Scarecrow on Horseback

by C. S. Adler

  “Right,” a short, eager boy yelled out. The guests clapped politely at the end of the exhibition. Sally doffed his cowboy hat and jogged out of the barn on Rover, bouncing in an exaggerated way.

  Jeb called down the smallest boy first. Mel led Lily over to the mounting block and Jeb strapped a riding helmet onto the boy and helped him into the saddle. “Just kick your horse to start her walking,” Jeb told him. In short order, he had the boy reining to the left and to the right and stopping Lily.

  “See how easy it is? Bet you could do it, too,” Jeb said to Mel, loud enough for his audience to hear.

  Her face got red hot at the remark, and her stomach clenched. For fear of more public embarrassment, she said, “I'm out of here,” turned on her heel, and ran out of the barn. Halfway back to the corral she began to regret walking out on Jeb. What if he barred her from the corral? What if he forbade her to come near Lily again? He was the boss. He could do it.

  She wished she'd listened to Sally and tried to sweet-talk Jeb instead of getting mad at him. Why did she always mess up? She needed Lily. She needed Sally and the feeling of being useful and belonging somewhere.

  Chapter Three

  “I hear you walked out on Jeb,” Sally said to her the next morning. Mel was crouched beside Lily lifting the horse's hooves one by one as she used the hoof pick to dig out the crusts of dried mud. “He says you're touchy.”

  “I'm not. I just won't let him push me around.”

  “Yeah, well. He likes to tease. He's not a bad feller, Mel.”

  “He wouldn't talk to me last night at supper. He talked to my mother, but he wouldn't even look at me.”

  “Uh huh. He told me not to count on you for anything.”

  “He thinks I'm unreliable?” Mel was shocked. “That's not fair. Just because I walked out on him in the barn? I'm not that great a student, but I always do what the teacher says. Always.”

  Sally spat out the grass stem he was chewing on. “That's what I said, that you seemed like a dependable kid.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “But the way he thinks is that if you're too skittish to get on a horse's back, you'll likely get yourself in trouble working around horses.”

  “How am I going to get in trouble? Horses like me, and I like them.” Anger made Mel's heart thump as fast as a running rabbit. She looked around the corral at the horses standing in companionable groups. She'd begun to recognize some of them—Zorro and Stilts and the two handsome bays that Jeb and Sally had test ridden. She felt comfortable amidst the horses, as if she were somehow related to them, physically different, but with the same emotions. She could get close enough to a horse so they could read each other's mind the way human friends could. Until she had tried to ride him, she'd certainly been able to read Wonder Boy's mind.

  * * * *

  The second morning that Mel had come to clean out Wonder Boy's stall in the little barn that had been built for him, the palomino had raised his head and studied her. He'd taken a few steps toward her and stopped to chew at something beside him, but one eye stayed on her. He'd looked a little goofy, as goofy as an animal as golden as he could look, with his jaw moving from side to side and hay sticking out of both sides of his mouth.

  “Hi,” she'd said, keeping her throaty voice low and soft. “If you're looking for something better to eat, I can't help you. I'm just here to do Lisa's chores so she can sleep in. I'm going to clean up your poop and put in some fresh straw in case you want to lie down.”

  He'd bumped her leg lightly with his head.

  “Do horses like to be petted?” she'd asked him in surprise. “Like dogs? She'd reached out and stroked his neck. He stood still as if he liked it.

  She'd brought him an apple the next morning and she made up lines in a two-way conversation for him like, “What's new with you?” Her question.

  “Same old. Same old thing. Chomp my feed and hang out waiting for Lisa to ride me.

  How about you?” His answer.

  “Well,” she'd told him. “School's okay. I sit with Lisa's friends at lunch. They talk so much, all I have to do is listen and smile. They all like boys. Me, I prefer horses.”

  He bumped her chest with his nose. “I like you.”

  “Must be you think I smell good,” she'd said. “Maybe you like the soap I use, huh?” And she'd told him he was a good boy, and she scratched under his chin and around his ears, which he seemed to like.

  All Lisa's free time went in training Wonder Boy. There never was an hour to spare for Mel to ride him. “Why don't you bug my father about leasing a horse for you, Mel?” Lisa had asked her. Mel didn't have the nerve. She'd already been given so much—her own room after having slept on a folding cot or in the same bed as her mother for years, not to mention the luxury of calling Max's spacious house home. Just the year before in fifth grade, a girl had asked Mel why she kept wearing the same shirt so often. And in fourth grade in a different school in Arizona, Mel had been the only one not to go on the field trip to Sea World in San Diego because she hadn't asked Dawn to sign the slip and give her the money when she saw how expensive it was going to be. To have so much and to have Wonder Boy like her was enough to make Mel happy even if she didn't have a horse to ride.

  * * * *

  “What happened, Mel?” Sally broke into her thoughts to ask. His voice was buttery. “You have a bad fall?”

  “Sure,” she said to put him off. “Once I fell off a horse and banged my butt and got scraped up.”

  Sally shook his head. “No, uh uh. That wouldn't keep you from riding. You got more guts than that.”

  His faith in her pleased her. “Look,” she said. “You're right. Something happened, but I don't want to talk about it. Really. I don't.”

  “All right. I'll stop bugging you. Only I got to say this. Jeb can be pretty hard- nosed, and if you won't ride like he wants, he just might bar you from the corral to show you who's boss.”

  “But I need to be here with you and the horses, Sally. Can't you talk to him?”

  “Jeb don't take much advice from me. You think it over. Maybe you should talk to him yourself. ” Sally turned to go and then looked back at her to say, “If you change your mind about riding, Lily, I'll meet you in the big barn when I'm done work. That'll be about four. I'll stay right with you, Mel.” And he added, “Because I'd hate to lose my new assistant when I just got such a good one.” His grin spread his potato face even wider. His eyes above the grin shone with kindness. Before she could react though, he'd gone off to work on another horse.

  Mel stood riveted in place while Lily buried her nose in the feed bucket and munched noisily. The pointy- headed mountains peering down at the ranch below the sun-washed sky seemed to mock Mel as she laid her cheek against Lily's neck. She didn't doubt that Sally would have something to teach her about riding if she showed up at the ring at 4:00 p.m. She and Lily would do okay together maybe, as long as Sally was with them. But then what? She imagined Jeb's disgust when he saw her flopping in the saddle.

  “You're the worst rider I ever saw,” Lisa had screamed at her. “You even made Wonder Boy look bad. He would have won if it hadn't been for you. Scarecrow! You ruined him.”

  Scarecrow, too tall, too thin, awkwardly doing everything wrong. It really had been her fault that Wonder Boy hadn't won. Mel shuddered. If only Lisa hadn't broken her arm. If only winning hadn't meant so much to her.

  * * * *

  One of Lily's hooves still needed to be picked clean. Mel bent and gently pinched Lily above her fetlock. “Jeb won't bar me from the corral. Will he, Lily?” she asked the horse. Surely, he wouldn't.

  Lily snuffled contentedly as Mel got the brush from her jeans pocket and massaged Lily's smooth neck with it. Telling Jeb she was sorry might not be that hard. She was sort of sorry. But Sally would be waiting for her in the big barn at 4:00 p.m. Mel had no doubt he would wait for her as he had promised. What she didn't know was what she would do about it.

  Chapter Four

&n
bsp; By late afternoon, the fat golden sun had begun retreating behind the snow-streaked mountains to the west. What was left of its heat felt good in the big barn. Veils of sunshine slanted all the way from the rafters to the dirt floor, and the air smelled sweetly of hay and horses. Sally waited beside Lily. He had the delicate Arabian already tacked up and ready as if he'd been sure she'd come.

  “Come on,” Sally said when he saw Mel standing in the doorway, “I'll give you a boost up.”

  Mel had saved part of an apple from her lunch. She offered it to Lily, who sniffed it, licked it, then moved her head aside without taking it into her mouth. “Doesn't she like apples?”

  “Horses got their preferences just like people.”

  “Just like people,” Mel repeated in agreement, as she winged the half apple out the barn door for a lucky ground squirrel or chipmunk to find.

  Lily tossed her head at Mel's sudden movement, and Mel reached out to calm her, stroking her neck and whispering to her that everything was all right. “I don't weigh that much even though I'm tall,” she told Lily. “I won't hurt you.”

  “Ready?” Sally asked.

  “Ready,” Mel said, although she could hear her own heart beating a warning. She was about to risk Sally's good opinion of her by making a fool of herself. Still, she followed his directions and put her right foot in his cupped hands. Up she went, managing to swing her other leg over the saddle without hitting anything. And there she sat, mounted with the reins held properly for riding English style, but she was on a western saddle with a leather horn in front of her. Instinctively, she grabbed it.

  “No need to hold the horn. It's just there for emergencies.” Sally gently corrected her hands on the reins. The horse stood as statue-still as Mel could want. “Feel comfortable?”

  “No.”

  “Come on. You're doing fine. Just touch her with your heels to start her walking. I'll stay with you. I promise.”

  “Why do I have to walk?”

  “You won't have much fun standing still.”

  “I'd have more fun with both my feet on the ground.”

  “Don't be ornery, Mel. This isn't about fun, is it?”

  She thought of Jeb. “I'm sorry about how I acted in the barn yesterday,” she'd told him when she'd followed him into the tack room and found him alone there.

  “Okay, no big deal,” Jeb had said. “But when you got a job to do, you got to do it all the way.”

  “I know. I'm sorry.”

  “Okay,” he'd said and offered her a quick smile of forgiveness.

  Riding Lily was harder than making apologies. Mel felt awkward with her long legs pushed wide by Lily's broad chest, and her shoulders pushed back in an attempt to sit straight. “Am I sitting right?” she asked Sally.

  “Sure.” Just relax. No need to grip her with your knees, but you might tighten up on the reins a little. She needs to know you're in charge.”

  “You lead her for me, Sally.”

  “Hey, aren't you too old for a pony ride?” He shambled off to the railing on the opposite side of the barn, leaned back, and folded his arms. “Tug your reins to the right a bit. Walk Lily over here. Come on. You can do it.”

  “You said you'd stay with me,” Mel grumbled. She remembered how helpless she'd felt on Wonder Boy, unable to make him do anything he didn't chose to do.

  “Nudge her with your heels now,” Sally said.

  No way could Mel nudge Lily to get her started. No way could she move. She hated riding. She hated sitting on a horse's back and pretending she could control a big powerful animal by the touch of a heel or the movement of her hands.

  “Come on, Mel. Try it. I'm only four horse steps away. Walk her over here.” He crossed one boot over the other. Now he was tied hand and foot to himself.

  Fury melted the fear in Mel. Sally was forcing her to choose—roll off Lily and give up her chance to be with the horses on the ranch, or try to regain control of her muscles and make Lily walk toward him. She glanced down. She could just flop onto the dirt, get up and crawl out of the barn, and never speak to Sally again. But he was her friend, the only possible human one she'd found here. And Lily was waiting calmly, as if she wanted to be guided.

  Mel swallowed hard and quavered, “Come on, Lily. Go.” She pushed her heels up and back against the mare's side. Lily took a couple of steps forward and stopped.

  “You're holding the reins too tight,” Sally said. “She thinks you want her to stop.”

  “Come on, Lily, go,” Mel said, annoyed now. She released the reins slightly and nudged harder. Slowly, Lily walked across the barn. Mel steered her more to the left toward Sally, who was grinning triumphantly. Mel stuck her tongue out at him.

  “I suppose I look ridiculous up here. Why aren't you laughing?” Mel asked.

  “What do you mean? You look fine. Like you'd ridden all your life. You and Lily look good together.”

  “Oh sure.” She didn't believe him, but at least he wasn't making fun of her.

  “How about taking a tour of the ring?” Sally asked. “See if you can walk her around in a circle. You could even lope if you've a mind to.”

  “I don't have a mind to,” she said crossly. “Come on, Lily.” She laid the reins over Lily's neck, and the horse turned obligingly. A gentle nudge of the heels and Lily ambled away from Sally toward the far end of the barn.

  “She's easy to control,” Mel admitted to Sally when they'd arrived back where he was examining his nails and resting comfortably against the railing.

  His answer was to teach her to stop and to back up and even to trot a few steps. “I don't like trotting,” Mel grumbled as Sally helped her off the horse half an hour later.

  “Yeah, well Lily's got a bumpy trot. Loping's smoother. You can try that next time.”

  “I thought Jeb said some little kid was due to ride her.”

  “Not tomorrow. I'm leading a family ride tomorrow. You can ride tail for me on Lily. We'll be walking the whole way on a level trail. Nothing to it.”

  He made it sound so tame that Mel was tempted. “Would Jeb let me ride tail?” she asked.

  “I expect so. There's no one else around to do it. Like I said we're short-handed. Will be even after the college kids show up.”

  “I don't like Jeb,” Mel said.

  “Jeb's not a bad feller, just kind of full of himself.”

  “You like everybody, don't you, Sally?”

  “What? You mean because I like you?” he teased, and Mel jabbed his arm when he chuckled.

  * * * *

  That night when they were in their own cabin and her mother asked her what she'd been doing all day, Mel told her mother about her riding experience.

  “That's good, Mel. You might as well take advantage of all the free riding now you're here.”

  “I told you, Mom. It's not riding I like. Its horses. You don't like horseback riding, do you?”

  “Me? No. I'd rather use four wheels to get where I want to go, but I like looking at horses—from a distance. That head wrangler's not bad to look at either.”

  “You mean Jeb?” Mel asked in alarm.

  “Umm. He's a hunk. Too bad he's just a kid.”

  “Do you think he's nice?” Mel persisted.

  “I guess. Of course, I've barely talked to him. He seems kind of shy, although I hear he's got a girlfriend.”

  “She got mad at him and left. He's not nice, Mama. He puts Sally down in front of people, and he orders everybody around.”

  Her mother laughed. “Sally, your idol! Well, Jeb's the man in charge. So ordering everybody around is his job, Mel. As to how he treats Sally, that's between Sally and him, isn't it?”

  “Umm,” Mel said, but she knew how devastating mockery was and how hard it was to defend yourself against it.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Mel avoided having to ride tail on Lily by keeping away from the corral when the horses were being readied for the family trail rides. Then Lily was assigned to another small child for
a week. Meanwhile Sally kept complimenting Mel on her work as she helped him with his chores.

  “Seems like you got a special feel for horses. You sure communicate with them better than most folks,” he said.

  “Well, I've got a special feel for Lily. I wish she was my horse, like Rover is yours.”

  “You planning on riding her?”

  “No, but I could take care of her and watch over the little kids who ride her and like that.”

  “Might work,” Sally said. “Whyn't you check with Jeb?”

  “Would you ask him for me, please?”

  Sally grunted, but he complied.

  The next morning in the corral, Sally informed her, “Jeb says you're in charge of Lily.”

  Mel beamed.

  Every day that Lily was free, Mel exercised her on a lunge line, putting her from a trot to a lope. Mel liked working alone in the small outdoor ring on the other side of the brook. There no one could laugh at her for talking to the mare and pretending that Lily was answering her.

  “Ever think of joining a circus, Lily? You could have a beautiful lady standing on your back as you circled the ring while everybody applauded.”

  And Lily's answer. “I'd rather be here with you.”

  “Well, the mountains are great and the air is so fresh.”

  “Food's good, too,” Lily might say.

  “So do you like it when the day's over and you go up in your mountain pasture for the night?”

  “Yes, I like relaxing up there, but I'm glad to come down in the morning to be with you.”

  “You're a love, Lily.”

  “I love you, too.”

  The small ring was next to a so-called petting zoo that the ranch maintained for the guests. The petting zoo was just a fenced-in area with a shed where a few sheep, a baby calf, and a lively miniature goat were penned. The goat bleated and baahed and cavorted to get her attention whenever Mel passed by. She often stopped to pet it through the fence.

  When she wasn't working at scooping horse poop from the road, or currying Lily, or throwing saddle blankets and tack on horses' backs to get them ready for trail rides, Mel enjoyed taking guests' children to visit the animals in the petting zoo. The children loved to feed the calf. It bawled like a baby and sucked on a bottle, slobbering milk bubbles. The sheep were unfriendly and avoided being touched, but Mel's favorite was the goat. He hopped and skipped around the yard, trying hard to get out and often succeeding when the guest children left the gate open by mistake. The goat was lovable and funny, if pesty. He'd run at and butt little kids. Sometimes he frightened them and they didn't want to go near him.