A Horse like Barney by Jessie Haas

Author:Jessie Haas
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497662582
Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween

13

More Thunder

The rest of the ride home passed in almost total silence. Sarah could think of nothing but Thunder, standing innocently and cheerfully in an auction ring, being led away to a slaughterhouse truck.… She always managed to keep herself from following him into the slaughterhouse. That won’t happen, she told herself firmly. Even if she had to ride at a walk all the rest of her life, even if she never got to do anything but feed him, he was not going to be sold by the pound for dog food.

“You want to go swimming?” Missy asked.

“No.”

Missy drove her home without another word.

“Well,” she said, pulling up in the driveway, “I’ll be gone all week, so … go ride Barney, if you want. Our neighbor’s going to check on him every night, but it wouldn’t hurt him to get ridden.”

“Thanks,” Sarah said. She couldn’t imagine herself wanting to bike all the way over to Missy’s to go riding, but she didn’t say so. “Have a nice vacation.” She got out of the car. Their last secret excursion was over, and she couldn’t even be sad about it. She had too much else to think about.

Dad was outdoors. That was strange; he rarely stirred from his desk till early evening. But there he was, doing something to the barnyard fence. He looked up when he saw Sarah and waved her over, urgently.

“What’s up?”

“Shh!” said Dad, glancing toward the house. “Better lay low for a while, Peanut!”

“But what’s going on?”

“Take a look at the garden,” said Dad. Sarah turned, with deep foreboding.

There was almost nothing left. The tomato plants still stood next to their stakes, but they were naked. Just the stalks remained, a few green fruits still hanging on them. Marigolds were beheaded, cabbages bitten, beets pulled up and left wilting in the rows. The rosebush at the corner, which had been about to bring forth a second flush of blossoms, had no buds left and very few leaves.

Sarah closed her eyes. “Oh, no!”

“You should see Goldy!”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s lying in the stall sort of groaning, but I guess she’ll get over it. I’m not so sure about your mother, though.”

Sarah’s heart sank even lower. “Well, why didn’t she put a fence around the garden?”

“I asked that question, too,” said Dad, flinching slightly at the memory. “So anyway, I think it would be wise if you were seen out here with me, suffering over this fence.”

Sarah had already suffered over the fence a few weeks ago, twisting the stiff, rusted woven wire back around itself where the squares were broken. Several places were broken again, she saw, the four-inch squares widened to eight or twelve inches. Before she’d eaten the garden, a twelve-inch square would have been big enough for Goldy to squeeze through.

Not now, though. The little goat lay propped against the wall of Barney’s stall, neck extended, eyes half closed. Her belly looked enormous, and every breath strained out pitifully.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Dad asked.

“I don’t know,” said Sarah.

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