Alone In The Big Leagues

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

    I grip the reins tightly and try to pull King to a halt. He ignores the pulling that I'm doing on his mouth. He rushes forward into the middle of the road and gallops full speed down it. I have already lost one stirrup and I knew that I wasn't far off from losing the other one. I hear many honks of cars behind us. The noise only spooks King even more. I panic at the thought of him stopping suddenly and the car behind us running right into him. I quickly push the horrible thought out of my head and just focus on getting King off of the road so that that doesn't happen. I try to pull him to the right side of the road where we were looking for my locket before he bolted. More horns sound behind us and I know that its not helping anything thats going on right now. These people behind me in their cars no doubt have no idea what horses are like. They know nothing.    

   I grip the reins even tighter in my hand so that I won't lose hold of them and turn around in the saddle. I look at the white van that is driving behind us. Inside is a woman who looks both panicked and irritated. She see's me looking and starts to honk the horn again. I hold my hand up signaling for her to stop honking the horn. She doesn't seem to understand. She scowls and gives the horn another honk. The frown on my face deepens. Here I am trying to fix the problem and make sure that no one gets hurt and here's this lady who is making everything harder then it has to be. I turn back around in my saddle and take the reins with both hands. I again try to steer King to the right. He grunts under me and sways to one side before continuing on running straight.

       Okay so we were getting somewhere getting somewhere. Thats a start. I shift me weight and again try to pull him to the right. He rips his head to the side causing one of my hands to lose hold of the reins. I look down and squint down at my hands then regain my hold of the reins. I hold them tighter this time and yet again pull him to the right. He huffs and try to pull away from my pulling. I tighten my rein and pull a bit harder. I feel him buck under me. His breathing has become heavy and I can feel him tiring. He's starting to slow and give into the reins but he's not ready just yet. I make sure to keep him running and decide to tire him out then move him the try to just force him to the side of the road.

      The lady behind us has started up the honking again. I don't look behind me instead I just stick to tiring King out. His gait starts to slow even more and his breathing has become very ragged. Now. Now is the time to pull him to the side. I press my heels into his side to make sure that he keeps going and doesn't slow. I then start to direct hime to the side. He snorts and starts to resist but then decides to give into the reins. He keeps his gait but I still press my heels in his sides to make sure he knows not to slow.

       We get to the side of the road and I look to the side to see that the lady that had been behind me has stepped on the gas and is zooming by. At least five other cars follow after her. They are not going as fast as she was but one by one they start to go the speed limit that has been set for this road. I pull on the reins to slow King. He quickly slows and stops, letting his body relax. Sweat covers his neck and the rest of his body. His breathing has started to slow and the excitement of everything fades away. I take a breath and dismount, patting his shoulder when my feet hit the ground. His ear flicks over to me then it pricks back up listening for something. The road is clear of cars but I still keep a watchful eye to make sure we don't have a repeat of what just happened.

         I grip the reins and lead King along the road. I've wasted so much of my time when King bolted. My eyes drink in the sight of the pavement looking franticly for my locket. I know that deep down there is really no hope of me finding it. A small part of me still holds hope.

         I've looked for over five minutes and still I have found nothing. The only shiny things that I found was one dime stuck to a piece of old chewed up gum. One shattered beer bottle. One silver lighter. Even one sparkle smiley sticker. There is almost nothing that I haven't found on the side of the road. That is except my locket. I didn't understand why. It had to be around here somewhere. This is where we were at when she threw it out the window. How could it not be here? King's nerves have spiked up again and he prances about as if he has to go to the bathroom. My hand tightens on the reins as he tries to pull his head away. He snorts and paws at the ground. His ears flatten for just a second then prick back up. My fingers are still tight around the reins but I stroke his sweaty neck in attempt to calm his nerves down. He jerks his head up and I feel my fingers slip from the reins. Before they completely slip from my hands I am able to regain my grip. Its easy to see that King is stressed. I quickly decide what I have to do. Sadly but surely I push the thought of finding my locket out of my mind and focus on getting King home safely.

            I throw the reins over his neck and go to his left side. Quickly but carefully I slip my foot into the stirrup and swing myself into the saddle. King dances in place under me and snorts. I grab the reins and push my heels into his side. He starts to walk forward without any trouble. The road is clear of cars so I push King into a trot and we cross the road. We follow along side of the road and I realize that I have never noticed how bumpy King's trot was until now. My mind flits back to Zane. His smooth trot. How calm he always was when I took him for a ride on the side of the road. We would have to ride on the side of the road in order to get to the lake that we would swim at. It was private property but the old women that owned the place had let me take Zane and swim there in the summer.

         I don't know the woman very well. She's small and frail. Her hair poofs up in white fluff. The muscle in her arms has gone away almost completely. She's just a small, frail old widow whose husband died about three years ago. I don't know the woman's name. I only met her when I was young, maybe eleven or twelve. I was exploring with Zane one day when we ran across the lake. I had dismounted and was leading Zane into the water. I was about knee deep in when we heard yelling behind us. Zane and I had jumped a little bit. I then had turned to see a little old woman hobbling our way. Zane had turned his head to look at her and I had peeked around him shyly. The woman had stopped yelling but had still walked quickly. I had sighed knowing that I had had to face her. I guess I had missed the private property sign. I led Zane away and out of the water and walked to the woman. We stop when we are face to face. I had hung my head under her gaze. "Who are you and what are you doing on my property?" She had demanded. I had told her everything. How we were just exploring and how I had just wanted to take Zane in the water. She never interrupted instead she just looked me over as I spoke. I finished and a smile forms on her face. She had looked behind me and over at Zane. She had walked forward and over to Zane and started stroking his neck. She had been whispering softly to him. His ears had moved in the direction he voice was coming from showing her that he was listening. I couldn't hear what she was saying to him. Just as I was about to butt in and ask she had stopped and looked at me, "You can ride on my property any time."