The ground raced again past his face, as did those sharp, fast-moving hooves… Bang braced his right heel as tight as he could into the horse’s belly and used all of his upper body strength to pull himself up into a less precarious position before he lost the battle with gravity altogether. He knew that his endeavors to keep from killing himself made September fly at warp speed, but it was that or fall to his death. When he finally managed to regain control, he tried slowing her down a bit, but she seemed to like going fast.
With the heinous cadence, Bang somehow caught the image of another horse up ahead. That Cayuse pony. And on that horse was the Indian guy named Bob. The one who liked playing games. He seemed to be waiting patiently for him. Corey said his name was Bob, but Bang had another word for him. One he’d used once to describe Hunter with a few years ago and got grounded for a week afterward.
They were going to pass him by at that speed. “Hey,” Bang yelled as if the man couldn’t see he was barely hanging on.
But he passed him. As soon as he got within yelling distance, Bob took off again but this time, he whistled something distinct and it was as if September was completely out of Bang’s control because it didn’t matter that he was trying to slow her warp speed down…she sped up and ignored every move Bang made. It was ‘hold on’ or ‘the ground.’ Bang began to think the ground wasn’t a bad option any more. How hard could it be? Flying at 30mph through thin air seemed survivable. Those hooves, though…he wasn’t sure he could take his chances with those and knew he’d likely sustain at least a broken arm and head injury and lose a lot more skin. These thoughts ran through his mind when suddenly, she stopped, and Bang no longer had to worry about hanging on because he was floating over September’s head in slow motion. He could even see the whites of her eyes as she was startled to see him above her like a bird. His left dusty blue sneaker had come off as his upper body gained momentum and he shot over the front of September’s head.
There’s a point when you’re thrown from a horse and you actually feel weightless. That sensation ends abruptly, though, when you slam into the unforgiving ground and oddly…all of the air in your lungs escapes from your mouth and nose as if evicted in an instant. And then you really want it back…badly.