Scarecrow on Horseback
Page 14
“Ten sharp then,” Jeb said. “You better show up in that barn on that horse, Mel, or both Sally and me are going to be disappointed in you. Hear?”
She nodded, because she had no breath left to answer. Quickly, she walked to the small corral and stood there holding onto Cheyenne's warm pulsing neck for the longest time. Finally he got restless and began to sidestep away from her.
At ten o'clock Mel had Cheyenne tacked up and ready, but she couldn't bring herself to mount him yet. Less than a year ago Lisa had called her a scarecrow on horseback. Had she really changed that much? Was her bad luck finally over? With a sigh, Mel led Cheyenne across the road and entered the indoor barn. Everyone was already seated in the stands listening to Jeb's endless spiel about the ranch and the rules to do with riding. The strangers sitting front and center had to be the owner and his children and grandchildren.
Sally was standing beside Jeb in the middle of the arena listening to him. Jeb was droning on about how he matched the level of riding skill to the various trails, and how he chose which horse would be a guest's mount for the length of his stay. Finally, Jeb turned to Mel who was standing a few feet behind him quietly holding Cheyenne's lead.
“Now Mel here is the daughter of our good-looking office manager. Mel's got a special way with horses, especially sick ones. That handsome fella hanging over her shoulder was a wild mustang, never had a saddle on him, never ridden by a human being before Mel got hold of him. Even now he won't let anyone but her ride him. So this demonstration of the basics of riding may turn out to be a little unusual. But we'll see. You ready to mount him, Mel?”
She looked at Sally. This was a test. She'd never been good at tests, but she had better ace this one. “Go, girl!” she told herself, and she swung lightly into the saddle. She gathered the reins in her right hand and waited until Jeb had finished explaining about not walking behind a horse, and which side to mount from, and that guests used mounting blocks for safety's sake even if they thought they didn't need them, and that children were required to wear helmets.
“To signal a horse to walk—” Jeb said, and Mel put Cheyenne into a walk. While she was listening for Jeb's signal to turn left and then right, back up, turn around, trot and lope, she was watching herself perform. She felt floaty and secure in what she was doing. Cheyenne seemed to be concentrating hard on getting everything just right. He had never been more responsive to her touch. It seemed as if she could have signaled him to fly and he would have, would have tried at least. She loped around the ring and as she approached Jeb and Sally, she saw Sally's ear-to-ear grin. Abruptly, she pulled Cheyenne up short right at Sally's feet and doffed her riding helmet to him. The audience murmured and began clapping.
“I'm proud of you, girl,” Sally said.
“I want you to be. Don't forget me, Sally.”
“As if I could ever.”
She leaned down and kissed his cheek, then she turned Cheyenne smartly and walked him out of the barn and back to his corral. For a long time after she had stripped him and brushed him down, she stood leaning against him, thinking. Nothing remained the same in your life, not the friends you made and moved away from, not even a substitute father who loved you but wasn't really your father. Possibly, her mother might yet take a notion to whisk them out of here and set them up someplace new, just as suddenly as she had last spring. Even the horse, who felt more like her soul mate than any human, could betray her by accident. The unexpected was always lurking in the shadows to change life in an instant, just like Sally said. But no longer was Mel going to cover her eyes and hide from life. No, she would risk. And if trouble came her way again, she would dredge up enough courage to face it and work through it.
Next spring she would be a wrangler, the youngest wrangler on the dude ranch. And when the storm came and the thunder rolled close by, she would deal with it. Maybe dealing with it would strengthen her for the next challenge. Anyway, she was proud of herself for coming through for Sally. Anyway, she was proud of herself at last.
About the Author
C. S. Adler settled in Tucson, Arizona after spending most of her life in upstate New York where she was an English teacher at Niskayuna Middle School for nearly a decade. She is a passionate tennis player, grandmother and nature lover, and has been a full time writer since the publication of her first children’s book, THE MAGIC OF THE GLITS.
That book won both the William Allen White Award and the Golden Kite Award. Her novel, THE SHELL LADY’S DAUGHTER, was chosen by the A.L.A. as a best young adult book of 1983. WITH WESTIE AND THE TIN MAN won the Children’s Book Award of the Child Study Committee in 1986 and that committee commended many of her novels. SPLIT SISTERS IN 1987 and GHOST BROTHER in 1991 were I.R.A. Children’s Choices selections. ONE SISTER TOO MANY was on the 1991 Young Adults’ Choices list. ALWAYS AND FOREVER FRIENDS and EDDIE’S BLUE WINGED DRAGON were on a 1991 I.R.A. 99 Favorite Paperbacks list. ONE UNHAPPY HORSE won the ASPCA Henry Berg Award in 2002.
Many of her books have been on state lists and have also been translated and published in Japan, Germany, England, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, and currently Turkey.
Website: www.c-s-adler.com
Twitter: @csawrite
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C. S. Adler, Scarecrow on Horseback