Scarecrow on Horseback Read Online Free PDF Page A

and got scraped up.”
    Sally shook his head. “No, uh uh. That
wouldn't keep you from riding. You got more guts than that.”
    His faith in her pleased her. “Look,” she
said. “You're right. Something happened, but I don't want to talk
about it. Really. I don't.”
    “All right. I'll stop bugging you. Only I got
to say this. Jeb can be pretty hard- nosed, and if you won't ride
like he wants, he just might bar you from the corral to show you
who's boss.”
    “But I need to be here with you and the
horses, Sally. Can't you talk to him?”
    “Jeb don't take much advice from me. You
think it over. Maybe you should talk to him yourself. ” Sally
turned to go and then looked back at her to say, “If you change
your mind about riding, Lily, I'll meet you in the big barn when
I'm done work. That'll be about four. I'll stay right with you,
Mel.” And he added, “Because I'd hate to lose my new assistant when
I just got such a good one.” His grin spread his potato face even
wider. His eyes above the grin shone with kindness. Before she
could react though, he'd gone off to work on another horse.
    Mel stood riveted in place while Lily buried
her nose in the feed bucket and munched noisily. The pointy- headed
mountains peering down at the ranch below the sun-washed sky seemed
to mock Mel as she laid her cheek against Lily's neck. She didn't
doubt that Sally would have something to teach her about riding if
she showed up at the ring at 4:00 p.m. She and Lily would do okay
together maybe, as long as Sally was with them. But then what? She
imagined Jeb's disgust when he saw her flopping in the saddle.
    “You're the worst rider I ever saw,” Lisa had
screamed at her. “You even made Wonder Boy look bad. He would have
won if it hadn't been for you. Scarecrow! You ruined him.”
    Scarecrow, too tall, too thin, awkwardly
doing everything wrong. It really had been her fault that Wonder
Boy hadn't won. Mel shuddered. If only Lisa hadn't broken her arm.
If only winning hadn't meant so much to her.
    * * * *
    One of Lily's hooves still needed to be
picked clean. Mel bent and gently pinched Lily above her fetlock.
“Jeb won't bar me from the corral. Will he, Lily?” she asked the
horse. Surely, he wouldn't.
    Lily snuffled contentedly as Mel got the
brush from her jeans pocket and massaged Lily's smooth neck with
it. Telling Jeb she was sorry might not be that hard. She was sort
of sorry. But Sally would be waiting for her in the big barn at
4:00 p.m. Mel had no doubt he would wait for her as he had
promised. What she didn't know was what she would do about it.
     

 
    Chapter
Four
     
    By late afternoon, the fat golden sun had
begun retreating behind the snow-streaked mountains to the west.
What was left of its heat felt good in the big barn. Veils of
sunshine slanted all the way from the rafters to the dirt floor,
and the air smelled sweetly of hay and horses. Sally waited beside
Lily. He had the delicate Arabian already tacked up and ready as if
he'd been sure she'd come.
    “Come on,” Sally said when he saw Mel
standing in the doorway, “I'll give you a boost up.”
    Mel had saved part of an apple from her
lunch. She offered it to Lily, who sniffed it, licked it, then
moved her head aside without taking it into her mouth. “Doesn't she
like apples?”
    “Horses got their preferences just like
people.”
    “Just like people,” Mel repeated in
agreement, as she winged the half apple out the barn door for a
lucky ground squirrel or chipmunk to find.
    Lily tossed her head at Mel's sudden
movement, and Mel reached out to calm her, stroking her neck and
whispering to her that everything was all right. “I don't weigh
that much even though I'm tall,” she told Lily. “I won't hurt
you.”
    “Ready?” Sally asked.
    “Ready,” Mel said, although she could hear
her own heart beating a warning. She was about to risk Sally's good
opinion of her by making a fool of herself. Still, she followed his
directions and put her right