CHAPTER TEN

“HOW’S SHE DOING?” Gramp calls from the bedroom when Lily comes back in.

“Her stomach is growling!”

“That’s good,” Gramp says. “When you go out at midnight, wake me up.” He says something to Gran, and after a minute Gran answers. They still have not decided what they will do at midnight if Beware is not better. Lily can tell by the sound of their voices, even though she can’t hear a word.

Waking up at midnight is hard. The dark seems blacker than before, and the house is colder. A big wind blows the sleet loudly against the house.

Lily goes softly past Mom’s room. “Dress warmly, Lily,” Mom says. The light is already on in Gran and Gramp’s room, and they are talking softly. “I’ll be right down, Lily,” says Gramp.

Lily puts more cough drops in her pocket and goes down the path to the barn. She snaps on the light, and then she stands with her hand on the switch. She doesn’t want to go to the stall door. She doesn’t want to see Beware standing there no better than before. She doesn’t want to face the storm, and putting Beware in the truck, or deciding not to.

But there is no choice. Slowly Lily walks toward the stall.

Beware nickers loudly and leans out over the half door. She reaches toward Lily and tosses her head.

“Beware!” Lily pushes Beware back and steps inside the stall. The deep shavings look messed up, as if Beware has been moving around. Has she been rolling? Was she pacing in pain? Lily bends to look more closely.

Beware nudges her pocket. “Beware, quit it!” Tiredness is like a cold fog in Lily’s head. What is going on? She isn’t quite sure.

“Well, look at that!” Gramp is standing at the half door. His green hat is squashed onto the back of his head, and he has a great big tired smile on his face. “I never in my life thought I’d be so happy to see a pile of horse manure!”

Poke! Beware shoves at Lily’s pocket.

“Give that mare a cough drop!” Gramp says. He’s in the stall now. His arm goes around Lily. Tears spill hot on her cheeks.

Shove! Beware almost rips the pocket off Lily’s coat.

“Hey!” Lily sniffs. “You’re really picking up some bad habits, Beware!”

It is still important to walk Beware. Her stomach doesn’t sound quite normal. But it is so much better that Gramp and Lily have to catch one of the other horses and listen to compare.

“Go to bed,” Gramp says. “I’ll do it.”

“No, I want to,” Lily says, and Gramp smiles.

“Course you do. You’re doing a good job, kid! See you in the morning.”

Forty circles in front of the barn are still long and cold. Lily’s legs are still tired, and so are Beware’s. The mud is slippery. The sleet is cold on Lily’s face. The wind blows.

But Beware is going to be all right. When Lily puts her in the stall, she can hear Beware’s stomach growl from six feet away. She gives Beware one more cough drop, and she kisses Beware on the end of her soft, whiskery, cough drop-smelling nose. “See you in two hours.”

At two o’clock, and four-thirty, Lily gets up. The short stretches of sleep seem to make her more tired. Her eyes prickle. She feels cold, and even in bed with her clothes on, she doesn’t get warm.

But Beware is getting better. She is tired and cross. She has eaten half a bag of cough drops, and every time Lily’s hand moves she looks for another one. But she is better, and at four-thirty the sleet has stopped. The sky is getting gray when Lily climbs back up the hill, and when the smell of breakfast wakes her up, the sun is shining.

Gramp is just coming indoors when Lily gets down to the kitchen. His hat is on the side of his head, and Lily can tell before he speaks that Beware is all right.

Dr. Brand heaves a big, slow sigh when Lily tells her. “Oh, good. I didn’t feel happy about you and Beware when I went to bed last night.”

Lily still has to walk Beware, but not as often. She has to get bran and have Gramp show her how to make a bran mash. And they’ll have to keep close watch on Beware for the next few days. She may have some bruising inside her, and the colic could come back. But Dr. Brand doesn’t need to see her again. “Congratulations to both of you,” she says.

“Thank you” Lily says. “You saved her life.”

Dr. Brand laughs. “It’s just as likely it was the cough drops! Stay in touch.”

As soon as Lily hangs up the phone, it rings. Mandy is calling. “Beware is going to be okay,” Lily says. “The cough drops helped.” And she tells Mandy all about it.

“Are you coming to school?” Mandy asks.

“No,” Lily says. Today she will stay home and walk Beware. If she went to school, she would only fall asleep.

“Then I’ll get off the bus at your house tonight,” Mandy says. “I’ll bring Beware an apple.”

“Going to see your horse?” Gran asks when Lily hangs up the phone. Gran does not usually believe in horses before breakfast, but now she hands Lily a hot, buttered muffin. “Eat this on your way down.”

Lily puts her coat on and goes outside. The big gray clouds are breaking up, and sun streaks in beneath them. The patches of snow on the ground make the grass look very green. A rain shower starts and stops in the time it takes Lily to walk to the barn.

Beware is looking over the stall door. She nickers to Lily. Her eyes are bright. Her ears prick forward. She pushes against the stall door, and the shower curtain crackles.

“You’re spoiled, Beware!” Lily says, and breaks off a piece of muffin for her.

Now that Beware is better, Lily can see how sick she really was. It’s scary. Lily feels as if she is bruised inside, too. Beware didn’t die, but she could have. She came close. The sun shines, the rain comes down, and Lily knows that, after this, nothing will ever seem quite the same.