dog.”

  “This boy wants to rest,” Sam said, patting Jinx’s neck.

  Although the grulla’s flicking ears said he’d noticed the stallion’s antics, Jinx tried to turn his tail toward the Phantom.

  “You’re not going home yet,” she told Jinx.

  She’d seen the Phantom for too few minutes in her life. She never knew when it might be the last time, and she refused to stop staring until he disappeared.

  With a snort so forceful it carried across the playa, the Phantom flipped his ropey forelock away from his eyes. He spun like a cutting horse and galloped back toward the foothills.

  His hoofbeats lasted for a full minute.

  Looking down, Sam saw her fingers tapping one at a time on the saddle pommel. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Faster and faster, they kept the tempo of the Phantom’s gait until his hooves struck almost all at once. And then he was gone.

  Amelia, Crystal, Brynna, and Gram were sitting at the kitchen table eating sandwiches frilled with lettuce when Sam and Jake got home.

  Sam felt sweaty and dirty, and she smelled like a horse. Not everyone found that appealing.

  “I want to ride him,” Amelia said as Sam finished washing her hands. “I’d give anything to ride him.”

  “Obviously, we had a real good time watching you,” Brynna said. Though she didn’t leave her seat at the table, Brynna looked like she wanted to get up and dance because of Amelia’s enthusiasm.

  “It could happen,” Sam told Amelia.

  “Hat,” Gram reminded, pointing.

  As she removed her hat, Sam blinked back the white alkali dust that showered down and stuck in her lashes. Some of the particles grated until tears started into her eyes.

  Her vision was fuzzy, but she was starving. She left her brown Stetson on a hook. Then, drawn by the scent of salami amid all that lettuce, she returned to the kitchen.

  “I was wondering when you two would get back.” Gram pushed her chair away from the table to assemble their lunches.

  “The horses were pretty tired,” Sam explained.

  “Jinx should enjoy his second grooming of the day, then,” Brynna said. “Sort of like a massage.”

  Gram nodded as she sliced pieces of bread from a homemade loaf, then laid them in a row on the wooden cutting board. She glanced over her shoulder and made an impatient wave at Jake, who still held his black hat, turning it in his hands.

  “Jake Ely, of course you’ll stay for lunch. You don’t have to be asked.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Jake muttered. “Thanks.”

  As Sam and Jake sat, Brynna bolted up.

  “I’ll go get Ace and Popcorn while you finish dessert.”

  Did Amelia and Crystal pick up Brynna’s hints? They dawdled over their sugar cookies, apparently unaware that one of them would get Popcorn and the other Jinx.

  Sam didn’t know how to feel about that. If she kept working with Jinx, he might be ready for the claiming race. That would make Clara happy, but then Jinx would be gone.

  If Amelia or Crystal worked with Jinx, he might be gentler, but unprepared to run next Saturday.

  Not sure what to hope for, Sam just bit into her sandwich. She’d have plenty to worry about once she got outside again.

  She’d be following Brynna’s directions and demonstrating on Ace. That could cause problems. Although she loved her pretty bay mustang with all her heart, he turned tricky when he thought he’d been ignored. She’d have to be on her toes.

  “Do horses care about snakes?” Crystal asked suddenly.

  A spark of uneasiness sizzled down Sam’s back. Why would Crystal want to know?

  Jake glanced her way. The same question showed in his eyes.

  “They don’t like them a bit,” Sam answered. “Why, did you see one?”

  Crystal made a noncommittal noise.

  “Don’t expect horses to stomp ’em to death like they do in the movies,” Jake told her.

  “Never?” Amelia asked, but Crystal talked right over her.

  “Brynna said snakes don’t come out at night. Is that true?”

  “Some do, to hunt,” Jake said. “Mostly we see ’em resting on rocks, trying to get warm. They’re cold-blooded, you know.”

  For a minute, there was only the sound of Gram’s knife, slicing through apples.

  “Are you thinking about becoming an herpetologist, dear?” Gram asked over her shoulder. “A snake expert,” she added when Crystal frowned in confusion.

  “No, just curious,” Crystal said.

  “Brynna should have the horses ready now,” Sam said, clearing her place.

  Gram kissed her on the cheek and handed her a plastic bowl full of apple chunks.

  “For the horses,” she said.

  Jake rode home with a promise to return in the morning for Sam’s written statement.

  “You owe me one,” Sam grumbled, but she didn’t really mind. She’d do anything to help Jake. After all, he was in this predicament because he’d spared Jinx.

  “Thanks, Brat,” Jake said. “If I keep my license, I’ll buy you anything on Clara’s menu.”

  “Don’t think I won’t collect,” Sam shouted after him.

  The afternoon passed quietly, with the girls grooming Jinx and Popcorn. It was immediately evident that Amelia, just as she’d said, had been around horses and loved them. It was just as obvious that Crystal was afraid of Popcorn.

  “He’s a sweet horse,” Sam told her. “Just hold your hand completely flat, like this, and offer him the apple. “Stop!” she shouted when Crystal’s fist, with a bit of apple showing at the top, trembled toward Popcorn. “If you do that, he can’t help but bite your fingers along with the treat.”

  “Forget it!” Crystal threw the apple on the ground.

  Unconcerned, Popcorn stretched to the end of his rope to reach it. Then, chewing, juice running from the corners of his mouth, he looked gratefully at the girl.

  “He’s thanking you,” Sam said.

  “He’s disgusting,” Crystal snapped.

  Sam drew a deep b
reath. Popcorn, with his wise blue eyes and accepting manner, would never qualify as “disgusting.”

  Crystal was asking for it.

  “I’ll work with Crystal, shall I?” Brynna said, stepping closer.

  “Just in time,” Sam said under her breath, then she walked over to Amelia, who’d just finished cleaning Jinx’s hooves.

  The bespectacled girl gave Jinx’s shoulder an admiring pat.

  “He’s really fast, isn’t he?” Amelia asked, tracing her finger over the gelding’s heart-shaped brand. “I mean, he doesn’t just look that way to me because I haven’t been around horses for a while, right?”

  Sam recognized the longing in Amelia’s eyes. There were people who liked riding and those who loved everything about horses—from the way they shimmered in the sun to the velvety crinkles on their lips. She was pretty sure Amelia fell into the second group.

  “He is really fast,” Sam admitted.

  “Could he win that claiming race?” Amelia asked suddenly. “I heard you talking about it and, uh, I read that flier you left on your bed.”

  Sam didn’t call Amelia a sneak, but she wanted to. She was certain she’d slipped the flier under her pillow—not left it on her bed.

  “Darton’s near here, right?” Amelia asked.

  Sam nodded. Did Amelia know that the winning horse in a claiming race would probably go away to a new home?

  “I’m feeling kind of sad that Clara wants to enter him in a claiming race,” Sam said.

  “Why?” Amelia’s face returned to this morning’s milky paleness.

  “It’s not really bad,” Sam assured her. “But people put a bid on the horse before the race and whoever’s bid is highest claims him after the race.”

  “Claim him? Like buy him?” Amelia sputtered. “But what if you don’t want to sell your horse?”

  “Then I guess you’d be silly to enter him in a claiming race,” Sam said. Suspicion flared in her mind when Amelia avoided meeting Sam’s eyes by taking off her glasses and polishing them with the hem of her tee-shirt.

  “Then I guess you wouldn’t want to enter that white stallion. Brynna said he used to be yours.”

  “He was,” Sam sighed.

  Even though it was obvious Amelia was just trying to distract her, Sam wished she were sitting down by the cottonwoods edging the La Charla River, planning how to race the Phantom. She wanted to look up and see the stallion coming toward her through the shallows….

  “Hey, Sam,” Amelia said suddenly. “I know we’re supposed to wait until the end of the week, but do you think Brynna might let me ride Jinx sooner? I just can’t wait.”

  “Let’s get through today,” Sam said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised. Brynna is pretty cool that way.”

  After dinner that night, Amelia was elbow-deep in dishwater, grumbling.

  “I didn’t know there was anyone in America who didn’t have a dishwasher,” she said. “The hot water steams up my glasses, the detergent makes my hands red, and it’s a total waste of time.”

  “Talk to my Gram,” Sam advised her. “She doesn’t think they get as clean in a dishwasher.”

  “I think it’s the other way around,” Crystal said as she handed Samantha a dried plate.

  “Don’t tell me,” Sam said as she set the plate on a shelf in the pine cupboard.

  Amelia had just turned off the water, empathically, when the door to the living room swung open and Brynna came in with a stack of papers.

  “Homework time,” she said cheerfully.

  “No way,” Crystal said, throwing the dishtowel down on the counter. “I don’t even do homework during school. Why should I do it in summer?”

  Amelia grumbled her agreement until Brynna said, “It’s horse homework.”

  “Really?” Sam asked.

  “Sure,” Brynna said, giving Sam, Amelia, and Crystal copies of the handout.

  Sam considered the page.

  JINX’S FREEZE MARK

  Use the table below to fill in these blanks:

  JINX’S BIRTH DATE: ______________________

  JINX’S HOME RANGE IS IN THIS STATE: _______

  KEY TO THE ALPHA ANGLE SYMBOL:

  Arizona

  80001–16000

  California

  160001–240000

  Colorado

  240001–320000

  Idaho

  320001–400000

  Montana

  400001–480000

  Nevada

  480001–640000

  New Mexico

  640001–720000

  Oregon

  0–80000

  Utah

  720001–800000

  Wyoming

  800001–880000

  Sam smiled. This was a first. Usually she felt nervous when faced with a sheet of numbers, but not this time.

  By matching the freeze mark on Jinx’s neck with this chart, she could learn his age and where he’d come from. This could be exciting.

  “I don’t get how we’re supposed to do this,” Amelia said.

  “What’s a freeze mark?” Crystal asked.

  “The Bureau of Land Management—the government agency that rounds up wild horses when it’s necessary, then puts them up for adoption—shaves the left side of each wild horse’s neck, swabs it with a little alcohol, then presses on a pattern with liquid nitrogen.”

  Both Amelia and Crystal recoiled, and though Sam knew the process wasn’t supposed to be painful, it gave her the creeps, too.

  “It’s cold, but it doesn’t hurt,” Brynna insisted, “and it leaves a permanent, unchangeable mark telling the horse’s age and home state.”

  “Who cares about that stuff?” Crystal asked wearily, but Brynna refused to be provoked.

  “Lots of people,” she said. “And tonight, so do you. Right now,” Brynna said, handing each of them a pencil, “the three of you will go outside and copy Jinx’s freeze mark. I’ve already checked it and you won’t be able to read the last few digits without reshaving his neck. For now, though, all I want you to do is copy down these.”

  Brynna tapped her copy of the handout example, pointing out the position of the symbol showing Jinx’s year of birth and the first number of the state where he’d been captured.

  “Got it,” Sam said, eager to unravel the mystery.

  “So this will tell us who he really is,” Amelia said slowly.

  “Actually,” Brynna said, “we already know he’s a sweet-tempered horse that runs like the wind, but balks when you ask him to do it. Still, the freeze mark will tell us more.”

  For some reason, Sam was reminded of the talk she’d had with Brynna on the night before Amelia and Crystal arrived. She’d heard facts about the girls’ troubles, but meeting them had told her much more.

  Sam pushed the thought aside and asked, “Can we go now?”

  Then, they did.

  Jinx and Popcorn nickered a welcome as Sam opened the round pen gate.

  Sam found she had to divide her attention between Amelia, who rushed into the round pen, and Crystal, who insisted she could do the assignment just fine by peering between the corral’s rails from outside.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” Amelia said as Popcorn nuzzled her pocket, sniffing for a treat.

  When Crystal gave a critical huff, Amelia didn’t seem to notice.

  That’s progress, Sam thought, but then she poised her pencil to start copying the freeze mark.

  “Hey Jinx, good boy,” she crooned to the grulla.

  Jinx stood against the far fence, ears pricked to attention. Clearly he was interested, but he wasn’t coming any closer.

  “Stay back,” Sam told Amelia when she started to approach the gelding.

  Amelia’s eyes widened in surprise. “But why? He’s gentle. Brynna said so.”

  “He’s sweet-tempered, but he’s had a hard day,” Sam explained. “Let him relax a little. You can see well enough to write down those lines, right?”

  “I guess
,” Amelia said, giving in.

  Looking from the horse to her pad, back and forth, Sam wrote down Jinx’s freeze mark.

  “Time to call it a day, girls,” Brynna called from the porch.

  “Just in time,” Crystal said, and both Amelia and Sam agreed they’d barely gotten it down, too.

  “Before you go,” Brynna said, as the girls started for the bunkhouse, “let me tell you to keep your answer secret. Tomorrow there’ll be a prize for anyone who’s correctly transcribed Jinx’s birth date and state of origin.”

  “What’s she think this is, kindergarten?” Crystal mumbled.

  Amelia shrugged, but Sam noticed she’d folded her paper in quarters.

  Sam let the other girls use the bunkhouse shower first. As they did, she matched the angles with the numbers. Once she had, she thought that Jinx must have found his escape from Clara’s coffee shop bittersweet.

  The smoky-silver gelding had finally come home.

  By dawn the next day, Sam was convinced there wasn’t a single reason she and Brynna couldn’t have a meeting at eight thirty instead of five thirty.

  She’d tried to stay awake until Amelia and Crystal had fallen asleep last night, but she’d failed.

  Amelia’s whispered “no!” had roused her, sometime after midnight, but Sam hadn’t asked what they were talking about. Instead, she’d taken comfort in hearing Amelia stand up to Crystal. Then, Sam had rolled over and gone back to sleep.

  Now she pulled herself into a sitting position and rubbed her face with both hands. When she dropped her hands into her lap, she thought she saw Amelia’s open eyes snap closed.

  Sam glanced at Crystal’s bunk. The girl was wrapped like a mummy in her covers.

  Moving on tiptoe, Sam went to the bathroom sink and threw cold water on her face. Wide awake, she dressed, then she sat on her bunk to pull on her boots. There was no way she was going down that path in socks. She shuddered. She wouldn’t sit on a boulder she might be sharing with a rattlesnake, even on a dare.

  She picked up her homework and, once outside, Sam sprinted toward the ranch house.

  “Are you going to let Amelia ride Jinx before Thursday?” Sam asked once she and Brynna faced each other over hot drinks.