Silver Stallion by Junghyo Ahn

Author:Junghyo Ahn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 1990-10-18T21:00:00+00:00

Seated on the sand at the edge of the reeds, Mansik hurled a pebble into the river. The stone landed on the surface with a plop and sank into the water. He sighed and glanced over at the cow browsing through the grass on the opposite nverbank. The brass bells on the cow’s collar jangled as the animal waved its head this Way and that to drive away the flies. He picked up a withered twig and nervously snapped it into little pieces.

Mansik was waiting for the boys to come across the river but he was not sure what attitude he should assume when they did come. He had had little sleep the night before trying to decide whether or not he should join the boys for the raid on the dump. He finally made up his mind to come, for this was a chance he could not afford to lose, perhaps the last and only chance for him to end this depressing life, confined to the small sunny yard, ambling back and forth, doing nothing, day and night, and day and night again, and then again day and night, with no friends to play with, not even one. If he were to be accepted back by the boys … If they would really welcome him back as Kangho had said they would … He wanted to be one of the boys again. He knew nobody would expect him unless Kangho had told them about last night, and he was not sure how they would react to his appearance, uninvited. But he had to take the chance.

When Mansik went to the ferry, everything—the shallow rippling water, the blueness of the river and the sky, the boat bobbing at the end of the rope, the dazzling golden sand on the opposite shore—everything looked new and foreign to him, because he had not seen them for so long. The boatman apparently felt the same way about Mansik.

“Haven’t seen you for quite a long time,” said the boatman with a knowing smile, squinting at the lone passenger on his boat inquisitively. “Going somewhere?”

“Over there,” said Mansik. “Across the river.”

“Across the river? You mean you’re going to Texas, too?”

“Texas?” the boy said. “What’s Texas?”

Pushing and pulling the oar slowly with a rhythmic grunt, the boatman stole a glance at the boy once more and grinned. “You should know,” he said cryptically. “I thought you were going there on your mother’s errand.”

“What errand?”

“Never mind,” the boatman said. “Maybe you really don’t know.”

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