4Ever & a Day : The Next Generation of R5

I Got a Horse and a Brother For My Birthday

Harley

I woke up and it was my birthday. I was six today. I hoped I got the pony I had asked for. Daddy always said we'll see. Which I knew usually meant no. I wasn't stupid like he thought I was. I put on my bunny slippers and got up. I ran down the stairs and found daddy in the kitchen making pancakes.

"Happy birthday princess," he said when he saw me come in.

"Where's mommy?" I asked.

"She's still sleeping. I have a special surprise for you after you finish your pancakes and get dressed," daddy said.

He sat a plate in front of me and sat down with me. I ate as fast as I could. I wanted to know what the surprise was and the faster I ate the faster I could find out. After I finished I put my plate in the sink because I knew if mommy got up and I hadn't done it she wouldn't like it.

I thought about mommy as I went upstairs to get dressed. She hadn't been feeling well a lot lately. I secretly hated the baby for making mommy feel bad. She never played with me anymore and he wasn't even here yet. It was always me and daddy most of the time.

"I'm ready daddy," I said as I went into the kitchen where he was putting dishes in the dishwasher.

"Okay princess let's go," he said as he closed the dishwasher.

As we got in the car I thought about where we could possibly be going. We drove for what seemed like hours and daddy stopped at a house in the middle of nowhere. We got out of the car and a man met us outside.

"You must be Mr. Lynch?" he asked.

"Yes," daddy said. "Please call me Ryland."

"Okay Ryland, I'm Hershel. And this pretty little girl must be Harley?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

He was a strange man. His skin was so wrinkly it looked like a raisin. He had white hair and he was balding like Grandad. We followed him past the house to a red building he called the barn. In the barn there were several horses of all different colors.

"Okay Harley pick one," daddy said.

I looked at him and he nodded. I was getting a horse for my birthday. I loved my daddy. He was the best daddy in the world! I wanted to scream with excitement but I knew I shouldn't because it would scare the horses. I quietly walked up and down the barn looking at all the horses carefully.

There was one in the last stall that caught my eyes. She was brown and had orange streaks on her back like someone had painted them on with a paint brush. She looked at me like she wanted me to pick her, like we had a connection. So I said I wanted her.

"I'll call her Painted Sunset," I said proud of the name I had picked for my new horse.

Daddy paid the man and I listened as he gave us instructions. He said we could leave her there since we didn't live on a farm and couldn't really keep her where we live. I could come anytime I wanted to see her and take care of her. He had someone who took care of all his horses who would take care of Painted Sunset when I wasn't here with her.

We spent a little while there getting to know Painted Sunset and when daddy said it was time to leave I was sad. She nuzzled in my neck and I laughed when she blew her breath on my neck. "I'll be back soon girl," I told her as I stroked her neck.

On the car ride home I could hardly contain my excitement. I couldn't wait to tell mommy and I hoped she was up when we got home. I wanted to brag to all my cousins about my horse. Especially Montague because he never let me hang out with him and Chapin and he was always so mean to me. I finally had something he didn't. To be honest he was a tattletale and mommy always said never to be a tattletale. It would come back to bite you. Whatever that meant.

When we got home mommy was pacing in the living room with her hand behind her back. She was funny to watch when she walked because she waddled like a penguin. Daddy had gotten mad one day when he caught me and my friend Daisy trying to imitate her. We never did it again. I didn't like daddy to be mad at me.

"Ryland why the hell didn't you answer your phone?" mommy asked.

"I was at the farm. I guess I didn't hear it," he said back.

"We need to go now," she said.

"Go where?" I asked.

"To the hospital, sweetie. Grams is in the kitchen so you can stay here with her," mommy said.

"But it's my birthday," I whined.

"You can come later. Right now just mommy and daddy are going," mommy told me.

"It's okay princess. Just think you could share your birthday with your little brother," daddy said as they left.

I stood there and stared at the closed door. Mommy hadn't even told me happy birthday. I didn't want to share my birthday. It was my birthday. Why did I have to share it with him? I wanted to make my birthday wish that he wasn't born today but mommy would say that was selfish. It was probably a wasted wish anyway.

"There you are," Grams said as she came into the hall where I was standing.

"Hi Grams," I said.

"Happy birthday," she said.

"Thank you," I said back.

"Come in and have some lunch then we can go to my house and swim," she said.

I thought that was an amazing idea. I loved to swim in her pool. I ate my lunch slowly though. I told Grams all about Painted Sunset. She just listened and asked me questions about it.

Later that afternoon when we were done with swimming Grams got a phone call from daddy. I didn't know what he said but I knew it was him because I saw his name on her phone screen. When she got off the phone she asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital to meet my little brother.

I didn't really but I wasn't going to say that to Grams. I was enjoying spending the day with Grams just me and her. I hardly ever got to do that. Now my little brother was already ruining my day. Going to meet him was the last thing I wanted to do.

At the hospital we went to a room where mommy, daddy, and my little brother were. Grams was excited and said he was so cute but I thought he looked like a little troll. He had hair that stuck up all over his head and it wasn't even blonde like mine. It was dark like mommy's.

"Happy birthday Harley," mommy said.

"Thanks," I said.

"So we named him Ansel but we want you to give him his middle name," daddy said.

I thought for a minute and I knew the perfect middle name for him. "Diddy," I said.

"Diddy? Why Diddy?" daddy asked.

"Because Embry said a diddy was a song and he needs a musical name," I explained.

"Okay Ansel Diddy it is then," mommy said.

"Remind me to thank Embry for teaching her that lovely word," daddy said.