Promise Kept (cont'd)
By Grace

Chapter Three:

I walked into the house and told Mom everything.  I told her about the bet, the ride with Snowflake and my worries about coming home.  When I was done, she said, "I don't mind you having this other horse, but you have to be careful to stay on, alright?"

"Alright, "I said, "Thank you!"  I gave her a hug and went to feed our pets.  We have three dogs.  Buster is a mix of Chow and German Shepard.  Lillian is our greyhound and Charity is a collie.  When I got outside, all of the dogs were there to greet me.  Buster began jumping when he saw the food, Charity waited quietly and Lillian just growled.  Lillian hates me.  I put the food in the dogs' bowls and went to the shed to feed Snowflake. 

Snowflake whinnied and kicked her stall door when she saw me.  "It's alright girl, I'll give you your food."  I petted her while she ate.  "You know Snowflake, you might just end up having a new friend.  I just hope that it all works out."  When Snowflake finished eating, I ran to my room.  I began to practice my piano.  My piano is wonderful.  If I'm angry, my piano lets me pound.  I really like playing my piano, though Mom usually asks me to stop after a while.  And, sure enough, Mom asked me to stop.  I ran outside and stood in the part of the shed where I kept my tack and started thinking of names for the horse that I hoped to win.

Kept.  To me, Kept was a beautiful name.  But Kept, alone, just didn't make sense.  I looked outside.  It had been drizzling and there was a rainbow over the paddock.  Rainbows are God's promises, I thought.  Promise...  "I've got it," I said aloud.  "Promise Kept.  A perfect name for a horse."  I spotted Becky, my kitten.  I reached for her and she bit me.  I reached for her again and she let me pick her up.  I thought of that horse's name - Promise Kept.

Chapter Four:

It was morning.  I had only today to practice holding onto a wild horse.  I ran to see Lillian.  I was going to try to get used to wild horses.  Maybe Lillian wasn't a horse, but I knew that in order to practice being around Promise Kept, I'd have to start with animals that I knew nothing about.  I walked slowly toward Lillian.  She growled at me.  I took a step back and she stopped.  I took another step and she growled again.  I walked to her, even though she tried to bite me.  I raised my hand as if I were in Sunday School and slowly put it down on her back and scratched her.  Then I left to go to Snowflake's stall.  Snowflake whinnied when she saw me, then laid down.  "No!"  I screamed, hoping that Mom wouldn't hear me.  I listened for a minute.  When I didn't hear anything, I said, "Sorry Snowflake, but I have to get you to want to throw me off your back."

Practice was horrible.  I tried everything to get Snowflake to throw me off her back.  But, she didn't do anything.  I ran back inside and turned on the computer.  I looked up horse breeds.  I saw a beautiful breed of horse.  I grabbed a ham sandwich and began to eat.  I was really hungry.  After lunch, I went back to Snowflake's stall.  I went in and her eyes looked down.  "I'm sorry, but get angry when I ask you!" I said.  I grabbed my blanket and threw it onto her back.  "Let's go."

We rode three miles from town.  Then, I took my horse to the rodeo arena to see Promise Kept.  When we got there, the men were not there, but Promise Kept was.  I led Snowflake to the horse and let them sniff each other.  They really seemed to like being together.  I couldn't wait for tomorrow.

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