For Sale or Swap - Alyssa Brugman [66]
'Gee, he's big,' said Shelby, looking down over the side. The ground seemed a long way away.
'Just like a great big rocking chair,' said Lindsey. 'Are you ready?' She squeezed at the horse's sides and he set off at a lovely loping canter.
'Good, huh?' called out Lindsey. 'I'd never go back to ponies now, not after riding the big ones.'
Lindsey pushed the horse on up the hill and then slowed down to a walk at the top. 'I'm heading back around now. Does that get you a bit closer?'
Shelby slid off the big horse's back. They were not far from a trail that led out onto the road near Shelby's house. 'Thanks heaps. It's just up the top of the hill.' Shelby shaded her eyes as she looked up at Lindsey.
'Thanks for helping me out that night too. It was dumb, after all, and we both got in trouble, but you were, kind of, there for me anyway.'
Lindsey nodded. 'That's OK. I would have done the same thing. I'm glad you did it. I would have thought you were a wuss otherwise.' She smiled.
'You should come over one day – when you've got the day off.'
Shelby felt comfortable with Lindsey. She wouldn't be embarrassed about the way that her family lived.
'Sounds good,' said Lindsey, turning the horse away and trotting down the trail.
Shelby waved goodbye and then headed along the trail to the road.
As she walked down her street she noticed that her Dad's car was not in the driveway. He mustn't have come home yet. She wondered where he had gone that had taken so long.
She pushed open the screen door and walked down the hallway into the kitchen. Her mother was sitting at the dining room table going through some papers.
'Guess what? I just had a ride on a Clydesdale. So much fun! I might get one of those when I grow up.'
Her mother nodded, but kept concentrating on her paperwork. Shelby looked out the window to the garden. Her father was tending to his vegetables. Sliding the back door open, Shelby slipped out onto the back patio.
'I had a ride on a Clydesdale,' she told him.
Her father shoved his trowel into the soil and wiped his dirty hands on the back of his shorts. He gathered up a handful of vegetables that he had picked from the garden and walked around its wooden border. 'Really? That's one of those big ones, isn't it?'
'Yeah, he was huge! We doubled,' she said.
'Is it for hire?' he asked. 'You kids can ride it to school when you miss the bus,' he said, smiling.
Shelby shook her head. 'So where's your car anyway?' she asked him.
Shelby's father put his hands on her shoulders. 'I sold it to get your horse back.'
'Dad! Don't be silly!' Sometimes his jokes weren't funny at all. As if he would ever sell the Spyder.
Her father followed her, turning into the kitchen to wash the carrots he had picked. He shook the water from them over the draining board and twisted their green tops off.
'Want to see a magic trick?' he asked.
Shelby shrugged.
He held the carrots up in his hands, two in one hand and one in the other. Then he twisted them around. 'Presto magico,' he said, then he tucked the carrots into Shelby's pockets. He waved his hands at her, palms out. 'They've disappeared!'
'Yeah, good one, Dad,' she said, pulling the carrots out and throwing them on the bench.
'Don't you want to give them to your horse? I'm offended. I grew them myself. They're organic, you know.' He picked up the carrots and juggled them. 'You know, with all the fuss you've made about getting him back, I thought you'd be more excited.'
'You didn't really sell the Spyder,' she said.
He sighed 'No. It's at the mechanics, so we might not need the sulky after all, as long as your Aunt is happy to double.'
'What are you going on about?'
'Your Aunt Jenny just bought your horse, so you'll have to share him now.'
'No way! You're not being serious!'
If it was a joke it was an awful one.
'No. I'm just kidding. I don't think Aunt Jenny will want to ride him. She lives too far away.'
'Did she really . . .?' she asked, not trusting herself to finish the question.
'She did,' her father replied.
It couldn't be true.