Ghost No More (Ghost No More Series Book 1) by James Ceecee

Author:James, Ceecee [James, Ceecee]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: CeeCee James
Published: 2014-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

~Sixth Grade~

Next to our house was a neighbor’s corral that ran along the property line. The fenced area was occupied by a single horse. I suppose once he was pure white, but his coat looked gray because the corral was thick with mud. He watched for me over the top of the splintered wooden rail with his ears pointed and flared his nostrils whenever he saw that I had noticed him.

One afternoon I brought my old hair brush with me and climbed up the fence to sit. Carefully, I situated myself to avoid the roughest parts of the rail. He whinnied and ambled over.

“Good boy, nice pony.” I put my arm around his neck, chuckling when he nuzzled the top of my head. He blinked his dark eyes with long white eyelashes, and his muzzle prickled my hand searching for an apple core that I sometimes saved for him. As I patted his back the dust flew up in clouds. I swept down his sides with the old brush, trying to clean the dirt off. He didn’t move when I stretched from the top rail to reach what I could on his other side. When I stopped to clean out the brush he nudged me with his nose. The loose hair floated up and away in a thick, gray cloud.

“You’re a good boy,” I murmured and leaned across his broad back to give him a hug.

I always wondered what it would be like to ride him, but was too nervous to try it. I heard that horses bucked if they didn’t want a rider. I wouldn’t want to force him to do something he didn’t want to do.

Mama felt sorry for the horse. “Haven’t you fed that poor animal yet?” “Why are you reading when that poor horse needs grass?” “Why didn’t you brush him?” “Why are you reading a book when he’s suffering?” She’d shake her head in disgust. “So cruel. If I were your age I’d never pick you for a friend.”

I never knew how to answer the questions, so I’d nod. I’d take the black-handled scissors out to our field and cut laundry baskets full of grass. I cut grass until my hands became red with blisters. Mama had said that one basket was not enough.

A few weeks later, I was building a miniature village out of rocks behind the playhouse.

“Hey there!” a man’s voice rang out. I glanced around and saw a man leading the white horse by a rope up the road. “Found this bad boy running loose down our street. Have any idea where he belongs?” Excited to help, I jumped up to point out my neighbor’s house.

Mama stood at the living room window watching me. She wrenched open the screen door and in a low growl said, “Come here.”

I looked over at her with shock. I thought Mama would be happy that I had helped the man. Her hands shook with anger.

“That horse finally escaped, and you made him go back to the filthy living conditions he lives in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.