Janice listened to the gossip about students in the teachers’ lounge for she often gained insights that helped her understand the students she counseled. She knew Justin had played football his freshman and sophomore years and had been pretty good; and had hung out with the popular crowd. He had been elected the freshman homecoming prince, along with his girlfriend at the time, Crystal Douglas as the freshman princess. Even then he had a reputation as a bully, but his behavior deteriorated to very angry and malicious aggression when Crystal broke up with him. That’s when teachers began to report him breaking into angry rages in the classroom over very little provocation, and it was shortly after the breakup that he slashed the tires.
Unlike River, Justin had no problem talking, and spent much of the sessions complaining about perceived mistreatment from others – teachers, classmates, and his parents. He still was not over Crystal breaking up with him, but Janice suspected it was not that he actually loved the girl but resented her for making the break first. He also blamed her for his loss of status with the elite crowd.
And something was going on between those two. The gossip was they had made some sort of bargain, and Justin didn’t feel that Crystal had kept her part. Janice knew Crystal had actually gotten her parents to get a restraining order against Justin.
Her office door burst open and Justin stormed in. Janice sighed and closed the file.
“That bitch is spreading nasty rumors about me again,” Justin almost shouted as he dropped into his chair.
‘Hello, Justin, nice to see you,” Janice said.
Ignoring her attempt at a greeting, he continued his tirade. “She says I’m stalking her. I have every right to drive down her street if I want.”
“Who is it you’re talking about?” Janice asked, although she knew the answer.
“You know very well who I mean,” Justin snarled back. “Crystal Douglas, the queen bitch of this school. She says I followed her home and she was terrified to go back out.”
“Did you follow her home?”
“I drove down her street. That’s not following her home,” he shouted and kicked at his backpack that he had flung down at his feet.
“Why did you drive down her street?”
“I like to ride around in my car, okay? Is that a crime?”
“Of course not, but why did you choose to go to Crystal’s street, especially when you tell me she has a restraining order against you?”
“I can drive wherever I want on public roads. I just wanted to see if that guy Mark Shakley’s car was in her driveway. I didn’t even slow down.”
“Do you think there might be justification for Crystal to be afraid of you?”
“I’ve never, ever hurt her,” Justin shouted with his face contorting into rage. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
*****
River left the counseling office feeling frustrated and angry. Stupid woman. Of course trust is important. He hated how she sometimes asked questions that he sensed really applied to him. Was she inferring that he didn’t trust anyone? If so, that was not true! He trusted lots of people – Sierra, and Sierra’s mom; Manuel and his wife Rosa; Dr. Patterson their veterinarian, just to name a few. And for the most part, he trusted Tess, even though he didn’t always get along with her. He trusted his dog Storm, and all the horses. Except Oberon, he thought wryly.
What he needed from Mrs. Montoya was maybe some practical advice on how to win Oberon’s trust.
Trust was the basis for his connection with horses. It was that sense of mutual trust that he believed separated riding as a passenger to being truly one with his horse. It was somehow tied in to the feeling of the horse trusting him for leadership and safety, and for his part, sensitive to whatever frightened or caused pain to his horse. Something like that…hard to put it into words…a bond.
He didn’t have that with Oberon.
Deep in his thoughts, River walked toward his next class with his eyes on the ground, and nearly ran into a group of girls clustered together around the corner.
“Oh, sorry,” he mumbled as he sidestepped away without glancing up.
“Hi, River,” a sugar-sweetened voice called out, accompanied by several girls’ giggles.
Hearing his name, he looked over at the group of girls, and into the glinting eyes of Crystal Douglas, wearing a very amused expression. He frowned and quickly moved on down the hallway with laughter following his steps.
It worried him that lately, if Crystal ran into him, she greeted him with outward sweetness, instead of her previous method of making a rude comment such as, ‘do you smell manure?’. She was up to something that could not be good.
That girl he trusted even less than he did Oberon.
River reached his next class with several minutes to spare and taking a seat in the back, pulled his notebook from his backpack. While searching for a pen, he noticed his phone blinking that he had a text message. He pulled it out to check the message; probably from Laila, since she was the only one who texted him.
Need 2 talk, Laila said in her message.
He still had a few minutes before class started, so called her back, thinking to leave her a voicemail. He knew on Mondays she only had classes at the university in the mornings, and worked at a shop in the mall in the afternoon. It surprised him when she answered the phone.
“River, aren’t you in school?”
“I’m in class but I have a few minutes before the bell. Aren’t you at work?”
“I called in sick today.”
“What’s up?”
“Warren came home over the weekend.”
“Oh yeah? I thought he was still in Iraq.” Warren’s home! A surge of warmth rushed over him as he thought about his oldest cousin, the only member of his family that River actually liked. Warren – the cousin who took his side when his other cousin, Warren’s younger brother Steve, picked on him; or who warned him when his father was home and in a despondent, drunk mood. Warren was the one who brought home pizzas and milk for his little brother and cousin when his mother (River’s Aunt Hazel) was too wasted to shop for groceries, much less cook. When River’s mother had died and his father gained custody of him, Warren was the only ally within his family; the only one who cared.
Although the hero-worship dwindled away and River lost some respect for his cousin, when after high school it seemed all Warren did was spend his days sleeping and his nights drinking and fighting in bars. But they were still friends. Then Warren got into trouble for assault in a bar fight, but somehow, rather than go to jail, he joined the army. Before long, Warren was recruited into the Rangers, and planned to make the military his career. He was now supposed to be in Iraq for his second tour.
“River, something happened to him over there. He’s actually been home for a month but on base. I think he was wounded and he’s been in the hospital. He got a weekend pass and he called me Saturday night to meet him.”
“Wow, so he’s home?”
“No, he and his buddy left yesterday afternoon for the airport to fly back to the base. River, can you meet me around eight tonight? I can’t talk to you about this over the phone.”
“Sure…Laila, are you okay?” He detected an edge to her voice. The excitement he had felt on first learning his cousin was home shifted to a sense of dread of some disaster.
“Just meet me tonight, the Cheshire Cat at the mall, okay?”
“Okay,” River agreed, just as the bell rang. “Gotta go.” He disconnected and stuffed his phone away, his stomach knotting as he thought about what could have happened to Warren and what could be wrong with Laila.
*****
“I think I’m ready to make an appointment to take the driving test,” Sierra stated as she parked River’s truck at the stable and turned off the engine. She had finished driver’s ed last Friday. For weeks now she had managed every shift of the gears in River’s truck without any grinding or bucking. Her mother had been coaching her through the main streets of town and then a few times o
n the freeway. She felt ready. “River, what’s wrong?” she asked when he didn’t respond to her statement. He really hadn’t been paying attention to her driving on the way from her house to the stable, but stared distractedly out the window.
“What?” he turned to her as he unbuckled the seatbelt.
“I said I’m going to make an appointment to take the driving test.”
“Oh, good…I think you’re ready,” he added with a flash of a smile.
“What is wrong?” Sierra asked again. She unbuckled her own seatbelt, but didn’t make any move to get out of the truck.
River shook his head to indicate ‘nothing’, although she noted the frown on his face.
“Don’t tell me ‘nothing’,” Sierra insisted. “I know something is wrong. I know you, River.”
He looked up to meet her eyes and flashed another quick smile. “My cousin’s home.”
“The one in the military?”
“Yeah, and I guess something happened to him over there.”
“He was in Iraq?”
River nodded, and then opened the truck door. “Sierra, do you mind if I just drop you off after work today? There are some things I have to do.”
“Of course,” she answered, watching him exit the truck and head off to his room over the lounge. She got out and went into the feed room where she filled her pockets with broken up pieces of carrots before she brought in her first horse to ride. “Something is wrong,” she said out loud. Maybe he was just worried about his cousin. She knew Warren was the only one in River’s family that he actually liked. Shrugging her shoulders to shake off her own worry, she decided this might be a good evening to take Allison up on her frequent plea to go shopping together.
As long as Sierra could remember, her entire school wardrobe consisted of jeans paired with tee-shirts for fall and spring, and sweatshirts or sweaters for cold weather, and sneakers. Allison, who loved fashion and had a great sense of style, longed to take her friend shopping for some variety in her outfits.
“Great,” Allison said after answering Sierra’s call and hearing her suggestion. “I’ll pick you up at your house right after dinner…oh this is going to be fun!”
“Sounds good,” Sierra agreed. They hung up and Sierra checked the whiteboard in the tack room where Tess posted their riding assignments. Felicity, good! Sierra’s worry over River was temporarily replaced with delight. Felicity was a light chestnut mare that River had started riding as a three-year-old and competed on her at beginner novice level last season. Now coming on five years old, Tess sometimes assigned the youngster to Sierra to trail ride. Sierra loved to ride the energetic chestnut who exhibited all the wonderful behaviors of a horse started under saddle with kindness and tact. Thanks to River’s training, she had excellent manners and a very willing attitude. Sierra truly believed Felicity loved getting out on the trail as much as her rider.
Today, Monday, was always a light schedule after the busy weekend, with no student lessons and many of the horses having Monday as their only day off. She had no other assignments, so after Felicity, she would ride Fiel, finish chores, and her work would be done for the day. Glancing at River’s assignments, she saw that Tess wanted him to ride Meridian in the arena doing flatwork and then lunge Penny, also a light schedule. Maybe he’ll want to ride Corazón when I ride Fiel, she mused to herself as she left the tack room and headed outside toward the paddocks.
Not finding Felicity in any of the paddocks, she headed down the lane to one of the pastures where horses were rotated in turn to have a little more freedom. She found Felicity turned out with Fala and Calliope; a frequent grouping since the three mares got along well.
“Hey, pretty girl…Felicity,” Sierra called out to alert the horses and not startle them. All three heads popped up from where the mares huddled together, grazing. “Come on, pretty girl,” she continued to talk as she undid Felicity’s halter from the fence and then opened the gate. “Feel like going out on the trail?”
Still a youngster, Felicity flicked her ears and then with a flip of her tail, pranced away from the other two mares, and burst into a short, energetic gallop across the field before she swerved to come back toward Sierra. She came down to a trot and then stopped a few feet away and shook her head. Sierra laughed at her antics, for Felicity always seemed to like to show off a bit when anyone came to get her. Sierra stepped towards the young mare’s shoulder and Felicity took a few steps in until the two met.
“You are beautiful,” she praised her as she offered her a piece of carrot and stroked her neck before she put on the halter. She moved Felicity behind her as the other two mares sauntered up, knowing Sierra always carried carrots. “Hey, you two, you’re beautiful also,” she greeted them, and gave each one a carrot before she led Felicity away.
Sierra finished her ride, untacked and groomed Felicity, and then led her into her stall for the night. Leaving the mare with a few more carrot bits, she went to find River to check on how soon he might be able to ride Corazón.
In the indoor arena, she found him lunging Penny. Sierra moved quietly over to the observation platform and sat down on one of the chairs where she could watch. She never tired of paying attention to River working a horse, either in hand, on the lunge line, or under saddle; feeling like she often learned something just by observing. Now she noted how his feet never moved from one small spot where he stood, guiding Pendragon around him on the end of the lunge line, and how there was no slack in the line. He held the lunge whip with the tip down behind him, and only brought it up to point its tip at Penny’s shoulder when the bay started to move in or lean in on the circle; or to flick the end when he wanted Penny to move out with more energy.
She also noted the calm expression on River’s face and how his shoulders had relaxed from the tenseness she had detected in the truck on the ride over to the stable. Working with horses is the best therapy for River, she noted (not the first time she had made this observation). As long as she had known him, River had always had grumpy moods; sometimes making him very difficult to work with while they did chores. But even then, his moodiness seemed to lighten up whenever he worked with a horse.
Today was the most down she had seen him since he had moved to the stable to live on his own; so she knew something was troubling him. But with all his attention focused on Penny, whatever that trouble, it now seemed to be forgotten.
“Did you ride Merry yet?” Sierra asked when River brought Penny to a halt and then repositioned the lunge line to work him on the other side.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Are you waiting for me to ride Cory?”
“Yes, if you want to go out on the trail.”
“Sounds good,” he replied as he urged Pendragon to move out to the end of the lunge line.
Sierra watched as River cued Penny to go from walk to trot to walk a few times, then into canter. When he finished asking for several canter transitions, Sierra knew the session was almost over, so left the platform to bring in Fiel.
River brought in Pendragon, cared for the big bay and put him in his stall, and then brought in Corazón. The two soon had their horses ready, especially since River didn’t bother today with a saddle, planning to ride bareback.
“Don’t let Tess catch you,” Sierra warned as they led the horses to the mounting block at the edge of the lower field.
“She’s in her office, and besides, she really doesn’t care as long as I wear a helmet,” River answered, knocking his fist against the hard hat he wore.
True. Tess might scowl at River when he rode bareback, but she really couldn’t say anything. Her rules consisted of always riding in helmet and boots, but nothing about a saddle. River was very good about putting on his helmet, and he always rode with boots, though around the stable he preferred short paddock boots rather than the knee-high boots Sierra preferred.
On the trail, they kept the horses mostly to a walk. Winter was the time to back off on aggressive conditioning; riding enough to keep the horses fit but to
allow a few months of no strain on their muscles. They did allow a short interval of trotting and even a short gallop on a level stretch of the trail, since both horses gave every indication they wanted to move out. After that, both horses walked with long, ground-covering strides, their heads bobbing in rhythm with their steps, their ears flicking, and turning their heads slightly to take in all the sights and sounds and smells around them. Storm followed at a respectful distance behind their hooves until she thought she smelled a squirrel; and then she took off for a merry chase, crashing through the brush in between the trees. A great way to finish off the afternoon!
As they returned to the stable, leading their horses up the hill to the lane, they saw Manuel and Enrique bringing horses in for the night from the paddocks. After caring for their own horses, they helped bring in and then feed. Sierra and River cleaned their own tack, glad they didn’t have to do all the bridles and saddle girths that had been used throughout the day. That was how they used to have to end up the chores, but now Enrique had been assigned the cleaning, inspecting, and repairing all tack.
They said goodbye to the two stable hands, and Sierra stopped one last time outside of Fiel’s stall to give him a goodbye pat, before getting into River’s truck. Again, he seemed to have slipped into a solemn mood, and it was a quiet ride home.
*****
“Sorry I’m late,” said the black-haired girl dressed in all black as she slid into the booth opposite River. Her eyes shifted over the table where a nearly empty glass of coke and an empty plate of nachos clued her in that River had been waiting awhile.
“S’okay, Laila,” River answered, his face creasing into a frown at the sight of his friend. “You look like…uh, not your best.” He said this last in a gentle tone as he surveyed the shadows under her eyes; eyes without the usual thick mascara and eyeliner. Her black hair fell around her face in limp strands instead of her usual spiky style. Nor did he notice any of the usual pierced jewelry; just an eyebrow stud. She hadn’t even put in earrings, the girl who usually wore six pair.
For The Love of Horses (Pegasus Equestrian Center) Page 9