Abandoned (7 page)

“Let me try it before we go, okay?”
asked Lauren, still unsure. She scrambled into Trooper’s saddle and
urged the gelding into a walk. Then, keeping her hands low as she
had seen Charity do, she said “trot.” Trooper broke into a trot and
Lauren grabbed for the saddle horn again.

“Keep your heels down when you stand in
the stirrups,” suggested Kjerstina. “It will help you stay
balanced.”

“O... o... k... kay,” stammered Lauren
as she bounced. Trooper trotted slowly around the perimeter of the
clearing, hesitating only to step carefully over the cooling runoff
from the underground spring. He seemed to instinctively know he
shouldn’t jump over the stream of cooling water. After a couple of
turns around the clearing, Lauren’s grip loosened on the saddle
horn and her seat became steadier. Finally she pulled Trooper to a
halt.

“Okay,” she said, her voice relieved. “I
think I can do this. But stop if I yell ‘Whoa,’ okay?”

They didn’t take long to get home. When
they trotted down the driveway, Aunt April was waiting for them. “I
was getting worried about you,” she said.

“We’re not that late, Mom,” said
Kjerstina and looked at Lauren with fake exasperation. “Only a
couple of minutes.”

“How was the ride?” Aunt April asked and
reached to stroke Trooper’s face.

“It was wonderful. And Trooper’s so
amazing,” said Lauren. “I love him already.” Trooper turned his
head and snuffled at Lauren’s foot. “He’s the perfect horse,” she
added.

“Well, not perfect,” said Aunt
April.

“No, not perfect,” confirmed Kjerstina.
“He has one major and very irritating flaw.”

“As we found out the first night we got
him here,” said Charity.

“What?”

Aunt April smiled. “His previous owners
warned us he’s an escape artist. He can untie almost any knot or
undo almost any latch if you give him enough time.”

“I’ll tie double knots whenever I tie
him up,” promised Lauren.

“We do too.
Now
,” said Kjerstina. “And we never forget to use
the special latches they gave us anymore either.”

“We forgot to put them on the first
night we brought him home and the next morning he was grazing in
Mom’s garden,” said Charity, trying to hide a smile.

“I was
not
impressed,” said Aunt April. “But then he looked
at me with those big brown eyes and I remembered how trustworthy he
is and how many kids he’s taught to ride, so he got to stay.”

“But it was so sad. All those baby
carrots that were waiting to be thinned, all those tiny peas and
beets and beans that needed to be weeded. I’m going to miss
spending hours and hours working so much,” said Kjerstina, trying
not to laugh.

Aunt April looked at her disapprovingly,
but then decided to ignore her comment. “They said he’s especially
good at escaping and they heard that he once saved his own life by
opening his stall door.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Lauren. “What happened?
Was there a fire?”

“I’m not sure what happened. It was
years ago, when he was young. All they knew was Trooper escaped.
There were rumors that the other animals died.”

“That’s so sad,” said Lauren and a
strange shiver ran down her spine.

“That
is
way too sad,” said Kjerstina. “Let’s not think
about it anymore.”

“Yeah,” added Charity. “I’m just glad
Trooper made it out.”

“Well, dinner’s almost ready, and since
the horses around here eat before the humans, you better go take
care of them,” said Aunt April. She patted Trooper one more time on
the neck and turned toward the house.

Lauren rode Trooper toward the barn
behind her cousins. At the gate, she dismounted and looked at the
chain and clip hanging there. “This is how they keep you in now, is
it, Troops?” she said to the gelding and put the chain around the
gatepost. It took a moment to figure out the clip. When she finally
had it in place, she led Trooper toward the barn.

“I’m so glad you were able to escape,
Trooper,” she crooned as they walked. “And, I know I shouldn’t be,
but I’m glad you ate Aunt April’s garden. Since I have to stay all
summer, she probably would’ve asked me to weed too.”

Lauren lingered in the barn
after Charity and Kjerstina went back to the house. She couldn’t
bear leaving Trooper yet. The wonder of owning a horse, a beautiful
golden horse, was finally starting to sink in. She swept the body
brush over his glistening coat, breathed in his horsey scent, and
listened to the chewing sounds he made as he ate his oats. The
sounds were relaxing and soon Lauren found her thoughts returning
to what she had learned from Charity and Kjerstina.

“Do you think my dad really knows who
was following me, Trooper?” she asked. It was nice to talk to
someone even if he couldn’t reply or understand. “It makes sense in
a way, because Sweetie did seem to notice Big Hat for no reason.
Charity and Stina think he knows. But he’s never kept important
secrets from me before. I can’t believe he would just send me away
and not tell me. Except for you, he’s never, ever kept secrets from
me.”

But is
that true? How can I know for sure?
The question leaped
unbidden into her mind. She picked up a large toothed comb and
moved behind Trooper to comb his tail. He looked back at her and
nickered, then turned back to his oats.

“I’m going to ask him tonight,” Lauren
said to the buckskin gelding. “Maybe he’s just keeping it a secret
because he doesn’t want me to worry, but if he knows I know that he
thinks he knows who it is, he’ll realize I’m already worried and
thinking about it and then maybe he’ll tell me.”

She finished combing out Trooper’s tail
and leaned on his hindquarters for a moment. “Are you confused yet
Trooper? I know I am. That didn’t make any sense to me either, and
I’m the one who said it.”

Lauren moved to Trooper’s head and
combed his forelock. “You are so beautiful,” she whispered to the
golden gelding. “My very own horse. I still can’t believe it.” She
kissed Trooper on the nose.

“Lauren,” Kjerstina’s voice came from
outside the barn. “Dinner’s ready.”

“Coming,” called Lauren. She gave
Trooper one more hug, then picked up the brushes and walked out of
the stall.

“Remember the special clip for his
door,” said Kjerstina, stepping inside the barn. Uncle Chris was
right behind her.

“Hey, Lauren,” he said in his cheerful
voice. “Long time, no see.”

“Hey, Uncle Chris.”

“Come give your favorite uncle a hug,”
he said and held his arms out.

“But he’s not here,” said Lauren,
teasing him. “How about I give you a hug instead, Uncle Chris?” She
rushed into his arms.

“Cheeky as ever,” said Uncle Chris and
hugged her back. “But you can’t fool me. I know I’m your favorite
uncle.”

“You’re my
only
uncle.” Lauren’s voice was muffled by his
hug.

“Aha. My point exactly.” He reached to
tickle her on the ribs and Lauren squirmed out of his embrace.

“I’m too old to be tickled now, Uncle
Chris,” she informed him.

A look of dismay crossed his face. “Oh,
that’s right. Another birthday coming up. What are you now?
Eighteen? Nineteen?”

“No! Thirteen.”

“Oh, well I guess you’re not too old
then,” he added and grinned.

Kjerstina groaned beside Lauren. “You
walked right into that one,” she said. “Hey, come over here. I’ll
show you how to use the clip for Trooper’s door. See? It goes on
like a padlock, except it doesn’t lock.”

“Thanks, Stina,” said Lauren, even
though she’d already figured it out at the gate.

Kjerstina smiled. “No prob,” she said as
they walked toward the door where Uncle Chris waited for them. “I’m
so glad you’re staying all summer. We’re going to have tons of fun,
you know.”

“I know,” said Lauren. “It’s going to be
the best summer ever.”

“What do you want to do for your
birthday?” asked Uncle Chris, as they left the barn. He shut the
door behind them.

“I’m going back home for my party. Dad
said he’s coming to pick me up.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t have
two birthday parties.”

“Oh, let’s do something fun!” exclaimed
Kjerstina. “We could go swimming at the lake. And have tons of cake
and other good stuff to eat.”

“And go hiking and canoeing,” added
Lauren. She smiled. Actually, it didn’t sound half bad.

Dinner was roast chicken and Lauren had
just finished dishing up her plate, when the phone rang. Uncle
Chris didn’t want anyone to answer, but Aunt April jumped up
anyway. “It could be Alan,” she flung back over her shoulder as she
hurried into the kitchen.

It was. Aunt April talked to him for a
minute, telling him about Lauren’s shocked face when she first saw
the horses, then she called to Lauren.

“Why don’t you run upstairs and talk on
the phone in our bedroom,” she suggested. “I’ll hang up here when
you’ve picked up.”

“Thanks,” said Lauren and pushed her
chair back. She ran up the stairs two at a time. When she picked up
the phone she was breathing heavily.

“Hi, Dad,” she said.

“Hi, Kiddo.” He sounded happy to hear
her. Lauren heard the soft click as Aunt April hung up the phone
downstairs.

“You miss me?” she asked.

“More than you’ll ever know. I hear you
were surprised. I thought you’d guess after my hint.”

“Soldier? What kind of hint was that?
Hmmm. Oh, I know. A
terrible
hint.”

They talked for a few minutes about
Trooper and how wonderful he was, about Lauren’s first ride and the
hidden springs, Trooper’s skill in escaping and the fate of Aunt
April’s garden. Then the conversation moved to the stalker. Had he
found out who it was? He hadn’t. Had he seen the car again? No.
What had the police said? They hadn’t contacted him yet. Why hadn’t
he called them? He was busy. This last answer sparked the courage
in Lauren to ask the question she really wanted to ask. “Do you
know who the person is, Dad?”

There was stunned silence on the
phone.

“Dad? Are you still there?”

“Yes. What makes you think I know who it
is?”

He’s
trying to distract me,
realized Lauren. “Do you?” she asked
again, not letting him sidetrack her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Lauren,” he said, his
voice hurried. “I forgot I have an appointment. I don’t have time
to talk about it right now, but we can talk about it another time,
okay?”

Lauren was speechless. Her dad had never
brushed her off before. Kjerstina and Charity were right. He did
know who it was. Or he at least suspected. He didn’t want to lie to
her, but he wasn’t going to tell her either.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, okay, Kiddo?
Bye now.” There was a soft click.

“Dad?”

No answer. He was gone.

He didn’t
even wait for me to say goodbye
, Lauren realized in shock.
What is going on?

The next night he called but
could only talk for a minute. Then he didn’t call for two nights
after that. When Lauren phoned him, there was no answer. She left
messages on his machine, but even then he took three days before he
phoned back. And again, he didn’t have time to talk. Lauren thought
of approaching Aunt April and asking her whom she thought the
stranger was, but then decided against it. She didn’t want to get
Aunt April in trouble with her dad and she knew her aunt probably
wouldn’t tell her anyway. If it hadn’t been for Trooper and the
time they spent together, Lauren was sure she would’ve gone insane
with worry and frustration. Grown-ups could be so irritating!

She rode Trooper with Charity and
Kjerstina every day, even when it rained. As her skill increased,
the three girls rode farther and farther. They discovered new
trails through the woods, creeks that bubbled magically from the
undergrowth, and a hidden meadow along the shore of one of the
small crystal clear lakes near the larger Misty Lake.