The Island Stallion Races (7 page)

Steve said nothing. He knew that the crouched forward seat of riding had been first introduced to horse racing well over a half-century ago!

Jay continued, “I was spending only a few days in England, but naturally I visited the track every morning. And, Steve, listen to this. One morning I saw the trainer I’d spoken to at the country fair, and working for his stable was one of the boys who had ridden bareback! I realized immediately that this man had finally come to his senses. I told him as much and he agreed fully. His boy was using a saddle then, of course, but his
seat was exactly the same as it had been while riding bareback at the fairs.

“Now what disappointed me so greatly was this,” Jay went on sadly. “Even though the boy was winning more than his share of races over the long-stirrup, middle-of-the-back type rider that’s currently so popular, his crouch style was being ridiculed in England. His trainer confided to me that he felt the reason for the public’s non-acceptance of the boy and his excellent style of riding was because he wasn’t
‘fashionable’
!”

Jay paused, waiting for Steve to say something. But Steve was too bewildered to move his lips, much less able to get any words out. Anyone who had read the history of horse racing knew that the great American jockey Tod Sloan had successfully introduced the popular crouch style of riding in England as long ago as
1897
!

“Aren’t you surprised, Steve?” Jay asked. “Doesn’t it make you furious too?”

Steve finally got his words to come. “I don’t know what you mean by ‘fashionable,’ ” he said.

“I believe the trainer meant that it was because of the color of the boy’s skin. He was black. His name was Billy Sims. Yes, I believe that’s what he was called. So many things happened during that hurried trip, and all were so very
new
to me. Although as I said it was only a short while ago, it’s difficult for me to remember some of the terms and language usage.”

Steve could not take his eyes off the man who sat on the grass in front of him. And when he spoke, he did not recognize his own voice. “Y-you s-said all this happened a short while ago. Do you remember the year?”

“
Your
year? No, I’m afraid not, Steve. I’m not very good at that kind of thing. But wait. Let’s see now.” The blue-black head suddenly turned, the clear eyes alive and dancing. “Why of course! I went to the Doncaster Sales and saw that beautiful gray colt sold. I’ve carried his picture in my wallet ever since. I clipped it from a magazine. It may give the date.”

A long wallet was drawn from the inner pocket of the striking blue suit, and then Jay read the clipping silently. Finally he said happily, “Eighteen ninety-five, Steve.”

A short while ago to Jay. But to anyone else, well over a half-century!

When Jay saw the expression on Steve’s face a somber curtain fell over his bright eyes and he spoke with concern. “Something I’ve said has startled you, Steve. Tell me what it is. I don’t want you to be frightened of me.”

“I—I’m not frightened,” Steve heard himself say. “It’s just that it h-happened so long ago.”

“Really? In your time, you mean?”

Steve could only nod, and Jay said, “I suppose I should have thought of it. Details like that always escape me.” The shadowy darkness left his eyes and the brightness returned, greater than before. “Then the crouch style of riding is now being used in racing horses?”

Steve nodded in still greater bewilderment.

“Oh, how I wish I could see them go! To think that I have to stay near the ship. The pity of it!” And then the man’s eyes were no longer bright but blood-red in sudden anger. “It was Flick who insisted that we visit
Mao
rather than
Earth
. He said so little had changed here since my last visit. The blackguard!” he shouted bitterly. “The scoundrel! No doubt he knew of this all along! So what did he do, Steve? What did he do?…”

Steve’s face had whitened; his head seemed too heavy to move.

“I’ll tell you what he did,” Jay went on. “He excited my interest in Mao by telling me of some horses that inhabited that planet. And what did I find? Scraggly, flea-bitten animals that were no more horse than I … 
or you are
, Steve,” he added hastily. “Oh, the imbecile he is, not to know a horse when he sees one! And then he takes me on a great tour of the oceans of Mao, the most boring trip of my life. Nothing but colored water! And when I think what was awaiting me here, why, Steve, I could just …”

He stopped and the anger left his eyes while he studied the boy’s face. Finally he said, “Why, you’re
surprised
, aren’t you, Steve? After yesterday I just took it for granted that you had figured out who we were.”

Steve’s tongue felt too thick for speech.

“Not that Flick or the others would approve of my telling you this in so many words,” Jay went on. “They’re always worried that people will be frightened if they know about us, and then we won’t be able to come back again. I think that’s all rather silly, don’t you?”

When Steve did not answer, Jay continued. “Oh, I’ll admit that if you saw us as we really are you’d probably be frightened. Of course there wouldn’t be any good reason for your fear, but that’s the way you are.
Sometimes I find it difficult to understand, and I try.… I really do, Steve. It seems you’re always jumping to conclusions without thinking things out. Oh, I don’t mean you personally, Steve,” he added quickly. “You’re doing fine, just fine. It’s your people I’m talking about … your
adults
.”

Jay glanced toward the valley where he could see Flame. “And I don’t mean to infer that this is true only so far as we are concerned. Take your own kind. Take Billy Sims. His was only a difference of skin color, as I understand it.” Jay’s gaze returned to Steve. “But, as you’ve reminded me, that was all many years ago. I’m sure the people of your world must be more understanding of each other in every way now. Aren’t they, Steve?”

Steve looked at the face before him, but no words came.
Then it wasn’t real
. And yet the eyes that weren’t eyes at all found his own, holding him forever. Would they make him accept all of this that he was being told in the most casual way, as one friend talking to another? He stared back into the glowing, bottomless pits and an eternity seemed to pass.

Meanwhile he was asking himself, “Is what I’ve heard more fearful than what I dreaded last night, the secret weapons of war and foreign enemies? Isn’t what I know to be
real
more dangerous, more deadly and vicious than this, which I consider
unreal
?”

Jay said, “Don’t think about it any more, Steve. I have your answer, and I’m sorry to hear it.”

It was the overpowering disappointment in Jay’s voice that startled Steve even more than his remembering
that nothing could be kept from this man, not even one’s thoughts.
But Jay wasn’t a man
.

“Oh, but I am, Steve,” the sad voice came again. “Perhaps I’m not exactly what you think of as a man, but I am one, all right. You want to know what I really look like? Well …” He paused to study Steve, and at the same time ran a hand through his hair. “I guess we’d better not go into that, Steve. Not that you don’t have a very open mind, but really there’s no reason for my showing you. One form is as good as another, we’ve found. It’s what a person
is
that counts. We learned so long ago to change from one shape to another that it comes almost automatically now. It’s simply a matter of taste and convenience at the time.”

He stopped abruptly. “You’re not really frightened by what I’m telling you, are you, Steve?” he asked with grave concern. “Just surprised, perhaps a little startled?”

Steve got his head to nod. The truth was that he
wasn’t
frightened. No matter what he was being told, he couldn’t look at this man with the troubled eyes and be scared.

Jay laughed in a pleased way. “I knew you wouldn’t be frightened, Steve! I knew it the moment I first saw you riding Flame. You were so carefree, so happy with your horse, wanting only to share the morning with him! I told Flick as much. I really did. But he and the others are such old ‘fuddy-duddies,’ Steve. They didn’t believe me at all. They’re so afraid to divulge anything to
anyone
.”

Jay shrugged his thin shoulders. “But then I suppose it’s because they never really got together with a
boy before. I told them that it’s entirely different than dealing with an adult. And I’m right, I know I am. Just the short time I’ve been with you makes me very, very certain of it. Oh, you’re skeptical of everything I’ve told you about us, and wary too. But the point I’m trying to make, Steve, is that
inside
where it counts you’ve accepted us even though it’s contrary to everything you’ve ever known or been told. Thank heavens for your youth, Steve!”

The man bounded to his feet in quickening enthusiasm. “At your age, Steve, I believe I could help you in many ways if you’d only let me. I’ve always said that it could be done if we found the right open-minded person.” Jay paused and a bold and eager light blurred his features. “We can try it
now
, Steve, but it won’t be easy. You’ll have to listen to me very carefully. No closed mind now, not one bit of it!”

Desperately Steve tried to raise his head above the heat that was fast enveloping him. He sought Jay’s face, but nothing was there except an indistinct shimmer of light … that and the blue-black hair, a black string tie, a white shirt, a blue suit. His hands shot up to his eyes, covering them so he could not see the dancing light.
“Do what? What do you want me to do?”
he heard himself ask in a voice that did not seem to be his own.

Still eager and with overwhelming curiosity Jay asked, “Would you like to
fly
, Steve? It’s the easiest thing and the most fun of all. Listen to what I have to say now. You must relax a bit more and help me. Make your mind a blank. Forget everything you’ve ever known in this world you call Earth. Forget all you’ve ever seen and been told. Now, Steve …”

Steve felt a heavy blackness come swiftly to his mind, claiming it for its very own. He fought it as he had never fought anything before. There was no pain but he writhed in agony and his arms flayed the air, fighting nothing. He opened his mouth to yell, but no sound emerged.

“You’re
thinking
, Steve.” Jay’s patient words came to Steve from somewhere deep within the recesses of his brain. “You’re thinking of all you know as
normal
. Don’t let it come to that, Steve. Shut it out of your mind, and just listen to me.

“You
want
to go on with this experiment. I know you do, for I can feel it so strongly. Don’t let what you’ve been told through the years stand in your way. Push it out, Steve … push … push … don’t let it take over. I realize it’s strong for it’s all you’ve ever known. Don’t let it come between us, please
don’t
.”

Steve fought all the harder, seeking to drive the blackness away. An overwhelming desire to see Blue Valley and the horses again had risen within him. He felt it surge stronger and stronger as he fought against the dark void that Jay would have him enter. Yet there were long moments when he was confused by his fighting, for he was willing to go with Jay.

The blackness lightened a little, and he didn’t know if he was glad or sorry. Where was Flame? He had to see his horse! He struggled more furiously, forcing the dark void further back with all the will he possessed.

Jay’s voice came again, disappointed now. “I guess I was wrong, Steve. Some other generation, perhaps, but not yours. What your mind has absorbed as normal
is much too strong for me, even though you
did
want to cooperate.”

When Steve emerged from the darkness, his first responsive reflex was to shout. His voice, throttled for so long, split his clenched lips and shattered the quiet of the valley. When it had died, the sound of Flame’s swift hoofbeats could be heard. But from closer still came Flick’s angry voice.

“I knew you were up to something, Jay, the moment I found you gone.” Flick stood beside Jay, his eyes as angry as his voice. “You can’t do this to Steve,” he went on. “Mark my words, your conduct this morning will be reported to Julian!”

“You and Julian,” Jay replied quietly, “… always worrying about nothing.”

As the sound of rhythmical pounding grew louder Steve turned away from the men and saw Flame coming down the valley, his ears back, his nostrils spread wide in fury. For a second Steve thought how easy it would be to say nothing, just to stand still and allow Flame to destroy Jay and Flick and the nightmare they had brought to Blue Valley. But was that what he wanted,
now that he knew who they were?

He looked at them again, and from somewhere deep within him came a sudden cry of warning.
“Run!”

They turned toward him, startled by the urgency in his voice. But Jay continued sitting on the grass, making no attempt to get to his feet. It was Flick who turned around and, seeing the oncoming stallion, shouted and ran.

Jay looked back, then scrambled to his knees and with the speed of a sprinter followed Flick. Both had reached the rocky trail before Flame swept past Steve.

The stallion came to a halt at the wall, his eyes
large and red. He screamed at the men above him. He rose high on his hind legs and pawed the air in his fury and frustration. When he came down he bolted along the wall, sending large clods of earth flying behind him. Then he turned and came back, running like a caged animal, his anger never abating.

Steve made no attempt to quiet Flame. Instead, he kept looking at Jay and Flick, who were seated on the trail, breathing heavily and scared. They were safe because Flame would never attempt the steep climb, regardless of his fury. They could have been two normal people who had run from an enraged animal. But they weren’t. They were men from another world. Steve waited and watched them, thinking of all he had been told and what Jay had attempted to do to him.

“Would you like to fly, Steve? It’s the easiest thing and the most fun of all.… Forget everything you’ve ever known in this world you call Earth.”