Chapter Five

~ I Play Dumb ~

 

It was evening by the time I slipped in the back door and snuck upstairs to my room. We had taken Rosie to the barn for water and talked for a long time. Addie practiced leading her, but tomorrow I would get up and take care of her first thing. I fell on my bed and shut my eyes. My mother wouldn’t have forgiven me for being gone so long without telling her where I was going, even though she knew I didn’t have a phone yet. Addie was lucky because her mother was still at work and wouldn’t know how late she got home.

“Piper, will you come down here?” Mom said. My mother sounded like she had been waiting for me. I slouched down the stairs, ready with my excuses and my attitude, and stepped into a roomful of trouble. Sitting on our couch was dirty, sweaty Jake and next to him were Sheriff Martin and my father. My father! This was bad. Mom had called him to help, and she hated to do that. They don’t always get along.

My mother started in on me, “Piper how could you possibly think you could...”

“Wait, Jean,” said my dad. “Let me start this, okay? Piper, do you have anything you want to tell us?” His brown eyes gazed into my scared green ones.

I said nothing.

“Piper?” repeated Dad.

“Look, Dan, this has gone too far,” said the sheriff. “We have witnesses that were at the bank that saw the girl with the horse. Jake here has a right to his property”

“That old nag is a registered purebred POA, a Pony of the Americas, and it’s worth a lot of money.” Jake glared at me. I could smell him across the room. What a creep.

I glared back at Jake. I said nothing. They could put me in prison and throw away the key and I would say nothing to him.

“Piper,” said my mom. “If you’ll just tell the sheriff where the horse is, then they can collect it and everything will be okay.”

I looked at my mother. “It’s a pony, a skinny pony that’s in terrible shape. He didn’t feed her or water her or take care of her. He left her in the hot sun all afternoon. She’s got sores on her legs and she was limping. He shouldn’t be allowed to have her. And I tried to get Dad or Mr. Martin to help.” I took a deep breath and lied, “She ran off when we got to the woods. Addie and I looked and looked, but we couldn’t find her. We almost got lost. I don’t know where she is. I tried to find her. I really did.” My being so tired helped me then and I started to cry. Thinking about how sad a shape Rosie was in made me cry harder. Even though I hated to lie to my parents, there was no way I was going to tell Jake where that pony was.

Mom and Dad looked at each other. They seemed to be getting along pretty well today, probably because they were worried about me. That made me feel even guiltier, so I kept on crying.

Mom came over and hugged me, which she hardly ever did.

“Honey, I’m sorry I yelled at you,” she said. “I know you feel bad for the pony and you maybe should have stopped and thought for a minute. But we’ll all try and find it.”

Dad started talking to Jake and Sheriff Martin in a low voice. I couldn’t hear what they were saying and that made me twist my bracelet. I tried to quit crying, but I was really worked up and kept hiccuping and dripping tears. I wasn’t faking. I was just crying for a different reason than they all thought. And Mom being nice was making me cry more.

I blew my nose loudly as Jake raised his voice, “I want my horse back, and I’ll be calling Sam Applegate in Louisville. He’s the sharpest lawyer in the city. He knows how to get things done. Your girl knows where that nag is and she’d better tell, or you’re going to have a lawsuit on your hands.” He heaved himself off the couch and stalked out the front door, slamming it after him. As he walked down our front walk, I saw him talking on his cell phone.

My dad glared at the door and said, “What a jerk. Harvey, what can we do?”

Sheriff Martin looked at me. I was still leaking tears. “Guess someone will have to search for the pony. If your girl doesn’t know where it is, then it’s probably running around loose and scared. I’ll see if I can get some guys to drive around and look for it.”

After he left, it was just me and my parents. Mom said, “Piper, you go get yourself some supper. I left a plate of spaghetti on the table and it’s still warm.” Mom always wanted to feed me when she thought I was sad. It was a good thing I don’t eat much.

Dad said, “Honey, do you have any idea where the pony might have gone? It would give Harvey a place to start looking. I know you don’t want Jake to have her, but a pony on its own can get hurt easily. And maybe if I talk to him the sheriff will look into the abuse charges.”

“Dad, is she really worth a lot of money?” I asked.

“Well actually, hon, no. Even purebred POA ponies aren’t bringing much lately. That’s why I don’t get why Jake is so upset.”

“It would be great if you’d talk to Sheriff Martin,” I said. “I think the tracks started going south of town toward the lake and picnic grounds.” Applegate’s farm and Rosie were north of town, but I had to stall until all the grown-ups agreed with me that Jake didn’t deserve to own an animal.

Later, after Dad went home and Mom said goodnight, I lay in bed and stared at the twenty-five plastic Breyer horses that I had collected as a kid. Not one looked like Rosie. She was one of a kind. I thought about all the fibs I had told that day and how I would have to keep telling them. It took me and my conscience a long time to fall asleep.