• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 271 0

the only way I can conceivably get to Aqueduct quickly is to take a car service. I put a jacket on, check that the cats have fresh water, then throw money, keys, and cigarettes in my pocket and leave. I glance over at Ramirez’s door and wish it were open. I don’t know that I’d tell him what I’m up to, but just having a “Hello, lady” from him would give me strength. The door is closed though and there aren’t any sounds emanating from his apartment. I go down the stairs two at a time and jog over to the car service on Mermaid Avenue. There are two cars parked outside the tiny storefront, waiting for something to do. A lively Dominican man ushers me into his beat-up white Lincoln Town Car and I tell him my destination.

“You playing the ponies?” he asks with interest.

“No, I mean yeah, maybe, but I’m going to see a horse I know in a race.”

“Oh yeah? You got a hot tip for me, girl?”

This makes me wonder. Do I? Will Attila ride well?

I tell my driver to bet Jack Valentine in the fifth.

BEN NESTER

25.

Runaway

I stare at the little guy knowing there’s a chance I’m not going to see him again for a long while. Darwin’s groom, Petey is mucking some stalls out down the aisle. He nodded at me when he saw me heading over here. I feel okay about Petey. In the time I’ve been watching him, I’ve seen he’s come to really give a shit about Darwin. Maybe not the way I do, but I know he’ll see to it nothing bad happens to the little guy. Though Petey can’t do anything to keep the colt safe on the track. It’s up to me to take care of that. Which means I might not be seeing much of Darwin anymore.

Darwin reaches his head over the stall guard, trying to bite at my pockets where he knows I’ve got peppermints for him.

“Hey, no biting,” I tell him, tapping him on the forehead a little. He pins his ears at me. I frown at him. Eventually, he puts his ears forward again. I scratch under his chin and feed him a couple of peppermints, watching him roll them around on his big tongue.

After a long while, I run my hand down Darwin’s face one last time and then walk away. I don’t turn around even though I can feel him looking at me.

I’m back at Carla’s shedrow going over some tack I’ve got hanging on a hook in the aisle. I’m just getting some gunk out of a bit when I hear a loud noise and I look up to see a horse tearing toward the barn. I frown up at the sight and it takes me a minute to realize it’s my boss, Carla, on a runaway and that he’s taking her back to his stall. Before I’ve had time to think, Carla is ducking, trying to flatten herself against the horse’s neck as he shoots for his stall. The stall door is closed and the colt bangs right into it then starts rearing.

“Nester!” Carla screams, sounding genuinely terrified.

I come within a few feet of the flailing horse and start grabbing at his reins. He’s snorting and crazed and can’t figure out which way is up. I’ve got to get hold of him before he hurts himself and my boss.

I try to put myself inside the horse’s mind to send good thoughts there. The horse calms down a little bit. I reach for the reins. Carla’s still screaming which isn’t helping any. I pull the horse’s head toward me but he spooks and tries to rear again. I send him more calmness and in that one moment of quiet, Carla gets her feet untangled from the stirrups and hops down.

“Jesus,” she says, collapsing right there in the dirt.

The horse, a two-year-old named Soft Demon, is terrified and still trying to pull away from me.

“Don’t do it, buddy,” I tell him. “You’re gonna hurt yourself and you won’t like that one bit,” I say.

He suddenly stands completely still, his big eyes and labored breathing the only sign of his chaos.

People have gathered around, some of them having seen the start of the event up in the paddock where Carla was trying to give the colt a schooling session, though why she rode the poor colt in the paddock I don’t know. I thought she was just going to lead him around and show him the sights there. Carla gets to her feet and people start asking if she’s all right. I open Demon’s stall