Dark Days at Saddle Creek

by Shelley Peterson

  Charlie dropped to his knees and began to roll, indicating that Sox was no threat. Sunny turned his backside to the newcomer and kicked up in the air. Sox refused to take offence, but stood his ground.

  Bird relaxed a little. This should work out fine. She checked her watch. They’d been together for five minutes. She’d stay here for fifteen more. Twenty minutes was the magic number. That was when horses had either accepted each other or decided on war.

  While Bird waited at the fence, Kimberly and her mother drove up the lane. Lavinia drove too fast, as always, and didn’t see Bird waving. Bird laughed at the look on Kimberly’s face as they sped by. Kimby was constantly telling her mother to slow down, and Lavinia was constantly ignoring her.

  Bird thought about her own mother. Eva and Lavinia should have been great friends, since they were so much alike. Both were self-centred, vain, and impatient. But they couldn’t stand to be in the same room.

  Kimberly came running down to the fence and joined Bird. “Mom’s here to pay Hannah next month’s board and the show bills. What are you up to?”

  “Just waiting to be sure the horses are happy together.”

  “Oh. Moonie likes where she is, with Sabrina. I think Peasblossom should go out with them, too.”

  Bird thought he’d probably rather go out with Timmy, who was a gelding and a pony too.

  Kimberly yawned and stretched. “He’s a cute pony.”

  “Yeah, I think so, too.”

  “Hey, Bird, can I tell you a secret?”

  “Sure. What?”

  “It’s about Sally. I heard it from Danielle. You know, at Dexter’s barn?”

  Bird had seen Danielle ride at the shows. “What?”

  “Everybody’s glad Sally’s gone. Nobody liked her.”

  “Why?”

  “She lies. She makes things up. Once her father called the police because she told him somebody stole Tall Sox.”

  So that’s what Harold had meant when he referred to the “last time,” thought Bird. “And he wasn’t stolen?”

  “No! Sally hid him in the neighbour’s shed!”

  “Why would she do something like that?”

  Kimberly shook her head. “Dunno. It’s crazy.”

  “Or a call for attention.” Bird paused, remembering how it felt when nobody seemed to care about her. “Her parents just got divorced. And I’ll guess she wasn’t in the cool group at the barn.”

  “Well, lying about her horse didn’t make it any better,” said Kimberly with a toss of her head. “It made her look like an idiot.”

  “Maybe so.” Bird considered. “But she got her father’s attention, didn’t she?”

  Liz and her mother, Patty, were the next to arrive. Liz waved out her window. “Hi, g … guys! Is Julia h … here?”

  Liz’s question reminded Bird of how Eva had ditched her. “No. She’s with our mother at a friend’s cottage.”

  Liz scrunched up her face. “Too b … bad.”

  Patty stopped to let her daughter out of the car, and waved to Bird and Kimberly. “Good morning, girls! Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

  “Sure is, Mrs. Brown,” called Bird.

  “B … bye, Mom.” Liz joined Kimberly and Bird at the fence. She watched with them as the horses got used to each other. “They look p … pretty together,” she said. “A b … bay, a b … black, and a chestnut, and all g … good-looking.”

  “What do you think of Sally?” Kimberly asked Liz, changing the subject.

  Bird shot her a warning glance.

  “Sh … she’s nice,” answered the younger girl. “Wh … why?”

  Bird jumped in. “Nothing. She’s new, that’s all. She’s moved her horse and pony here, so it’d be great if we all got along.”

  Kimberly got the message, but couldn’t help herself. “She lies, just so you know.”

  “That’s not fair!” Bird turned on her friend, outraged. “That’s gossip! Just remember how gossip hurt us last June, when everybody thought we were in the middle of all the bad stuff that was happening when Sandra Hall died.”

  Liz stepped back. “B … Bird, don’t be m … mad!”

  “It’s not the same at all!” Kimberly stated, defending herself. “We were innocent!”

  “How do you know Sally isn’t?” Bird couldn’t contain her feelings. She continued. “Tanbark was innocent, too, and everybody thought he was guilty!”

  “Calm down, Bird!” Kimberly yelled.

  “Calm down yourself! All my life, people have gossiped about me — about not talking, about being a problem, about causing trouble. It’s not a nice feeling. I don’t care what anybody says, Sally is going to feel welcome here!”

  Without looking back, Bird turned and strode toward the farmhouse, leaving Liz and Kimberly speechless.

  6

  MISSING PIECES

  Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of vision.

  — Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Nation, 1768–1813

  Bird didn’t care what Liz and Kimberly were saying about her. She didn’t care that she’d spoken to them the way she had. It bothered her that people liked to gossip and pick on others, mostly because she’d been a victim of it so often.

  Bird conceded that Sally might have had a problem with the truth. But that was in the past. She’d moved barns now, and she deserved a clean slate, didn’t she?

  Whenever she needed to figure things out, there was one person who helped the most. That person was Alec. But he was away at camp and would be there until September. Bird sniffed back a self-pitying tear. He couldn’t use his cellphone or even text. She’d write him a letter later, but that wasn’t nearly good enough. She needed to talk to someone now.

  She knew exactly who. She needed to talk to Pete Pierson. He always understood so perfectly how she felt! But he was sick and in the hospital. She remembered his yellow colour and lifeless mouth with a shudder.

  Paul had said he was feeling better. Good enough.

  Bird walked straight to the far side of the house and grabbed the handlebars of her bike. Up she got and off she rode. Headwaters Hospital was a fair distance by bicycle, but Bird didn’t mind. It would feel good to push her legs to the limit.

  It did feel good. Bird sailed along the highway as fast as she could. Trucks and cars and trailers and motorcycles sped past, throwing exhaust fumes and dust in her face, but Bird ignored it all. She was on a mission, and nothing could stop her. Somehow, just doing something — anything — made her feel more in control of her life.

  An hour later, Bird rolled into the big paved parking lot. It was noon on a hot day, and she was sweaty and red in the face. She coasted to a shady spot under some trees, hopped down, and propped her bike against a trunk. Bird put her hands on her knees and caught her breath, then sat down on the grass to regain her composure before going in.

  Bird studied the hospital. It was big and square. She knew the layout well; in June, she’d sneaked into her Uncle Tanbark’s room and stopped a man from injuring him. Maybe killing him. She’d managed to sneak out again without getting caught, even though the security people were all over the place. Bird shook her head. Had she really done that? Hannah had been so mad!

  Bird sighed as she realized that Hannah would be mad at her again. Very mad. She hadn’t told anybody where she was going. Why did she always get herself in trouble?

  She lay back in the grass and looked up the thick tree trunk through the leafy canopy. The sky was baby blue, and feathery clouds drifted along on a lazy breeze. A few pleasant minutes passed, and Bird sat up refreshed. The sweat in her hair was almost dry and her face had cooled. Hopefully, she was presentable enough to enter the building without looking like she should go straight to Emergency.

  Bird walked up to the woman sitting in the information booth. She was engrossed in a paperback book, with her head down.

  “Excuse me, please?” Bird said politely.

  The woman looked up. It was the same woman who�
��d called security when she’d come to help Tanbark!

  “May I help you?” the woman asked.

  Bird tried to act normal. “I’m here to visit a patient.”

  The woman studied her face closely. “You look very familiar. Have you been here before?”

  Bird smiled in what she hoped was an offhand manner. “Not lately.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Bird.”

  “Bird? That rings a bell. Bird — like a winged creature?”

  Bird nodded. She had to change the subject before the woman remembered. “I’d like to visit Mr. Pete Pierson, thank you. Which room is he in?”

  The woman ran her finger down a list in the ledger on her desk. “It says here, ‘No Visitors.’ Sorry.”

  Bird tried to read the room number upside down, but the woman’s hand was covering it.

  “This is really bothering me!” the woman said, jutting out her jaw and squinting her eyes. “How do I know you?”

  Bird shrugged her shoulders. “Were we on the same lacrosse team?”

  “Bird!”

  Bird spun around to see Laura Pierson hurrying over. “Dear, dear girl! How nice of you to come!” She hugged Bird and kissed her on the cheek.

  “I guess I can’t visit,” Bird said.

  “Why not? You came all this way, it’d be a shame. Did Hannah drive you?”

  “No, I rode my bike.”

  “All the way here? My dear child, that’s dangerous, with all those trucks. I know Pete would love to see you.” Laura took Bird by the arm and headed for the elevator.

  “Sorry!” The woman at the booth stopped them. “It says no visitors. I can’t let her go up.”

  “She’s family!” exclaimed Laura with authority. “Of course she can go up!”

  The woman’s eyes narrowed. She looked at Bird and asked, “Why didn’t you say so?”

  Bird smiled weakly. “You didn’t ask.”

  PETE WAS ASLEEP WHEN they got to his room. A machine was attached to his arm with long, transparent tubes. His colour had improved, thought Bird, but he still looked ghastly. Unreal. Almost like he was made of plastic.

  “Pete?” whispered Laura. “Pete?” She put her hand on Bird’s arm and motioned to the armchair beside the bed. “You sit there and wait for him to wake up. I’ll fill his water pitcher.” Laura picked up the plastic jug and was gone.

  Bird sat down, prepared to watch the old man sleep. He opened one eye and saw her.

  “Bird. Hello.”

  “Hi. Are you feeling okay?”

  “No. I feel dreadful.” He smiled at her weakly, but warmly. “Worse than dreadful.”

  “At least you’re alive. Last night I thought you were going to die.”

  Pete sighed, and coughed feebly. “That wouldn’t have been the worst thing.”

  “What are you talking about? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing but old age. Everything hurts. I can’t do anything. I feel as useless as a tit on a bull.”

  Bird chuckled. “That’s pretty useless.”

  “But it’s true. I’m good for nothing anymore.”

  “You’re wrong!” Now Bird was alarmed. She’d had no idea Mr. Pierson was feeling this way. “Mrs. Pierson needs you.”

  “I need her, but she doesn’t need me. She does everything for me these days. I tell you, I’m worse than useless.”

  “Well, I need you! That’s why I rode my bike here.”

  He turned his head on his pillow. A little more light gleamed in his eye. “Something wrong?”

  “Where do I start?” Bird paused. “My mother and I are at each other’s throats; my grandfather is in court today; I overreacted to something a friend said; I’m at Hannah’s because my mother doesn’t want me to come on a trip; I just found out about my father but he’s dead and I’ll never meet him. But the worst thing of all is that you’re so sick.”

  Pete studied the ceiling. “That’s a lot on your plate.”

  “I know, and you’re the only one I can talk to.”

  Pete moistened his cracked lips with his tongue, still staring at the ceiling. “Do you know how stupid I am?”

  Bird was startled. “Stupid? You’re the smartest man I know.”

  “Stupid. I liked the new pills so much I took more than I was supposed to. I haven’t told anybody else, and I won’t, either. They think it was a mistake.” He turned his head to look at Bird. “What do you think of me now?”

  “You must have had a reason.”

  “I did. The pills worked wonderfully well. All my pain was gone, or at least I didn’t feel it anymore.”

  “You thought that if you took more pills, they’d make you feel even better?”

  “Yup. And they did make me feel even better. That’s when I blacked out and fell on the floor. I don’t remember anything. I gather Laura ran off to get the doctor and you showed up with a pie.”

  “And thought you were going to die.”

  “I was in a drug-induced coma. And it wasn’t half bad.”

  “You’re not thinking of doing it again.” Bird was worried. “Are you?”

  “No, but I’m in such a lot of pain, all the time — my arthritis, my shoulder, my back, my legs — I can’t get relief from it.”

  Laura showed up at the door with fresh water. “Oh good! You’re awake. Isn’t it nice that Bird came to visit?”

  “Sure is. Can you go ask the nurse to come?”

  “Just press that button right beside you.”

  “No. Go get the nurse. Please.”

  Laura looked puzzled, but she disappeared again to do what Pete had asked.

  “Don’t tell Laura what I told you. About me taking too many pills.”

  “I won’t. I wouldn’t have anyway.”

  “Thank you.”

  Laura returned with a tall, angular nurse.

  “Time for your meds,” she said. “Open wide.” The nurse gave Pete a small paper cup with pills in it, and a drink of water. “Did you need something?”

  “I forget,” answered Pete. “I’ll call if I do.”

  The nurse hurried away.

  Laura crossed her arms. “If you want to speak to Bird privately, just tell me. Don’t send me running all over God’s green earth.”

  Pete grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Laura. Bird came to ask me some advice. I don’t know why she’d think I could help.”

  “Don’t say things like that, Mr. Pierson! You’re the only person who can help.”

  “You’re right, dear Bird.” Laura’s eyes filled with tears. “My darling Pete is going through a rough patch.” She smoothed his cheek. “Now, I’ve got a book to read. I’ll do that in the lounge at the end of the corridor.”

  Once she was gone, Pete said, “I shouldn’t even try to fool that one.”

  Bird laughed. “No kidding.”

  “So, now that you know you’re talking to a stupid man, what do you need my help with?”

  “Maybe I should begin with my father. Did you ever meet him?”

  Pete wiggled a little under the covers, trying to get comfortable. “I did. He was known as Indian Fred. They called him Indie, and he was billed as the Indian Cowboy. He was a wonder with horses. I watched him take the nastiest, meanest bronc and turn him into butter … bu … tter … bu …”

  He was asleep. Bird sat for a minute in case he woke up, but he soon began to snore evenly, and she wondered if the pill the nurse had given him was a sedative.

  Bird tiptoed out, feeling better despite all the new questions racing through her head. She didn’t know how or why, but Pete knew her father! And even though it wouldn’t be today, Pete would be able to tell her things.

  She found Laura lying on the couch in the lounge. A book lay on her chest and she, too, was taking a nap. Bird left a note on the book and made her way down to the lobby.

  As she was leaving, she walked over to the woman at the information booth. “I just remembered where we met,” Bird said innocently.

  “You
do?” The woman looked pleased.

  “Yes. I was the girl who saved Tanbark Wedger’s life the night he was attacked in his hospital room.”

  The woman slapped her hand over her mouth.

  “And you tried to keep me from going upstairs, remember? As it turned out, it was a very good thing I did.”

  Bird walked away as quickly as she could without appearing to hurry. As soon as she was outside, she burst out laughing. The look on that woman’s face had been worth the ride to Orangeville.

  She hopped back on her bike and pedalled home to Saddle Creek, smiling all the way.

  HANNAH WAS DEFINITELY NOT pleased. She stood outside the house with her hands on her hips as Bird rolled up the driveway.

  “You can’t do that, Bird! You can’t just disappear like that! Do you think nobody worries about you? Do you think you can do anything you want any time at all?”

  “I visited Mr. Pierson in the hospital.” Bird stopped and dismounted. She stood awkwardly on the gravel in front of her seething aunt.

  “I know that!” she snapped. “I called everywhere. I thought something might have happened, so I called the hospital. The nurse at the station in Pete’s hall told me you were there and the time you left. Otherwise, my next call would have been to the police.”

  Bird knew full well she was in the wrong. “I’m very sorry. I won’t do that again.”

  Hannah’s voice softened just a bit. “Why did you run off like that?”

  “I wasn’t thinking straight. I’ve been worried about Mr. Pierson since last night, and I had an argument with Kimberly. I just needed to go.”

  Hannah didn’t reply right away. “Kimberly told me. She said you were angry, and you accused her of gossiping. She’s sorry you’re upset.” Hannah reached out her hand and pushed the sweaty hair off Bird’s forehead. She smiled gently. “All teenagers gossip, Bird. Don’t be too hard on her.”

  “I know,” said Bird. “I just got mad.”

  “But you won’t run off again without telling me, right?”

  Bird shook her head. “No.”

  “All right, then. How’s Pete?”