The Land(7)

Once we got to the Waverly farm, we went right away to see the stallion my daddy had come to buy, the great Ghost Wind. He was pure white and he was a beauty. My daddy admired him openly. Mr. Waverly invited him to mount, and my daddy did so. He walked the horse around the pasture, then nudged him into a gallop. Ghost Wind seemed to be floating.

“Like to put him into some real paces,” said my daddy, “and see just how fast he is.”

“Fine,” agreed Mr. Waverly. “I’ll just get mounted and show you the course. I’m sure your boys there would like to see it too. We can all ride along, though I’ll tell you right now we won’t be able to keep up.”

Hammond and George were all for that. I was too, but Robert held back. He’d had enough of horses for a while. He said he’d rather wait at the finish line to see the horses come in. Although I wanted to ride the course along with my daddy, George, and Hammond, I stayed behind with Robert.

Now, Mr. Waverly had three boys. Percy was eleven, same as Robert and me, Jack was a couple of years younger, and Christian was the eldest. All three stayed behind. They had seen Ghost Wind race before and seemed to have no interest in seeing him race again. Soon as their daddy was gone, they said there was another horse we should see. “Called an Appaloosa,” said Christian Waverly. “Come from out west somewheres. He’s ours. Our daddy gave him to us.”

“Wanna see him?” asked Jack Waverly.

I certainly did, but they weren’t talking to me, and Robert was hesitant, having no desire to see another horse, no matter how special. Unfortunately, those boys sensed Robert’s fear, and they brought the Appaloosa out anyway. The Appaloosa was a beautiful thing with deep colored patches of brown against a background of cream, but he seemed frightened, and the Waverlys had a hard time handling him. Finally, when they got him calmed, they invited Robert to mount.

Robert’s eyes widened at the prospect and he backed away. “But . . . but he’s wild.”

The Waverlys scoffed. “No wilder’n most. Go ’head. Get on.” “No, thank you,” Robert politely declined.

“Aw, come on,” said Percy Waverly. “Sure your daddy would want you to try him out, seeing what a horseman he is.”

“I said no,” Robert repeated.

The Appaloosa suddenly reared, and Robert’s eyes showed his terror. Backing away, he stumbled.

“You ain’t scairt of him, are you?” asked Christian. “Come on, we’ll help you up.” Then two of the Waverlys scooped Robert up, while the third held the Appaloosa, and plopped him on the horse’s back. Robert was terrified.

I yelled for them to take Robert off that horse and pushed my way toward the Appaloosa. “Let him down!” I ordered.

One of the Waverlys caught me by the lapel of my coat. “And just who do you think you are to be telling anybody to do anything? Oh, yeah, we heard about you.”

I glanced at Robert, who was mute with fear. He was trying to get off the animal, but I knew that filled him with terror too; the ground to him was a long way down. “He doesn’t have a way with horses,” I tried to tell those boys. “He’ll get hurt.”

“Well, why don’t you help him out then?” said Christian, and he and his brother Percy picked me up and tossed me on behind Robert. One of them threw up the reins, then slapped the Appaloosa on the rump, and Robert and I went flying across the meadow. The Waverlys laughed.

I managed to grab the reins, but seeing I was behind Robert, I couldn’t gain control of the Appaloosa. The horse was frightened, and I wasn’t strong enough to stop him. Robert was yelling at the top of his lungs, while all the time I was trying to rein in the horse. From far across the meadow I could hear the Waverlys yelling at us, but whatever concern they had was coming too late. The Appaloosa bucked and hurled us both off, and we hit the ground hard.

“Y’all all right?” asked the Waverlys as they ran up. I could tell their concern was genuine. Their voices and their manner had changed. They helped Robert up, but I figured I didn’t need their help and pulled away when they offered it.

“Y’all hurt?” asked Percy once we were standing. “Didn’t mean you any harm, just funning.”

“Some funning,” I said, brushing myself off, but Robert seemed too dazed to speak. He just stood there, his right arm holding his left. “Is it broken?” I said.

Robert just looked at me and didn’t answer.

“Look,” said Christian, “don’t mention this to our daddies. We didn’t mean for this to happen. Didn’t figure you’d get hurt. Like we said, we were joshing, that’s all.”