Star Gazer (7 page)

“Jordan, wait!” Jacob hollered as he cut through the crowd and ran toward them.

Jordan's head snapped up at the sound of the boy's voice.

When he reached them, he had a big smile on his face. “You've got to come back to the auction ring. The packer told my dad that he'd made a mistake and couldn't take the mare. Star Gazer is going back through the sale ring right now! Since you were the only other bidder at the end, you get the first right of purchase at your last offer!”

Jordan stood there listening to Jacob's words, but they weren't sinking in. “What does that mean, Jacob?” she asked. Her head was spinning, trying to make sense of it all.

Nicole grabbed her by the arms and swung her around to face her. “It means you're going to get another chance!” she said. “Your last bid was nine hundred dollars. Sometimes the winning bidder can't follow through on his offer. When that happens, the next highest bidder is given the chance to buy the animal at their last bid price. That means
you!”

Jacob motioned them forward. “You need to return to the sale ring and officially tell my dad that you want the bid at nine hundred dollars.”

Jordan turned to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. “Can I?” she pleaded. She'd already lost Star Gazer once. She couldn't bear losing her a second time.

Mrs. Wilson looked to her husband. He gave her a smile. “I guess we're all in this together, Jordan,” she said. “Go ahead and make your offer. If your mom doesn't want the horse, then we'll have to take responsibility for her. We'd have to find a new home for Star and try to get your money back, though. We can't keep her ourselves.”

Jordan gave them both a big hug. “I'm really sorry that all this happened,” she apologized. “I feel terrible that I dragged you into it. I don't usually do things like this. But I can't let Star Gazer die. It's not fair. Her owner shouldn't have abandoned her like this.”

Mr. Wilson rounded them all up. “Let's get back to the auction before it's too late.”

Jordan walked back into the sales ring and a loud murmur of approval rose from the crowd. Mr. Wilson signaled his approval to the auctioneer, and Mr. Yoder slammed the hammer on the podium with a loud
crack
. “Sold to the chicken lady for nine hundred dollars,” he crowed.

The onlookers applauded loudly.

“You did it!” Nicole wrapped Jordan in a big hug. Then she laughed and held her out at arm's length. “What in the world are you going to do with a horse the size of a Volkswagen? You only came here to buy chickens!”

Jacob interrupted them to congratulate Jordan. “Well, it was a crazy ride, but you won in the end.” He took off his hat and dusted the brim. “What are you going to do with her?”

Jordan shocked herself by blurting out, “Star Gazer's going to win that log-skidding contest at the fair this year.” She wasn't sure what made her say that. She didn't know a thing about draft horses, let alone driving them. But Mr. Sutton needed someone to give him some competition, and Star Gazer would be the perfect horse to do it.

Jacob gave her a doubtful look. “You're biting off a pretty big chunk there,” he cautioned. “Are you sure you can handle it? That contest is only a couple months away and you're new to the sport. In fact, you're kinda new to everything.”

Jordan felt a bit hurt. Jacob didn't think she could do it. She knew that she'd be the weak link in the process. She was starting from scratch. But she could learn how to work with draft horses, couldn't she?

Jacob seemed to sense that he'd hurt her feelings. “We've never had a girl in the log-skidding contest,” he said. “But there's no reason you couldn't give it a try…assuming Star Gazer doesn't have anything seriously wrong with those feet.”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at her. “You've got to face it, Jordan. There's a good chance that Star Gazer might have something really wrong with her hooves. Sutton doesn't just get rid of prime breeding stock. Star Gazer might have to be put down if she's broken any of those bones in her hooves. You need to get a vet to look at her as soon as possible. That's my best advice.”

The full impact of Jacob's words hit her like a horseshoe between the eyes. Jordan leaned against the wall and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She'd just spent most of her savings on a horse she knew very little about. A horse that was lame and might have to be put down anyway. Maybe she needed to just take one step at a time. “I know,” she said. “But for now, I just want to get her home and make her happy.”

Jacob nodded. “How are you going to get her home?”

That was a good question. Jordan frowned. How
would
they get the big mare home? Especially with sore feet. She couldn't exactly walk her the ten miles to their house.

“We've got a trailer,” Nicole said, “but there's no way Star will fit in it.”

“My dad and I could deliver her to you if you can wait until Monday,” Jacob offered.

Jordan smiled. “That would be really great. I'm going to need a few days to get the place ready anyway.”
That's the understatement of the year,
she thought. They'd fixed the stall up for Ned when he'd stayed with them a few days. But it was pretty flimsy. They'd need to reinforce it and make it bigger to hold an animal Star Gazer's size.

Plus, she'd need the extra time to figure out how to tell her mom that a huge horse was coming to live with them.

Jordan's head was beginning to hurt. What was she going to tell her mother? They were already living on a shoestring budget, and her mom only had plans for raising a few chickens. What would she say when the Yoders delivered Star Gazer?

Jordan knew one thing for sure. She should forget about her plans to enter the pulling contest at the fair. When her mother found out she'd just bought an injured draft horse, Jordan would be so thoroughly grounded, she wouldn't see the light of day for an entire year.

eight

Jacob led them back to Star Gazer's pen. This time, when Jordan stood by the mare, she looked at her through new eyes. Star Gazer was hers! She'd waited for this day for so long—and now it was finally here. She had a horse of her very own!

She placed her hands on either side of Star's head and rubbed the mare's large cheek bones. She almost had to stand on her tiptoes. Everything about this horse was massive. The halter they'd found in the barn definitely was too small. Nothing that fit a normal-size horse would work on Star. Good thing there were a lot of draft horses in the area. She'd seen Amish-made halters in the local tack store. She'd be shopping there soon—right after she mowed a few more lawns.

“Well, I've got to get back to work,” Jacob said. “But don't worry about your mare. You took care of ol' Ned for us, so now we can return the favor.” He waved and walked away, then turned back, pulling a small pad of paper out of his pocket. He scribbled something on the top sheet, tore it out, and handed it to Jordan. “Here's our phone number in case you guys have any questions or need anything.”

He gave her a mischievous grin, daring her to ask him if Mennonites were allowed to use modern gadgets like phones.

Jordan beat him to the punch. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Mennonites
can
have telephones.”

“Hey, now you're catching on,” Jacob teased. “Brother Fisher follows the old Amish ways and doesn't own one. But he can come over and use ours if he feels like it.” He turned to the Wilsons and tipped his hat. “Have a good day. You guys can check out at the cashiers. Once you've paid for everything, I'll help you load up your smaller purchases.”

An hour later, Jordan was sitting on the porch steps with her cage full of speckled chickens. Her mother would be home from work soon. Jordan had gone over every imaginable reason for buying a lame horse. But none of them sounded better than the truth: She'd bought Star Gazer because the mare was going to the killers, and she couldn't let that happen.

Her mother was going to totally flip out.

Jordan's foot tapped uncontrollably on the wooden step and she nibbled at her fingernails. When she heard the sound of a car engine slowing down to make a turn and the crunch of tires on gravel, she burst into tears.

Her mother quickly climbed out of the car and took a seat next to her on the stairs. “Jordan, honey, what's wrong?” She put her arm around her daughter's shoulders and pulled her close. “Why are you crying? What happened?”

The enormity of what she'd done hit home. Jordan choked back a sob. Her mother was going to be so disappointed in her. Mrs. McKenzie tucked a long strand of hair behind her daughter's ear and pulled a tissue from her purse to wipe away the tears. “There now,” she said softly. “Calm down and tell me what happened.”

Jordan hiccupped. “I didn't mean to, Mom, but I couldn't help myself. They were going to send her to the killers!”

The look on her confused mother's face was so comical, Jordan almost stopped crying. She realized how silly her words had sounded. She sat up straight and took a deep breath. “Mom…I did something that's going to really upset you…”

Her mother tried to put on her I-can-handle-this face. “What did you do, Jordan?”

The chickens clucked and pecked at their cage, filling the silence while Jordan tried to think how to word her story. There was no easy way to put it, so she just blurted it out.

“Mom, I bought a lame draft horse.”

Even the chickens stopped clucking. The silence drew out so long that Jordan felt like they were frozen in time.

Jordan's mom tilted her head and her brows drew together. “You bought a
horse?
How did
that
happen?”

Jordan shrugged. “There was this big beautiful draft horse at the auction,” she explained. “She was lame and her owner didn't want her anymore, so he just dumped her at the auction and walked away. I knew just how that poor horse felt.”

Jordan's mom sat in silence for a minute. She studied Jordan's face and brushed away a few more tears, then let out a deep sigh. “This is about your father, isn't it?” she asked.

Jordan scrunched her lips and looked down at her feet. “I don't know—well, maybe.” She felt the tears stinging the backs of her eyes again. She needed to push away the ugly thoughts about her dad. She already felt bad enough about her rash decision to buy a horse they couldn't afford. “The packer was bidding on her and there wasn't anybody to save her, so I bought her to keep her from ending up in a dog food can,” Jordan said.

“Where were the Wilsons in all of this?” Mrs. McKenzie asked, the exasperation leaking into her voice. “They were supposed to be watching you.”

Jordan frowned. “Please don't blame Nicole's parents, Mom,” Jordan begged. “It's all
my
fault. I put up the bid card without asking them, then I begged the Wilsons to let me buy her.” She sniffed and brushed away the hair that had stuck to her hot, sticky face. “They said they'd find the horse a good home if we couldn't keep her. They're going to call you later to ask about your decision.”

The hens started clucking again and Jordan's mother studied them for a moment before speaking. “You've put us in a bit of a situation here, Jordan. You bought an animal that we can't afford to keep. It was nice of the Wilsons to offer to fix this problem for you, but I can't really ask them to do that. You created this mess, and you are going to be the one to figure it out.” She paused for a moment waiting until Jordan nodded in agreement, then continued. “Will the auction take the horse back?”

Jordan shook her head. She didn't want to give Star Gazer back. “The Wilsons already paid for her. I have to pay them back on Monday. That's when Mr. Yoder and Jacob are supposed to deliver Star Gazer.”

“I see.” Jordan's mom folded her hands in her lap and stared out across the soybean fields.

Jordan knew that look. It pained her to know that she'd caused this much trouble for her mom. “I…I know you're really upset about this, but—” Her mother fixed her with a stare that cut her off midsentence and made her feel like crawling under the porch.

“Jordan…” This calm, steady voice worried Jordan a whole lot more than screaming and shouting. “You went to an auction this morning,” her mother continued, “with permission to buy some chickens. You came home with the chickens,
and
the news that you've purchased a draft horse— a
lame
draft horse. Your savings is now gone, and we're going to have to figure a way to feed this horse
and
ourselves. Yes, I am upset.”

“But, Mom,” Jordan squeaked. “The packer was buying Star Gazer for dog food. Jacob said they like buying the bigger horses because that way they get their money's worth.” She searched her mother's face. “I'm sure you would've done the same thing if you'd been there.”

“Maybe I would have,” Mrs. McKenzie admitted. Her shoulders seemed to sag under the weight of the problem Jordan had caused. “But the problem still remains. We've got a horse that we really can't afford, and if she's lame, there's no way we can sell her—except to run her back through the auction. And then she'd probably just end up in a can anyway.”

Jordan gazed into the distance. “I know. I've put us in a pretty big mess,” she said. “But if you'll just meet Star Gazer, you'll see why I couldn't let her go to the packers. I'll work and earn some extra money to help care for her.”

“All right, Jordan. Here's what we're going to do,” her mother said, her tone brooking no argument. “I'll meet Star Gazer on Monday when Mr. Yoder and his son come to deliver your horse.
You
can mow lawns and weed flower beds for the neighbors to help pay for the upkeep on this horse. Then you're going to come home and do a whole list of chores that I have for you. By the time you're done, you're going to have calluses on your calluses. And maybe somewhere in there, you will have learned a lesson.”