One Unhappy Horse by C. S. Adler Read Free Book Online

back out of the casita. She should have known better than to get emotional about Dad. Mom could only deal with her grief by burying it. That was how she was. But, at least, Jan now knew that her mother's remoteness didn't mean she didn't love her.

    Jan dragged the hose from stall to stall to refill water drums for the horses. She changed Dove's water last. Then she leaned her head against his neck, feeling it pulse as he drank. He splattered her with drops when he shook his head after he'd finished.
    "You've got to have an operation, Dove," she told him. For once she was glad he didn't have human understanding. It was better for him not to know what was going to happen to him, but she wished she could talk to someone about the operation, someone who could understand how scary it was. Mattie! She loved horses. Was it too late to visit her? They'd be eating dinner soon in the main house.
    Jan ran across the dirt road and through the field, slowing only as she approached the back door. She could see through the dining room windows, which didn't need shades to keep out the sun because they faced the mountains to the north. The tables were set for dinner, but nobody was seated yet. Timidly, Jan knocked at the door. She
hoped it would be Mattie who answered, but it was the manager.
    "Well, hi," Stella said. "Did you come to see Mattie?"
    "I was hoping to, yes."
    "She's not feeling too well. One of her bad days. She's lying down, but I'll tell her you're here."
    "No, no. I don't want to bother her if she's sick." Jan hesitated. "She's not very sick, is she? I mean, she looks so healthy."
    "Most of the time. But she has her spells, as she calls them. She was injured in a car accident five or six years ago, and she gets headaches and forgets things." Stella smiled at Jan and confided, "If you could come by next Friday, that'd be so nice. Next Friday's her birthday."
    "It is?" Jan said in surprise. "Okay, I'll try." She began backing away. Next Friday evening was Brittany's party, but there would probably be time before it to see Mattie.
    "I'll let her know you were here," Stella said. "She talks about you a lot, calls you her 'young friend.' She's real tickled that you pay attention to her."
    "Well, I like her," Jan said.
    "Oh, Mattie's a cutie. They don't come any sweeter. Next Friday's Halloween, you know. Don't forget to come," Stella said again.

    Jan couldn't fall asleep that night. Her mind was a rock tumbler polishing worries about how Dove's operation would go and how Mom was going to work two jobs when she was already tired from one. And Mattie was having a birthday! It would be fun to give her something—flowers, maybe, or candy. How hard was it to make fudge? That would work as a birthday gift. Jan could even save some of it to offer Brittany and Lisa—if she ever got up the nerve to invite them over. But that would have to wait because she was going to be very busy. Dove would need lots of attention when he had his operation and while he was recovering. And Mom deserved any help Jan could give her around the ranch.
    Finally, Jan couldn't lie still another minute. She tiptoed out of the bedroom so as not to wake her mother, who was snoring as usual. Above the refrigerator was an old, yellowed cookbook.
The Joy of Cooking.
Jan looked up fudge and decided it was doable. She wrote "baking chocolate" on the shopping list Mom kept on the refrigerator door.
    If she was going to be awake all night, Jan thought she might as well go check out the stars. She turned her back on the city lights and looked up toward the mountains etched dark against a slate sky. Was Dad out there somewhere amongst all those shiny stars? Did he know about their problem with Dove? If he knew and couldn't help them, he'd feel bad. Probably being dead meant he couldn't feel anything anymore. At least, the minister had said that death brought eternal rest. And that was good. Because right now Dad would be feeling really bad for his family.
    An owl