Black Cloud by Patricia Hermes

Author:Patricia Hermes [Hermes, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-89964-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

Not so, fool mustang! the horse said. She saved me.

Sounds kept pouring out of the small human, but they made no sense. The horse—he called himself Clay, Big Clay, like he was important or something—he explained some as she talked. But he made no more sense than the child did. Nothing did but that we were trapped and my mama was bleeding to death.

“Oh, no, look!” the small human cried. “Oh, Mama, that mare is bleeding! Look at her!”

They turned to my mama. Clay turned to me.

Barbed wire, Big Clay said. She the lead mare?

She’s my mama!

Big Clay hung his head.

“Oh, Mama! What can we do for her?” the young one asked.

“Nothing right now, Annie. Nothing,” the bigger female said. “She’s wild. She won’t let us near her.”

“But she’ll bleed to death!”

“Maybe. Maybe not, Annie,” the other female said. “It’s almost dark. We can’t do anything, at least till daylight. Let’s go home to Papa. We’ll tackle Jake and the rest in the morning and see which of these poor creatures we can save.”

All this talk and more, Big Clay explained to me. Still, none of it made any sense at all. And even if it did, how could I believe him? Trust a horse with a human on his back?

“We’ll do what we can in the morning,” the mama said. “Now look! Look at the mare. There’s her colt.”

They both turned to me.

“Oh, Mama!” Annie said. “He’s so beautiful. Black and white like someone dropped patches of snow on him.”

Clouds. But I didn’t say it, not even to Clay. Clouds.

I nuzzled up to my mama. Mama leaned into me, as though she had forgotten that I no longer suckled from her.

Mama? I cried.

Mama’s legs began to fold beneath her. She went down on her knees and then rolled to her side. I could see that she was trying to allow me to nurse, that she had forgotten. I was too old to nurse now. She had forgotten.

Mama?

There’s no way out, Mama said.

Oh, Mama! I said.

Black Cloud, she said softly.

She fixed her eyes on mine. And then, slowly, the light went out of them.

Mama. My mama was dead.

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