CHAPTER 4

WAITING

Sassafras hopped into my lap and looked up at me.

I giggled and tapped his nose. “You missed a spot!”

He licked the dot of yogurt off his nose and settled down, purring in my lap.

The milk mixture we’d warmed overnight had magically changed into yogurt this morning. Well, I guess not magically. The bacteria had been working on changing the warm milk into yogurt all night. But since I couldn’t see the bacteria at work, it did seem a little bit like magic.

I took another bite. “Yummm. These bacteria are delicious!” I declared.

Mom giggled. “The honey I drizzled on top doesn’t hurt either, huh?”

I smiled and took my last bite. “Do you think Tiny is OK? It’s been raining so hard.”

“Magical creatures tend to heal quickly. I bet he’s feeling much better today.”

Sassafras jumped up in surprise and accidentally bonked my chin.

“Ow,” I said. “Geez, Sassafras!”

But he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring at the door to the backyard. He let out a low growl, then jumped down and huddled under the kitchen table.

“Mom, what’s the matter with Sass—” And then I felt it. The house shook. Dishes rattled. Chairs slid. Tiny!

Mom and I dove under the table with Sassafras. I kept my head down with my hand over my neck. I really thought that I’d fixed Tiny’s cut. But because our house was shaking so much, I guessed that Tiny wasn’t feeling any better.

“But why is Tiny still limping?” I blurted out.

Mom had her head down and neck covered too. “I don’t know, sweetie. You’ll just have to wait for the doorbell and find out.”

The shaking stopped, and the doorbell rang.

Dad ran into the kitchen. “Are you both OK? What is going on with all of these earthquakes? This is getting out of hand!”

As Mom and I crawled out from under the kitchen table, she squeezed my arm and whispered, “You go. I’ll talk to Dad.”

Dad kissed my head and hugged Mom. On my way to the door, I heard Mom tell him that she was having her colleagues look into it. Dad probably thought she meant the professors at the college where she worked, but she really meant me!

I grabbed a raincoat and tugged on my rain boots. Between the rain and the ginormous unicorn, there was no way Sassafras was coming with me.

I ran out to the barn, avoiding the puddles. Once Tiny was better I had plans to do some serious puddle jumping, but right now I needed to work.

Tiny spotted me and took a final hop closer. His good front hoof landed right in an enormous puddle. It created a giant splash of muddy rainwater, which of course completely soaked me.

“OOPS.”

I wiped my face and smiled. It’s not every day that you get drenched by a giant unicorn. But my smile quickly faded when I saw Tiny still holding the bad leg in the air.

“Hi, Tiny! How is your leg feeling?” I held my breath, hoping to hear it was hurting less.

“LEG BAD. OW VERY BAD.”

I let out my breath, and my shoulders drooped. “Can I look?”

Tiny carefully lowered his bad leg, and I began peeling the tape off. Once I had unpeeled the tape and the plastic wrap, I gasped. Tiny’s cut looked puffy and red—even worse than it had yesterday.

If it was puffy and red, it meant Tiny’s cut was infected. Tiny’s leg was only going to get worse and worse. The antibacterial cream had always worked for me. I didn’t know what to try next. I took a deep breath and hollered at the top of my lungs.

“MOOOOOOOOOM!!!!”