Scarecrow on Horseback by C. S. Adler Read Free Book Online

okay, honey,” Sally told her. “Hojo
probably wouldn't appreciate anyone else touching him.”
    “He doesn't seem to mind me,” she
persisted.
    “No, Mel. A horse that's hurting will take a
bite out of anybody who messes with him, and Hojo's hurting now.
Look at him eyeing us, waiting for one of us to get within
range.”
    * * * *
    Hojo was resting in a stall in the big barn
the next morning when it was time for his dressing to be changed. A
male college student who had been hired as a wrangler for the
summer season had called in sick. Jeb and Sally were rushing to get
the horses ready for the morning trail rides and didn't notice when
Mel stopped helping and slipped away to the barn.
    Bright morning sunlight lit the open arena
inside, but the rays didn't reach the stall in the back where Hojo
was stamping his foot. Mel stopped at the opening above his door
and started talking to the pale gray horse bulking out of the
dimness of the stall like an outsized ghost.
    “So how're you doing, Hojo? Do you still hurt
a lot? At least you don't have to carry any nasty dudes on your
back today. You can rest while you heal. Did they feed you yet this
morning? Probably not. Probably they'll feed you after they finish
tacking up everybody else.”
    She went for some flakes of hay, opened the
door to the stall, and pitched them in.
    While Hojo was chewing his first mouthful,
she stepped into the roomy box stall and closed the door behind
her. “You don't look mean,” she said to him. “And who could blame
you for not liking those riders they give you? Just because you're
big, they shouldn't muscle you around like you're some kind of old
tractor without feelings. Right, Hojo?”
    She put her hand on his shoulder. He turned
his head to eye her, but he kept chewing and didn't move. She
stroked his neck, then reached up and rubbed behind his ears. He
snuffled.
    She said, “I saw what that vet told Jeb to do
about the dressing. I bet I could do it as good as Sally. Would you
let me? Huh?”
    All she got for an answer was the sound of
Hojo's steady chewing. She slipped out of the stall and got the
white first aid box. Setting the box down on the floor of the
stall, she went back to stroking Hojo. He was still chewing at his
feed, and when she stopped petting him, he bumped her shoulder with
his nose.
    “Hey!” she said in surprise. “So you want to
be friends?” Still talking to him cheerfully, she pulled off the
adhesive bandage and the medicated gauze soaked with dried blood.
Hojo had stopped eating. His head was turned to watch her, but he
wasn't backing away and he looked calm.
    She used skin swabs to clean the wound and
finished by applying fresh medicated gauze and an adhesive bandage
to hold it in place. Hojo had twitched at the swabs, nothing
more.
    “Looks like you're going to heal fast, big
fella,” Mel was saying to him when Sally appeared in the open top
half of the door.
    “What are you doing in there?” Sally
yelled.
    Hojo squealed and backed up, his big hooves
clomping loudly on the floor.
    “There, I had him all calm and happy and now
you upset him,” Mel said. “I just changed his dressing the way the
vet said to do. Saved you one job at least.”
    Sally stood there with his jaw hanging. “You
won't ride a horse, but you'll go right up to a heavyweight like
Hojo and handle him? What kind of sense is that?”
    “My feet are on the ground. I keep telling
you when my feet are on the ground I know how to move. Besides,
Hojo likes me. See.” She put her arm around the horse's neck and
posed defiantly beside his head.
    “You are something else, Mel. I can't believe
you did what you just did. I can't believe Hojo let you.” He took
his hat off and ran his gnarled fingers through his wavy,
gray-streaked hair.
    Sally was standing there being amazed when
the clop, clop of a horse's hooves sounded inside the barn.
And there came Rover, swinging his head and himself from side to
side clownishly.
    “Rover, you untie