High Hurdles Collection Two

by Lauraine Snelling

  “I know, me too.”

  DJ sat down on a straw bale by the tack room, kept there for saddle-soaping parties. She propped her foot up and leaned against the wall.

  “You all right, DJ?” The concern showed on Bunny’s face as she came around the corner.

  “Mashed foot.” DJ positioned the ice bag over her toes.

  “That new horse of yours is gorgeous.”

  “Thanks. I have a lot to learn on him.”

  “One thing, keep your feet out from under his, huh?”

  DJ nodded. “See ya.” She waved as Bunny headed out the door. How strange it seemed to be sitting down and not rushing all over the place.

  “We’re bringing the pizza,” Brad announced. “How about we go get that and you come with Joe. I called Gran, too.”

  “Okay.”

  “What kind do you like? Besides the supreme with everything, that is.”

  “Canadian bacon with pineapple, extra cheese, thick crust.”

  “Any other favorites?”

  “Mom always says no anchovies.”

  “Got it.”

  By the time they’d all eaten their fill of pizza, were entertained by the twins, admired Gran’s latest book, and talked about the barn Robert had laid out—along with a corral and pasture in their backyard—DJ wished she could blow off her studies and continue relaxing. After all, how often did a girl have such a wide family all together in one place and having a good time? At least not too many she’d heard of. Other kids had family horror stories to stand one’s hair on end.

  But there hadn’t been an algebra quiz today, which meant Tuesday was a strong possibility. “Sorry, but can I be excused? I’ve got to hit the books.”

  Robert nodded and smiled at her. “I’ll send them up to say good-bye when the party breaks up.”

  Before she opened her school books, DJ called the veterinary hospital again to check on Major. The night assistant said he was a sweetheart and so good when they had to move him. He was alert, eating, and resting the tip of his hoof on the rubber mat. They kept the sling just tight enough to give him extra support when he tired.

  “Thanks. Give him a hug for me, will you? And he loves both carrots and horse cookies.”

  “I know that, hon. He checks out everyone’s pockets. You quit worrying about him, you hear? He’ll be home soon.”

  After hanging up the phone, DJ attacked her algebra with a vengeance. If Major could handle an injury like that with such grace, she could handle algebra. She had most of the problems finished, with only a question or two for her math coach, Robert, when Brad and Jackie knocked on her half-open door.

  “Come in.” DJ pushed her books aside.

  “We need to be going.” Brad handed her an envelope. “This is information on a week- or two-week-long jumping school back in New Jersey put on by a couple of USET members near the headquarters. I’d like to see you go.”

  “Really?” DJ folded open the sheets of paper. “Wow.” She looked up at her father. “Has Mom seen this?”

  “M-hm. I gave her a copy. Just think about it, okay? Other kids go to sports camps all the time.”

  “It would be a really great experience,” Jackie added.

  “But … but … I can’t afford something like this.” She pointed to the cost of the camp at the bottom of the page. “And it says I would have to bring my own horse, too. I don’t think so. Mom will never let me go.” She shook her head the entire time, whether from shock or resistance she wasn’t sure which. Oh, but what I would give to do something like this.

  Chapter • 10

  “Take out pencil and paper, please.”

  The class groaned in unison. Mr. Henderson waved his list of problems, gave an evil laugh and matching grin, then turned to begin writing the algebra problems on the board. Along with all the other kids, DJ took paper from her binder and began writing. The only thing missing was the dread that used to make her freeze, unable to think through what little she did know. Now, thanks to Robert’s coaching, everyone in the family praying for her, and real practice in concentration plus a positive mindset, algebra was only hard, not impossible.

  The first problem was one she and Robert had reviewed the night before after everyone else went home. She whipped through that one. By the time the teacher asked them to exchange papers, she’d even started on the extra-point problem.

  She missed one. The day she got a perfect paper, she knew she’d faint. Right out there on the floor, flat out. But flunking was a thing of the past, and that alone set her singing her way through the rest of the day. That along with another good report on Major.

  “Mom!” DJ called as soon as she got in the door after school.

  “She gone back to work.” Maria shut off the vacuum cleaner in the living room. “What you need?”

  “Fiddle. I was hoping she would take me over to see Major.”

  “Bad traffic time.”

  “I know, but sheesh, I want to see him so bad.”

  “You ask Joe?”

  “He can’t. He’s got a lesson this afternoon.” DJ sighed. “I’ve got the beginning riders, too, but I was hoping.” She started up the stairs to her room. “Where are the boys?”

  “Taking a nap.”

  “Sick?”

  “No. Time out.”

  DJ nodded and rolled her lips to contain her grin. The look on Maria’s face said it all. The twins had pushed the nanny’s buttons one too many times. They could be obnoxious when they tried, sometimes without even trying.

  “Where’s Queenie?”

  “She time out outside.”

  DJ glanced from Maria toward the French doors that led to the deck beyond the family room. She started to ask if Queenie could come in, then thought the better of it. Instead, she headed for her room to change into barn clothes.

  When she came back down, she turned into the kitchen. Snagging an apple from the bowl on the counter top, she opened the refrigerator and grabbed a juice box and the block of cheese. After cutting herself a chunk, she put it back. The note on the refrigerator door said Robert would be home late.

  “See ya. I’ll be home around six.” She waved to the woman now dusting the new furniture and went to get her bike. Since Joe was already working with his trainer, she’d ride over to the Academy. By the time she got there, she was breaking a sweat. Even for late May, it was hot out.

  While Herndon had his head hanging out the door, he didn’t nicker when he saw her. One more way to miss Major. He took the carrot she offered and crunched that, his large, dark eyes seeming to study her as if to figure out why he was in this strange barn with this strange person. When she offered him another carrot, he took that, too, but without the nuzzling of Major—more like treats were his due.

  “They shoulda named you Prince or King or something. I think you’re a snob.”

  He backed up when she entered the stall and snapped a lead chain on his halter and over his nose, just in case. Every other time she’d worked with him, Brad or Jackie had been near. She wasn’t taking any chances. But he walked beside her out to the hot walker, only nicking the back of her boots with one hoof.

  “I’ve got to watch you every minute, don’t I?” She snapped the lead shank from the circular machine onto his halter and stepped back. The creaking song of the hot walker in motion followed her back to the barn.

  By the time she had his stall cleaned, new bedding spread, and clean water and fresh hay in their respective places, it was time to go check on her students.

  “Hey, Ang, how ya feeling?”

  “Fine.” Angie turned from grooming her horse. “Herndon is a hunk, for sure.”

  “Thanks. He thinks so, too.” DJ studied the girl and her horse. “You know, if you dampened your brushes, you could cut down on the dust when you’re grooming. That might help the breathing.” Why didn’t I think of that before? DJ shook her head. Sometimes …

  She cruised by Bandit’s stall to find Andrew talking to his horse like they’d been friend
s forever. DJ curbed the desire to give the slender little boy a hug. She was so proud of the way he worked to overcome his fear of horses she could burst.

  Now, if only they could find a pony like Bandit for the twins. Or two of them, as Robert had suggested.

  By the time the class was finished, the giggling girls had transmitted their disease to DJ and even Andrew, who usually looked at life through serious glasses. She swung open the gate to let them ride out and shook her head.

  That sent them into peals of laughter as they rode back to the barn.

  “Who put a quarter into their giggle boxes?” Bunny asked as she led her horse up to the gate.

  “Got me. But it’s contagious, so watch out. Did you see? Even Andrew was almost laughing.”

  “I saw.” Bunny nodded. “You’ve done so much for that little boy, DJ. I hope you realize what a gift you’ve given him.”

  “I just helped him along. He gave himself the gift. He overcame that fear by plain old guts.” DJ watched the boy dismount and lead his horse into the barn. The scar itched in the palm of her hand. What had she done to overcome her fear of fire? Nothing, that’s what.

  She hoped her thoughts weren’t showing on her face. So how do I go about it?

  “Right. That and a lot of loving encouragement and prayers.”

  DJ jerked herself back to pay attention to Bunny. How rude to run off like that. Thought you were learning better.

  “Are you going to show Herndon this weekend?” Bunny mounted her horse and looked down at DJ.

  “I … I don’t know. Guess I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

  “You’re entered, right?”

  DJ nodded. “But with Major. And if he’s home by the weekend, I need to be here to take care of him.”

  “This isn’t one we stay overnight at.” Bunny leaned forward. “DJ, that fall wasn’t your fault. Look at me. Hear what I’m saying. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I … I know.”

  “But you’ve been beating up on yourself just the same, right?”

  How’dyou know? DJ looked up at the woman who was becoming her friend. “I’m trying not to.”

  “What does Bridget say about trying?”

  “There is no try. There is only do or don’t do, but just trying doesn’t cut it.”

  “Right. Think about that instead.” Bunny gathered her reins and signaled her horse to walk. “See you.”

  “Right.” DJ turned and walked toward the barn. So more practice in thought control. Ugh.

  Riding Herndon took thought control, all right. He shifted with her slightest move. Maybe having a horse that wasn’t so responsive had been a blessing after all. She and Major had been learning together, so now she was in catch-up mode all the time. Knowing what Bridget would suggest, DJ spent the time hacking Herndon. They rode circles: walk, trot, halt, canter from a halt, halt from a canter. They trotted serpentines and changed direction, and all the time DJ began to go from head knowledge to soul knowledge that the horse she had under her was not only a gift from her father but one from her heavenly Father, as well. Herndon was a horse of her future dreams, only she had him now.

  Every time someone said something to her, it broke her concentration and thus Herndon’s.

  “Am I ready for a horse like him?” she asked Bridget back in her office after she finished riding and grooming the big gelding.

  “You will be. Getting used to a new horse takes time and patience both with yourself and with him. In your case, mostly with yourself.”

  “But I didn’t feel so much like this when I rode him up at Brad’s.”

  “Then you were having fun, not training with him. That makes a big difference in outlook and attitude. Besides, keep in mind that you will not be friends with all your horses like you are with Major. He can read your mind and you his. Some horses are like some people, transparent and all heart. Major is one of those, and I believe you are, too. That means you get hurt easily and hurt for others. I do not want you to ever change that, but you must learn to control it somewhat.” She leaned forward, her arms crossed on her desk. “Tender and tough is the way I heard it described. Tender on the inside and tough on the outside. Do you understand?”

  DJ shrugged. She kept her hands tucked under her thighs because a discussion like this made her want to chew her fingernails. She rubbed one cuticle with another finger and felt the roughness. But if she could get over biting her fingernails and master algebra, she could handle this. “I … I guess so.” She ran her tongue over her teeth as she kept her gaze on Bridget. “At least I think I understand, but knowing and doing are so far apart they aren’t even in the same country.”

  Bridget smiled and leaned back. “Ah, out of the mouths of babes. DJ, people fight with that concept all of their lives. Some handle it, others do not. Practice. Know first and then practice. What is that Bible verse?” She rolled her eyes to remember. “I know. As a man—or in our case, woman—thinks in her heart, so is she. We have to get things in our hearts first, like you are saying, and then they will become part of us through practice.” She removed the pencil she always wore above her right ear, held in place by blond hair confined by a leather clasp, or on show days, in a net-covered bun. Tapping the pencil on her thumb, she studied the girl across the desk from her.

  “Remember, you do not have to do this all at once or by yourself.”

  DJ nodded again, this time blinking back the moisture she felt clogging her throat and burning her eyes. “I better head on home. Thanks, Bridget.” She got to her feet and walked toward the door. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Good. Oh, and tell your father …”

  DJ stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Which one?”

  Bridget tossed her pencil on the desk. “Always a smart mouth.” Her smile said she was teasing. “Robert.”

  “Okay.” DJ waited.

  “Tell him I think I may have found a pony for the boys. If he wants me to, I could go with him to look at it.”

  “Yes!” DJ pumped the air with her arm. “Good thing he’s got the men started on the barn.” She felt a wriggle start at her toes and work its way up. “Wait till the twins hear this.” She trotted out to her bike, throwing in a jump or two along the way just to let off steam.

  A song caught her on the bike ride home and she sang it at the top of her lungs. “ ‘God is so good. God is so good. God is so good, He’s so good to me.’ ” She waved back at a driver who gave her a thumbs-up sign. By the time she parked her bike in the garage she was out of breath from singing and pedaling at the same time.

  “Boy, you sound happy.” Lindy stood at the counter, munching on a handful of baby carrots. She’d changed out of her work suit and into jean shorts and a T-shirt. Reaching an arm out, she snagged her daughter around the shoulders and gave her a hug.

  DJ leaned into her mother’s embrace for a moment, then stepped back. “You won’t believe what’s gone on.”

  “Try me.” Lindy crossed to the refrigerator, pulled out two sodas, and motioned to the deck. “Care to join me?”

  “Sure. Let me change first.”

  Lindy shook her head. “Come on. Guess I can handle a bit of eau de horse. That, at least, won’t make me throw up, I don’t think.”

  DJ studied her mother. Makeup didn’t cover the shadows under her eyes or the pale cast of her skin. “You all right?” She took the proffered soda and popped the top, taking a sip of mostly fizz.

  “Just tired. They say the first three to four months are the hardest, and after that I’m supposed to feel great. I think I’ve totally forgotten what being pregnant is like. Of course, I was only a kid myself when I carried you.” Lindy sank down in the flower-covered cushion of the green iron lounger. “Now, tell me your wonderful news.”

  They talked for the next half hour and might have gone on longer if the boys hadn’t come barreling out and thrown themselves on their mother and older sister.

  “We got to pound nails.”

  “And pick up wood.
Mr. Aldon said we could burn it in the fireplace this winter.” Bobby looked up at his mother. “Can we?”

  Lindy ruffled his blond bowl-cut hair. “Or maybe have a fire in the pit.” She nodded toward the bricked-in circle that was part of the deck.

  DJ knew it was Bobby because he had a scratch on his right hand. Besides, he always spoke first and never in less than a shout. Billy snuggled up to her side.

  “Queenie chewed on a stick. How come she doesn’t get slivers in her mouth?”

  DJ shrugged. “I don’t know.” She hugged the little boy closer. “You come up with the hardest questions.”

  “Just like someone else I know used to and still does.” Lindy sipped her soda and chewed another carrot.

  “We’s hungry,” Bobby hinted.

  “Go ask Maria for some carrots. Ask her to please bring a tray out here for all of us.”

  “I want cheese.” Billy sat up.

  “Me too.” DJ gave him a gentle shove. “Get going, Bs.”

  “Don’t ruin your dinner,” Lindy called after their hurtling bodies.

  “We’s not.”

  DJ leaned back against the cushioned recliner. “This is so fine out here. What smells so good?” She sniffed again.

  “The roses over there on the railing, I think.” Lindy nodded to the blossoms that looked almost like fire with their combinations of red, yellow, and orange. “I was just getting interested in the garden …” She paused. “Now I won’t have time again.”

  They heard Queenie barking at the front door.

  “Robert must be home.”

  The squeals of “Daddy’s home!” and pounding feet of the twins on their way to the front door confirmed her comment.

  DJ crossed her ankles. “So why don’t you start a business here at home and not go to work?” She studied the rim of her soda can, almost afraid to look at her mother.

  “Great idea!” Robert set the boys back on their feet and bent to kiss his wife. “How’s my favorite pregnant lady?”

  “Better.” Lindy sucked in a deep breath and let it all out. She patted the cushion beside her knees, and Robert sat down.

  “Sorry I interrupted your conversation. Hi, DJ, how was your day?”