Sundancer. Shelley Peterson
cars followed. One with Jo’s mother driving Jo and her best friend Melanie, and one with Peter and his mother. Kimberly always met them at the shows, a subject of discussion at the barn as this left the preparations up to Hannah.
Bird climbed on the fence to eat her bacon sandwich and watch the new horse. Hector had moved from his usual position at the barn door to lay on the ground at her feet. He kept one big brown eye on Bird’s sandwich, hoping for a spill.
I’m happy you stayed.
I’m happy to spend time with you, Hector. Bird leaned down to rub his soft yellow head.
Can I have a bite?
You had your breakfast. This is mine.
It’s going to be an unhurried day, she thought. Good. Lots of time to sit and understand this horse. Bird felt her sadness fade away as she ate and watched. She loved how the sun danced on the horse’s coat. She admired his motion. He moves gracefully, like a dancer, she thought. And he’s the orangey colour of the sunset. That’s it. I’ll name him Sundancer — Sunny for short. Even though there’s a darker side to him, too. He’s a veiled horse, like the wild mustangs of the ancient Indians. A mystery horse with hooded eyes and many secrets — secrets that even Paul Daniels doesn’t know.
Unfortunately, what Paul Daniels did know was shocking.
He’d told them that, one time, Sundancer had been in a trailer accident. Because of a faulty hitch and rusted undercarriage, the horse trailer came loose from the truck on the highway. Unguided, it smashed into a hillock on the side of the road, knocking the horse from his feet and sending him sliding under the chest bar. He was lucky. Had the trailer gone into the two lanes of fast-moving traffic, things could have been much worse. As it was, Sundancer survived with nasty scrapes and a lifelong distrust for trailers.
Another time, as he was being led down the road behind another horse, he pulled free and began to gallop away, dragging a long rope. He ducked in behind a farmhouse, jumped a hedge into the back garden, and leaped out over another hedge. Unfortunately, that second hedge sat at the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, the rocky ridge that runs through the Niagara peninsula. The landing was thirty feet down into big rocks. Again, he was lucky, because if he hadn’t stopped rolling there, he would have gone a hundred feet more. That time his injuries almost killed him.
Sundancer had many idiosyncrasies, too, that Dr. Daniels mentioned. Some were obvious, like his dislike of trailers and his fear of heights. Others were harder to understand.
He always assumed that a person was going to hit him with whatever they were carrying, be it broom, water bucket, pitchfork, or hairbrush. He was suspicious of everyone. The first of his nine trainers tried to desensitize his nervous nature with noises, pokes, and slaps, all of which led to a fear of surprises. Sundancer took to hiding in his stall, shaking, anticipating the next scare. He scooted alarmingly fast when touched on his sides. He had a penchant for running away, as well. No fence had been high enough or strong enough to keep him in. Bird wondered if Sundancer would run away from them. More likely it was a matter of when.
Bird gave Hector the last bite of her sandwich and wiped away the crumbs. She waited for the man who’d come up behind her to speak.
“Hello there, Bird.”
Bird didn’t look around. She knew it was Paul Daniels by the feel in the air. His aura, perhaps. Whatever it was, it was good — safe and intelligent.
She also sensed that his son, Alec, might be sitting in the car. She glanced over quickly to sneak a peek. Yes. There he was. So far, he hadn’t moved to come out. That was good. Bird always got agitated when he was around. It wasn’t Alec’s fault. It was just that Bird had always had a bit of an interest in him. He was his own person and had his own thoughts, unlike the other boys in her class who ganged up to make fun of her. Bird thought he was cute, although that wasn’t the common view. He wasn’t the most popular guy at school, and he got into trouble for asking too many questions, but Bird liked him just the same.
“Good looking horse, isn’t he? Have you named him yet?”
Paul knew that Bird never spoke, but he always tried. Bird appreciated his efforts to treat her like a normal human being. It was more than most people could manage.
“I was glad when your aunt said she’d take him in. Didn’t know where else to try. Didn’t even have a second choice. I thought of Abby Malone because she’s so good with problem horses, but she’s going off to school in New York next month, and good for her. She’s worked hard for it.” Bird could hear the smile on the vet’s face.
“Is he settling in?” Paul sat on the fence beside Bird. Not too close. Just the right distance. “Sure looks it. Horses like it here. They settle in faster here than anywhere else I know.”
They sat in silence for a while, both engrossed in the new horse.
“I don’t know why I saved him, Bird. I’ve never done this before.”
Bird found herself looking at the man beside her. Dr. Paul Daniels had a quiet, leathered, handsome face and a relaxed, lanky body. He was old. Probably as old as Hannah. Over forty at least. Most of all, though, he was a person she could trust, if she ever needed to trust someone.
Paul turned to meet her eye, and Bird could see acceptance in the vet’s face. She didn’t look away. She met the man’s gaze and held it until they both turned back toward the field at the same time.
Sundancer suddenly lifted his head in a fluid motion and stared at the driveway. Hector began to bark. A silver sedan stopped at the kitchen door and a nice-looking man in a golf shirt and khakis got out. He slammed the car door shut and walked to the house, combing his fingers through his short greying hair, oblivious to the man and the girl on the fence.
As he was about to knock, Paul called out, “Hi there, Stu. Come to see Hannah?”
Stuart Gilmore, the elementary school principal, spun around. “Paul! Didn’t see you there.” He walked toward the fence with a warm smile on his face. “Hello, Bird. I came to speak to your aunt about school this fall. She called yesterday and left a message.”
His demeanor was more energetic than the vet’s. He moved with a slight self-consciousness and some other tension that she couldn’t quite define. Ah, yes, she thought, suppressing a grin. He was here with bad news about school. Good.
“Is Hannah here?” Stuart spoke to the vet, not to Bird.
“Don’t know,” answered Paul. “Her truck’s gone. She’s likely off to a horse show with some of her students. Right, Bird?”
Bird nodded.
Stuart looked at his watch. “I was hoping to catch her. I guess I’ll have to call in later tonight.”
The rush of confused emotions emanating from Paul Daniels was so strong that Bird almost fell off the fence. Jealousy. Hmm.
“I was thinking of stopping by the fairgrounds.” The vet climbed off the fence and stood to his full height. “I’ll tell Hannah that you were by.”
Well, well. The vet liked Hannah and saw the principal as competition. Interesting. Bird couldn’t quite figure out why Dr. Paul would bother. As far as she knew, Hannah wasn’t interested in romance. He was wasting his time.
She chanced another quick look at Alec. He was listening to music through his earphones, gyrating in the front seat and singing along to a wild tune that only he could hear. He caught Bird looking and stopped dead. He gave her a sweet, crooked smile and an apologetic shrug.
Bird grinned. Then, because she felt happy, she mimicked the way he’d been moving around and throwing his head. She was stopped cold by the surprised look on his face.
He thought she was making fun of him! Bird was mortified. She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings or make him feel stupid. She wanted to hide in a dark hole and never come out. Head down, she ran for the house.