(copyright 2002 Camille LaGuire, all rights reserved)
By the time they reached the turn off, big drops of rain were already falling. Both Momma and Mindy looked tired.
"Now that we're on a back road, I can ride faster," said Lysette. "You can stay right behind me in the car."
Momma looked up at the sky. The clouds were getting heavier, and moving faster.
"You're right. We should hurry." Momma piled into the car, half on top of Mindy, and Lysette urged King to a trot. He may have been tired, but the wind was making him excitable.
They trotted along for about a half hour. It seemed to Lysette that they had come halfway down the road to Uncle Jeb's farm. The rain was coming down harder all the time. It was a relief from the heat, but once she was wet, the wind made her cold. Bits of twig and leaves rattled across the road, making King jump. He snorted and started trotting with high, springy steps.
Suddenly, it started to pour. The wind gusted up higher, and more debris blew across the road. King was trotting faster, but the storm was already bad for riding in. It seemed like the twigs blowing around were turning into small branches.
She heard a crack behind her. King leaped forward, and she held him back. He turned a little sideways, and she could see the branch that had broken off a tree. It was too big to blow away quickly, but it was still moving, across the road, in front of the car. If it had hit King, who knows what would have happened? That was enough for Lysette. King wanted to run, anyway. She let him burst forward into a controlled gallop. She'd get there three times as fast, even on a tired horse.
They pounded down the road. King was a little unsteady with fear, but he did not bolt at the gusts of wind or the moving bushes. Maybe he trusted her. That thought gave her spirits a boost.
Behind them the little red car speeded up. Lysette glanced back. Her mother was not leaning out the window, screaming at her to stop. Momma had got a much closer look at that branch than Lysette did.
As they crested a small rise, she could make out the roof of Uncle Jeb's house, through the rain and trees. She could not see the barn, because it was sunk in the top of the hill. King was slowing down a bit. They had been galloping up a slight incline. After a slight drop, though, it was now all up a steeper hill. Still, when Lysette reined him into the driveway, he must have sensed that the journey was near an end, because he threw himself up the hill toward the old, sunken stable.
It had once been the ground floor of a huge barn. The barn had long decayed and been torn down, but the foundation was so sound, that Uncle Jeb had put a reinforced roof on it, and used it as a stable.
They cantered into the shelter of the entrance way, and Lysette threw herself out of the saddle to open the door. She forgot about her bad foot. Her whole leg went numb with the shock of putting her whole weight on it. She stood, unbalanced, on the other leg, waiting for it to really start hurting.
The little red car, and Uncle Jeb both got to the stable door at the same time. Uncle Jeb threw open the door, Mindy grabbed the reins and led King in, and Momma grabbed Lysette to keep her from falling down.
Elliot held on to Chuckie's leash, and followed everyone into the barn.
"You made it, Kiddo," he said, holding back Chuckie from jumping all over her.
"Yeah," she said, out of breath, and still waiting for her foot to do something other than burn with numbness. It was beginning to ache now. Elliot turned to Mindy.
"We better move it," he said. "I don't know how far we will get before the hurricane hits."
"Too late to go anywhere," said Uncle Jeb. "You better ride it out here."
Like adults everywhere, they had to discuss the matter, but there wasn't much to argue about. Elliot parked his car in the shelter of the hill and barn, and Uncle Jeb carried Lysette into the house.
After she had jumped on her foot that way, there was no way they could get her boot off without it hurting. Momma had to cut it off. It was her favorite set of cowboy boots, but boots were just boots, right? Right? It was hard to convince herself, but knowing King was safe helped.
Her foot was swollen, and it had areas of purple and green. It did not hurt much if she did not do anything with it. Momma gave her some aspirin, wrapped it in a support bandage, and put ice packs on it.
"It'll be okay, even if a doctor doesn't see it for a day or two," said Uncle Jeb. "He'd probably just tell you to do what your Momma's already doing."
They had fixed up the pantry in the basement with furniture and necessities, to ride out the storm in comfort. Lysette got the best seat--one of those soft folding cushion chairs that had been unfolded and placed on top of the freezer. She lounged back, with her foot and her head propped up on pillows. Momma was sitting right beside her, and Chuckie was on the floor, happy to be included.
They spent the first hours of the storm, telling all about what had happened on the trip. Then they talked about other horses, and other storms, and other things. The stories were good, but Lysette was tired, and she stopped paying attention after a while.
The storm was wild outside. Even deep in the house, she could hear it swirling and swishing and slamming. The radio said it had barely started. She listened to the sounds, and wondered how her house was doing. The lights started flickering, and everybody stopped talking. Then the lights went out.
Uncle Jeb turned on the flashlight, and they turned on the battery operated radio. The cracking and smashing and slamming sounds seemed all that much louder in the dark. Lysette took her mother's hand, and closed her eyes, and hoped with all her might that all the horses had place to hide. Let them all be safe, and the deer, and the rabbits, and the cats and dogs. And that old lady and her little dog in Florida. Let them all be safe.
Lysette figured her house would probably be smashed in the storm. Their car was lost on the road someplace, and maybe everything they had would be gone by morning. Still, here in Uncle Jeb's warm house, with her mother, and family, and friends, Lysette felt as though she would not lose anything.
And King was safe.
The End
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