The Lightning Horse by John Moore

Author:John Moore [Moore, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yard Dog Press
Published: 2014-09-04T22:00:00+00:00

“You know,” Cordy told Andy, “I always wondered where you disappeared to during the summer.”

“Really?” said Andy. He felt idiotically pleased that this great–looking girl thought of him when he wasn’t there. “Mom and Dad started sending me to my great–uncle when I was a kid. They think mountain air is healthier. You know how the air gets down in the valley during the summer.” They were in the back of Finishline and Goldie’s cart, sitting on piles of wool blankets, gently swaying back and forth as the carthorse worked its way up the rocky mountain road to Barrenstock. A freshening breeze was whipping the newly budded tree limbs and flattening out the meadow grasses. Cordy’s short hair made ripples across her head. “This year Deedee’s parents decided to do the same thing. How are things back home, by the way?”

“Oh, same as every summer. The usual outbreaks of pox, malaria, and measles. And Black Plague, Green Plague, Yellow Plague, yellow fever, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, milk fever, diphtheria, pertussis, whooping cough, and the galloping scrots.”

“No cholera?”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard of any cases of cholera this year. I guess we’ve been lucky. So your parents think the air is healthier here? It certainly is colder.” Cordy was wearing a light riding jacket. She pulled a blanket around herself. Andy helped adjust it over her shoulders.

“It’s really quite nice when it’s sunny. These summer snowstorms can be fierce, but the snow won’t last long.”

“Are you apprenticed to Doctor Lachtenslachter?”

“Oh no. Nothing official.” Andy had long suspected that the real reason his parents began sending him to stay with relatives during the summer was that they were afraid the city kids would bully him about the hump on his back. Then, after a few years of repeating the “mountain air is healthier” line to each other, they had forgotten why they really started doing it. “I just sort of help when I’m here. He’s a pretty good guy, incidentally. Don’t let the villagers give you the wrong idea. They call him a mad scientist but ...”

“I know. ‘Mad’ doesn’t mean mad as in angry. It means mad as in deranged.”

“No, they mean mad as in angry. He and Eddie used to fight all the time. But he hardly ever loses his temper with anyone else.”

“Oh, that’s so sad. And so weird. Because you say he never gets mad at you?”

“I guess it’s different when it’s not your own kid. My parents say he concentrated too much on the scientific aspects of bringing a human to life and wasn’t prepared for the responsibilities of parenthood.”

“Here comes the snow,” Goldie called back over her shoulder. Fat white flakes began drifting down. They looked quite pretty at first, sparkling in the setting sun. In a few minutes more the wind increased, and the flakes grew smaller and dove into the ground at a slant. Fortunately they were past the steepest part of the journey, and Finishline was able to get the horse into a trot, as he did not want to drive the wagon in a snowstorm in the dark.

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