Nothing But Horses

by Shannon Kennedy

  “I can’t believe you actually want to go out with a girl like her,” Harry said. “A girl who can stick her hand up a horse’s butt isn’t afraid of anything.”

  “Why would I want a woman that has to be less for me to be more? I’m not so insecure,” Tom said.

  “Are you saying I am?”

  “Hey, you’re the one she scares, not me. I can handle dating a hero.”

  I knew my face must be as red as my hair. At least it felt that way. I couldn’t hide in the tack-room. When I walked out in the hallway, Tom waited for me. I took a deep breath, “So, I’m a hero, huh?”

  “You are to me.” He grinned down at me. “What’s the plan now?”

  I pulled a rubber currycomb out of the plastic tote-box. “We take turns using this in a circular motion on his sides. Hopefully, we’ll get something to work inside him. I would love to hear his gut rumbling.”

  Another hour passed without any improvement. Olivia, Kanisha, Cedar and Zoey arrived. They brought pizzas and sodas. Olivia told me the other girls would be here soon. She’d told them where I was and why I hadn’t come to practice. “I waited until we finished. Then, I passed the word that Kanisha’s dad would bring us here on his dinner break. He says as soon as he finishes his shift, he’ll come back and help.”

  “That’s really decent of him after the way I lectured him at our first game.” I snagged a slice of pizza. “And I appreciate supper. I didn’t know how hungry I was.”

  “You’ve been here forever, so we knew you guys would be starving,” Cedar said. “I told Coach that you knew how to deal with a colicked horse because you’d grown up in the horse business. He said the Gibsons should get a veterinarian.”

  “They’re trying.” I opted for a bottle of water since soda always made me feel tired and I didn’t know how long we’d be in the Twaziem saving mode. “There’s a conference and most of the large-animal vets are out of town.”

  “That explains a lot.” Olivia flagged down Vicky and went to take over walking Twaziem.

  While I ate pizza, I assessed the situation. The young bay wasn’t trying to roll as much. He still hadn’t pooped and he barely passed any gas or farted. It was almost seven at night and that meant we were headed into the sixth hour.

  I glanced at Maura. “Will you bring me another dose of gas reliever and applesauce, please? Jack, bridle up Nitro and lead him out here. I’m going to try ponying Twaziem. We can’t trot him that much on the ground. We get tired, but I can tow him around the ring with your horse.”

  “I’ll try Dr. Cathy again,” John said. “Even if she can’t make it down here, maybe she can give us more advice.”

  “That works.” I eyed Robin. “Can I borrow your equestrian helmet?”

  “I’ll get it for you.” Tears bubbled and began to slide down her cheeks. “He’s a goner, isn’t he?”

  “Are you starting that crapfest now? Why?” I pointed to the Morab walking around the ring. “He’s still up and moving. He hasn’t quit. I thought the deal was that winners never quit and quitters never win. Are you bailing on him? Or me?”

  “No, I’m not.” She hastily wiped at her face. “I’ll go get my helmet.”

  As soon as she left for the house, Bill shot me a thumbs-up. “Nice job. Thanks, Sierra. I’ve been telling her that he’ll make it, but she thinks I’m just trying to console her.”

  “Don’t start the pity party yet,” I said. “If we give up on him, he’ll die. Vicky, why don’t you organize some sort of schedule? Find out how late people can stay and let’s put those who have to go home on the early shift. Those who can pull an all-nighter should rest soon. Then, they’ll be ready to walk at nine, ten and eleven.”

  “Do you really think we’ll be here that long?” Harry asked.

  “Colic is a number-one horse killer,” I said. “It lasts from two to seventy-two hours. We need to keep Twaziem from rolling until he begins passing manure and gas. If he goes down, he’ll roll till he ruptures his intestines. He’ll die from the infection. This is serious business, Harry.”

  “We’re here for the duration. Like Sierra and Coach say, winners never quit,” Kanisha said, “and quitters never win. We’ll save Robin’s horse.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Marysville, Washington

  Wednesday, February 5th, 8:20 pm

  Leading Twaziem from Jack’s Thoroughbred worked even if the rescue horse didn’t poop or fart. I trotted the two geldings in twenty minute stretches, then we walked a while before we trotted again. Jack and Bill carried in two buckets of water. This time Twaziem actually drank some. The liquid would definitely help him feel better since horses always needed to hydrate. I saw headlights on the driveway and then a truck pulled up by the barn.

  Tom went to meet the new arrival and came back carrying a huge tote-box behind Dr. Cathy. “Reinforcements have arrived, Sierra.”

  I reined Nitro to a stop. “Thank goodness. I’m glad you’re here.”

  “And I’m glad you are.” She smiled up at me while I sat on the huge, light gray, former race-horse. “Bring me up to speed.”

  Jack came over and held Nitro. Bill took Twaziem’s rope and led him to the veterinarian. As if she was the signal, the young bay lifted his tail and proceeded to take a major dump right by her boot. Then, he cut loose with a string of foul-smelling farts.

  I swung out of the saddle and passed the reins to Jack. “For the love of heaven, Twaz. If you’d just done that hours ago, you’d have saved us a ton of aggravation and emotion.”

  Lots of laughter from the onlookers and Robin flung her arms around the colt’s neck and hugged him. “Oh, Twaz. You’re going to be okay.”

  “Hey, let me be the veterinarian and say that.” Dr. Cathy gestured to me. “Come talk to me, Sierra. I don’t want to give him anything that counteracts what you have.”

  John pulled out the list he’d kept. “Sierra had me write down all the meds, the time and the dosages.”

  “I needed to focus on him,” I said. “So, John helped me out with the record-keeping.”

  “It looks like all of you did a great job.” Dr. Cathy read through the notes. “Okay, I want to check his vital signs, listen for gut sounds, get some fluids into him. This is going to be a super easy call. Next time, the other vets go away for two days, I’ll tell them to make sure Sierra’s available to cover.”

  An hour later, Tom walked me to my car. “Now, that’s what I call an exciting date. I don’t know if the Spring Fling can match it.”

  “It will be a thousand times better. We won’t be dealing with a sick horse.” I sighed and shook my head. “By the way, how can you call tonight a date?”

  “Because when I offered to come along, you didn’t refuse.” He caught my shoulders, turned me to face him. “I got the chance to see Sierra shine. I call that a real date. I’ve always wanted a hero.”

  “Yeah?” I stared up at him. “You were pretty amazing too. Not a lot of guys would take a night off work to jump in and help. Or defend me when somebody thought I was a total freak.”

  “Harry’s trying to figure out why Dani dumped him. She gave him the “it’s not you, it’s me,” line and everybody knows that one means just the opposite.” Tom lowered his head. “I don’t want to talk about them.”

  “Neither do I.”

  And he kissed me. Warm, gentle, a super soft pressure as if I’d break if he came on too strong. It felt like I’d finally come home when he slowly put his arms around me. I wanted to stay right there, in his arms forever and I kissed him back.

  * * * *

  Shamrock Stable, Washington

  Wednesday, February 5th, 10:45 pm

  Exhaustion swept over me when I parked the Subaru and headed for the house. Queenie and Charlie met me at the back gate. I watched out for puppy land mines as they escorted me to the door. I let them inside. We found Mom and Dave in the kitchen.

  “Twaziem made it.” I put my sports bag and backpack in the corner of the room and found
doggie treats. Homework could wait until tomorrow. “I’m wiped. I’m going to bed.”

  “What kind of colic was it?” Dave got up and sauntered over to the microwave. “What caused it?”

  “All we can think is that he rushed through his food again.” I watched him zap something. “What’s that?”

  “Your dinner,” Dave said. “If you don’t eat, Sierra, you won’t sleep tonight.”

  “I had a couple slices of pizza at the Gibson’s.”

  “And now, you’ll have chicken-broccoli-casserole and a glass of milk.” Mom stood and went after silverware. “Then, you can hit the sack. I’ll do chores in the morning so you can get an extra hour of sleep.”

  “You may change your mind when you hear that I blew the Saint Sierra act.” I pulled out a chair and sat down. “Coach probably called and ratted me out for bailing on practice today.”

  “He did.” Dave put the plate in front of me. “Eat. I told him that if you were the kind of person who let a horse suffer and die when you could save it, you wouldn’t be a credit to your mom’s raising.”

  I picked up the fork. “I wasn’t very nice or tolerant or patient with him. I basically told him if he wanted me to placate him or manipulate him to find somebody else to cater to his ego.”

  “We heard when he phoned.” Mom brought a glass of milk to the table. “I understand why you did what you felt had to be done.”

  I dug into the cheese covered casserole. “I can hear the “but” in your voice, Mom. You’re glad I jumped in and saved Twaziem, but you still want Saint Sierra in your house.”

  Mom winced. “I never said you have to be perfect. I only want what’s best for you, honey. Fighting with everyone that you think is stupid won’t help you in the long run.”

  “Right.” I forked up the last of my dinner, drank the milk. “So, here’s the deal. I’ll do my best to be a Stepford teen and go along to get along. However, when it comes down to “life or death” like it did tonight, I reserve the right to flip the switch and be the human in charge, instead of a robot.”

  “I don’t think you understand my point,” Mom said. “Are you going to help me out here, Dave?”

  “Nope. I have no idea what’s going on between the two of you. I’m opting for my old man’s advice and not getting involved in an argument between two women.” Dave collected my empty plate and carried it over to the counter. “Good night, Sierra.”

  He was a smart guy. He obviously knew that in this kind of fight, we’d both turn on him and stick together. I didn’t share that with my mom. Instead, I picked up Charlie and started for my room, Queenie behind us. She knew I’d let her in with my sister. “Good night.”

  * * * *

  Marysville, Washington

  Thursday, February 6th, 3:00 pm

  Mom let me sleep in so I arrived at school at lunch-time. She’d obviously had time to think about what I’d told her when I arrived home the night before. Either that or she talked it over with Dave. She repeated that I needed to cut people slack and not expect perfection from them because I didn’t want anyone expecting it from me. Yes, standing up to people was important, but there was a time and a place. As long as I continued to practice what she called, the wisdom to know that difference, I didn’t need to tell them when they were totally too stupid to live.

  It was good advice and I might even end up using it today. I changed to my white and blue jersey for the game. Okay, so I’d missed practice yesterday, but Coach might relent and let me sub in occasionally if he didn’t kick me off the squad. Today, there was only one game, just us against the Crusader girls. The guys would play tomorrow.

  I went into the gym and sat down on the bleachers. Olivia and Patricia began warm-up drills with the other players. I didn’t jump up and join them. Why push my luck?

  Coach Norris saw me. He came over and sat down next to me. “What’s going on, Sierra?”

  “I need to apologize for yesterday. I said some nasty things and I’m sorry.”

  “All right.” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry too.”

  “For what? You didn’t do anything wrong, Coach.”

  “Actually, I did. I made a mistake. I forgot to treat you like an individual. I should have made sure that you knew you could talk to me. I should have listened and believed what you told me unless you showed me that you weren’t trustworthy.”

  “Maybe, you aren’t perfect.”

  He chuckled. “No, I’m not. How about you?”

  “Oh, I’m not either. I just freaked about the horse. He has a predisposition to colic because he’s a rescue. I didn’t want Robin to lose him.”

  “She didn’t because you stepped up.” Coach Norris rubbed his jaw ruefully. “That’s what I want to teach you girls to do, to make decisions and then follow through. I don’t know why it bothered me so much that you already know how to step up.”

  “I didn’t have to be snarky about it.”

  “You’re not perfect either, Sierra. You’re allowed to make mistakes.”

  I remembered what he’d told me before. “But, when I make them, I have to own up to it and accept responsibility for my choices as well as any of my mistakes.”

  “That’s right. You’re doing it right now. And what else did I say?”

  “After I own my mistakes, I need to try again.” I looked at him, hope rising in my heart. “I get to play?”

  He nodded, smiling. “You get to play. It took guts to come in here, to admit there was wrong on your side as well as mine. Now, go warm up. Your team is counting on you and so am I.”

  “You got it, Coach.” I jumped up and ran out to the court.

  It might be a basketball game, but inside I felt like I was dancing. People had started to filter in and fill the grandstand. I spotted my mom, Autumn and Dave. Olivia passed me the ball. I whirled, dribbled down and shot a basket from mid-court. Coach waved to me, and I jogged over to him. “I had to do it at least once.”

  “Really?” A smile tugged at his mouth. “I’m sure you have a good reason. What is it?”

  I waved to Tom who’d walked in the doors just in time to see me score. He approached us. “My guy likes a hero.”

  “I’ve found one.” Tom grinned, tugged my braid. “Play ball. I’ll catch you later.”

  “I’m counting on it.” Laughing, I spun and raced back to my squad. I was ready for the game of life as well as the one we’d play tonight.

  THE END

  About the Author

  Shannon lives and works at her family business, Horse Country Farm, just outside of Granite Falls in Washington State. Teaching kids to ride and know about horses since 1967, she finds in many cases, she's taught three generations of families. Her life experiences span adventures from dealing cards in a casino, attending graduate school to get her Masters in Teaching degree, being a substitute teacher, and serving in the Army Reserve - all leading to her second career as a published author. Visit her at her website, www.shannonkennedybooks.com to learn about her books.

  Other Works by the author at Fire and Ice for Young Adults, A Melange Books Imprint

  No Horse Wanted, Shamrock Stables Series, Book 1

  No Time for Horses, Shamrock Stables Series, Book 2

  Deck the Stalls, A Shamrock Stable Holiday Novella

  Coming Soon!

  No Horse Left Behind, Book 4 of the Shamrock Stables Series

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