Nothing But Horses (29 page)

“That’s really decent of him after the way I
lectured him at our first game.” I snagged a slice of pizza. “And I
appreciate supper. I didn’t know how hungry I was.”

“You’ve been here forever, so we knew you
guys would be starving,” Cedar said. “I told Coach that you knew
how to deal with a colicked horse because you’d grown up in the
horse business. He said the Gibsons should get a veterinarian.”

“They’re trying.” I opted for a bottle of
water since soda always made me feel tired and I didn’t know how
long we’d be in the Twaziem saving mode. “There’s a conference and
most of the large-animal vets are out of town.”

“That explains a lot.” Olivia flagged down
Vicky and went to take over walking Twaziem.

While I ate pizza, I assessed the situation.
The young bay wasn’t trying to roll as much. He still hadn’t pooped
and he barely passed any gas or farted. It was almost seven at
night and that meant we were headed into the sixth hour.

I glanced at Maura. “Will you bring me
another dose of gas reliever and applesauce, please? Jack, bridle
up Nitro and lead him out here. I’m going to try ponying Twaziem.
We can’t trot him that much on the ground. We get tired, but I can
tow him around the ring with your horse.”

“I’ll try Dr. Cathy again,” John said. “Even
if she can’t make it down here, maybe she can give us more
advice.”

“That works.” I eyed Robin. “Can I borrow
your equestrian helmet?”

“I’ll get it for you.” Tears bubbled and
began to slide down her cheeks. “He’s a goner, isn’t he?”

“Are you starting that crapfest now? Why?” I
pointed to the Morab walking around the ring. “He’s still up and
moving. He hasn’t quit. I thought the deal was that winners never
quit and quitters never win. Are you bailing on him? Or me?”

“No, I’m not.” She hastily wiped at her face.
“I’ll go get my helmet.”

As soon as she left for the house, Bill shot
me a thumbs-up. “Nice job. Thanks, Sierra. I’ve been telling her
that he’ll make it, but she thinks I’m just trying to console
her.”

“Don’t start the pity party yet,” I said. “If
we give up on him, he’ll die. Vicky, why don’t you organize some
sort of schedule? Find out how late people can stay and let’s put
those who have to go home on the early shift. Those who can pull an
all-nighter should rest soon. Then, they’ll be ready to walk at
nine, ten and eleven.”

“Do you really think we’ll be here that
long?” Harry asked.

“Colic is a number-one horse killer,” I said.
“It lasts from two to seventy-two hours. We need to keep Twaziem
from rolling until he begins passing manure and gas. If he goes
down, he’ll roll till he ruptures his intestines. He’ll die from
the infection. This is serious business, Harry.”

“We’re here for the duration. Like Sierra and
Coach say, winners never quit,” Kanisha said, “and quitters never
win. We’ll save Robin’s horse.”

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

Marysville, Washington

Wednesday, February
5
^th
, 8:20 pm

Leading Twaziem from Jack’s Thoroughbred
worked even if the rescue horse didn’t poop or fart. I trotted the
two geldings in twenty minute stretches, then we walked a while
before we trotted again. Jack and Bill carried in two buckets of
water. This time Twaziem actually drank some. The liquid would
definitely help him feel better since horses always needed to
hydrate. I saw headlights on the driveway and then a truck pulled
up by the barn.

Tom went to meet the new arrival and came
back carrying a huge tote-box behind Dr. Cathy. “Reinforcements
have arrived, Sierra.”

I reined Nitro to a stop. “Thank goodness.
I’m glad you’re here.”

“And I’m glad you are.” She smiled up at me
while I sat on the huge, light gray, former race-horse. “Bring me
up to speed.”

Jack came over and held Nitro. Bill took
Twaziem’s rope and led him to the veterinarian. As if she was the
signal, the young bay lifted his tail and proceeded to take a major
dump right by her boot. Then, he cut loose with a string of
foul-smelling farts.

I swung out of the saddle and passed the
reins to Jack. “For the love of heaven, Twaz. If you’d just done
that hours ago, you’d have saved us a ton of aggravation and
emotion.”

Lots of laughter from the onlookers and Robin
flung her arms around the colt’s neck and hugged him. “Oh, Twaz.
You’re going to be okay.”

“Hey, let me be the veterinarian and say
that.” Dr. Cathy gestured to me. “Come talk to me, Sierra. I don’t
want to give him anything that counteracts what you have.”

John pulled out the list he’d kept. “Sierra
had me write down all the meds, the time and the dosages.”

“I needed to focus on him,” I said. “So, John
helped me out with the record-keeping.”

“It looks like all of you did a great job.”
Dr. Cathy read through the notes. “Okay, I want to check his vital
signs, listen for gut sounds, get some fluids into him. This is
going to be a super easy call. Next time, the other vets go away
for two days, I’ll tell them to make sure Sierra’s available to
cover.”

An hour later, Tom walked me to my car. “Now,
that’s what I call an exciting date. I don’t know if the Spring
Fling can match it.”

“It will be a thousand times better. We won’t
be dealing with a sick horse.” I sighed and shook my head. “By the
way, how can you call tonight a date?”

“Because when I offered to come along, you
didn’t refuse.” He caught my shoulders, turned me to face him. “I
got the chance to see Sierra shine. I call that a real date. I’ve
always wanted a hero.”

“Yeah?” I stared up at him. “You were pretty
amazing too. Not a lot of guys would take a night off work to jump
in and help. Or defend me when somebody thought I was a total
freak.”

“Harry’s trying to figure out why Dani dumped
him. She gave him the “it’s not you, it’s me,” line and everybody
knows that one means just the opposite.” Tom lowered his head. “I
don’t want to talk about them.”

“Neither do I.”

And he kissed me. Warm, gentle, a super soft
pressure as if I’d break if he came on too strong. It felt like I’d
finally come home when he slowly put his arms around me. I wanted
to stay right there, in his arms forever and I kissed him back.

* * * *

Shamrock Stable, Washington

Wednesday, February
5
^th
, 10:45 pm

Exhaustion swept over me when I parked the
Subaru and headed for the house. Queenie and Charlie met me at the
back gate. I watched out for puppy land mines as they escorted me
to the door. I let them inside. We found Mom and Dave in the
kitchen.

“Twaziem made it.” I put my sports bag and
backpack in the corner of the room and found doggie treats.
Homework could wait until tomorrow. “I’m wiped. I’m going to
bed.”

“What kind of colic was it?” Dave got up and
sauntered over to the microwave. “What caused it?”

“All we can think is that he rushed through
his food again.” I watched him zap something. “What’s that?”

“Your dinner,” Dave said. “If you don’t eat,
Sierra, you won’t sleep tonight.”

“I had a couple slices of pizza at the
Gibson’s.”

“And now, you’ll have
chicken-broccoli-casserole and a glass of milk.” Mom stood and went
after silverware. “Then, you can hit the sack. I’ll do chores in
the morning so you can get an extra hour of sleep.”

“You may change your mind when you hear that
I blew the Saint Sierra act.” I pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Coach probably called and ratted me out for bailing on practice
today.”

“He did.” Dave put the plate in front of me.
“Eat. I told him that if you were the kind of person who let a
horse suffer and die when you could save it, you wouldn’t be a
credit to your mom’s raising.”

I picked up the fork. “I wasn’t very nice or
tolerant or patient with him. I basically told him if he wanted me
to placate him or manipulate him to find somebody else to cater to
his ego.”

“We heard when he phoned.” Mom brought a
glass of milk to the table. “I understand why you did what you felt
had to be done.”

I dug into the cheese covered casserole. “I
can hear the “but” in your voice, Mom. You’re glad I jumped in and
saved Twaziem, but you still want Saint Sierra in your house.”

Mom winced. “I never said you have to be
perfect. I only want what’s best for you, honey. Fighting with
everyone that you think is stupid won’t help you in the long
run.”

“Right.” I forked up the last of my dinner,
drank the milk. “So, here’s the deal. I’ll do my best to be a
Stepford
teen and go along to get along. However, when it
comes down to “life or death” like it did tonight, I reserve the
right to flip the switch and be the human in charge, instead of a
robot.”

“I don’t think you understand my point,” Mom
said. “Are you going to help me out here, Dave?”

“Nope. I have no idea what’s going on between
the two of you. I’m opting for my old man’s advice and not getting
involved in an argument between two women.” Dave collected my empty
plate and carried it over to the counter. “Good night, Sierra.”

He was a smart guy. He obviously knew that in
this kind of fight, we’d both turn on him and stick together. I
didn’t share that with my mom. Instead, I picked up Charlie and
started for my room, Queenie behind us. She knew I’d let her in
with my sister. “Good night.”

* * * *

Marysville, Washington

Thursday, February
6
^th
, 3:00 pm

Mom let me sleep in so I arrived at school at
lunch-time. She’d obviously had time to think about what I’d told
her when I arrived home the night before. Either that or she talked
it over with Dave. She repeated that I needed to cut people slack
and not expect perfection from them because I didn’t want anyone
expecting it from me. Yes, standing up to people was important, but
there was a time and a place. As long as I continued to practice
what she called, the wisdom to know that difference, I didn’t need
to tell them when they were totally too stupid to live.

It was good advice and I might even end up
using it today. I changed to my white and blue jersey for the game.
Okay, so I’d missed practice yesterday, but Coach might relent and
let me sub in occasionally if he didn’t kick me off the squad.
Today, there was only one game, just us against the Crusader girls.
The guys would play tomorrow.

I went into the gym and sat down on the
bleachers. Olivia and Patricia began warm-up drills with the other
players. I didn’t jump up and join them. Why push my luck?

Coach Norris saw me. He came over and sat
down next to me. “What’s going on, Sierra?”

“I need to apologize for yesterday. I said
some nasty things and I’m sorry.”

“All right.” He took a deep breath. “I’m
sorry too.”

“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong,
Coach.”

“Actually, I did. I made a mistake. I forgot
to treat you like an individual. I should have made sure that you
knew you could talk to me. I should have listened and believed what
you told me unless you showed me that you weren’t trustworthy.”

“Maybe, you aren’t perfect.”

He chuckled. “No, I’m not. How about
you?”

“Oh, I’m not either. I just freaked about the
horse. He has a predisposition to colic because he’s a rescue. I
didn’t want Robin to lose him.”

“She didn’t because you stepped up.” Coach
Norris rubbed his jaw ruefully. “That’s what I want to teach you
girls to do, to make decisions and then follow through. I don’t
know why it bothered me so much that you already know how to step
up.”

“I didn’t have to be snarky about it.”

“You’re not perfect either, Sierra. You’re
allowed to make mistakes.”

I remembered what he’d told me before. “But,
when I make them, I have to own up to it and accept responsibility
for my choices as well as any of my mistakes.”

“That’s right. You’re doing it right now. And
what else did I say?”

“After I own my mistakes, I need to try
again.” I looked at him, hope rising in my heart. “I get to
play?”

He nodded, smiling. “You get to play. It took
guts to come in here, to admit there was wrong on your side as well
as mine. Now, go warm up. Your team is counting on you and so am
I.”

“You got it, Coach.” I jumped up and ran out
to the court.

It might be a basketball game, but inside I
felt like I was dancing. People had started to filter in and fill
the grandstand. I spotted my mom, Autumn and Dave. Olivia passed me
the ball. I whirled, dribbled down and shot a basket from
mid-court. Coach waved to me, and I jogged over to him. “I had to
do it at least once.”

“Really?” A smile tugged at his mouth. “I’m
sure you have a good reason. What is it?”

I waved to Tom who’d walked in the doors just
in time to see me score. He approached us. “My guy likes a
hero.”

“I’ve found one.” Tom grinned, tugged my
braid. “Play ball. I’ll catch you later.”

“I’m counting on it.” Laughing, I spun and
raced back to my squad. I was ready for the game of life as well as
the one we’d play tonight.

THE END

About the Author

Shannon lives and
works at her family business, Horse Country Farm, just outside of
Granite Falls in Washington State. Teaching kids to ride and know
about horses since 1967, she finds in many cases, she's taught
three generations of families. Her life experiences span adventures
from dealing cards in a casino, attending graduate school to get
her Masters in Teaching degree, being a substitute teacher, and
serving in the Army Reserve - all leading to her second career as a
published author. Visit her at her website,
www.shannonkennedybooks.com
to learn about
her books.