Bittersweet Farm 2: Joyful Spirit

by Barbara Morgenroth

  “That’s your last schooling show,” Lockie told her.

  “Good. I was bored.”

  “You won’t be after this.”

  “Then it’ll be the first time in my life I’m not,” Greer said as she led Counterpoint back to the trailer.

  Chapter Fourteen

  We talked about dinner on the way home. Take-out, but what? Pizza or Chinese or buffalo burgers from the Grill Girl in town? It would be so early when we finished our chores and cleaned up, I suggested we eat by the stream. Lockie said he wasn’t going to carry pizza that far, what was wrong with eating at the picnic bench behind the barn if we had to eat outside with the bugs.

  “You choose. Next time I’ll choose,” I said. “Truthfully, how did Greer do?”

  “She’s found her niche in life and the horse that can do everything she needs. I hope she can keep focused on it for her sake.”

  “She was better today.”

  “If shredding her ribbon is a sign that Greer’s becoming more socialized, then you are much more of an optimist than I am.”

  “She gave you her hat to wear. She doesn’t let people wear her clothes.”

  “As an upside to her, she is very pretty.”

  “Greer’s always been the beautiful daughter.”

  “Tali, I’m not comparing the two of you.”

  “I’m just stating a fact. She’s very difficult to ignore like an over-bright light bulb glaring into your eyes. Her mother, Victoria, is an ageless beauty, and works at it, going to spas and Swiss clinics continually.”

  “Speaking of clinics, I’m going to one in October.”

  “So you don’t feel well. You didn’t think to tell me?”

  “Tali, quit it. It’s a dressage clinic with Ula Grahn, the Swedish medalist, and I’ll be away about three days. I’ll stay with Marilyn Theissen.”

  We had bought CB from the Theissens who lived in Pennsylvania.

  “Why do you want to attend a clinic?”

  “Everyone needs to work with someone who sees you with fresh eyes.”

  “Please be careful.”

  “You know I am.”

  Did I know that?

  Lockie turned the van slowly into the driveway of the farm. Greer had arrived ahead of us and was waiting at the barn to take Counterpoint into the wash stall and clean him after a day when he barely broke a sweat.

  CB nickered to me as I came down the aisle. “You just think I’m going to produce a carrot for you.” He made his gimme face, stretching his neck, looking pathetic so I took a carrot from my tote bag and broke it into a couple pieces for him.

  “I know this is the last thing you want to hear,” Lockie started as he put his hand on CB’s neck. “You need to step-up the training for the hunter pace, both of you.”

  “I know. Would you come with me?”

  “That would involve me riding.” Lockie was smiling.

  “You do when I’m not looking anyway.”

  “I do.” He put his hand behind my neck, drew me to him and kissed me lightly. “Yes. I will ride with you a couple times a week.”

  I put my arms around him. “Lockie.”

  “Yes, I’ll be careful.”

  “No.”

  “No I won’t be?”

  “It’s not what I meant.” I paused. The comfort radiated from him like the setting sun at the end of a perfect summer day. “Just Lockie.”

  “Silly Filly. Everything is going to be okay.”

  My phone started ringing.

  “Get it. We have to get ready to go forage for some food anyway.”

  I clicked on the phone. “What?”

  “Whatever you two are doing down there, come up to the house for the big surprise.” Greer hung up.

  ***

  Three minutes later, we walked into the kitchen.

  “Gram!” I said in shock.

  Greer was laughing off to the side of the room.

  My grandmother embraced me, kissed me, then held me at arm’s length. “Look at you. How big you’ve grown!”

  I saw Greer mouthing the words at the same time.

  My father and grandfather entered just as Jules was plating bite-sized appetizers.

  “My two favorite girls,” my grandfather said as he gave me a kiss.

  “Hi. This is a surprise,” I managed to say.

  Since my grandparents lived in North Carolina, we only saw them a few times a year. After my grandfather retired, quite young and full of it, they traveled and caroused their way around the world and elsewhere. The last visit we had was when they were on their way to boat down the Danube in the spring.

  Jules arrived with the plate and gave me a nudge.

  “Right. Miri and Shay Swope, this is Lockie Malone our trainer. Lockie, these are my grandparents who live in North Carolina and whom we rarely see.”

  Lockie and my grandparents shook hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and see where Greer and Talia got their exceedingly fine genes.”

  My grandfather laughed.

  My father laughed.

  Greer would have been doubled over if she didn’t have so much practice with them. We didn’t agree on much but Greer and I did share the embarrassment of these shock and awe visits during which we were practically pushed up against a doorway to measure how much we had grown since last time.

  “We just returned from New Zealand. It’s winter there, you know.”

  “It’s such a lovely country,” my grandmother said.

  “And the water goes down the drain in the opposite direction,” Greer added.

  My grandmother looked at me. “Is that true?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “It always went straight down when I was watching.”

  “I think it’s less noticeable in a sink and you probably need to look at a bathtub,” Lockie said.

  “I have nothing to do besides standing there watching water drain?”

  “That’s true, Mom, you’re very busy overseeing your charities and we have a dinner reservation,” my father said.

  “We’re going out?”

  My grandfather put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me to him so tightly I that was almost lifted off my feet. Greer was laughing safely from the other side of the table.

  “The Silas Turnbull Inn,” my father replied.

  It was one of the oldest taverns in the state and famous for its fine dining. We rarely went there because neither Greer nor I wanted to be bored to death before the food was served.

  “It was so nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Swope. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow. If not, have a nice trip to wherever you’re going.” Lockie began to turn for the door and Jules grabbed his arm.

  “We’re all going out to eat,” Jules said.

  Greer didn’t bother holding in her laughter.

  ***

  Four hours later, on the sagging, horrible couch, I snuggled up against Lockie and that made the whole somnolence-inducing evening worthwhile.

  We had listened to stock market talk, brass fittings talk, vacation talk, then back to finance, food and of course, Greer’s stellar performance of the day. I spent more time trying not to yawn than following anything discussed.

  “I’m sorry.” I put my hand on his chest and felt his warmth on my skin.

  “For what?” Gently, Lockie stroked my head.

  “You must have been so bored.”

  “By your grandparents? Not at all. Your grandfather took the business he inherited and rescued it. They teach about what he did in business schools. If he’s gallivanting around the world now, he deserves it. He must have put in twenty-six hour days for years.”

  “Is that why we’re all screwed up?”

  “You’re not, and Greer? She’s just very spirited.”

  “That’s letting her off the hook.”

  “She’ll get with the program eventually.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes, because I know her father and now her grandparents. Do you know how many
businesses are lost due to mismanagement? Ten years of bad decisions long before you were born and you wouldn’t be living at this wonderful farm. Your grandfather did that for you.

  “I read about Clarence Mackay. He lost the fortune he inherited. All the family’s art treasures were sold at auction, pieces went to museums and collectors all over the world and then the bulldozers came and razed the mansion. Ticky tacky boxes were built on the site.”

  “My mother used to sing that song to me.”

  “I’ll bet she did. You’re lucky. That’s it. Instead of Silly I should call you Lucky.”

  “I don’t feel lucky very often.”

  “Start.” Lockie brushed a kiss across my skin.

  “I’m lucky right now. I’m sitting with you on this sofa, even if it should be burned for Walpurgis Night.”

  “When?”

  “It was in a book my mother read to me. On the night of April 30 in Northern Europe they would have a huge festival with dancing and bonfires to celebrate the arrival of spring.”

  “We don’t have springs in this couch,” Lockie commented.

  “No, and by the end of the year your house will be finished. I hope that means you’re staying.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Lockie teased.

  I squeezed his side.

  “Someday you may change your mind about me living here.”

  “Someday a large asteroid might hit the planet and wipe out life as we know it,” I replied.

  “Good point. We should stock up on freeze dried meals in case.”

  “If we’re all dead, why do we need a year’s worth of dried scrambled eggs?” I asked.

  “Plan on surviving the asteroid strike, Tali.”

  I shook my head.

  “If you don’t survive, who will be around to nag me to take better care of myself?”

  “You’ll find someone,” I replied.

  “You said everyone would be wiped out.”

  “You haven’t seen many sci-fi movies. There are always communities of survivors like in Australia.”

  “And Montana.”

  “There you go. When the asteroid hits, start walking,” I advised him.

  His phone began ringing. “I have to get this. It’s probably about Memento.” Lockie clicked on his cell phone. “Lockie Malone. Oh. Uh huh. Yeah. No problem. See you.” He clicked off the phone and reached over to put it on the end table. “You need to go back to the house, Silly.”

  “Why? Do you have a girl coming to spend the night?”

  “No. Josh.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I sat up. “Why is Josh coming here?”

  “Silly, that’s Josh’s business.”

  “Why are you suddenly best friends?”

  “Go to back the house and go to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.” Lockie kissed me.

  “I wanted to snuggle on the couch.”

  “So did I. We’ll snuggle tomorrow. Tonight I snuggle with Josh.”

  “Lockie.”

  “I’m kidding. He’s not my type. I’m doing this because he was important to you.”

  I sighed. “How am I supposed to go home after you say something like that?”

  “I wanted to make it as hard as I could on you.”

  “You succeeded.”

  ***

  When I reached my bedroom, I didn’t look out the window to see when Josh drove in. After reading for a couple hours, I finally felt sleepy, turned off the light and slid down between the sheets. Even though I had taken a shower, it was as if I could still smell the scent of Lockie on my skin. I rolled over and fell asleep.

  ***

  In the morning, I went to the barn without having breakfast and saw Josh’s car was still there. Entering the barn, Pavel was beginning to feed the horses.

  “Lockie’s not down yet?” I asked.

  “I haven’t seen him,” Pavel answered as he wheeled the cart down the aisle containing the large buckets of grain being doled out to each horse as per the instructions Lockie left on each stall door.

  Taking a small bucket, I scooped up CB’s breakfast and brought it to him while he talked to me the entire time.

  I could barely get it into the feed tub with his head in the way. “Yes, you’re starving to death.” I ran my hand down his barrel. “I can feel every rib. Why, you’re all skin and bones, covered by layers of fat and rock hard muscle. I’ll throw you some hay if you can manage to wait that long.”

  I closed the stall door, headed to the hay room and hoisted several large bales of fragrant second cutting onto the hay cart. Most of the horses would eat all the hay they wanted while they were in their stalls. Some were on more of a diet than that, Butch, for one, now that he was retired and out to pasture much of the time. Most veterinarians would say the best feed was hay but depending on their work and health, all our horses received rations of grain and some supplements.

  As I wheeled the cart onto the aisle, I nearly bumped into Josh. “Hi.”

  It was as though he was trying to get past me but I still got a good look at him.

  “What happened to you?”

  Josh wouldn’t lift his face to me.

  “He had a little too much to drink and ran into a door,” Lockie said. “Don’t do that again, Josh.”

  “No, I won’t. Thanks, Lockie. See you, Tal.” Josh practically ran down the aisle.

  I turned to Lockie. “There’s a scuff mark on his cheekbone, he’s getting a black eye and on the other side of his face, there’s a bruise. Tell me how you do that by running your face into a door.”

  “If Josh wanted you to know, he’d tell you.”

  “Why is he telling you?”

  Lockie looked at me as though I already knew the answer.

  “Do I need to be worried about him?”

  “You don’t need to be worried about anything except going to the house and having breakfast with me. Then we have horses to exercise, the crew is coming to finish up the outside course and this afternoon someone is coming to look at Memento.”

  “I’m worried about Josh,” I admitted as we left the barn.

  “That’s why he was trying to sneak out. Josh cares about you and wanted to subvert your usual over-reaction.”

  Over-reaction? “I always told him ‘don’t go to gay bars’.”

  “Talia, stop. He’s a man. Josh has to make these decisions for himself.”

  “Legally, he’s not. At his age, it’s against the law.”

  “So are a lot of things but people do them anyway.”

  “You mix alcohol with ...”

  We walked up the driveway together and, smiling, he let me struggle.

  “This is becoming such a fascinating conversation that I can hardly wait to see how you’re going to extricate yourself from the hole you’re digging.”

  “Desires ...”

  “Desires?” Lockie put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me.

  “Josh looks like an adult and people ...drunk people could mistake him for someone who ...”

  “Yes?”

  “Wants the same thing they do.”

  Lockie opened the kitchen door for me. “You are so sweet.”

  “There’s nothing sweet about it.”

  “Yes, you achieved a new level of adorableness in trying to avoid saying certain words.”

  “What words is she avoiding?” Jules asked as she cut up some honeydew melon.

  “Never mind.” I went to the stove.

  “All right then. What do you want for breakfast,” she asked me. “What words?” Jules asked Lockie.

  “Josh stayed with Lockie last night.”

  Jules inhaled audibly. “Why?”

  “That’s what this is about. Lockie won’t say and when I saw Josh just now his face was bruised. Both sides. That would make the cover story that he ran into a door a complete fabrication.”

  “That does sound serious,” Jules said.

  “It is.”

  “Josh wants to deal wit
h his life in his own way. Just the way you want to deal with your life, Tal, and the way I want to deal with mine.”

  “No, you’re not allowed to deal with your life in the way you choose,” I said pouring him a mug of hot water and plopping a tea bag into it.

  “How did I know that?” He asked sitting at the table.

  “We’re having brunch later for your grandparents, Tal. Maybe you want to wait for that meal and have something to tide you over right now.”

  “I have work at the barn all morning.”

  “Dodged the bullet on that one,” Jules said with a wink as she handed me two bowls full of melon and berries.

  Greer entered the kitchen dressed in her everyday breeches.

  “Hi,” I said, contemplating what caused her to be doing awake and conscious so early.

  “Hi,” she replied going to get the coffee, then found her place at the table. “I know we don’t have anything on the schedule for today, Lockie, but would it be possible to have a session on Spare this morning?”

  Jules and I exchanged a look. Something had happened to Greer overnight and a pod person had been exchanged for the standard issue.

  “Yes. Tali is riding CB this morning on the flat. You may join her and then we can do some work over fences.”

  I waited for the explosion.

  “Thank you,” Greer replied.

  “Would you like to ride Memento this afternoon for some buyers coming to look at him?”

  Greer was baffled. “Me?”

  “He’s an equitation horse and you’re an extremely accomplished equitation rider. You’d show him to his best advantage.”

  She hesitated for a second. “Yes.”

  Another entity really had walked into her body overnight and I began to wonder if we needed to perform an exorcism on her or if we should just accept the new personality and forget Greer ever existed.

  “If I’m back in time from my lunch date,” Greer added.

  The poles hadn’t shifted after all. Earth was safe on its axis.

  “Tali will be here, she’ll ride,” Lockie replied and finished his tea.

  Greer glanced at me. I nodded.

  “I’ll cancel lunch. If it will make you happy.”

  “It would,” Lockie said pushing back from the table. “I’d like to see more of you at the barn.”