Racing Home by Adele Dueck

Author:Adele Dueck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epub, ebook, QuarkXPress
ISBN: 9781550507027
Publisher: Coteau Books

CHAPTER TWELVE

Tapper

Inga was making breakfast when Erik woke up the next morning. He pulled on his boots and reached for his coat.

“I’ll eat when I get back from the spring.”

His mother smiled. “Rolf’s already gone.”

“What?” Erik swung around, glancing from the empty bed to the hook where Rolf’s coat usually hung. “I didn’t hear him leave.”

“You were sleeping so soundly, we let you be.”

“I’ll milk the cow, then.”

“I did that.” She set a cup of coffee on the table. “Have your breakfast.”

“Well,” said Erik, after a long pause. “I guess I will!”

When Rolf got back with the water, Erik helped unload the barrels, then they drove into Green Valley for church. The owner of one of the new stores had offered the upstairs whenever the travelling pastor was in the area.

Afterwards the men talked about a school.

“We have to get it built before winter,” one declared.

“But everyone is so busy,” another protested.

“We have a teacher,” someone else pointed out, “and we have students. If we get the school built, we can use it on Sundays till we have a church building.”

“All the churches will want to use it.”

“Then we’ll have to take turns.”

“We don’t have a pastor most of the time anyway.”

Erik was glad there was a Norwegian church for them to attend, even if it was only occasionally. He struggled with English enough; at least he didn’t have to do it at church. His mother, at home most of the time, still knew little English.

Erik and Elsa walked to Lars and Kirsten’s afterwards, arriving before Rolf and Inga with the oxen.

“Could you call Olaf?” Kirsten asked Erik as she tied her apron. “I’ll get the food on the table. I expect you’ll find him with the horses.”

Hearing sounds behind the stable, Erik found Olaf pouring a stream of water over the back of a dark bay horse.

The horse shivered and moved restlessly.

“You giving that horse a bath?” Erik asked.

“Oh, it’s you,” Olaf said, setting the pail on the ground. “Come and take a look.”

There was something wrong with the horse. Erik stepped up beside Olaf, staring at the animal. Its back was ripped in long, jagged strips from its neck to the Bar C brand on its hip, the flesh showing red and raw.

“What happened?” Erik asked, horrified. “How did he get those gashes?”

“Some kind of cat. Bobcat, cougar. No one knows for sure.” Olaf wiped some of the water away from the horse’s sides, careful not to touch its injuries. “See those bite marks on his neck?”

Erik came closer. “It’s a wonder he’s still alive!”

“Pete was going to shoot him. I asked if I could try to help him. He said, ‘If that crowbait can walk, you can have him, he’s no good to me.’ He walked, so I brought him here. Folks tell me he won’t heal unless I can keep the wounds clean, so that’s what I’m doing. He doesn’t like this one bit, but he stands like he knows it’ll help.”

Olaf grabbed a handful of oats from a pail and offered it to the horse.

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