Midnight Lady (6 page)

TJ thudded to the ground. He rolled sideways in the dust as the horse’s hooves trampled his hat to a pulp.

Watching every move, Leon’s mouth stretched into a thin smile. “Nope. Never seen a horse like it.”

Midnight Lady’s sides heaved, she staggered on her hobbled leg, her wild face warned she would bite and kick to death anyone who dared to come near.

“Stupid animal!” TJ got shakily to his feet and turned in disgust to his boss. “You tell Donna this horse ain’t fit for nothing, you hear!”

“… You tell Donna what?” a voice behind Kirstie and Lisa asked.

They swung around into the glare of the sun to make out the well-groomed figure of the ranch owner herself, slowly followed by Matt.

“Mrs. Rose, you can’t let this go on!” Lisa ran to her.

Kirstie turned back to brave Midnight Lady, wishing with every particle of her brain, every ounce of her body, that she could do something—anything—to help!

Donna had ignored Lisa and reached the gate. She was staring at the scene, at the wild-eyed, stamping mare, at the two shaken ranch hands, at Leon Franks sitting coolly on his horse. “Tell Donna what?” she repeated.

“Bad news,” Leon drawled, staring over the stockade fence at the far, flat horizon. “I done my best with this horse, tried every darned thing I know, but it ain’t no good.”

Brave, brave horse!
Kirstie thought. She loved the fierce look in her eye, her spirit’s refusal to be broken.

“What are you saying?” Opening the gate, Donna joined her men.

“TJ’s right; the mare ain’t no good for ranch work,” Leon told her. He didn’t care one way or the other. It was just a fact.

At first, Donna refused to believe it. “But Hadley chose her. He knows horses inside out!”

“Makes no difference. She’s vicious. She got lethal tendencies.” Dismounting, the manager took off his black Stetson and wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

“So you give in?” his boss demanded scornfully, one eye on Midnight Lady.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Saying nothing, listening to every word, Lisa nodded hopefully at Kirstie and Matt. At this rate, there wouldn’t be any need to call animal welfare; Circle R looked ready to let Midnight Lady go.

“So what do you suggest we do with her?” Donna demanded. “Sell her?”

Leon sniffed and looked at the ground.

“But who’d want a bronc that can’t be broken?” The new notion hit Donna hard.

Lisa frowned at Kirstie. “How about Half Moon Ranch buying her?” she whispered.

“Don’t even think about it!” Matt warned. He was the hardheaded one in the family, the businessman.

“No one!” Donna answered her own question. “That means we’re stuck with a horse we can’t use!”

“It happens.” Leon shrugged. He looked like he was waiting until Donna had calmed down before he made a suggestion. “Course, no way can we go on feeding a horse who doesn’t earn her keep.”

Exasperated, looking quickly from one to another in the group until her eyes finally rested on Kirstie, Donna sighed. “It looks like Hadley made an expensive mistake.”

Don’t blame Hadley,
Kirstie thought.
And don’t blame Midnight Lady. Leon Franks is the one who’s at fault here.

“There is one way of getting some of your money back.” He cut across Kirstie’s dark thoughts to deliver his solution.

Donna pursed her mouth. “Which is?”

“Let me ring Arnie Ash’s place.”

The name jolted like an electric shock through Kirstie’s system. Tall red letters on a white sign above a wide gate. A feedlot behind a shabby main street.

“The abattoir?” Donna thought for a moment, casting a glance at the impossible gray mare with the unbreakable spirit. Midnight Lady stood head up, ears back.

“Yeah. They take horses and turn ’em into dogmeat,” Leon said in a low, coarse voice. “It’s not gonna be worth a whole lot, but you gotta admit, it’s better than nothing.”

“They’re taking Midnight Lady down to the abattoir early tomorrow morning!” Kirstie spoke on the phone in a loud voice to Hadley. She stood in the booth inside the noisy End of Trail Diner, while Lisa leaned in through the doorway. Across the room, Matt was talking to Bonnie Goodman about what had happened.

“I hear you,” Hadley replied. He offered no comment or opinion.

“Say something!” Kirstie begged.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Tell us what we can do to stop them!” It had been unbearable, listening to Donna Rose discuss the details with Leon Franks. The ranch manager was to call Arnie Ash and ask for a time when they could deliver the horse to the slaughterhouse; he was to drive the trailer himself to make sure that nothing went wrong.

“Get the best price you can,” Donna had told him. That was her hard edge showing, a reaction to her disappointment that the money spent on Midnight Lady had been wasted.

“And next time let me choose my own horse,” Leon had reminded her, with what both Kirstie and Lisa had thought was a nasty sneer.

On the drive back from Circle R to San Luis, Matt had told them they were both imagining things. “Leon’s doing his job the best he knows how,” he’d insisted. “Don’t go reading too much into things.”

“You never saw him sacking out,” Kirstie had retorted. “The guy’s got a mean streak. If I was Donna Rose, I’d watch out for him!”

“You want me to stop Donna from sending her horse to Arnie Ash?” Hadley said now.

“Ask him if your mom would like to buy Midnight Lady!” Lisa hissed, poking her head over Kirstie’s shoulder. A couple of truck drivers came into the diner and began to order burgers and fries from Bonnie. Meanwhile, Matt was looking at his watch and obviously thinking of his date with Lachelle. He gulped down the last of his coffee and put the cup down on the counter.

“I heard that, too,” Hadley cut in before Kirstie had time to repeat the question. “I can give you Sandy’s answer without even asking her.”

“Hadley, explain the situation to Mom. Say we’d only need to pay half of what Midnight Lady is worth.” Kirstie knew that the price given by Arnie Ash would be rock bottom, and that Donna Rose might well be tempted by a higher offer. “And you know yourself what a good horse she is!”

Silence from the other end. In the diner there was the whirr of the till, the hiss and spit of cooking oil as Bonnie Goodman tipped a scoop of raw fries into the pan.

“I know what a good horse she
was!
” Hadley replied at last. “Past tense.”

“What do you mean?” Kirstie put one hand over the receiver then turned her head toward Lisa. “He’s gonna refuse to help!” she groaned.

“Midnight Lady was a great horse before Leon Franks and his pair of thugs got their hands on her.” Hadley spelled it out. “But I don’t hold out much hope for her after what they put her through this last week. I’ve seen what happens to a strong-spirited horse when she’s been brutally treated. She gets this wild streak running through her: half-fear, half-anger. No way will she settle down and become a steady dude ranch horse. Her temperament’s spoiled for good.”

“Not Midnight Lady!” Kirstie protested for all she was worth. “She’s special. She could learn to trust again.”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t be like that. I know what I’m saying …” Desperately she broke off and turned to Lisa.

Lisa grabbed the phone. “Hadley, are you still there? What Kirstie’s trying to tell you is she’s already made friends with Midnight Lady. You know how great she is with horses. She only had a few minutes with her on Sunday afternoon, but she cut across all the cruel stuff, really got through to her. Beneath all that bucking and rearing, there’s still a beautiful, gentle horse …”

Kirstie took back the phone. “At least ask Mom the question for me.”

“Sure.” The short answer conveyed his deep doubt that it would do any good. Then Hadley changed tack. “What does Matt say?”

Kirstie faltered. “You know Matt; always counting the dollars.”

“Don’t even think about it!” was exactly what he’d said. The words were etched in her brain.

“And you also want me to pass on the message that you plan to stay over at Lisa’s place?” Hadley recalled. “Did I get that right?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, her heart sinking. “Things work out best if I sleep here. Bonnie can drive me home tomorrow morning …”

Tomorrow morning, when it would be too late to save Midnight Lady, when the Circle R trailer would already have driven down Renegade’s shabby main street, through the white gates, under the red sign to her short journey’s end.

Three miles in complete darkness!” Lisa objected. “Kirstie, are you crazy?”

“We’ll take flashlights.”

“It would take hours to get there!”

“Not by bicycle. You ride yours. I’ll borrow your mom’s.” Kirstie brushed aside the excuses. Doing something, anything, was better than doing nothing.

“What if someone sees us?” Lisa had a long list of protests up her sleeve. She was snuggled deep under her blankets in a warm, comfortable bed, and here was her crazy best friend talking about getting dressed again, going out into the cold and dark, sneaking off on bikes along Route 27, through Renegade, all the way to Circle R.

“Who?” Kirstie challenged. She was already unzipping her sleeping bag and climbing into her jeans and sweatshirt. “It’s past midnight. Everyone is asleep.”

“I wish
I
was!” Groaning and sighing, Lisa flung back her covers. “Why can’t we be normal kids, Kirstie, listening to music, surfing the internet? When we have a sleepover, why can’t we do just that—like,
sleep
over!”

In spite of everything, Kirstie grinned. Lisa looked funny with her dark red hair tousled and sticking up at the crown, her mouth pouted and sulky. “I could go alone,” she suggested, guessing the response.

“Whoa, no way! You think I’d let a lunatic like you ride around the country by yourself!” Lisa pulled on her trousers, overbalanced, and hopped around the room.

“Shh! Your mom will hear!” Opening the bedroom door, Kirstie peered along the landing, then quickly backed off. “There’s a reading light on in her room!” she whispered.

“No sweat. Mom always leaves that on all night.” By this time, Lisa had succeeded in getting fully dressed. She rummaged in a drawer and brought out a flashlight, then tested it by shining it full in Kirstie’s face.

“Thanks!” Dazzled, then blinking hard, Kirstie turned and set foot on the quiet landing. The boards creaked as, one step at a time, she made her way toward the stairs. Behind her, Lisa stubbed her toe and swallowed a sharp “ouch!”

“What if Mom wakes up and finds our beds empty?” Lisa hissed her final objection in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. The neon light from the diner sign shone in through a narrow window, turning her face a sickly blue.

Kirstie considered it. Bonnie would panic and start making phone calls. Then, back at Half Moon Ranch, her own mom would freak out. They would probably bring in the police. But by then it would be too late to stop her and Lisa from carrying out their secret plan. “We risk it!” she decided, opening the front door and stepping out under the moonlit sky.

Sleek and silent, a weasel shot out from under a pile of logs and down a storm drain at the side of the road. A frog hung limply from his jaws; the long, black-tipped tail whisked as the weasel vanished down the narrow hole.

At the last moment, Lisa caught sight of him in the beam from the light mounted on the front of her bike. She turned her handlebars to miss the swift creature, wobbled, and fell sideways into Kirstie.

Both girls crashed to the ground, then picked themselves up unhurt. “How much farther?” Kirstie whispered, scanning the flat, open land that lay ahead.

“About a mile.” Lisa whispered her reply. She glanced back at the lights lining the main street of Renegade. It had seemed like a ghost town as they rode through. A dog had howled, a gate had swung open in the wind. No one had stirred.

“Why are we whispering?” Kirstie hissed as she got back on her bike. “There isn’t a soul out here!”

“I know. Isn’t it creepy?” Lisa drew a deep breath. “It’s like being swallowed up by a giant black hole; like you ride by accident into a hostile universe and lose your way back into the daylight world of cars and shops. And all the people you ever knew wake up and wonder where you are.