six

“There you are,” Nicole said, making her way down the barn aisle toward Jordan. “And I see you found Jacob.” She pointed toward a stall at the end of the row, where he stood helping a customer.

“You knew he worked here and you didn’t tell me?” Jordan squeaked.

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” Nicole tossed her hands in the air and shouted, “Surprise!” She hiked her purse onto her shoulder and smirked. “I hope you two had a nice little conversation.”

“Ugh!” Jordan smacked her palm to her forehead. “Jacob caught me in a stall with a horse.”

“Which stall? Which horse?” Nicole asked, amused at the situation even though Jordan looked like she wanted to crawl into a feed bin.

Just then, Star poked her head over the stall door and nuzzled Jordan’s hair.

Nicole jumped. “Oh, my, I didn’t see you!” she told the horse, then turned to Jordan. “You mean this horse? Right here? With the big Do Not Enter sign over its head?”

Jordan nodded as she stroked the draft horse’s neck. “That would be the one,” she said sheepishly.

“Well, they haven’t booted you out yet, so I guess you’re probably okay,” Nicole said. “And…you got to see Jacob again.”

Star Gazer nuzzled Jordan once more and she happily turned her attention from the embarrassing encounter with Jacob back to the horse. “Isn’t she beautiful?” Jordan brushed her hair back into place. “Her name is Star Gazer.”

She waved the flies off the horse’s face. “Jacob said she came from the Sutton farm. Mr. Sutton didn’t want her anymore, so he just threw her away.” She stared into the mare’s eyes, her heart aching for the big black mare. “I wish I could buy her, but Jacob says she’d probably go for around eighteen hundred dollars. I just wish I’d had another year to save up.”

“She is pretty…in a big, clunky sort of way,” Nicole said. “But what would you do with her? You don’t have any harness or a cart or wagon. If this mare came off the Sutton place, she’s a pulling horse.”

“I could ride her,” Jordan said, looking up at the height of the mare’s back. Dakota would seem like a pony beside her.

Nicole started to laugh, but changed her mind when she saw that Jordan was serious. She came closer, standing next to the horse. The draft mare towered over them. “That’s a long way up there, pal. Won’t that be scary being so far off the ground?”

Jordan thought about it. She hadn’t had that many riding lessons, and the horses she’d ridden had all been fairly short. Maybe her friend had a point. “I’d find some good use for her,” she said, defending herself. “She deserves better than being hauled to the auction just because someone didn’t want her anymore.” She stood silent for a moment, listening to Star Gazer’s steady breaths. “Jacob says the packers might buy her.”

Nicole stared at Jordan in disbelief. “Are you sure? My dad said he’d heard a rumor that the packers had a guy who bought stock at this auction. He said the guy doesn’t always buy just the sick or injured ones either. I didn’t believe it.”

Jordan frowned. “He’d probably be careful not to let anyone know who he is. Somebody might decide to get revenge or something.”

“Did Jacob say he knew for sure that a packer was going to buy this horse?”

“Not exactly. But he said it was a good possibility.”

“That would be horrible,” Nicole said, shaking her head. “What are you going to do?” she asked. “Do you want to use my phone to call your mom? I bet she’d let you buy her if you told her she’s going to be sold for dog food.”

Jordan frowned. “Even if my mom said I could buy her, I still don’t have enough money.”

“Well, it’s not a done deal yet.” Nicole put her arm around Jordan’s shoulders, lending sympathy for the bad situation. “There’s still a chance that someone could buy her and give her a great home.” She steered her toward the exit. “Let’s get back to our seats. My parents want to buy some lambs that’ll be going through the sale ring right away. My mom has your bid card. You’ll need it for your chickens.”

Jordan followed Nicole down the aisle, careful not to look back. She didn’t want to see those big brown eyes begging for someone to take her home and save her.

When they got to the poultry cages, Jordan sent Nicole ahead to their seats while she took one last look at the chickens. A small crowd had gathered. There were several families and a few older men looking, too, trying to decide which ones they wanted to bid on.

One man in particular caught Jordan’s attention. He was short and stout, with a bald head and a corncob pipe stuck between his teeth. He pulled bits of grain out of his pocket and fed it to the turkeys while making gobbling sounds. The big birds answered him back and everyone laughed.

When an announcement came over the speaker system warning the auction was about to start, the onlookers moved on.

Jordan remained by the chickens for a few more minutes, trying to decide if she also wanted one of the funny-looking hens with the big fluffy feathers on their legs. As she stepped forward, the toe of her shoe hit something. She looked down and saw a brown leather wallet lying in the dirt.

She picked it up, wondering who could have dropped it. Since it was right in front of the turkey cages, she thought of the funny little man who had gobbled with the turkeys. Glancing around quickly, she spotted him just leaving the barn and ran to catch him.

“Excuse me, sir!” She jogged to his side and stopped. “Is this your wallet?”

The man reached to check his back pocket. When he discovered his wallet missing, he took a closer look at the one Jordan held out to him. “Well, I’ll be…” He flipped it open and showed his driver’s license photo to Jordan. “You’ve got the right guy, and I thank you very much, young lady. Can I give you a reward for being honest? A lot of people wouldn’t have returned a wallet.”

Jordan shook her head. “Thank you, but that’s okay. I’m just glad I found you.” The man smiled his thanks and walked off, and Jordan headed to the sale ring to join Nicole and her family.

Jordan had thought it was noisy in the sale barn, but that was nothing compared to the auction area. Not only was everyone talking amongst themselves as animals were brought into the ring for the bidding, but there was also the constant banging and clanging of metal gates as each set of pigs or cows was brought through to the viewing pen.

And on top of it all was the voice of Jacob’s dad, Leroy Yoder, blasting through the speaker system with his singsong auctioneer chant, telling buyers where the current bid stood. Prices went up and up until there was only one bidder remaining. Then the auctioneer pounded his gavel with a resounding crack as he hollered, “Sold!” At that moment the highest bidder owned whatever was on display.

“This is really exciting!” Jordan said, taking her seat next to Nicole. “I can’t wait to bid on the chickens. I found a couple of sets that looked pretty good.”

Fifteen minutes later, a cage with three speckled hens was brought in. The chickens ran about the cage, flustered from all the noise and attention. From his spot in the auction area, Jacob caught Jordan’s eye, then gave a nod in their direction, indicating that these chickens would be a good buy.

Her pulse raced as she got ready to make her first bid. She leaned forward on the edge of her chair.

“Are you going to be okay?” Nicole’s dad asked. “I can bid for you if you want.”

“Thanks,” Jordan said. “I think I can do it.”

As soon as the chicken cage was placed on the platform in the center of the ring, Jordan snatched the bid card from her lap and stuck it in the air, waving it about excitedly.

The microphone crackled. “We love the enthusiasm, miss, but we haven’t started the bidding yet.” Mr. Yoder winked in their direction.

Jordan felt her face grow hot, but she laughed along with the rest of the crowd. When the bidding finally started, she jumped right in with her card raised. He heart pounded with excitement as spectators took turns running up the bid.

When the gavel fell, Jordan was the proud owner of three speckled hens. She’d paid ten dollars apiece for them. She wasn’t sure if that was a good deal or not, but she thought they were worth every penny.

“That was so much fun!” she said. “Where are those chickens with the fluffy feathers on their legs? I want to bid on them, too.”

Nicole’s mom laughed. “Whoa, better slow down a little bit,” she cautioned Jordan. “I think you’ve got a touch of auction fever. If you’re not careful, you’ll be going home with a gaggle of geese and a bunch of potbellied pigs.”

“Bring ’em on!” Jordan joked, and they all had a good laugh.

A flock of sheep were herded into the ring, and Nicole’s parents prepared to bid. Jordan let her mind drift back to Star Gazer. She crossed her fingers, hoping some nice person in this crowd would buy the big mare.

She scanned the faces, wondering if the packer was in the crowd. Her eyes lit on a tall, thin man with a hawk nose. He stood near the entrance to the sale arena, carefully watching the livestock that came through. Jordan wasn’t sure what a packer would look like, but that man seemed to be the most likely candidate. Maybe she could distract him somehow when Star Gazer came through the pen.

Jacob herded some calves into the ring. The little red Herefords bolted about, confused by all the noise. Some bucked and played, others bawled for their mamas, and one flopped down in the middle of them all like he was going to take a nap.

They waited through another ten minutes of livestock showing, then the door to the sales ring opened. The crowd oohed and aahed as Star Gazer walked into the pen, her head held high and proud, even as she limped on her two front feet.

Jordan sat straight up. Butterflies swirled in her stomach.

“Take a look at what we got here!” Mr. Yoder’s voice boomed over the speaker system. “This beautiful and talented mare comes to us from the famous Sutton Farm. She’s got a bit of trouble in her two front feet. We’re not really sure what the problem is, so this mare is selling ‘as is.’ Can I get an opening bid?”

A low mumbling rippled through the room, then a shout of “Yep!” went up from someone standing near the back.

“Who is that?” Jordan asked Nicole.

He’s one of the spotters,” Nicole said. “They listen and watch for bidders that the auctioneer might not see.”

“I’ve got five hundred!” the auctioneer shouted. “Do I hear six?”

Jordan quickly glanced over at Jacob to see if he knew who had made the bid. The look on the boy’s face told her everything she needed to know.

The wrong person was bidding on Star Gazer.