Chapter Twenty-Four
Sunday, September 29th, 4:30 p.m.
Nobody showed up to run with me, and I was glad. I needed time to think and running always cleared my head. I jogged down the driveway, turned right and let everything that happened during the past week flow through my mind. Lunch with Harry when he came and joined me on his own, Vicky’s problems with her family, the visit to Mrs. Bartlett’s, leading the cross-country team—the list went on and on and on.
When I returned home, I didn’t have any solutions, but I felt more at peace with myself and the world. I could handle whatever life threw at me. I always managed somehow. Even if I didn’t know what to do about Bill or how to teach Twaziem how to trust guys, an answer would come. I changed to my boots and went down to the barn to help with night chores. I took my horse out to the closest paddock to graze so we could do his stall.
Jack was already mucking when I returned, so I cleaned out the manger. Twaz didn’t need another bale of grass hay. He had about six flakes left, so I added four more. “Dr. Larry says to cut back now and start feeding him more like the other horses.”
“Works for me,” Jack said, pitching manure into the wheelbarrow. “How did your internship go?”
“All right. I learned to stock the truck with medical supplies, and we only had two emergency calls. One was for a colicked horse up past Arlington, and the second was for a colt that gashed his leg on a barbed wire fence. Both horses are going to be fine. Dr. Larry says next time I’ll get to stitch.”
Jack stopped scooping. “Really? He didn’t let me sew anything until I’d been riding along for a year.”
I pulled out the water tub to dump and scrub it. “I’m not looking forward to it. What if I mess up and the horse tears out the sutures?”
“Then, you go back with him and redo it,” Jack said. “That happened at Rocky’s. Sierra’s stepdad decided he knew more than the vet, and Dr. Larry’s associate hadn’t specifically said to keep the horse in a stall while his leg healed. So, we sewed it up again and Dr. L. ripped into Sierra. She told him it was a good lecture and for him to repeat it to her folks.”
I laughed, leaning on the tub. “I can just hear her. She doesn’t take crap from anybody. Today, we bandaged the colt after we sewed him up. Then he couldn’t chew on the stitches when he got bored. Dr. Larry said he couldn’t wear a cone like what you put on a dog, so his owners just have to pay attention.”
“That’s part of having animals.” Jack picked up the last forkful of wet shavings. “You could have Mom teach you to crewel. She uses a lot of the same stitches that Dr. Larry does. Of course, he’s sewing up skin and she sews on cloth when she makes those decorator wall-hangings.”
“And I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting anything. Thanks, Jack.”
He moved on to the next stall. I pulled the tub to the yard and dumped the extra water on the grass. I glanced at the pasture and saw Twaziem stop grazing. He threw his head up, whinnied, and trotted toward the white board fence. I heard an answering neigh and spotted Mom riding Singer across the back pasture from Linda’s place.
Twaziem ran up and down along the fence, but he didn’t seem too agitated. It was more like he just wanted to greet the other horse. I went to meet Mom. “Hi. How was it?”
“Good.” Mom swung out of the saddle and parked her horse near the paddock gate so she could nuzzle Twaziem. “Help me untack her, and then she can go in with him for a little bit while we do her stall.”
“It’s all done. I did it last night during chores.”
Mom hugged me. “Wonderful. Have I ever told you that you’re my favorite?”
I laughed. She got that from some sitcom on TV, and I didn’t believe her for more than a heartbeat. “You told Felicia that when she did your laundry and Jack when he changed the oil in your truck.”
“Well, to be honest, you’re all my favorites.” She stepped to Singer’s left side and began undoing the latigo. “Tell me about the horse show. Did you like it? Was it fun? What did you learn to do? How was your first day with Dr. Larry?”
Before I started chattering, I eyed her. When was the last time I’d asked her about what she and Singer did on a race? Never, I thought. I was a kid and her world revolved around me. Instead, I said, “You first. How was the race? What was the terrain like? Did you see any rattlesnakes?”
* * * *
Monday, September 30th, 7:10 a.m.
It was back to the usual routine the next day. I sat in the Commons with my mocha and a latte for Vicky, and she was late. I sighed and shook my head. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. I just hoped she made it before the bell rang and she was dead meat in Weaver’s class. Porter and Gwen showed up next, and Vicky hustled across the room just as the warning bell rang.
I passed her the latte. “Chug it,” I said. “Weaver will make you toss it if you try to take it in her class. What happened?”
“Oh, the usual,” Vicky said, peeling off the cap. “Dad returned the kids with backpacks of dirty clothes. Mom didn’t wash them, and I about had to take them to day care naked. I ran into Safeway and grabbed a big box of disposable diapers on the way for the baby.”
“Good for you,” Porter said.
Vicky took a big swallow of coffee and shook her head. “Not really. I caught hell for destroying the planet from the day care bitch because it takes a million years for the diapers to die in a landfill. I told her they weren’t my kids, and if she wanted to wash the bag full of crappy diapers, I’d bring it tomorrow. And right now, I had to get to school.”
Gwen laughed so hard that I had to grab her so she didn’t fall on the floor. “Won’t she be calling your mom?” I asked.
“Yeah, probably. And with any luck at all, I’ll be sent to the dungeon.” Vicky drained her coffee. “Come on. If we don’t get to Weaver’s in two minutes, we’ll all be in the office for tardy slips.”
She and Porter hurried down the hall ahead of us, and Gwen walked quickly beside me. “So, what’s the dungeon?”
“The daylight apartment in the basement,” I said. “Vicky’s dad redid it as a studio so he could get away from the kids every once in a while. And when her mom gets pissed, Vick is sent there as a punishment.”
“Well, she’d better not let her mom know that she likes being thrown in that particular briar patch,” Gwen said, as we slid into English class, “or she’ll be locked out of it.”
At lunch, Vicky was the first to arrive at my table. “I had a question that I’m supposed to ask you, but there wasn’t time before school.”
“What is it?” I looked around for Harry, then spotted him in the line at the sub-station talking to Dani while they waited for their sandwiches. “Do you want me to babysit for you again?”
“Not yet,” Vicky said. “Are you trying to give my mom heart failure? No, it’s about this Friday’s game. Jack wants you to go with us for something to eat after the game.”
“Jack and I live in the same house. Why didn’t he ask me?”
“Because fixing up his little sister on a date with his buddy just feels creepy.” Vicky opened her carton of milk. “And Bill will be coming along. So, do you want to join us or not?”
I unwrapped my sandwich, trying to figure out how I felt. It had really surprised me when Bill showed up to feed Twaziem apples last week. I hadn’t known that he liked me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about him.
“It’s not that hard of a question, Robin. Do you want to come or not?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never thought of Bill that way.”
“What way?” Vicky asked. “Sure, he acts like a comedian, but he’s okay. And you two actually have a lot in common. You try to hide who you are behind a mask, too.”
“I know that.” I looked across the cafeteria, wondering what was taking Harry and Dani so long. Then, I saw it—saw them choose a table and sit down together. “Oh, no.”
Vicky followed my gaze. “It doesn’t mean anything. Dani changes boys like she does earrings. You have to let Harry learn that on his own. And the best way for him to realize you’re a girl is for him to see you with a different guy. Yes or no for Friday?”
I blinked hard. I wouldn’t cry. Not here and not now. “I don’t want to hurt Bill’s feelings.”
“How could you?” Vicky asked. “You don’t even know him like a real guy yet, just as a friend of your older brother’s. Come with us. You might decide you prefer him. He actually sees you as a person and that makes him much more appealing to me.”
I bit hard into my ham sandwich and chewed. “You only want me going out with someone that you and Jack like. Okay, I’ll do it, but only once. If I don’t like Bill that way, then I’ll let him down easy. No hard feelings either way.”
“All right! Way to go!” Vicky grinned at me. “And think positive. Dani won’t be out with Harry on Friday night. She’ll probably be babysitting for me since my dad won’t show up two weekends in a row.”
Vicky had a point, I thought, as I led the team up Golf Course Hill that afternoon. Her dad probably would bail this time around. I should be mad at Dani for taking Harry, but it wasn’t totally her fault. She didn’t know how I felt about him, but he did. Only a dimwit wouldn’t figure out a girl liked him when she showed up to eat lunch with him every day since school started, and Harry wasn’t stupid. He knew how I felt, but he didn’t care.
My eyes burned with unshed tears. I jogged at the crosswalk while I waited for the light to change. Then I led the way across the street and started down the winding road through the development.
Lew puffed up beside me. “How far are we going?”
“At least six miles,” I said. “I don’t want to run again when I get home tonight.”
“Works for me,” Gwen said from my other side. “It was great winning last week. We’re kicking butt this time, too.”
Lew dropped back behind us. If he’d had more air, I knew he’d be whining at Steve and the other guys. I shook my head. Lew should just be happy that he hadn’t puked on the way up the steep part of the last hill.
* * * *
Monday, September 30th, 7:30 p.m.
I’d barely finished rinsing the plates and loading the dishwasher that night when the phone rang. I went to answer the kitchen extension and heard my sister’s cheery greeting.
“Hey, how are you?” I asked. “How’s school?”
I perched on a bar stool and listened while she shared everything that was going on in Pullman. Finally, she paused for breath, and I said, “Jack will want to know how Vinnie’s doing, so how is he?”
More chatter, this time about the gelding, and how hard the dressage classes were at the barn near the university, but they’d mastered something she called a ‘counter canter,’ and she was really proud of her horse.
“How is your boy?” Felicia asked. “Has he colicked again?”
“No. It’s only happened twice. Dr. Larry said to turn him out on grass a couple hours a day because that’s a natural laxative, and it seems to be helping.” I glanced around the empty room and lowered my voice. “Felicia, can I talk to you?”
“I thought that’s what we were doing.” She giggled. “Why, what’s up?”
“Bill wants to ask me out and—”
A big squeal in my ear and I held away the phone, waiting until she stopped screaming. “Will you listen to me? I like Harry but he seems to like another girl.”
“Then, he’s a jerk,” Felicia told me. “Bill’s sweet. He may not be the guy that you’ll be with forever, Robin, but you’re in high school. You need to date different guys and learn who and what kind of person you want to be with. Bill likes you the way you are, and believe me, that’s really special. And a person can never have too many friends.”
“He brought Twaz apples,” I said, “and it’s weird because Twaziem hates most guys, but he likes Bill.”
“Well, trust your horse because he trusts you to take care of him.”