by Terri Farley
Cricket waved to get a woman’s attention. The name was familiar, but Darby didn’t recognize her.
“You’ve got a litter of pups at home, don’t you, Lisa? That’s what I thought. Get away from that colt. You don’t want to make your own babies sick.”
“But we know what we’re doing with horses,” Ann protested when Cricket finally looked back at the girls.
“That’s just the point,” Cricket insisted. “I don’t want anyone who’s going to have contact with horses in the next forty-eight hours going into that barn. Be right back.”
Cricket took the bucket herself and dashed toward a silver tanker at the far end of the field. She stood in a line of volunteers, all waiting for water.
Beyond Cricket, Darby saw a pewter-gray horse flecked with black. It looked like Medusa, the wild mustang Kit had adopted. As Darby tried to get a better look at the horse, a man shouting into a cell phone about medicinal suppositories jostled her, and she lost sight of the horse.
“Let’s go inside,” Darby said, grabbing Ann’s arm. “It’s making me crazy that I can’t help.”
For the next hour, she, Ann, and the thirtyish woman named Lisa managed the phones as Cricket had asked them to do.
Cricket stuck her head in once to say that they were supposed to discourage people from bringing more animals to the center.
“Right now, I’m praying that the plane that’s supposed to pick up all the non-equines is really going to land at Hapuna Airport and take these poor critters to the Humane Society on Oahu. They have much better facilities—” Cricket was gone before she finished the sentence.
Between phone calls, Darby, Ann, and Lisa had choppy conversations.
“It’s so good to see somebody besides Toby and Buck,” Ann said, referring to her younger brothers.
“Kimo and Tutu are picking up the pony and as soon as he shows up, I’ve got to go with them—”
“—house guest and a litter of pit bull pups, but she’ll be gone when I get home because—”
“—have no idea what it’s like playing dress-up and magic show instead of—”
“And I want to be generous, but I’m afraid for Hoku—”
“—lowlife snitch ratted her out for making a first-day mistake and she lost the only decent job she’s ever had!”
Darby’s stomach dropped sickeningly. Now she knew why Lisa Miller’s name sounded familiar. Dee had said she was staying in town with her girlfriend Lisa Miller and leaving Honi to fend for herself.
But Darby hadn’t told anyone about the stolen hay. What had Dee done to get fired?
“Aren’t you just amazed at the number of people who are calling to help?” Ann asked.
“All the phones have stopped ringing, but not my ears,” Lisa Miller said.
Darby glanced at the clock. Kimo and Tutu would have to be back soon, wouldn’t they? It was lunchtime. She’d been here for two hours.
“How’s everything going in here?” Cricket came in and surveyed the office.
“Fine, but Cricket”—Darby stood, keeping her back to Lisa Miller as she lowered her voice—“I have to tell you, four extra bales of hay were accidentally delivered to the ranch.”
Cricket rolled her eyes. “We had lots of those accidents yesterday, and the ‘help wanted’ sign is back in the window.”
Darby didn’t have any idea how much a bale of hay was worth, but she reached in her pocket.
“I have some money,” she said.
“Don’t touch me!” Cricket yelped. “I shouldn’t even be around you guys. Darby, you could infect Hoku.”
With her head, she motioned for Darby to step outside the office.
“I know Jonah’s good for a few dollars’ worth of hay,” she said. “Keep your money in your pocket. But thanks for being honest.”
Just then Kimo’s Ram Charger pulled up to the curb.
Tutu’s white hair shone from the passenger’s seat. She was half turned around, looking back at Honi.
“Is that a horse in the back of Kimo’s truck?” Cricket asked. “Oh, no you don’t.” She ran around to the driver’s window. “You can’t leave her here, Kimo. No! I’m sorry, but there’s no room for her. I just can’t!”
For the first time during this crazy day, it sounded to Darby as if Cricket was losing her grip on her emotions.
Tutu’s melodious voice soothed over all the other sounds, and though Darby couldn’t tell what her great-grandmother said, Cricket’s shoulders sagged in relief.
Tutu opened her door and beckoned for Darby to climb in, but she held a finger against her lips.
Every time she saw Tutu, it was like seeing a glimpse of her future, Darby thought. In her pink shawl and loose-fitting purple dress, Tutu had the strong posture of a young woman, but white hair fell in wisps from the scarf tied around her oval face.
Heavy dark brows topped piercing eyes. And if they’d been blue like Darby’s, instead of brown, Tutu could have been Darby in about seventy more years.
Darby crept into the truck as quietly as she could, but the front seat was open to the truck bed and she still wakened the pony.
Honi lay on her side in the back of the truck. As they drove away from the Animal Rescue barn, she began rolling.
“Tutu,” Darby said, “Honi’s really sick, isn’t she?”
“As soon as we can get her on her feet and walking, we’ll see.”
Tutu opened her medicine bag and took out a twist of waxed paper.
“I need to put this into the corner of her mouth,” she told Darby.
“What is it?”
Tutu poured something that looked like pizza seasoning onto her palm. “A mix of herbs to keep her calm until we can get her out of here,” Tutu said, and then, with surprising flexibility for a woman her age, she hung over the seat. Kimo drove smoothly as she petted the pony’s coarse mane and talked to her in Hawaiian.
Darby didn’t offer to help. It didn’t seem right to make Tutu do this alone, but she had Hoku and the other ‘Iolani horses to consider.
For a single instant, the pony’s eyelids snapped open and the whites were all Darby could see of her eyes. Honi moved her lips in rubbery attempts to escape Tutu’s index finger as she slipped the herbs into the corner of her mouth. And then the pony sighed, as if she was too weary to fight the indignity.
“I think you got them all into her mouth,” Darby said.
Tutu settled back into her seat and pulled her pink shawl closer around her shoulders. She looked like she could use a nap, Darby thought, but her great-grandmother was wide-awake and thinking.
“Where should we put her when we get back to the ranch?” Tutu asked Kimo.
“Hmph?” Kimo jerked as if the question had startled him.
Or maybe Tutu had wakened him. Since he was the one driving, that was a scary thought.
“Round pen,” he recommended, and Darby nodded.
That was the best suggestion, but what if Honi’s illness was contagious? Could it become airborne and infect the other horses?
Thank goodness Blue Moon had recovered from his colic and Kimo had moved him this morning. The broodmares, foals, and yearlings in the lower pasture would be safe, but what about Hoku and the cremellos?
She hoped Jonah, Kit, or Aunty Cathy would be home when they got there. But she knew it was unlikely. They’d planned to be gone until sundown.
Darby’s heart beat like a metronome. It was up to her. She was in charge of the horses while Jonah was away. She had to keep them safe.
Seven horses. Hoku and the cremellos depended on her.
Wait, she had to add two more, because Kimo had left Buckin’ Baxter and Lady Wong tied by their neck ropes, waiting patiently for them to return.
Nine horses. Could she risk leaving them close to the infected pony? Could she refuse to turn Hoku loose because she was afraid she’d run wild in the pastures below Sun House?
How could she know her choices were the right ones?
“Tutu, how did you
know the water was contaminated?” Darby felt guilty for not noticing anything except the dead mongoose—and taking so long to worry about that!
“It wasn’t difficult for a practiced eye,” Tutu said. “There was wilting plant life, very few insects, and the water lilies were completely gone.”
“Oh, it wasn’t like that when Cade and I were up there.”
Darby shuddered. The pond had been nearly covered in the flowers. Tutu described how she’d dropped to her knees beside the pond and used a stick to probe it. All the water lilies had died and turned into mushy brown sludge on the pond bottom.
“And then I heard thrashing in the bushes and found this poor little one,” Tutu said. “I recognized her and went to Dee’s house. Even though no one was home, I used that phone. And then you came to our rescue.”
“What about Prettypaint?” Darby asked.
“I left her there. She deserves a rest.”
“So do you,” Darby said. She tried not to notice the ashy circles under Tutu’s eyes as she kissed her great-grandmother’s cheek.
“I’ll sleep when I am old,” Tutu joked. “Right now I have work to do. Once we’ve got Honi moving, I’ll go up to Sun House and make a poultice of chamomile, lavender, and tea tree oil for his head.”
“Whose head?” Kimo asked.
“Yours, stubborn boy,” Tutu snapped. “It will stop the throbbing and lower your fever. And please don’t tell me you’re just fine.”
“I am fine,” Kimo insisted as he turned down the dirt road to ‘Iolani Ranch. “For a sick guy who lifted a horse.”
The dogs ran out barking to greet them, and Kimo drove as close to the round pen as he could get before he asked, “And now I suppose you want me to do it again?”
“If you please,” Tutu said graciously, and Kimo groaned.
By the time Kimo braked to a stop, Darby had made up her mind, and Honi was no longer thrashing.
Darby didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. She didn’t touch Honi, but she bent close to the pony’s pink nostrils to check her respiration. Honi was breathing faster than Hoku did, but maybe that was because she was a smaller animal.
“Kimo,” Darby said as they stood at the back of his truck. “Are you up to a horse drive of our own?”
“Depends,” he said.
Darby didn’t let his fatigue stop her from laying out her idea. There was too much at stake to be soft-hearted.
“Once we get Honi inside the round pen, I want to take Hoku and the cremellos down to the lower pastures. We’ll ride Baxter and Lady Wong down and leave them, too—”
“He must shower and change clothes first,” Tutu instructed. “In case the pony’s contagious.”
Darby nodded and went on. “—and walk back. That way, Honi will sort of be in quarantine.” She looked at him with pleading eyes, but she wasn’t begging for approval like a little kid. “Okay? Are there any holes in that plan?”
“Probably,” Kimo said. “But it’s the best plan we’ve got, so let’s saddle up, keiki.”
Chapter Fifteen
“It’s not a trap, baby.”
Darby had opened Hoku’s gate from Lady Wong’s saddle, and the sorrel filly wouldn’t come near the opening in her fence. She trotted a graceful, floating circle around her corral, flashing her ears in all directions, but she’d smelled the new pony, and she was suspicious.
Freshly showered, Kimo flung open the cremellos’ gate. Whooping and spinning his arm on high, as if he held a rope, he urged the high-spirited white horses out of the pasture they’d just learned to call home.
Taking her cue from Kimo, Darby rode close enough to grab the tangerine-and-white lead rope off Hoku’s corral fence.
She spun it over her head, even though Hoku shied in fear and ducked.
“There they go!” Darby yelled.
Hoku bolted, but not for the gate.
The rope was too close to her escape route, so the filly sprinted, gathered herself for the very short lead up to the jump, and cleared her corral fence.
Please don’t let her remember she just did that, Darby begged silently.
Animals live in the moment, Jonah had told her once, so Darby decided to make sure Hoku wouldn’t remember, by not giving her time to look back and think about it.
“Run, girl!” She rode Lady Wong as fast as she could after Hoku, and the filly broke into a gait faster than a gallop. She swept past the sixth cremello, then the fifth, and finally, belly almost touching the ground, she dashed through the center of the pale herd and left them and Kimo behind.
Hoku knew where she was headed, down to the pasture below, and she knew Darby was the one who’d forced her to go.
“I’m gonna rest up a little,” Kimo said.
They’d climbed back up the trail to Sun House carrying the saddles and bridles they’d stripped off their mounts, and Kimo’s steps were weaving with weariness.
As he meandered toward the bunkhouse, Darby hung up their gear and walked back to the round pen to watch Tutu and the pony.
“She’s a little bit interested in her surroundings. That’s good,” Tutu said.
Although Honi was still down, the pony was on her knees, not her back or side, and Tutu sat next to her. When Tutu gently rolled back Honi’s eyelid, the pony didn’t protest. Instead, she reached up her nose as if they were sharing a secret.
Darby smiled. Honi was living up to her name—Kiss—and she was kissing Tutu.
“Should you let her do that? Aren’t you afraid you’ll get sick?” Darby asked.
“I’ve already been exposed to everything this island can throw at me this week,” Tutu said. “If this helps her feel better, it’s worth it. I want her up on all four hooves, but she won’t open her eyes.” Tutu mused, “Perhaps she hasn’t been able to sleep for some time, because of the pain. We’ll let her have a nap and then try again.”
When her great-grandmother came out of the corral, they still watched Honi, and Darby told Tutu about the sick animals at the Animal Rescue Society barn and about Dee stealing the hay.
“And it wasn’t like she was trying to get something for nothing,” Darby said slowly. “She wanted to show off for Cade and she was so disappointed he wasn’t here. He never made it into the feed store to see her at the cash register, either, and she was kind of proud.”
Tutu shook her head sadly. “I’ve known Dee since she was a little girl. She always wanted to be somebody important. She had big dreams of being a nurse.” Tutu smiled. “But then she married and had Cade and she quit school. She began caring for a child when she was still a child herself. She stopped developing as a person. She’s still like a sixteen-year-old inside or like one of those water lilies Honi is always munching.”
“What do you mean?” Darby asked.
“When tropical water lilies are planted too early they never grow as well as they should.”
Leaving Darby to mull that over, Tutu told Darby to stay with Honi while she went up to Sun House.
“I’m not sure what to watch for,” Darby said.
“Don’t worry. She’s got the medicine inside,” Tutu answered, “but we have to get her up and moving so it can travel through her gut and do some real good.
“I’ll go up to the kitchen and make that poultice for Kimo. Try not to disturb her.” Tutu glanced up at the sun as if reading a clock. “Let’s give her thirty minutes of uninterrupted rest. Then, when I get back, if I can’t get her up, we’ll bring the goat over and see if she can get Honi moving.”
Tutu had been gone for only a few minutes when Darby heard a car slow down, a door open and close, and then, as the car sped away, shoes cross the steel cattle guard set at the foot of the driveway.
Darby tiptoed out of the high-fenced round pen and closed the gate quietly behind her.
Why weren’t the dogs barking? Maybe they’d gone into the bunkhouse with Kimo and they’d all settled down for an afternoon nap.
Dee was the one walking down the driveway and she starte
d talking as soon as she saw Darby.
“Where’s Cade?”
“He—” Darby exhaled loudly. Tutu knew best, and they’d tell Dee soon enough that her beloved pony was sick. “He’s with Jonah, Kit, and everyone else, herding some horses up to Sky Mountain.”
Dee’s eyebrows arched high for an instant. Then she stared into the topmost branches of the nearby candlenut tree.
“I guess you’re wondering why I’m hitchhiking out to visit Cade instead of going to work today.” Dee got right to the point.
Darby wasn’t wondering. Between them, Lisa Miller and Cricket had pretty much explained.
“Or maybe you already know,” Dee went on. “Were you the one who got me fired?”
“I thought about it,” Darby admitted, “but I didn’t and now that I’ve talked to Tutu, I’m not sorry.”
“Tutu? At least somebody around here isn’t passing judgment on me.”
“She remembers you from when you were a kid,” Darby told her.
Dee’s face softened as she smiled. “She does? Well, then she knows the kind of person I am, no matter what you might think.”
Darby didn’t know what to say, but they’d gone too far down this conversational road to stop now.
“It’s written all over your face,” Dee insisted. “I know you don’t like me. You’re a Kealoha. You all think you’re better than everybody.”
“That’s not true!” Darby blurted, still trying to keep her voice low.
Dee waved her off with a flick of her wrist. “Sure it’s not. Go get Cade for me, would ya?”
“I told you, he’s out on a horse drive.”
Dee scowled. “I thought you were making that up.”
Darby shook her head.
“I’ll just have a cigarette and then I’ll head on over to my place. I want to check on Honi.” She grinned a tight, joyless smile. “You wouldn’t have an extra bale of hay for her, would you?”
She was going to have to say something soon, Darby thought. She found her shoulders shrugging almost as high as her earlobes as she tried to hide from the unpleasant announcement.
“You know we do,” Darby said. “But, I think Tutu would like to see you, so, why don’t you come up to the house when you’re, um, done.”