Horse Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page B

the horse. They drag her off to their cage on wheels and . . .
    Thankfully, Mom slams the brakes, stopping the car and my imagination.
    â€œWill you look at that crowd!” Mom exclaims.
    I gaze out my window at all the people in the streets, in the school yard, everywhere.
    Mom leans on the steering wheel. “Surely they can’t all be here for that little horse.”
    I hurry out of the car. Not only are the animal control people here, but the town’s two police cars are parked on the school lawn. Orange cones block off the roads in all directions. Even the fire truck is here.
    It looks like half the town found the horse before we did.
    I spot Colt up the street and run to meet him.
    â€œEllie!” he shouts, waving both arms like he’s directing traffic.
    Larissa is with him. She doesn’t wave. Not even with one arm.
    â€œCool, huh?” Colt says when we meet up in the center of the street.
    â€œWhat are these people all doing here? Where’s the horse? What’s going on?” For the millionth time, I wish I were taller. I can’t see over the heads in the crowd.
    â€œIt’s been awesome!” Colt exclaims. “Nobody can catch that skinny horse.”
    Larissa takes a sip from a long, curly straw poked into her pink drink. The giant plastic cup says Crazy Larry’s Dairies. “All this fuss over a backyard horse?” She says this without bothering to look up from her Crazy Larry’s cup.
    â€œBackyard horse?” I repeat.
    Larissa sighs. “That’s what my mother calls them. Backyard horses. You know. A horse without papers. Not registered. Probably not even a purebred. The kind of nag somebody would keep in the backyard instead of paying to board it in a stable.”
    I stare at her and wonder why God gave Larissa Richland a champion show horse. Her horse has probably never even seen Larissa’s backyard. Custer’s Darling Delight (great horse, silly name) goes directly from the elite K. C. Stables to the horse show ring and back again.
    I start to argue with her, then stop. “I don’t have time for this.”
    Suddenly the crowd lets out an “Oooh—aah!”
    Larissa, Colt, and I spin around to see.
    â€œThere it goes again!” Colt laughs.
    â€œWhat?” I stand on tiptoes and try to see. But I’m too short. Too many heads are in the way. “What’s happening?”
    â€œThat horse just dodged a net,” Colt explains.
    â€œA net?” It’s like I imagined. This is not good. “I have to see what’s going on.” I leave Colt and Larissa and take off running for the horse.
    â€œYou’re not supposed to go up there!” Larissa calls after me. “You’re going to get in trouble. Anyway, it’s just a backyard nag, Ellie.”
    I ignore her and her singsong threat. Just because her horse wins trophies all over the state doesn’t give her the right to make fun of other horses. But she does it all the time. My friend Rashawn has a sweet gray farm horse named Dusty. Larissa calls him Musty or Rusty and laughs about it every time, like she’s so funny. Rashawn’s best friend, Cassandra, has a Shetland pony, and Larissa is always making fun of him too. She calls him Phony Pony.
    I elbow my way through the crowd. “Excuse me, please!”
    â€œWatch where you’re going, kid!”
    I glance up to see a guy in a baseball cap that says Channel 5 News . He has a video camera strapped to one hand. Two more cameras dangle around his neck.
    Next to him, six middle school girls are snapping photos with their cells.
    Finally I break through the pack. Somebody behind me gasps. I look up in time to see the spotted horse trot right in front of us. It’s the first good look I’ve gotten of the horse. I hate to admit it, but if Larissa ever had the right to make fun of a horse, this would be the one.
    If anything, the mare is dirtier