Learning to Fly by Suzanne Weyn

Author:Suzanne Weyn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2014-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

After her lesson, Taylor helped Mercedes muck and hay the stalls, then water and feed all the horses, even though it wasn’t her day to do those chores. It was the least she could after Mercedes had spent so much time teaching her to ride English.

“So, how’s your mother?” Taylor asked as she raked out the old hay in Shafir’s empty stall.

Mercedes was loading new hay into Pixie’s stall while the little pony stood in the center aisle, watching. “The same and crankier than ever; she went to her orthopedist in New Jersey today so I was able to get away. She’s going back to work on Monday, so that part is great.”

“Do you think she’ll sue the ranch?” Taylor asked, voicing the question that had been in the back of her mind all day.

Mercedes stopped raking. “If she does, I’ll never speak to her again.”

Taylor looked at Mercedes. From the determined set of the girl’s jaw, she felt certain that Mercedes meant what she’d said. It didn’t seem useful to point out that it would be pretty difficult for Mercedes to never speak to her mother, so Taylor just nodded. “I’d probably feel the same way if I were you,” she remarked sympathetically.

“She’d better not do it,” Mercedes said, throwing herself into laying down Pixie’s hay with extra energy.

A mischievous impulse seized Taylor, and she couldn’t resist it. “So tell me about Monty,” she said.

Mercedes stood straight and stared at Taylor, her face going pale. “Who told you about Monty?” she demanded harshly.

It wasn’t the reaction Taylor had expected, and she was suddenly sorry she’d brought it up. “Monty,” she repeated weakly. “Isn’t he a guy you like?”

Dropping her hunched shoulders, Mercedes appeared to relax a little. “Yeah, Monty. He’s just a guy at school. You must have seen his name on my notebook, huh?”

Taylor remembered Daphne saying there was no one at the high school named Monty, and Daphne knew just about everyone. Taylor decided not to press it. She already felt like she’d pried too much into Mercedes’ privacy. “Yeah, that’s why I asked,” she said.

“Just some guy I used to like. I don’t even think about him anymore,” Mercedes said, returning to laying down hay.

When they were done, Mercedes rushed off, eager to get home before her mother returned from the bone doctor. Taylor watched her hurry away and sighed, turning to Prince Albert in his stall. “Do you get the feeling that she might not be as tough as she sometimes seems?” she asked him.

It was a hunch, a feeling that maybe Mercedes had been through a lot, and she also had a mother who wasn’t easy to deal with. Taylor realized that she felt sympathy and a feeling of friendship toward Mercedes that hadn’t been there before today. “She’s really okay,” Taylor told Prince Albert, “once you get to know her.”

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.