A Time to Heal(56)

The boy ran. Chris walked forward. "Something's definitely wrong with her."

Hannah studied Daisy. The horse had moved a step closer to Chris when he approached. Hannah had noticed the horse really seemed to like Chris.

But when he tried to stroke the horse's nose, Daisy wasn't having any of it. She whinnied and backed away.

"Something's definitely wrong with her," he agreed as he glanced around inside the stall. "Might be colic."

"She had colic once and she didn't behave like this."

Chris stepped closer and talked soothingly to the horse.She shied from him the way she had with Hannah, curled back her lips, and showed her teeth. But he persisted quietly, soothing her, and she let him reach out and touch her jawbone under her cheek. Hannah remembered how his touch had felt the night before.

"Be careful, she could bite you," Hannah warned.

"You won't bite me, will you, girl?" He felt around and gently pressed the vein on the inside of the jawbone, his mouth moving as he counted and watched the second hand moving on the dial of his watch.

"Her pulse is very fast," Chris told Hannah. "Since Matthew will be gone a while, I don't think you should wait. Go call your vet now. I'll stay with her."

Hannah hurried from the stall and met Phoebe halfway to the house.

"Joshua says Daisy is sick? This came on suddenly. She was fine yesterday."

"Chris says we need to call the vet right away."

Phoebe nodded. "You go call. I'll sit with her until he gets here."

The number for the vet was in an address book inside the telephone shanty. With shaking fingers, Hannah dialed the number and told the vet what symptoms Daisy was experiencing.

She returned to the barn and they waited for the vet to arrive.

Daisy seemed to grow worse by the minute. For the first time since she'd lived with them, she lay down in the stall and wouldn't get up. Her breathing grew labored.

The three of them knelt on the hay. Chris wiped Daisy's damp skin with a towel while Hannah and Phoebe prayed.

Hannah began to wonder if the vet would be able to get there in time. She felt tears sliding down her cheeks as she tried to comfort Phoebe.

It felt like hours before the vet got there, but it was no more than half an hour. The man strode in, did a quick exam, and looked around her stall. Then he pulled out a huge syringe and gave Daisy an injection.

"That should make her feel better," he said, pulling out a plastic IV bag filled with clear liquid. "I'm giving her some fluid since she's dehydrated."

"What's the matter with her?"

"I'm not sure. I think she may have eaten something that didn't agree with her."

He pulled a plastic zip-lock bag and a lab tube from his medical case and scooped up some of the feed in her stall. He put it in the bag and filled the tube with some of Daisy's water, then put both into his bag.

"Why did you do that?" Phoebe wanted to know.

"It's rare, but occasionally something will get into an animal's food or water. The lab'll check it out and I should have the test results in a day or so. In the meantime, get rid of that food and water and put in new feed from another bag. Are the other horses okay?"

"They're fine," Phoebe told him.

The vet frowned and then he nodded. "That's what makes me think she ate something that didn't agree with her, that it isn't the food she and the other horses were eating."

He gave Daisy a final look. "Someone should keep an eye on her until she's better. You have my number if she should turn worse. Otherwise, I'll be back tomorrow morning."

Hannah could see the worry written on Phoebe's face. Daisy had been a gift from Phoebe's mann years ago, and she wasn't just a horse but a member of the family.

"Why don't you sit with her for a few hours while I finish the canning?" Hannah suggested. "She seems calmer with you here."

Hannah suspected that Daisy would probably need watching tonight; she could spare Phoebe from spending the cool night hours there.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I'll call you when supper's ready."

Chris had been standing back while the vet took care of the horse and now he backed away. "If you don't need me I'll see what else I can do outside. If Matthew's back I'll send him over to talk to you about Daisy."

Phoebe touched Chris's arm. "Danki for helping, Chris."

"I was happy to do so," he told her, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "Try not to worry."

Phoebe nodded. "I don't. I believe—"

"Worrying is arrogant because God knows what He's doing," Hannah finished with a smile.

Chuckling, Phoebe smiled. "I guess I say that a lot."

Hannah bent to kiss her head. "I don't know about that.But it's a wonderful way to live. I'll finish the canning and start supper. You call me if you need anything."