Marjorie Morningstar Read Online Free PDF Page A

her in a greenish blur.
     In a few seconds, hardly aware of what was happening, she overtook Vera, and one after
     another she passed the rest of the party as though they were standing still. Dimly
     she heard a shout from Jeff over the tattoo of Prince Charming��s hooves and the splatter
     of flying dirt, “… rid of that goddamn
crop
! He’s crop-shy! Never…” But it meant nothing to her. She went drumming down a clear
     track with the air whistling in her ears, pulling at her hair, bringing tears to her
     eyes. Her hat was gone, of course. The stirrups thumped and clanked gaily against
     the saddle girths. Marjorie noticed that, oddly enough, a maniacal gallop was the
     easiest of all gaits to sit to. It was like resting in a gently rocking chair, except
     for the noise of wind and hooves, and the quantities of scenery flying by. She was
     aware of no fear at all, but rather a silly mildly surprised pleasure. A cold wind
     on her teeth indicated that she was smiling. On the whole she was idiotically enjoying
     the fast ride.
    Prince Charming came to the reservoir, turned sharp right, and went galloping up the
     curved path. At the moment that he turned he parted company with Marjorie, for she
     continued travelling in a straight line, flying off his back, landing on the path,
     rolling over and over through dirt and puddles, and coming to rest face down, sprawled
     on sweet-smelling new grass. There she lay, hearing far-off peaceful traffic sounds.
    All at once she was surrounded by stamping horses, and girls were screeching and men
     were shouting and somebody gave her her hat, and a policeman was dismounting and taking
     out a notebook.
    Jeff and Sandy helped her to her feet and set about cleaning her off with handkerchiefs
     and stray pieces of newspaper. She was smeared with mud and her jacket was ripped
     at the elbows. One of her ankles was throbbing peculiarly inside the boot, but nothing
     else seemed to be wrong with her. Exhilarated and quite gay at the center of the fuss,
     she answered the policeman’s questions clearly and calmly. Jeff explained about Prince
     Charming’s fear of crops. Sandy kept apologizing for not noticing the animal’s terror.
     Marjorie said it was all her fault, she should have been able to control the horse
     anyway. The policeman said he was damned if he knew why more damned Sunday riders
     weren’t killed. He shut up his book and remounted his tremendous brown horse, adding
     he was damned if he could see why people rode horses for pleasure at all, seeing that
     saddles were damned uncomfortable, and all horses were damned idiots.
    Meantime another policeman appeared leading Prince Charming by the bridle. The animal
     was streaked black with sweat, and his head drooped meekly. Marjorie at once stepped
     out of the chattering circle around her, took the reins from the policeman’s hands,
     and with a limber spring that surprised herself got back into the saddle. Her ankle
     gave her an angry twinge when she jumped.
    “Hey,” said Jeff, staring at her and scratching his head. The others peered around
     at her.
    Marjorie said, “I’m all right. Let’s get going.”
    “You sure, miss?” Jeff said. “Maybe we better get you a cab, call it a day.”
    “Didn’t you ever fall off a horse?”
    “Forty times, miss, but—”
    “Well, you’re still in one piece. So am I. Just shorten my stirrups, please. Sorry
     I held up the party.”
    “Attagirl, Margie,” said Billy Ehrmann.
    “Well, okay.” Jeff sprang to the stirrups. “That’s the spirit, miss. You’ll be a rider
     yet. Mr. Goldstone, you better ride with her from here on.”
    “With pleasure.” Sandy reined his horse alongside Prince Charming.
    The blonde gave her horse a hard kick in the ribs as she went ahead past Marjorie
     and Sandy. “Quel cretin,” she was heard to murmur.
    Marjorie’s hands and legs were trembling, and sweat was cold on her forehead. But
     she was less afraid than she had been