More Than a Horse by C. S. Adler

Author:C. S. Adler [ADLER, C. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The next morning Kristen walked into the classroom and went directly to her seat near the window. The corners of her mouth were turned down in mourning and her face was white. Leeann, Alan, and Zach were gathered around Joy's desk, but Kristen didn't even look their way.

"Kristen," Leeann called. "What happened?" She went to Kristen, followed by Joy. Kristen kept her eyes straight ahead.

"I wanted to stay with you last night," Leeann said. "My mother brought me to your house. Did your grandmother tell you?"

Kristen shook her head, her face expressionless. She didn't look at Leeann.

"Well, I was there. But your grandmother said ... what happened, Kristen?" Leeann knelt down next to her and touched her arm. "Please tell me."

"They took Moley away. Grandma called a truck and they put Moley in a sling and took him away. I wanted to bury him next to the barn, but Grandma said we'd have to dig too big a hole." Silent tears coursed down Kristen's face. Leeann put her arms around her.

"Oh, Kristen, I'm so sorry. Your poor old horse," Joy said tearfully, and she, too, hugged Kristen. Meanwhile Zach and Alan hovered nearby.

"Sorry, Kristen," Zach said. "Moley was a great horse."

"Sorry, Kristen," Alan echoed.

The bell for homeroom rang. "We have to help Kristen to the girls' room. She's had a tragedy in her family," Joy announced dramatically when Ms. Morabita told them to take their seats. Ms. Morabita raised an eyebrow, but she let the three girls go without question.

Kristen had stopped crying by the time they got to the bathroom.

"I'll be all right," she said after she had washed her face. "We'd better get back to class."

Joy and Leeann looked at each other and Joy shrugged. Silently the three girls returned to English class.

Every time Leeann looked, tears were trickling down Kristen's cheeks as she doggedly worked on the vocabulary exercises they'd been assigned. It was only when they were walking to lunch together, following the other three, that Kristen burst out, "I hate my grandma. I just hate her. I wish she was the one who'd died."

"Moley was old," Leeann reminded her. "Your grandmother couldn't keep him from dying, Kristen."

"But she's so mean. She wouldn't let me stay with him. She locked me in my room, and—oh, Leeann, he was my only friend." Her voice choked.

"Well, now you've got me," Leeann said. "I'm not as big as Moley, but at least I can talk."

Kristen laughed and gave a Leeann a grateful hug.

Joy insisted on buying Kristen lunch. Kristen thanked her and said she wasn't hungry. "Eat something," Joy said. "You'll feel better."

"Mother talk. You have that down pat," Alan said. "I could be dying and my mother would tell me to eat something."

"Always does make me feel better to eat," Zach said. He was, as usual, putting away twice as much food as any of them.

Kristen picked up the pizza Joy had bought her. "Thanks, Joy," she said, and ate the whole piece.

To cheer everybody up, Leeann told about how Sassy had stolen Amos's hat.

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