Wild Horse Spring Read Online Free PDF Page B

Diana.
    “I know why you said that,” she said, looking at the dot. “But sure.” We each grabbed a sweatshirt and headed downstairs.

5
D IANA
    I didn’t feel like talking to Mom and Norm, so I let Stephanie tell them we were going for a walk on the beach. They told us not to go swimming since they weren’t going to be down there with us, and we told them that the water was cold enough to turn us into giant goose bumps anyway.
    Mom, in the kitchen starting dinner, gave me a searching, intense look, but I ignored her. She said something about what time she wanted us home. Momwas letting her blonde hair grow out a little bit because Norm liked it longer. I thought Mom ought to wear her hair however she wanted, not the way Norm wanted. Framed by the longer waves, her face looked softer now than it used to. Before she married Norm, when it was just the two of us, Mom’s face had looked so pointed and tense.
    Norm was inserting a bunch of his oldie CDs into the player provided at the house. He drove me crazy listening to Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne and other rockers who were about a million years old. He did have a CD by Tracy Chapman that I liked. She sang in a throaty voice about a revolution and the world changing, and it made me want to believe her. One of these days people would stop telling me what to do all the time.
    Stephanie and I went onto the back porch and headed down the long wooden walkway to the beach. Small dunes dotted with clumps of grasses on either side of the walkway swayed in the salty sea breeze. Right beside the walkway a sign proclaimed Do Not Disturb the Dunes. Just ahead, the surf roared with a soothing rhythm.
    Stephanie’s long, dark hair kept blowing in her eyes, so she took a rubber band from her wrist and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. In the humidity, her hairhad begun to curl around her face. My hair doesn’t do anything.
    At the end of the walkway, we stepped onto the sand and both turned left, into the wind, in the direction of the running boy.
    “He ran into the wind first,” I said, “so running back will be easier, with the wind at his back.” I ran down to the shoreline, digging in with my toes as the water foamed over my feet, leaving me ankle deep in the dark, wet sand. The water was so cold it made my feet ache. “It’s freezing!” When I ran out, I noticed my feet had turned bright red.
    Stephanie came down, dipped one polished toe in the racing froth, started to squeal, and then ran out again.
    We passed a small patch of sand nestled in the dunes that had been roped off with orange tape attached to some stakes. A small sign attached to one of the stakes warned against disturbing the area.
    “Look!” Stephanie said as she stopped. “Sea turtle eggs are buried here. One night this summer when the moon is full, a bunch of baby turtles will hatch and crawl down to the sea. I went to a program about the sea turtles one summer when we were here.”
    “I’ve heard of those,” I said quickly. Mom and I had not been on many vacations before she married Norm. Sometimes we’d take day trips, but never a real vacationlike this one, or like last summer at the ranch. I stooped to pick up a broken piece of shell, then told Stephanie what was on my mind. “I know Norm is your dad and you love him, but he’s always trying to tell me what to do. He’s not my father.”
    “But at least you get to be with him,” Stephanie said then. “I only get to see him every other week.”
    I didn’t answer for a minute. I’d never thought of that. Then I said, “Well, I hardly ever see him.”
    “Still. I’m not going to say that my dad cares more about you than your own dad,” Stephanie said, “because I know that’ll make you mad. I haven’t even met your dad. But sometimes I wish you’d try to look at things from another person’s point of view. My dad feels responsible for you. He’s not trying to be your dad; he’s just trying to help you. I think you