Ben winked at Wendy. Whenever food was mentioned around Gloria she always said that, even though she was a good doer, as the horse saying goes. “Do you want to join us?”
“No,” Wendy said. “Thanks, but I haven’t gotten anything done today except answer the phone. I’ll stop up in a while if I get a minute. Otherwise, I’ll see you all for dinner? We’re at Señor and Liz’s tonight.”
“Señor?”
“Miguel called him that and it stuck. It beats trying to differentiate Randy from Randy Senior all the time. Junior got married, you know. He and Lucy are expecting.”
“So we heard. Wished we could have made it in for the wedding and the banquet, but we both had doctor check-ups,” Gloria said. “The story of our lives.”
~ * ~
Dusty paid a visit to Jackson’s barn to check up on him and Sunrise Sam. Both were settled back in and happy as can be. “He saw me coming and cried like a baby,” Jackson said. “He just kept whinnying and nickering.”
The horse was standing at the front of his stall pulling hay out of his haynet and chewing contentedly. Dusty patted him on the neck. “You’re happy to be back home, Sam, aren’t you? That a good boy.” From there Dusty walked over to check on the horse in Gulliver’s barn. The plan was to move him tomorrow. Dusty checked his water. It looked like it had just been topped off. He turned the haynet, checking to see how much the horse had eaten since this morning. He picked his stall. There were several piles, always a good sign.
From there he walked to the Stewards office and tapped on the door. Two of the three Stewards had attended the banquet last night so they were expecting this visit. Dusty sat down across from them and hesitated. “Well, as you know, we’ve been giving this a lot of thought.”
“Slots or claiming races?” Fitzgerald asked.
“Both. But slots is a done deal. We’re going to put our full attention on the practices of claiming races. We want to try to get a revised policy into effect for the next meet.”
“I don’t know, Dusty. We’ve already gotten calls this morning. I’m not at liberty to say from whom. But the word’s out and it’s not being warmly embraced, to say the least.”
“Well, we’re not foolish enough to think it’s going to be easy,” Dusty said. “There’s been talk for years in this business about change. If the change has to start here, so be it. We’re not talking about trying to do away with claiming all together. We just want to make it fair. How does anybody with integrity keep looking the other way? How do our industry leaders keep looking the other way?”
The three men just looked at him, not agreeing, not disagreeing.
“All the talk lately is about the betting public and their opinion of Thoroughbred racing, how we treat our horses, what happens to them when they no longer race. I don’t think the average fan knows much about the process of claiming. I don’t know that they care, so essentially this is an internal issue. This is a practice that is flawed and is being allowed to continue year after year. And the biggest flaw is trainers dropping a horse down hoping to get it claimed. Meanwhile, the bettor is betting on this horse because the horse has class and they think he has a shot at winning, when we all know as horsemen that the majority of horses dropping down are dropping down for a reason. They’re sore. They’re tired. They’re done.”
When Dusty stood up and walked to the door, the Stewards sat back. “Thank you for your time, gentlemen.”
All three Stewards stared at the door. All three smiled.
~ * ~
Wendy set up Dawn’s video of Bo-T galloping at the farm, complete with narrative and music, then programmed it to run throughout the day on the monitors in the grandstand in between live racing and simulcast. The racing fans had come to expect the various videos and seemed to really enjoy them. She spent time updating the Nottingham Downs website, another of her regular tasks. It felt good to be back on the job, so to speak. Now that Matthew was doing well….
“Is he?” she wondered, and there went her good mood. “What if…?”
Dusty stopped by to check in with her. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Nothing.” She wiped her eyes. “It’s just me. I keep running hot and cold, literally.”
Dusty smiled. “I just talked to the Stewards about the claiming races. I think the more people we get to thinking about this the better off we’ll be.”
“What did they say?”
“Actually, they didn’t say much of anything, but I got the feeling they might be onboard.”
“Did you see Charlie and Gloria? They just came into town.”
“Really?” He smiled. “Did they go to the farm?”
“No. They’re up in the clubhouse.”
“Well, I’ll go up and say hi. You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s just whenever I think about Matthew….” Here came the tears again.
“Listen.” Dusty hesitated. “For what it’s worth, if I was Matthew I’d be doing the same thing.”
“Thank you, Dusty.” Wendy wiped her nose with a tissue. “I think the more I hear that too, the better off I’ll be. It’s hard to let them grow up.”
“It’s even harder for them though if you don’t.”
Wendy looked at him. “How did you get to be so wise?”
“It comes with age.” Dusty waved. “I’ll see you at the farm.”
~ * ~
Junior dropped Lucy off at T-Bone’s Place and drove on to Meg’s Meadows. Since he’d galloped horses all morning in his wedding clothes, jeans, boots, and a white shirt, he figured there was no sense changing now. Besides, he was only galloping B-Bo today. By the time he tacked up and walked him up the hill, the crowd had assembled at the training track, his bride included. Matthew followed along behind him toting his sketch pad and pencils.
B-Bo walked calmly at a slow pace, hardly favoring that injured leg at all. Mim turned in her seat on the golf cart to watch him approach. “What did Ben say to do today?”
“Warm him up long at a trot and let him canter easy.”
Mim nodded, agreeing.
It was a gorgeous day with just a hint of distant autumn in the air. The Cleveland Browns pre-season game was being broadcast at four that evening. Carol and Lucy were going to make home-made pizza for the event, but with no pepperoni, since it gave just about every one of the old-timers indigestion. Junior started singing a song. “I’m gonna be a wheel someday, I’m gonna be somebody.”
Matthew chuckled. “I think you need to keep your mouth closed or you’re not going to like this drawing.”
When they all laughed, Mim started coughing and blamed it on the stirred up dust. She’d brought a bottle of water with her and took a drink. Three women started up the hill behind them. Vicky turned, as did the old-timers. Mim recognized the two. “Well, hello!”
“Hello, Mim,” Veronica said.
“Hello!” Karen echoed.
The girl walking with them just shrugged.
“This is Hillary.”
“Ah, Hillary,” Mim said. “I’ve heard about you.”
When the girl just looked at her, Mim laughed. “Ah, if you could read people the way you read horses, you would know, little girl, that we are kindred spirits.”
Hillary smiled. “I just don’t like being fooled.”
Mim nodded. “I can relate to that also,” she said, and went about introducing everyone. “That’s Lucy. She’s gonna have a baby.”
Lucy waved and touched her tummy.
“That’s Jeanne, that’s Miguel, that’s Steven. This is Vicky, our patron saint. That’s Bill, that fella over there is Jack, that’s Frank, that’s Matthew, and I’m Mim. Bitch Number One; stand in line.”
Hillary laughed.
“Everyone,” Mim said. “This is Veronica and Karen of the Shifting Gears Thoroughbred Rescue Farm.”
They all said their hellos and turned and watched as Junior and B-Bo passed in front of them in a nice, fluid canter. Hillary studied the horse,
the way it moved, the look in his eye.
“And that is Junior,” Mim said, “Lucy’s husband.”
Hillary nodded, her attention totally on the horse.
“He had a hind-leg injury,” Mim said. “That’s why he’s here.”
“I know. I see,” Hillary said.
Mim glanced at Veronica and rolled her eyes, not offended in the least by the girl’s curt response. She apparently did see.
“So what you do?” Miguel asked of the girl.
“Uh….” She hesitated. “I…”
“She’s been helping us out,” Veronica said. “She’s very good with the horses. They love her.”
Junior pulled B-Bo up on the backstretch of the training track, turned him around, and walked him back. Hillary looked at Matthew. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Uh…I don’t see well. I’m trying to decide if you’re pretty or not.”
Hillary just looked at him. “Is that some kind of joke?”
“No,” he said, showing her his sketch of the horse.
Hillary looked from his sketch to him and then back. She looked at Mim.
“I told him to capture the horse’s heart.”
Hillary glanced at the sketch again and then watched the horse as Junior led him off the racetrack. She nodded.
“Hey,” Junior said.
Another nod. Her eyes on the horse. She chuckled. “Oh if every horse could be this happy.”
The entourage turned and started down the hill. Four on the golf cart, Lucy and Vicky pushing Clint’s and Jeannie’s wheelchairs, Miguel walking along with Veronica and Karen, and Matthew and Hillary bringing up the rear.
“This is a nice farm,” Hillary commented as they walked along. “So were you born blind?”
“No, and I’m not exactly blind. I just have blind areas of seeing.”
“Is everything blurry?” Hillary asked.
“No, what I see, I see very clear. You have a mole high on your cheekbone. But a lot of the rest is missing.”
They were all at the barn by now. “Where is Dusty’s horse, Bonnie Bee?” Veronica asked.
Mim motioned to the far pasture. “The little black filly. Is that who you came to see?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll take you,” Matthew said. “I’m headed there next anyway.” He opened the sketch book and showed Hillary his sketch of the filly, Biscuit, and Poncho.
“We’re going to go visit with Mim then,” Veronica said, walking alongside the golf cart and following the old-timers.
Hillary motioned to the pasture where Beau Born and Hurry Sandy were grazing. “Wow!” she said. “Wow!”
“I know. I can’t get close enough to draw him though.”
“He’s magnificent,” she said. Beau looked up at her. “And he knows it.”
Matthew nodded.
“He’s the sire of the horse you just saw gallop.”
“I know,” Hillary said.
“Do you want to see Bo-T?”
“Sure.” The two walked down past the stallion barn, past the foaling barn, and into the main barn. Junior was hosing down B-Bo in the wash rack. Hillary looked at him. “He’s thinking about dinner.”
“Always,” Junior said.
Matthew stopped in front of Bo-T’s stall and nudged Hillary back when he feared she was standing too close. Bo-T charged the stall gate and bucked and kicked, bit the air and put on a show.
Hillary looked at the horse’s eyes and shook her head.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Hillary chuckled. “It’s all x-rated. Apparently that’s all he can think about.”
“You got that right,” Junior said, finishing up at the wash rack. He led B-Bo past them to cool him out. When Bo-T lunged at him, B-Bo never even blinked.
“Brothers,” Hillary said.
“I can relate to that,” Matthew said, walking out of the barn with her.
They stopped to look at the horses in each pasture, the mares, the weanlings, the yearlings, the two-year-olds. “This is a peaceful place,” Hillary said.
“All except for when Beau starts screaming. You should hear him in breeding season.”
“I can imagine.”
They walked down past Ben’s farm house to the golf-cart path and climbed between the fence rails into Poncho, Biscuit, and Bonnie Bee’s pasture. The three horses looked up at them from the distance and then went back to grazing. They were used to Matthew coming every day and Hillary posed no threat.
“Where do you usually do your drawing?”
“Well, I sit right with them mostly.”
“That’s cool.” The horses looked up again when they approached and then all three walked over for their carrots. Matthew handed her the one for Bonnie Bee. She broke it into pieces and fed it to her, then stroked her face gently.
“What did Dusty want you to come see her for?”
“Shhh….” Hillary said.
“Sorry.” Matthew looked around for a lush spot in the grass and sat down. Hillary sat down next to him, not close, not far. She wanted to see him draw. The filly gravitated toward her.
“She’ll eat the grass right out from under you,” Matthew said softly.
Hillary smiled and moved slightly closer to him. “He said he just wants to make sure she’s happy here.”
“Is she?”
“Yes. Very.”
“What about the other two?”
Hillary studied the Palomino, Poncho. “He’s happy…now.”
“He hasn’t always been?”
She shook her head and chuckled. Bonnie Bee was nibbling around behind her back and tickling her.
“What about Biscuit?”
She looked at the bay gelding, just looked at him a moment. “He has some concerns.” She paused. “He’s older than people think he is,” she said softly. “He worries, no…not worries, he’s concerned that his age might bother people.”
“Why?”
Hillary looked at him. “Well.” She didn’t want to say, not in front of Biscuit.
“This is their home.”
Hillary was still looking at the horse. “He’s heard that before.”
Matthew studied her profile, the angle of her neck.
“He says no one tells him that anymore. He said when he first came, they told him all the time. Now they don’t.”
“Well, I think that’s because they think he should know. They love him. Everyone does.”
“He needs to hear that,” Hillary said. “They need to reassure him every now and then. Everyone needs to hear that now and then.”
Matthew nodded. “So, uh, aside from this,” he said, implying her “talking” to horses, “What do you do?”
“I’m still in high school. I would have graduated last year, but I skipped too many classes. What about you?”
“Well,” Matthew said, drawing and looking up at the horses, “up until my car accident last month, I was a classic over-achieving grad student. A geek.”
She looked at him. “You got the geek thing down pat.”
Matthew laughed.
“Go ahead, draw. Don’t mind me. This is the most relaxed situation I’ve been in, in a long time.” She watched him sketch Bonnie Bee’s eye and pointed. “Her lashes are longer than that.”
“Easy for you to say,” Matthew said, smiling.
Hillary chuckled and laid back on the grass and looked up at the sky. “Did you ever think about how insignificant we are?”
“No, can’t say that I have,” Matthew said.
“I mean, in the grand scheme of things, as individuals we’re nothing. We’re just part of this big huge universe.”
Matthew glanced at her. “We could be everything. Maybe inside each one of us is everything.”
She spread her hands in the grass and felt the earth. “Wake me in ten minutes,” she said. “If I sleep during the day any longer than that, I turn into a real bitch.”
~ * ~
Dinner at Señor and Liz�
��s turned into an even bigger party than usual. Gloria and Charlie were there, Mark had returned with his girlfriend Susie. Gordon came home for the night. Richard and his wife Heather came by. There were people eating and talking and laughing all over the house. Gloria had brought treats for the horses and the dogs and all six of the dogs were sprawled out on the front porch. The menu this evening was pork chops, roasted potatoes, a zucchini casserole, homemade applesauce, rolls and butter.
“We stopped for a visit at T-Bone’s Place,” Charlie said. “It was so nice to see everyone. The place looks great!”
They all nodded, eating, drinking, and sharing stories.
“Mim looks frail.”
“I know,” Ben said. He and Charlie and Dusty had known Mim for over fifty years.
“What’s the prognosis?” Gloria asked.
Ben looked at her, again the memory of her saving his life that day flashing in his mind. “She’s on borrowed time.”
“When you borrow something, you should always return the item,” D.R. said.
Everyone laughed. “Out of the mouths of babes,” Ben said. “Thank you, D.R. That’s a good reminder for us all.”
D.R. smiled proudly.
“So, Matthew,” Gloria said. “I hear you’re going to hike the Appalachian Trail.”
He nodded. “Did we get a date yet?” he asked, looking at Liz.
“Not yet. I hope soon though. I don’t know how much help I’d be in cold weather.” Liz shared news about the volunteer project.
“I did Habitat once,” Charlie said. He looked at Mark’s girlfriend Susie. “So what do you do?”
“At the moment, nothing. I’ll start looking for a job in the morning.” She looked around the room. “Do you all know each other from the racetrack?”
“Yes,” George said, and that paved the way for more stories from everyone.
“Once upon a time, I was one of Ben’s owners,” Gloria said. “I had a wonderful horse named Tom Cajun. Oh, how I loved that horse.”
“When I had the stroke at the racetrack,” Ben said, “It was Gloria’s quick action that saved my life.”
“Ben introduced me to Gloria,” Charlie said, giving Gloria a hug. “And we got married.”
“I’m the Assistant General Manager,” Wendy said. “I met Tom through Ben when they bought the racetrack.”
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