Winnie the Horse Gentler

Amazing Splendor (cont'd)
By Jasighia HorseCrazy

Chapter Two:

As I ate breakfast, I eyed Elijah. He ate so fast, staring at his plate of food, acting as if it would suddenly grow legs and race for the Santa Anita Handicap… a famous race back in Seabiscuit’s days.

“Uh, Mom?” I just had to get the question out before I lost my confidence.

“Yes, Miranda?” Mom sipped her tea.

“Um…well, d…do you, I mean…” I stammered.

“Miranda, please speak so that I can understand you.” Mom corrected me. I’m always getting in trouble for not speaking clearly.

“Yeah…um, will you let me have 500 dollars?” My question came out in a string of words, but I had asked. Mom stared me like I was crazy. Elijah dropped his fork on the table, looking at me as if I’d just asked if I could drive the car through the ocean.

“Miranda…what…why…for?” Now it was Mom stammering.

“It’s a surprise.”

“For…?”

"For…well, for me, but…but it’ll be a surprise for everyone!”

“I…I don’t know, Miranda, I mean I can‘t just give you 500 dollars…” She glanced over at Elijah, who shrugged. “I’ll think about it, honey. Hurry up and eat, kids, I need to clean the kitchen.”

Great, Miranda, you know how patient you are, I thought as I sat down on the couch in the living room.

Note to self: Never ask for money again as long as you live!

“Miranda! Mom!” I heard Elijah call from up in his room. “Come get this annoying girl…!”

His words where cut off by a stern, “Elijah! Come here! I need a loaf of bread!”

Elijah groaned from his room. Ha! Mom had done it again. Got him just at the right time! I grabbed the phone off of the counter, and ran up to my room, passing my brother’s in the process. I smacked into Sierra as she ran down to be with Mom, and I stuck my head in Elijah’s room.

“I ought to smack you good for not helping me out!” He looked at me as if I’d just told him he was the best brother in the world.

“Hey, I never said I’d help you…now get out of my room!”

I slammed the door shut, and went and sat on my bed and dialed Loretta‘s number. Her brother, Leroy, answered on the third ring.

“Hello? This is the Lewis’s,”

“Hi, um, this is Miranda there. Is Loretta talking?…I mean, um…”

Note to self: If Loretta IS talking, you better be careful what YOU say!

Leroy laughed. “You want to talk to Loretta? My sister?”

“Uh, yeah,” No. Your Mom!

“Okay, just a second.”

What an idiot, I thought. You don’t even know what to say on the phone, Miranda! Come on!

Leroy called Loretta to the phone, and she said hi. We talked for a while, and then I told her about my plan.

“And now, I’m waiting for Mom to answer me about the money.”

“Wow! And have you prayed?”

“Yeah, I…”

“And you want a horse?”

“Yeah, I…”

“Awesome! What kind? Y ou’re not getting some huge monster, are you? ‘Cause I don’t really like horses at all, and if you get some huge monster, I’ll freak out! Oh, and not a black horse, right? Those ones give me the willies for some reason! You know why…?”

“No, Loretta, I don’t know. But I want to get a white or gray, horse. Maybe with black points. Speaking of breeds, though, I was…”

“What does it mean for a horse to have black points?” she asked of me.

“Black points means the horse has black hooves, eyes, muzzle, and, most of the time, a gray mane and tail.”

“Okay, now, what breed?”

“I really love Andalusians, but they’re really expensive. I was thinking Quarter Horse. Or, maybe I could get an Arabian. They’re so beautiful! But I don’t think that’d be such a great idea, since Arabians are usually very high-spirited, and as you know, I was only in riding lessons for five months.”

When we lived in Washington, I’d talked Dad and Mom into letting me take riding lessons. But, when we had to move to California, of course, I had to quit, and Dad and Mom haven’t let me get back into it.

“Mandy,” Loretta said, calling me by the nickname she’d given me. “I am so happy for you. I wish I could get sheep. I hate goats! Dakota got out today, at 4:00 this morning! Isn’t that…? Mandy? Mom said I have to get off of the phone now. We need to do…some shopping. So, talk to you later!”

“Yeah, bye,” I hung up, and put my head in my hands. Great. What to do now? I got some paper, and tried drawing a horse. The head turned out pretty good, but I kept screwing up on his body. I wadded up the paper and threw it in the corner with all of my other screwed-up drawings, and then lay down on my bed. I heard a whinny. I sat up. I was laying on a haystack in our barn. The sun was rising behind some pale-pinkish-orange clouds, sending soft rays of sunlight streaking through the hay. I jumped up and ran to the doorway. And there, galloping down the stall way, was my dream horse. A clean, snowy white, with long, flowing, white mane stirring with every stride, his beautiful silky white tail fanned out behind him, his big, soft, eyes looking at me as he ran to me. He reached me, and I reached my trembling hand out to touch his beautiful face. He nuzzled my face, and then…

”Miranda? Can I come in?” I looked around, realizing I was in my bed instead of the barn with my dream horse. “Miranda?”

“Yeah, come in, Mom.” It had been a dream. I wanted to cry. Mom sat down on my bed.

“I thought about your question while I cleaned the house, and…”

I sat up. “And…?” I pried.

“Well, I…I think it’ll be okay, but…”

I threw my arms around her neck. “Oh, thank you, Mom! I promise, it’ll work out!”

“Wait a second, though, Miranda. I will not stop fearing for our lives until I find out what you’re doing with the money.”

“Here, I’ll give you a hint: If brought in the house, it could explode! Any help to you?” I asked Mom.

“Oh, my goodness, Miranda!” she laughed nervously. “I…” the phone rang, and she stopped mid sentence to answer it. She stopped in the doorway. “Be careful, Miranda, please, be careful.”

“Don’t…” I stopped. She was already gone. I sighed. “I have to tell Elijah this!” I said aloud as I ran out of my messy room to my brother’s cave. My room isn’t as bad as his, but it’s pretty close. “Elijah?” I opened his door. He wasn’t there. He’s probably with that wretched neighbor kid, Ian, I thought. I ran to the door, and walked across our yard to the Holmes’ house. Sure enough, there was my brother with 15-year-old Ian Holmes. I can’t stand that kid. He’s got a serious attitude problem, if you ask me.

“Elijah!” I ran over to him.

Hands in pockets, he turned to me. “Oh, didn’t know you where here,” he replied dryly.

Well now you do! I wanted to retort. “Elijah, guess what? You know how I asked Mom about the money? Well, she said yes!” He stared at me blankly. “The auction, remember?” I knew he knew what I was talking about. He was just being Elijah, as far as I am concerned.

“Oh! Yeah, I remember. This morning, when we got some things for Mom…you where talking about getting a horse…for 743 dollars? Or am I thinking about something else, Miranda? Because I don‘t think you would do something so stupid. Am I right?” My face burned.

“What’s this about?” Ian asked, entering the conversation without being invited. “Awe, is Miranda getting upset?” he smiled down at me. An evil, teasing, boyish kind of smile. “She thinks she’s getting a…of all things, a horse…with 743 dollars. Like it’s gonna work, though.” he laughed.

“How do you know it won’t work, Sir Austin? Are you a prophet? Because, if you are, not many people are going to listen to the likes of you! And, if I where God, I wouldn’t choose you to be my Holy Messenger!” I said defiantly. Elijah did his stupid grunt-of-a-laugh. He does it to make me feel dumb…and it always works, too.

“Girls are hopeless!” laughed Ian. “Especially that one!” He and Elijah started laughing…as if that was the best joke in the world.

Maybe I am a joke. Maybe all of my dreams and plans for my life are all jokes, too. Loretta would have said, “Don’t let it bother you, Mandy, because God doesn’t think that about you and your dreams!” But I did.

“You guys are jerks!” I shouted. “I wish someone would fun at you for making laugh at me!” It hadn’t come out like I wanted.

“Ha! Where‘d you learn your grammar?” Ian smirked at Elijah, who added, “Yeah, why don’t you just go home to your mommy, Miranda?”

“Just…just shut up!” I shot back at them. I clenched my teeth and tossed my waist-long, dark brown hair as I walked away. I got my bike, and pedaled down the road to the auction sign. The whole time praying and thinking out loud. I wrote down the number on the little piece of paper that I’d brought, and then biked home.

Once I got there, I grabbed the phone and went to my room, making sure I shut and locked the door behind me. I plopped down on my bed, and dialed the number. A low voice answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I mean, um, hi…I need to sign up for the auction this Sunday.” I mumbled. When I mumbled, it always made my voice sort of deep.

“You have the wrong number, sir,” the guy replied curtly.

“No! I mean, um, no, I don’t.” I spoke clearly this time.

“Don’t what?”

“Have the wrong number!” You reject! I added silently.

“Pardon me, sir, but I do believe…”

“And I’m not a sir! I am a Miss and I need to register for the auction tomorrow!” I shouted into the phone.

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that, Miss. Your voice was very…”

What an idiot! I wanted to yell. The words where just on the tip of my tongue, when he finally said; “Your age, please?”

“12 years old, sir,”

“And your name, please?”

“Miranda Austin, sir,”

“And your birth date, please?”

“January 1st, sir,”

“Hang on, please,”

“Yes sir,”

A few minutes later, he came back to the phone. “Okay, registered. 10:30, Sunday morning, okay?”

First it was ‘please’, now it’s ‘okay’. what next? ’Shut up?”

“Yes, thank you, sir.” I hung the phone up. Ha! I "sir"-red you to death! Let that teach you to call girls sirs, you…! I stopped myself before I got to carried away. I brought the phone downstairs, got an apple and went back to my room. I dug through my messy room until I found one of my Winnie The Horse Gentler books, "Wild Thing". I’d read all of the books hundreds of times, but I particularly loved this one, because Winnie gets her dream horse at an auction…like me? I laid down on my bed, and read a few chapters while munching on the apple, and then fell asleep.

***

When I woke up, I looked at my clock. 1:34. I went down to the kitchen and made myself a sandwich to eat in my room. While I ate, I started thinking about all of the things that where happening to us since we moved to Idaho. Loretta and I met, and after just 4 months, we had become best friends. Dad left. Mom was giving me 500 dollars. I was getting a horse. My brother had become even meaner to me. I can’t stand him anymore, God! I prayed. What is up with him? It’s really bothering me how he’s treating me. I grabbed the phone off of my nightstand, and called Loretta again. Her mom answered, and called her to the phone.

“Hi, Mandy, how’re you?”

“Fine I guess,” I replied.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just my brother.” I continued to tell her about everything, including the harsh words we had spoken to each other.

“Mandy,” she said after I finished, “what about how you are treating him? I mean, no offense to you, but I think it’s annoying you how he’s treating you, because your treating him the same way…you know what I mean?”

“Well, yeah, but…I mean, what should I do?”

“Talk to him?” she suggested.

“He won’t listen to me!”

“Mandy, believe me! If you apologize to him, he’ll soften up.”

“Thanks, Loretta…and sorry I’ve been calling you so much,” I added. She laughed.

“That’s fine!” and then lowering her voice, “it just leaves Leroy the horrid task of catching the goats again! Oh, Mandy. You know our buck, Pewtrified? Or, better known as Pew! Well, this morning, he got out of his pen while I was watering the does, you see, they are in the next pen, and he came and butted me! You wouldn’t believe it, Mandy! I was so mad! I spun around and smacked his stupid, ugly, stinky old face! I’m telling you, Mandy, I absolutely hate goats! I prefer sheep. My dad said…”

“Loretta, I should get off. We’ve been on for…17 minutes.”

“That’s really not that long, but, if you want to get off, I’ll let you go…oh, Mandy! What about your birthday? It’s only…”

“2 and a half weeks away.” I finished.

“Yeah, so, why don‘t we start…?”

“I don’t want a birthday this year.”

“What? But Miranda! I have been looking forward…”

“I don’t want a birthday this year, Loretta.”

“Why not?”

“Loretta, I need to go.”

“Mandy, are you okay? Do you want me to come…?”

“Loretta, goodbye.”

“I will pray for you, Mandy, that your dad…”

I hung up, and then immediately felt guilty. She was just trying to help me, but I was so rude and thoughtless. I lay down on my bed, and tried writing a poem.

One day, when walking in the meadow, I saw a black filly resting in the sun.

There was a fuzzy forelock on her brow, and upon her face a blaze.

Her coat was the color of a winter night and her body shone like a gown of silk.

Her eyes; they were big, beautiful and bright.

And they shone like stars in a midnight sky.

Her eyes, they where shut and her ears where turned, heeding her surroundings... when over pranced her mother, a Snowy Beauty.

Head tossing and the earth her hooves were pounding...

Her tail fanned out, her mane like angel wings were stirring.

Her eyes were big and brown.

She went to her foal and beside her laid, beside her on the ground.

And together they slept, knowing they were safe from harm.

And Snowy Beauty lay her neck over Midnight, like a mother around her child puts her arm...

And here I stopped, not knowing where to take it. I put the poem on my nightstand, and lay there in my bed thinking. And then I remembered what Loretta had said about talking to Elijah.

Dear God, I prayed, sitting up in bed. Please give…help me be humble and kind to my brother. I’ve been so wrong in the way I’ve acted towards him…please help me…no, help both of us! Amen.

I walked quietly to my door and peeked out. No-one on the stairs, or in the hall. All the lights where out. I slipped out of my door and tip-toed across the hall to my brother’s room. I took a deep breath. God, help me, please! I knocked on the door quietly. I heard a few sniffs, and then a weak, “Who is it?”

“Um, Elijah, it’s me, Miranda. C…can I come in?” I whispered.

“No.”

I was startled. My brother had never talked to me that harsh and cold before.

“What?”

“I said no. I don’t want to see anybody right now, is that okay with you?”

“N…no, Elijah, it’s not. I really want…no need to talk to you. It’ll just take a minute.” It almost sounded like whining, even to me.

“Miranda, leave me alone!”

“Elijah, I…I’m sorry, you know? For being so rude, especially in front of your friend. Can you forgive me?” I heard a rustle of sheets, and then the door opened a crack.

“Huh?”

I repeated myself. He opened the door wider, and I saw tear-streaks on his face. “Yeah, I forgive you. And…I’m sorry for treating you unkindly. I…I know I don’t deserve it, but will you forgive me, too?”

“Sure!” I smiled. “But, can I still call you Sir Austin?” He laughed, and then threw his arms around me, and we hugged each other.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You were crying. Are you okay?”

He nodded and bit his bottom lip. “I’m just really sad that…that Dad left.”

A pang of guilt shot through my body. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? “Uh, Elijah, one…more thing.”

“Yes?” Elijah looked at me expectantly.

“W…well, um, would you mind taking me to the auction tomorrow?”

He smiled. “Sure, Miranda. I’ll take you…oh, man! There’s horses there, isn’t there?”

“Yeah,” I laughed. “That’s what I’m getting, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Night, Elijah.”

“Good night, Miranda.”

We went to bed, and I slept better than I had in days. In my dream, we were all riding through a forest. Dad was on a midnight-black Friesian, (Friesians are always black). Mom and Sierra where on a blanket-patterned Appaloosa. Elijah was on a beautiful paint. And, I was on a snowy-white Arabian. I heard someone crying. I looked over, and Dad was gone. Mom was crying, Elijah was wearing a scowl on his face, and the beautiful Friesian Dad had been riding was running away. I heard someone screaming. I shot up in bed, and realized I was crying.

I sat there a moment, then lay back down thinking over my dream. What had it all meant? I finally drifted off to a dreamless sleep.