Colt Read Online Free PDF

long-reaching trot. Of horses cantering, their manes floating like wings. Of riders flying along on top of the trot and rocking to the rhythm of the canter. Of the trail, of the deep-green distances under the pine trees. Of freedom. Of going far. Of riding—not just poking around a ring at a walk, but really riding …
    He had to talk with his mother. He waited as long as he could, which was until the day after the wedding, when Brad and Rosie and Lauri moved in.
    â€œMom. There’s something I really want.”
    She looked up at him from the living-room floor, where she was struggling to clear a space around the sofa for Rosie. The problem was the two months worth of newspapers and magazines piled under and around what was to be Rosie’s bed. Audrey looked hassled. At least she had had her dinner. Colt had made himself wait until past the height of the commotion and after dinner.
    â€œMom, I want to keep on horseback riding.”
    She nodded without very much comprehension. “They’ll have handicapped riding again next summer.”
    â€œNo!” Colt made himself lower his voice. This was serious, not something he wanted to get his mother angry about. “I don’t mean next summer with the other Easter Seals kids. I mean now, the rest of this summer.”
    Audrey blinked. “You mean paid private lessons? With Mrs. Reynolds?”
    â€œYeah. Something like that.” Colt wasn’t too clear on the details. He just knew he had to get on Liverwurst again and learn how to go faster. Trot. Maybe even canter.
    His mother turned back to her excavations. “I don’t know, hon. I’ve got a lot on me right now. You remember we’re supposed to be saving money for a house—”
    â€œMom, please . It’s important.”
    She looked at him again, thinking, and her hesitation told him she wanted to say yes. But she said, “It’s not just me you want to talk with anymore. You’ve got to include Brad.”
    It was a couple of days before Colt could work himself up to do that. Which was just as well, because the household was in chaos. Audrey worked eight to five at the post office, but Brad was working three to eleven at the munitions plant, and Lauri had to be up at four in the morning to deliver her paper route. Since the route was back in the neighborhood where the Flowerses used to live, Audrey or her dad had to drive her. Rosie, who worked until past midnight at the McDonald’s, was always on the sofa trying to sleep when Lauri and Audrey or Brad came through the living room on their way out the door, at which point Muffins, who considered all the newcomers dangerous intruders, always sounded the alarm. Daytimes were not much better. Lauri had gymnastics and swimming and viola lessons, Colt had tutoring, Rosie had to go jogging to prepare for the cross-country season, Brad was trying to sleep, and Muffins barked at everything that moved. There were boxes and piles of Flowers junk all over the floors, nobody was getting enough sleep, and nobody ever knew who was supposed to cook what, or for how many, or when.
    Colt could not wait until after it sorted out to make his next horseback-riding request. Over the weekend, when Brad and his mother were both home at once, he got them to sit on the sofa (on top of Rosie’s sleeping bag) and listen to him. This time he had done some preparation.
    â€œI called Mrs. Reynolds,” he said, “and she said yes, she could give me private lessons on Liverwurst if Mrs. Berry thought it was a good idea. So I called Mrs. Berry, and she thinks it’s a great idea. She says I’m sitting up straighter and my back is stronger and my balance is better since I did that little bit of horseback riding.” Consciously he sat straight, not touching the back of the soft living-room chair he was perched in. He had been making a silent point of not spending so much time in his wheelchair, and was using his