Abandoned (5 page)

Lauren was halfway down the
stairs when Kjerstina’s voice yelled from the back door. “Lauren!
Come outside! Come out through the kitchen.”

“Here she is,” said Aunt April when
Lauren walked into the kitchen. “All unpacked?”

Lauren smiled. “Yes, I didn’t bring much
stuff,” she added.

“Are you ready for your blindfold?”
asked Aunt April and picked up a white dishcloth from the
table.

“Blindfold?” asked Lauren, her voice
sceptical. They’re carrying this surprise thing a little too far,
aren’t they?

“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t
want,” Aunt April said and put the cloth down on the table.
“Kjerstina just mentioned it, and well, you know how excited she
gets about things.”

“I don’t mind,” Lauren said and
shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, let’s go. You’re ready to see
what your surprise is anyway, aren’t you?” Her voice sounded so
hopeful that Lauren felt bad about not wanting to wear the
blindfold.

“Am I ever, Aunt April,” she replied.
“But put the blindfold on me first, okay? Really. I’d rather have
it on and make Stina happy.” She held still as Aunt April tied the
cloth around her eyes. The darkness felt good against her
eyelids.

“Lauren!” Charity’s voice came from
outside.

“Okay, here we come,” Aunt April called
back. She guided Lauren to the back door. “Step over the
threshold,” she said and helped Lauren onto the porch. Then Aunt
April moved behind her. “Are you ready?”

Lauren nodded. Aunt April fumbled with
the knot, then the cloth fell free and the sun beamed onto Lauren’s
face. She put up her hand to shield her eyes from the brightness
and gasped at what she saw.

Three horses stood in the backyard.
Charity held the lead rope of the horse closest to Lauren, a tall
leggy mare. The mare gleamed black with only a small white star in
the middle of her forehead. Her coat glittered in the sunlight.

Next to the mare stood an athletic, dark
brown gelding with a blaze running halfway down his face and a
white snip on the end of his nose. He bobbed his head and stepped
toward Lauren with his ears forward. Kjerstina held him back and a
low nicker escaped from his throat.

The third horse shone a bright gold that
perfectly accented his silky black mane, tail, legs, muzzle, and
ears: a buckskin. A crescent shaped star sat exactly between his
dark eyes and a pink sheet flopped around his neck. Kjerstina stood
proudly between the two geldings, a lead rope in each hand. It took
Lauren a moment to register that Kjerstina and Charity were
laughing at the shocked expression on her face.

“You look so surprised! I knew you would
be,” exclaimed Kjerstina and bounced up and down for a moment.
“Come and meet our new project. Mom and Dad got them for us this
spring. Aren’t they awesome? It’s been absolutely terrible keeping
it a secret from you. I wanted to phone you a thousand, million,
billion times!”

Charity led her black mare forward.
“This is Orion. Isn’t she the greatest?”

“She’s amazing.”

“I absolutely adore her. She’s my new
best friend,” said Charity tenderly. She leaned into Orion’s
shoulder. “Come and say ‘hi’.”

Lauren tore her eyes from the beautiful
horse to walk down the steps. The last thing she wanted to do was
embarrass herself by tripping on the steps and falling. She
couldn’t believe this was happening! It was like a dream, the best
possible, imaginable dream come true! Orion put her head down and
sniffed at Lauren, then snorted, spraying Charity and Lauren with
tiny wet flecks.

Charity laughed. “She likes you,” she
said to Lauren. “I can tell. She doesn’t snot on just anybody.”

“Yes, she does,” argued Kjerstina. “She
does it all the time.”

Lauren stroked the velvet neck. “She’s
beautiful. You’re so lucky.”

“She’s a great jumper too. I’ll show you
later. We have some practice jumps set up in the back.”

“That’s enough time with Orion,” said
Kjerstina. “Come see Coyote.” She pulled her horse forward a couple
steps. “He’s an Anglo-Arab.”

“What’s that?” asked Lauren, turning
toward the gelding.

“It’s just a fancy way of saying he’s an
Arabian/Thoroughbred cross,” said Kjerstina, shrugging her
shoulders.

“He’s such a cool colour, like shiny
chocolate,” said Lauren reaching out to smooth Coyote’s mane.

“He’s a liver chestnut,” said Kjerstina
and made a face. “I know it sounds gross. They should have called
it a midnight chestnut or coffee chestnut or something like that.
Almost anything is better than
liver
chestnut.”

“The white spot on his nose is adorable
and his eyes are so big and brown,” said Lauren as she admired the
finely etched head and large expressive eyes.

“Yeah,” said Kjerstina. “He has an
Arabian face. And he doesn’t snot on people!”

“Yes, he does,” said Charity.

“Who’s this?” asked Lauren, turning to
the buckskin gelding. She touched the soft black muzzle. “Is he
Aunt April’s?” The gelding sniffed at Lauren’s hand, then pointed
his ears forward, whinnied low in his throat and lowered his head
so she could stroke his golden face.

“No,” said Kjerstina. Her voice sounded
strained to Lauren and she turned to look at her cousin.
Kjerstina’s face was contorted and Lauren realized she was trying
not to grin.

“Is he Uncle Chris’?” Lauren asked with
a puzzled voice.

“No,” said Kjerstina and shut her mouth
tightly.

Then Aunt April’s voice came quietly
from behind Lauren. “He’s yours, Lauren.”

“What?” Lauren couldn’t believe her
ears. “Mine? Really? He can’t be!
Mine
?”

Kjerstina and Charity laughed. “Yeah,
he’s yours,” said Kjerstina. “All yours. Your dad sent the money to
buy him!”

Lauren didn’t know what to say. Words
didn’t seem enough. With a trembling hand she took the lead rope
that Kjerstina offered.

“I knew you’d like him,” said Charity.
“His name is Trooper and he’s a Thoroughbred/Morgan cross. He’s an
awesome jumper and he’s won a ton of ribbons. He’s twenty-four
years old, but he doesn’t look it, does he?”

“He’s wonderful. Totally perfect,”
breathed Lauren. She leaned forward and rested her forehead against
Trooper’s face, then inhaled deeply. “He smells nice too,” she said
after pulling away. Trooper whinnied and nuzzled her with his nose
and Lauren leaned back into him.

“Do you want to go for a ride?” asked
Charity.

“I’d love to!” said Lauren, still
breathless with the wonder of having her own horse. “Can we? Are we
allowed?”

Kjerstina laughed. “Of course we can.
That’s what the horses are here for. Come on.” She led Coyote
toward the gate to the paddock and Charity fell in behind her,
leading Orion.

“Wait a minute, Lauren,” said Aunt
April. She walked to Trooper and started to untie the sheet that
was hanging around his neck.

“What’s the sheet for?” asked
Lauren.

Aunt April glanced at her daughters,
leading their horses away. “That’s Stina’s attempt at a bow, I’m
afraid,” she whispered as she pulled the sheet from around
Trooper’s neck.

Unexpectedly, Lauren felt the prickle of
tears in her eyes. She blinked quickly to chase them away. “Thank
you so much, Aunt April,” she choked. “For everything.” She flung
her arms around her aunt’s ample waist.

Aunt April’s arms closed warm and soft
around Lauren’s shoulders. “You’re very welcome, sweetheart. You
know we love you.”

“I love you too,” said Lauren. “I can’t
believe you would do all this for me.”

“Your dad is the main one. We’re only
supplying the place for Trooper to live,” said Aunt April.

Lauren pulled away. “Can you hold him
for a minute? I have to phone Dad. I can’t wait until tonight.”

“Sure, Honey.”

But all Lauren got was the answering
machine.
He’s out catching the
stalker
, she thought after leaving a quick message.
He’ll call tonight and I’ll tell him
how wonderful he is. Tell him how useless his hint was. And tell
him all about Trooper.

She bounced back down the back porch
stairs and took the lead rope from Aunt April. “Thanks, Aunt April.
Trooper, we’re going to have a wonderful time this summer,” she
said to the buckskin and turned toward the barn. Trooper nickered
and nuzzled her with his nose as they walked. Charity and Kjerstina
stood outside the new barn with their horses, waiting for her.

It’s a
dream come true
, Lauren thought.
I guess I am glad I came to Misty Lake. Amazingly glad.
Stina’s right. It’s going to be the most perfect summer
ever.

The girls tied the horses to
rings in the wall outside the new barn and Lauren followed
Kjerstina and Charity inside. They walked past four roomy stalls,
two on each side of the barn aisle. There were two rooms on the
end.

“That’s where we keep the grain and
supplements,” Kjerstina said motioning toward the door to the left.
She opened the door to the right and walked into a tack room. It
still smelled of new wood. Four saddles stood on saddle racks
against the far wall and bridles hung on hooks shaped like
horseshoes.

“The western saddle is yours to use for
now,” said Charity. “We got it from the people that used to own
Trooper, so it fits him perfectly. My saddle is this dark brown
one. It’s a jumping saddle and Kjerstina’s is the black dressage
saddle. The black jumping saddle is for Trooper too, but Mom
thought it would be better if you learned to ride with the western
saddle. It’s harder to fall off with it.”

“What’s dressage?” asked Lauren, running
her hand over Kjerstina’s sleek black saddle.

“It’s a sport where the horse and rider
communicate with each other so well that they can do lots of hard
things, like trot sideways and canter in one spot, and stuff like
that,” said Kjerstina. “I’ll show you a video when we go back to
the house, if you want. I can’t do it very well yet, but it’s
amazing what the real professionals can do. Their horses are so
graceful they look like swans floating on air. I’m trying to get
good enough to enter the beginner classes in the fair this year. My
riding instructor says that I’m a quick learner and Coyote seems to
be catching on fast, so there’s a chance.”

“When’s the fair? Maybe I’ll still be
here then,” said Lauren. “I’d love to cheer you on.”

“You might be here. It’s in August,”
said Charity, then she added, “Hey, you should think of entering
Trooper in some of the classes. He’s a great jumper. I’m going to
be entering Orion too.”

“That would be fun,” said Lauren. Her
heart raced as she thought of Trooper flying through the air over
jump after jump with her on his back. “But I’ve never ridden
before,” she added. “What if I can’t do it?”

“You can take lessons with us,”
suggested Charity. “Our instructor will let you know if you’re
ready in time. They have lots of beginner classes at the fair.”

“Awesome!” said Lauren. She pulled the
western saddle and blanket from the saddle rack and lugged them
outside to the horses. Charity grabbed Trooper’s bridle from the
hook.

First, Charity and Kjerstina showed
Lauren how to groom Trooper and then how to tack him up. Then they
took the saddle and bridle off again and Lauren saddled Trooper by
herself as they gave her pointers. Charity showed her how to pick
up Trooper’s feet and clean his hooves, and Kjerstina showed her
how Trooper especially liked his forehead scratched. She laughed as
she rumpled his forelock.

“He looks like a punk rocker now,”
Kjerstina said, when Trooper’s forelock was sticking out all over
the place. Then she smoothed his hair down again and tucked it
under the brow band of his bridle.

“Okay,” said Charity as she gave Trooper
a final pat on the shoulder. “We’ll saddle Orion and Coyote in a
minute. First, I’ll show you what to do when you’re riding him and
then you can ride around a bit while we’re getting our horses
ready.”

Charity took Trooper’s reins in one hand
and stood in the left stirrup, then she swung her leg over his
back. Trooper stood still as she settled into the saddle. Charity
shifted her weight and pulled gently back on the reins.

“Back,” she said to the gelding and
Trooper stepped back from the barn. She laid the reins against the
right side of his neck and Trooper turned to the left, away from
the pressure of the reins.

As Charity rode the buckskin around the
field, she explained to Lauren what she was doing. “When I want him
to stop, I do more than pull back on the reins. I say ‘whoa’ too,
and settle back in the saddle a bit. He can feel the shift of my
weight and knows that I want him to stop. He’s a really smart
horse. When I want him to go, I squeeze with my lower legs and lean
forward just a tiny bit. I can say ‘walk on’ or ‘trot’ too. He
knows all the voice commands. When you start riding with the
jumping saddle, some of the reining will be different, but almost
everything else will be the same.”