Read Pony Dreams Online

Authors: K. C. Sprayberry

Tags: #coming of age, #horses, #family, #dreams, #nevada, #19th century, #16, #sixteen, #mail, #pony express, #mustangs, #kc sprayberry, #train horses, #1860, #give up dreams, #pony dreams

Pony Dreams (10 page)

BOOK: Pony Dreams
11.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“I tried,” I sobbed. “Really I did. It's my
fault.”

The scene faded, and I returned to the
kitchen. I stared at my family, at Uncle Andy.

“It's my fault they died,” I screamed. “I
should have told Ma right off that Grace and David snuck into the
corral.”

 

Chapter
Thirteen

 

Adam looked guilty
when I fixed him with a glare.

“You told me they were no one,” I cried. “You
lied to me!”

“I'm sorry.” He took a step toward me. “You
don't understand how bad it was.”

“You lied!”

“We had to make hard choices,” Ma said.

I turned my anger on her. She had always made
us live by the rules in the Bible, even though we couldn't get to a
church every Sunday. She punished us whenever we broke one of the
Ten Commandments. Her rules had abided by the Lord's for as long as
I could remember, and she had lied to me for ten years.

She lied!

The thought was almost as hard to swallow as
was knowing I had forgotten about Aunt Mattie, Grace, and David,
one of my brothers.

The horror at everything I had forgotten, at
how everyone had hidden it from me, rose up until I almost choked
from their deception. Every single person I had ever trusted had
told me lies for ten years. They may not have used words, but their
silence made their crime even worse.

“Calm down,” Ma said. “You need to let us
explain.”

“I forgot them.” Unreleased tears made my
eyes itch. “I forgot I had a brother, and a cousin, and an
aunt.”

“Don't think it was hard on us? David was my
twin.” A tear ran down Mark's face. “We didn't want to hurt you,
Abby.”

I didn't want their excuses, their reasons.
To avoid the explanations, to keep them from making me feel better,
I yanked open the kitchen door and ran. The sound of horses
stopping in front of the house didn't slow me. No matter who it
was, even if the Johnsons had shown up, they could run over me.

What kind of person forgot about family? An
awful one, a spoiled girl who thought about nothing except her own
selfish desires. I sobbed and ran through the horses; hoping one of
them ended my miserable existence.

Shouts leant speed to my feet as I sought to
escape the horrible guilt ripping through me.

“Abby, stop.” Adam grabbed my arm. “It's not
your fault.”

A man dressed in a dark blue uniform
dismounted in front of us. I looked around, seeing the same Army
troop that had stopped by ten days ago.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Weston?” Captain
Smith asked.

“No.” Adam glanced at the house. “Bart, help
Captain Smith round up his horses. Remember to hold back Blaze.
He's Abby's now.”

He was giving me a horse, a reward, for
killing three people? What kind of fool was he? Did he really
believe I would accept a gift, and forget all about how I had let
three good people die?

“Give them Blaze. I don't want a horse.” I
kicked him hard on the same spot I had earlier.

He released my arm and grabbed his leg. I
took off, running as far as I could from the pain shredding me into
pieces. The corral behind me, I raced into the desert. Everyone had
always warned me about the danger of doing this, but I no longer
cared.

I wasn't sure how long I ran, but I knew it
wasn't far enough to escape the certainty I had caused three people
to die. My legs quivered before collapsing beneath me. With my
hands over my face, I wailed out my grief and guilt.

When my tears stopped, I shook from
exhaustion and fear. A velvety nose nuzzled my neck, but I was too
tired to react.

“Your Blaze about kicked down the corral
fence until I rode out on him,” Adam said. “You scared everyone out
of their minds, Abby.”

“Leave me alone.” My voice cracked.

He came around and crouched in front of me.
Adam pulled the cork out of a canteen and held it out.

“Drink,” he said.

“No.” I stared at the canteen and ignored the
desire to gulp down the water. “Leave me alone.”

“You are one stubborn girl.” He wet a
handkerchief and wiped it across my lips.

Some of the water slid into my mouth. It
tasted so sweet that I reached for the canteen.

“Sip it.” He gave me the canteen and sat
beside me.

While I sipped, he pulled me close. For the
first time since hearing the truth, I didn't want to get away from
him, or anyone else in my family.

“That was a pretty awful time.” He stared at
the mountains in the distance. “You had a gash on your neck. David,
Grace, and Aunt Mattie were dying. Uncle Andy stayed with you while
we made them comfortable.”

Sometimes I believed the desert had dried all
conversation out my family. They never used ten words when one
would do, but I needed to hear everything, and prove to myself that
I hadn't killed three people.

“Why?”

I stared at him, to let him know I wouldn't
be put off any longer. Too many secrets in our family had made me
mistrust them.

“Well, I could put you off by asking why
what.” Adam pushed the canteen up until I took another sip. “But
you'd just get upset again. There's nothing you can do after a
rabid animal bites you. There is no cure.”

“I should have hollered for Ma as soon as
David teased us about touching the horses,” I muttered.

“You were five.” He stood and held out a
hand. “David was eight. He knew better than to do what he did that
day. Pa had spanked him twice the week before for the same
thing.”

“Oh.” I grabbed his hand and let him help me
up. “Why didn't anyone tell me about it?”

Adam corked the canteen and shoved it into a
saddlebag. He mounted and pulled his boot out of the stirrup.

“Stick your foot in the stirrup and grab my
hand,” he said.

After I did, he pulled me up behind him. Adam
turned Blaze and nudged him with his boot heels. We rode in silence
for a while.

“You almost died from your injury,” Adam said
as our ranch came into sight. “Uncle Andy stayed beside you for a
month, even sleeping in a chair, until your fever broke. When you
woke up, you didn't remember a thing. Ma, Pa, and Uncle Andy
decided to leave it like that. They said you didn't need the
guilt.”

“What about the others?” I asked, afraid to
say their names again.

“It took a week.” He stopped outside the
corral. We dismounted and took care of Blaze. “Don't ask me about
the details. It's a horrible way to die. That's all I'll ever tell
you.”

I let Blaze into the corral. “I'll miss him
when you take him to the Pony Express.”

Now I was doing it, not telling everything I
felt. No one would ever know how hard it was to give up Blaze after
I had grown so close to him.

I just can't keep a horse I love so much
when I couldn't stop David and Grace.

“Pa'll let you keep him.” Adam held my hand
while we walked toward the house. “You and Blaze have a
connection.”

“I promised Blaze he could deliver mail for
The Pony.”

I went inside, mechanically cleared the
table, checked the broth, and set a pot of water to boil.

“Don't even think about doing those dishes,”
Mark said. “You'll sit outside while I take care of them.”

He pointed at the door. Reluctantly, I went
back outside and leaned against the railing. The sun had begun to
set, bathing the desert in vibrant reds and golds. Cackling drew me
off the porch. I had only taken a few cautious steps when a figure
skulking near the barn caught my attention. Thinking Pa had
wandered outside, I moved closer.

“Pa, is that you?” I yelled.

“What's up, short stuff?” Adam asked from
behind me.

I had to restrain myself from jumping over
the roof.

Holy heck! He might have announced himself
easier.

Even worse, Bart and Charles were beside
Adam. My brothers moved with more stealth than a tribe of
Indians.

“I saw someone near the barn,” I said.

“Stay here,” Adam said. “Bart, you're with
me. Charles, load the rifles.”

Charles hurried back inside. Adam pointed me
toward the kitchen, and then he and Bart bolted in the direction of
the barn. A few minutes later, they returned with several chickens
hanging limply from their hands.

Everyone not sick stood in shock at the
sight. I didn't even grumble when some feathers dropped to the
floor.

“Someone strangled some the chickens,”
Charles said. “We'll need to set a guard.”

“I'll help,” Uncle Andy said.

“I need you with the sick,” Ma said.

For the next three days, I stuck close to the
house as my bruises flared to brilliant shades of purple and
yellow. Everyone's tempers shortened, owing to the long nights we
sat awake watching the barn and corral. Just when I believed I
might never be able to move without pain again, I awoke one morning
and stretched without a cramp.

Humming, I made it to the kitchen without
waking anyone. A fire crackled in the stove before I remembered we
had no eggs in the house. Taking a basket, I walked to the coop.
The sun had begun to rise, and the hens cackled quietly. A rooster
announced the beginning of a new day when I released the gate
latch.

“Thought you'd never come out,” Gabriel
said.

Startled, I dropped the basket. I closed the
gate, to put something between him and me.

“Go home,” I said. “I'll call for help if you
don't.”

“I heard someone hurt you. Did the Paiute hit
you with an arrow?” An evil, greedy grin illuminated his face. He
snickered. “A course, you might just get hurt agin iffen your
family don't tell Russell, Waddel, & Majors you cain't help
them no more.”

Would his family go that far to take The Pony
Express contract?
Yes. They'll do whatever they have to so they
can have the contract.

“Go home, Gabriel.”

A hinge creaking scared me stiff. Had his pa
and brothers come with him?

“Abby, go inside,” Adam called from the barn.
“Gabriel, get off of our property.”

The quiet rage in his voice released my fear.
I turned around and discovered him holding a rifle on Gabriel.

“I need eggs for breakfast,” I said.

“I'll get them,” he said. “Run for the house.
Mark!” Adam raised his voice. “Take Abby inside.”

Mark hurtled around the barn and leapt the
fence. He escorted me to the kitchen and assisted me with a
breakfast of biscuits and ham. Coffee brewed in the iron pot when
Adam returned from wherever he had chased Gabriel to. He settled at
the table and held up a tin cup.

“Don't mention anything to Ma about this,” he
said while I poured coffee. “I'll deal with the Johnsons until Pa's
well.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

Ma and Uncle Andy entered the kitchen.

“Andy says you boys can go back to the
bunkhouse today.” She looked at Adam. “What are you doing with a
loaded rifle in my kitchen?”

At her outraged screech, I ducked my head.
What would she say about Gabriel's visit? I prayed she never
learned about it.

“Getting rid of a varmint pestering the
chickens,” he said.

He opened his mouth to say more, but snapped
his lips together when Peter and Paul stumbled to the table. They
made jokes about how Charles had teased them into eating. Ma poured
them each a bowl of broth and hovered over them until they lapped
up every drop. When they finished, Peter grinned at me with an evil
gleam in his eye.

“Heard tell you got throwed,” he
commented.

“At least I didn't spend a week in bed,” I
retorted.

“Enough,” Adam said. “Mark, we need to hunt
up some mustangs. Charles and Bart can keep an eye on the house
today. Peter, Paul, don't tease Abigail.”

I poked my tongue at my brothers retreating
forms. That earned me a smack on the back of my head.

“Don't think I'll let you back on a horse
anytime soon,” Ma said. “Your pa will just have to figure out how
to break them without you.”

She had just signed my death sentence. For
that was how I felt if I didn't have a chance to get on a horse
again.

 

Chapter
Fourteen

 

A couple of days
after I remembered the accident, Ma had me pull up the rug in her
and Pa's room and beat it with a long stick until no more dust flew
out of it. Before I had a chance to take a breath, she handed me
the broom, a bucket of steaming water, and a rag.

“Clean up the walls and floors.” She pulled
the curtains off the windows. “I'll take care of the bedding.”

She'd never said a kind word to me since the
day Adam brought me home. I wondered if she hated me for what I'd
done.

“Is this because I yelled at you and ran
off?” I asked.

She stared at me for a long moment, and then
shook her head.

“The contract work kept me from doing this
earlier,” she said. “Andy says we can move your pa out of the
bunkhouse. I don't want to disturb him by moving him twice so we
can do a thorough cleaning.”

Ma bustled out the door with her arms full of
the curtains she'd made last winter. For a couple of seconds, I
stared at the bare windows, remembering back when the snow fell for
days on end how she took several of my old dresses and cut them up.
Then she sat patiently every night for a week and sewed the tiniest
stitches I'd ever seen until she had four curtains for the two
windows.

Best quit daydreaming and get to work. Ma'll
swat my backside if she comes back, and I'm staring out the
window.

I swept the floor and began to wash soot and
grime off the walls that had built up since last fall. The chore
was one of the most difficult I had ever done, since I had to climb
on and off a chair to reach the ceiling. She returned for the
bedding as I started on the floor.

“Do you want me to empty the mattress ticking
and refill it with straw?” I asked.

BOOK: Pony Dreams
11.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Three of Hearts by W. Ferraro
A Battle Raging by Cullars, Sharon
The Taming of the Thief by Heather Long
False Tongues by Kate Charles
Home Fires by Luanne Rice
Fury by Elizabeth Miles
One Day in Apple Grove by C H Admirand