Riding Out the Devil (The Jack Harper Trilogy, #1) by Hilary Walker

Author:Hilary Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Inspirational, Catholic Inspirational, Ulcerative Colitis, Horse fiction, Uplifting Fiction, Christian Family
Publisher: Hilary Walker
Published: 2017-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen: Three Steps Backwards

Having just seen the back of the annoying priest, Jack was irritated to find that Joe wanted to talk about him over dinner.

The youngster had a faraway look in his eyes. “You know, Mr. Jack, Father Michael is just the way I’d like God to be – kind and good and interested in horses.”

Jack had to smile at that last description. One of his favorite quotes was about not wanting to go to any heaven that had no horses, but he could feel his mother warning him not to say it out loud. The teenager might agree with it, but the priest would be unimpressed.

“You know, Mr. Jack, you and Father are very similar.”

The horse trainer almost choked on his iced water. He couldn’t imagine two men further apart in their beliefs and outlook on life.

“How can you possibly think that?”

“You know, like I said about Father Michael – you’re kind and good, and you love horses.”

“I’ll give you the bit about horses, Joe, but I draw the line at kind and good. Let’s leave those attributes to Father, shall we?”

“I don’t understand, Mr. Jack. Don’t you want people to think you’re a good person?”

Felicia was facing the stove and Jack saw her body freeze. He had to be very careful what he said next.

“It’s like this. Not all of us have led blameless lives like your priest. Some of us have done things we’d rather forget, which prove that we aren’t, as you say, ‘kind and good.’”

Felicia’s shoulders relaxed.

“But that’s what confession’s for! Don’t you ever go to confession?”

Oh, boy! Stuck between a rock and a hard place again!

He was suddenly tired of tiptoeing round the issue. “Some of us don’t believe in confession, Joe.”

Felicia’s body went rigid again.

“Man, that’s too bad. Confession is where you get things off your chest. Then you come out and start all over again, and try to get it right next time. ”

Oh, for the innocence of this youth!

“I’ll bear that in mind, Joe. Thank you.”

The rest of the meal was spent discussing how well Duke’s training was going.

“From now on I’ll have you ride Duke the same way I’ve been doing. If all goes well, you’ll be ready to take him to a local show.” Joe looked alarmed, but Jack continued, “You’ve seen how relaxed he is now. This is your time to step up and be a leader.”

He advised going to the venue as a non-competitor, to reintroduce them both to the busy show environment. Horse and boy would have the opportunity to work in the warm up ring and see how they managed without the pressure of preparing for a judged test.

They could spend all day there, if they wanted.

“Especially since my body is behaving like a normal person’s now,” Joe added.

Jack grinned. “You should pat yourself on the back. That’s all because of your self-discipline. You could have sneaked other food in, but you didn’t. I’ll print out information sheets for you when you leave, so you can keep up the good work.

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