High Hurdles

by Lauraine Snelling

  “Still, it took plenty of nerve.”

  DJ watched her mother from under her eyelashes. What was going on? Could this be a peace offering? Lindy never ate ice cream—said there was too much fat in it—let alone a hot-fudge sundae. And after popcorn at the movie and Chinese food?

  “I think I’m going to burst.” Lindy wiped her mouth with her napkin.

  DJ could hear Gran’s voice in her ear. Your mother loves you, she just doesn’t always know how to show it. She’s been so tied up at work and school, she let motherhood slip right past her.

  They didn’t say much on the way home, but what was new? They’d already talked more in one evening than a typical month. And when her mother thanked her for a nice time, DJ’s red flags really went up. Danger! Warning! What’s going on?

  DJ left for the Academy in the morning before her mother woke up.

  “Get real,” Amy shouted at DJ’s back when they pedaled up the hill. “Maybe your mom just wants to spend more time with you. You know, that old ‘quality time’ thing. I think grown-ups get hung up on that pretty easily.”

  “But she didn’t yell at me once. Wouldn’t you be suspicious?”

  “Nah, I’d be grateful.”

  After clipping Patches to the hot walker where he could dance off some of his energy, Amy and DJ rushed through their chores so they could take Patches and Josh into the ring at the same time. DJ wanted Patches to get used to having other horses around him when he had a rider.

  “All right, settle down, you hyper thing.” DJ pulled the gelding to a standstill for the third time. Even after his hot walker workout and four times around the ring, Patches wanted to race whoever else was present. Sweat from his excitement already darkened his shoulders. She watched Amy put Josh through his paces. The two of them looked as though they were welded together. “See, silly, that’s what we’re supposed to look like. We’re supposed to work together.”

  Patches jigged in place, his front feet raising puffs of dust as they pounded the ground. When he finally relaxed, DJ loosened the reins and let him walk. “And here I thought you were ready for your owners. You’d shake them senseless.” When Patches finally managed to make an entire circuit of the ring at a walk, she let him jog. He made it with only one return to a walk this time.

  “Looks like he’s trying.” Amy rode beside her for a circuit.

  “Yeah, trying my patience.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Sure, he’s trying to run. He wants to catch up to anyone ahead of him.”

  “Don’t worry about it, DJ. Pretty soon you’ll have him obeying just like Diablo did. I know you will.”

  This time when DJ neck-reined Patches in a circle so he could go back the other way, he minded. “So there is hope for you after all,” she muttered.

  They had to rush to get ready for their next pony party, but it was worth it. The hostess stayed with them the entire time, making sure all the kids took turns. She brought DJ and Amy punch to drink and offered them ice cream and cake if they’d stay longer and let the children ride again. When she offered to pay them an extra ten dollars, the girls agreed.

  “This sure beat the last one,” DJ said when they trotted Bandit up the road toward the Academy. “Poor John. He hated it. And those kids were just awful.”

  “We could tell John about this one and blame him for the other.” Amy wore a sly grin. This was her chance to get even with a big brother who thought teasing his younger sister was what he was put on this earth for.

  But John wasn’t home when they got there; he and his dad had taken a load of yard clippings to the dump.

  “Fiddle.” DJ plopped down on the curb in front of the house.

  “Double fiddle.” Amy joined her. “Well, at least the party went well and we made extra money.”

  “We have only one party to go. You know, I’ve been thinking—”

  “No.” Amy shook her head so hard her black hair swished her cheeks. “We’re not keeping on with the parties. Once school starts, we just don’t have time.”

  “But . . .”

  “No. Nada. Ix-nay.”

  DJ wrinkled her mouth to one side. “Next summer?”

  “Maybe. If we don’t come up with a better idea by then. But if we do the pony parties, we are going to train Bandit to pull a cart.”

  “It’s a deal.” The two slapped high fives.

  DJ entered her house to the sound of the vacuum cleaner and her mother’s easy-listening music playing on the stereo. “I’m home.” She heard the vacuum shut off.

  Even for cleaning house, her mother managed to wear things that matched. The observation crossed DJ’s mind at the same time as she registered the scowl her mother sported. A frown of that type caused wrinkles, but DJ didn’t feel stupid or daring enough to comment.

  “Have you noticed your room and bathroom lately?” The tone matched the face. They were certainly back to normal. The evening before must have been a fluke.

  “I know. I was in a hurry.”

  “It doesn’t take any more time to hang up the towel than to drop it on the floor.”

  The words pricked like a burr under a saddle. “I know, I’ll take care of it.” DJ bit her lip to keep from answering back and climbed the stairs to her room. Gran would say to count her blessings. Last night had been a blessing—a fun one. She sighed. If only it had lasted.

  The next morning revealed another hole in DJ’s life. She attended church with the Yamamotos since Gran was out of town. She’d thought of asking her mother to take her, but they hadn’t said much to each other the night before. In fact, they hadn’t said anything. The house didn’t need an air-conditioner with her mother in that kind of mood.

  DJ looked up at the stained-glass shepherd behind the altar. Jesus looked so kind; He held the lamb as if He really cared. The window made DJ miss Gran even more. She needed a hug, a Gran-type hug. It wouldn’t be long now until the newlyweds returned. During the moment for silent prayer, she prayed for a safe flight for Gran and Joe. But the pastor started talking again before she got around to praying for her mother.

  Later, at home, DJ asked, “Who’s picking Gran and Joe up at the airport?”

  “Robert. He’ll take them back to Joe’s for his car, and then they’ll come out here.” Lindy looked up from the book she was reading. “I’ve told you this before.”

  “I forgot.” DJ gnawed on the nub of her right thumbnail. “You don’t think they had an accident or something?”

  Lindy shook her head. “No. The flight was probably late, that’s all. Or maybe there’s traffic, or they had something else they had to do first.” Her tone said she was losing patience.

  DJ headed to the kitchen for a drink of water. “They’re here!” She set the glass in the sink and barreled out the front door. “Gran! You’re back!” She flew around the hood of the car and threw her arms around the petite woman just emerging from the front seat.

  “Oh, my Darla Jean, if you’ve missed me as much as I’ve missed you . . .” Gran patted her granddaughter’s back and hugged her again. Arm in arm they came around the car, talking nonstop.

  “Hi, DJ.” Joe leaned his arms on the top of the open car door. “Lindy.” He raised a hand in greeting to the woman standing in the doorway.

  “Hi.” DJ caught herself. She’d almost forgotten about Joe. “Won’t you come in?” There, she’d remembered her manners. She stood back to let Gran hug Lindy and Joe do the same. A funny kind of feeling invaded her stomach. Not a ha-ha kind of funny but an oh-oh kind. “You want me to get your suitcases, Gran?”

  “No, we left them at Joe’s. Come see the things we brought you.”

  The oh-oh turned to an oh no and left DJ with a new hole in her heart. Gran wouldn’t be staying here. She wouldn’t be sitting in her chair, Bible in her lap, to tell DJ good-bye in the morning. She won’t be here when I come home from the Academy.

  “Darla Jean, whatever is the matter?” Gran turned and wrapped an arm around DJ’s waist. �
�You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “You’re not going to stay here.” DJ choked the words out.

  “Of course not, but soon we’ll move into our new house and we’ll only be a mile away.” She moved forward, drawing DJ with her. “You knew that, surely.”

  “Yeah, I just never thought about it.” DJ didn’t say what filled her heart and mind. But, Gran, I need you here. Mom and I, we aren’t doing so good. I need you. She studied the raw spot on her thumb cuticle. Gran looked so happy. So did Joe. She couldn’t be a brat again—she just couldn’t. Shape up! Don’t ruin it for them again by saying something stupid. You want to be grounded for life?

  CHAPTER • 7

  Smiling and saying thank-you when you want to cry isn’t easy. But DJ did it. She pasted on a smile, laughed in the right places, and even said something nice to Joe. But inside . . . she was a mess. DJ didn’t dare look directly at Gran. She was too good at reading eyes. And from the burning, DJ knew hers must be red. Or at the very least, sad and scared.

  She held her new scooped-neck T-shirt up to her chest. Three dolphins leaped and dove across the turquoise fabric. “It’s a beaut. And the shorts are perfect. Thanks.” She admired the swirly skirt and tank top they’d brought her mother. And oohed and aahed at the pictures. Maybe she should try out for drama when she got to high school. This was turning into an Academy Award performance.

  “Someday we’ll go back and take you with us to snorkel.” Gran handed DJ a picture taken under water that showed fish they usually saw in saltwater aquariums.

  “It’s a whole new world under the surface.” Joe handed her another photo. “Your grandmother was a natural, took to snorkeling like a duck to water. We should call her the diving duck.” He reached over and patted Gran’s hand. “When we go again, we’ll take Shawna, too. She’d love it.” He checked his watch. “We better get going, darlin’. I’ve got first watch tomorrow.”

  DJ hugged her stomach with both arms. Anything to keep it in place. Stay here, Gran. Don’t leave me again. But instead, she smiled and waved good-bye from the lighted doorway.

  Then she headed for her bedroom at a run.

  The next morning everyone hurried through their chores. DJ spent an hour and a half with Patches, making sure she focused on him entirely. He could get out of control faster than any horse she’d known, but when he decided to cooperate, he learned quickly and never forgot the lesson.

  “I think the trick with him is to let him work off all his steam on the hot walker. Either that or just take him around the ring until he settles down.” Bridget had been watching the last few minutes of the session. “He has too much energy. But you are doing a good job with him.”

  “I don’t want his riders to get frightened at first, especially the child.” DJ leaned forward and stroked Patches’ mane away from where it had tangled in the headstall.

  “The boy is going to ride Bandit at first, like you suggested. Think I will put him in your beginners’ class.”

  “But the others are already riding well.”

  “He will catch up with some extra coaching. You will have him on Mondays and Wednesdays at first, then right before your girls, then with them. It will work.” Bridget turned to leave. “Johnsons are not interested in showing; they want to trail-ride as a family. Or at least that is what they are saying now.”

  DJ dismounted and led Patches out of the arena. “You get an extra treat today. You’ve been a good boy.” As soon as she stripped the tack off, she fed him a horse cookie, brushed him down, and led him out to the hot walker.

  James was just saddling up. “You got him looking good, DJ.”

  “Thanks. What’s happening?”

  James finished buckling the girth on his flat saddle. “This is my last day here.”

  “What?”

  “Gray Bar and I both leave tomorrow for Virginia.” He ducked his head, fiddling with the stirrups.

  “Oh, James, no.”

  “I gotta get her worked.” James kept his head turned toward the horse when he pushed by DJ.

  “We’ll still be here when you come home for the summer.” She tried to sound cheerful, as if leaving for a military academy was the most natural thing in the world.

  “You may be, but my house won’t. Mom and Dad are selling it. I don’t even know who I’m going to live with—or where.”

  Was that the sheen of a tear on his cheek? She turned away so he wouldn’t be more embarrassed. What could she say? “Bridget asked me to tell you to come up to the office as soon as you’re finished.” DJ crammed her hands into her pockets. Here she’d been feeling sorry for herself because Gran now lived with Joe, and James didn’t even know who he was going to live with. Bummer. Double bummer.

  “I’ll see.”

  “You better—she sounded determined.”

  “What did I do now?”

  “Got me.” DJ turned away again, this time to hide a smile. She knew what Bridget wanted. All the student workers did except for James.

  “Surprise! Surprise!” everyone hollered when James walked through the door.

  He stopped as though he’d walked into a glass wall. His face turned as red as the helium balloons bobbing on strings tied to the chairs and table legs. He half turned as if to run back out the door he had just come in.

  “Come on, James.” DJ stepped in his way. She kept her voice low for his ears only. “You can do this.”

  He turned back. “Th-thanks. How come no one told me?”

  Giggles broke out. “It’s a surprise party, that’s why!”

  “Okay, everyone, line up over here for hot dogs, then get the rest of your food.” One of the mothers working behind the food table called out, “James, you get to be first since you’re the guest of honor.”

  Hilary nudged James forward. “Come on, we’re starved. I didn’t have lunch yet because of you, so get with it.” The grin she wore lit up her dark eyes. “We really surprised you, didn’t we?”

  James nodded. He picked up a paper plate and asked for two hot dogs.

  Before long everyone had a plateful and had found a place to sit. In between bites, talk of the Labor Day horse show took over. DJ, Amy, James, and a couple of others sat cross-legged on the floor in a circle.

  “So you’ll be involved in the horse program at your new school?” one of them asked.

  James nodded, his mouth full of food. “I want to get on the novice jumping team. And I can ride on fox hunts in the fall.”

  “Cool.” One of the other boys leaned back and thumped James on the arm. “Then you could compete Hunter/Jumper. Just think, riding behind hounds. I watched ’em do it in a movie once. Incredible.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  DJ studied James from under her eyelashes. Just a few weeks ago he was the biggest pain in her life, and now they were friends. Incredible was the word all right. And she knew who to thank. Only God worked miracles.

  After the cake was served, Bridget clapped for order. She brought a wrapped package out from under her desk and handed it to James. “So you do not forget us. You will be a success at that Academy. You are really just exchanging one academy for another. And they will not be any tougher than I am, you can count on it.”

  “Th-thanks.” He tore into the paper and held up a black T-shirt. Inside a circle of white letters that read Briones Academy, a white horse and rider cleared a triple.

  “You now have the first shirt produced for our school here. The rest of my students will have to buy theirs.” Bridget handed him another box. “This one is from everybody.”

  James lifted a shiny new headstall out of the box. “Thank you.” His voice cracked on the words.

  DJ leaped to her feet and started picking up dirty plates and plastic cups. “Come on, you guys, put away your mess.” She knew how James felt, hating to cry and so afraid he might. And one look at his face told her how close he was.

  Saying good-bye when you didn’t know if you’d ever see that person again was the pits.
“I’ll write if you will.” She helped James find all his gear in the tack room.

  “You got a modem?” James dug a brush with his name on it out of the tack box.

  “No, I don’t even have a computer. Why?”

  “I could send you messages that way.” James found an old jacket in the closet. “Faster and easier than the post office.”

  “Sorry, you’ll have to use the mail. Or the phone.” She picked up a loaded bucket and lugged it over to Gray Bar’s stall. “You learn to jump, old girl, and I’ll see you in the ring next year.” She stroked the filly’s nose and rubbed her ears. “See ya.” She turned, gave James a hug, and hustled out the door. What she wouldn’t give to tell his parents what a mess they were making of their kid’s life. Military school! It was all so stupid.

  Tuesday morning her eyes flew open and she leaped out of bed. No more restrictions. She was free! She could use the phone, watch TV, visit Amy. . . . Today she would ride Megs again—and this evening, Joe was taking her to meet Major, her soon-to-be own horse.

  “I’m free!” she sang to Amy when she came out the door of her house.

  “Do you have to be free so early in the morning?” Amy tried to grumble, but ended up grinning instead. “You get to jump again.”

  “And tonight I get to see Major. What a day! What a super fantastical, awesome day.” DJ raised her face to the sun peeping over the tops of the buckeye and eucalyptus trees. “Nothing can stop me now—I’m on my way. Olympics, here I come!”

  “You might want to win a couple local shows and qualify for the Grand National first.” The two pedaled side by side up the street.

  “Gran always says you need the dream first. Can’t you just imagine?” DJ flung her arms straight out, causing her bike to waver from side to side.

  “I can imagine you splattered all over the street if you don’t watch out.”

  “Amy Marie Yamamoto, you are the most—”

  “Most perfect friend you’ve ever had.”

  “Right.” DJ’s thoughts flitted to James. Wouldn’t it be awful to have to move away and leave your friends behind? Especially a friend like Amy. They’d been best friends since preschool. Poor James, his flight left at 7:00 a.m. She glanced at her watch—right about now.