Sixteen and Dying Read Online Free PDF Page B

nothing to bring it about.
    “Look, I should get back to the lodge. Do you mind?” he asked.
    “No problem. I’ll stay here and admire my new horse, then head back for ice cream.” She was glad he was being nicer.
    Anne watched him walk away and tried not to feel so hopeless. This ranch represented everything she could never have, everything that had been stolen from her by an unalterable circumstance. Tears welled in her eyes and slid softly down her cheeks.

Six

    A NNE AWOKE BEFORE dawn the next morning. She tossed restlessly, finally got up, dressed, and headed down to the main lodge. Maggie Donaldson glanced up. “Morning,” Maggie said with a broad, friendly smile. “You’re up early.”
    “Couldn’t sleep.”
    “You’ll be so tired by this time tomorrow, we’ll have to shake you awake.”
    Anne saw some of the kitchen crew clearing away the table. “Did I miss breakfast?”
    “The hands eat early so they can be about their chores. But you’ve got a few hours before the morning bell. Would you like a piece of fruit to hold you over?”
    Anne plucked an apple from a fruit bowl on the table and waved at Marti, who offered a smile and exaggerated sigh. “Catch you later,” Marti said.
    Anne wandered over to where Maggie was working. “I already like the ranch,” she told her. “I’ve lived in New York City all my life. It’s so different out here.”
    “I’ll bet.” Maggie’s kind green eyes looked up at Anne. “I grew up out here—my Pa, Frank Lancaster, owned the next spread over. I married Don, who owned this place, and when it became impossible to make ends meet ranching alone, we decided to open the place up in the summer. Guests get a taste of the West, and we get to keep working the ranch.”
    “You’ve never traveled out of Colorado?” she asked.
    “Oh, I’ve been to other places, but no place I liked better.”
    “Do you have family here too?”
    “Just Morgan, my brother’s boy.”
    Anne was curious about why Morgan wasn’t with his father. She would have thought the families would be working together. “Where’s your brother?”
    Maggie looked up, catching Anne’s gaze and holding it. She said nothing, and Anne knew that she’d overstepped the boundary of small talk. Just as Anne began to feel self-conscious, Maggie said, “Why’s a pretty little girl like you sitting around jawing with an old gal like me? You should go out into that fresh air and watch the sun come up. It’s a pretty sight you’ll never forget.”
    “Sometimes entire days go by and we don’t see the sun in New York City.” Anne laughed.
    “Then all the more reason to see the sun come up over God’s country. When you hear that morning bell, come back for flapjacks and bacon.”
    Anne walked outside. She realized Maggie had definitely changed the subject when she’d asked about Morgan’s father. She shrugged. It wasn’t any of her business anyway. Just as her life wasn’t any of theirs.
    Overhead, the sky was turning gray with faint streaks of yellow and pink. She heard the sounds of men’s voices, hollering and whooping. Curious, she followed the noise and soon found herself near the corral she’d discovered the day before. A group of men hung over the fence watching. Anne edged closer, straining to see what the commotion was about.
    “Come on, Morgan, show him who’s boss,” a dark-haired man called.
    “He’s ornery, but you can take him,” another fellow shouted.
    Anne unobtrusively slipped into an opening in the cluster of men. In the center of the corral, she saw Morgan standing in front of the big bay range horse. The horse was blindfolded and held by a taut rope around its neck. Morgan, holding the rope, was attempting to inch closer, all the while muttering soothing words to calm the frightened animal.
    One of the men called out, “You can think of plenty of sweet things to say if you pretend it’s a pretty woman.”
    The hands laughed, and Morgan retorted, “How would you