The Stars in the Sky

Chapter 9: Compromise

Throughout the week, the experience of assisting visually impaired children to ride horses was one that I thought would stay with me forever. For the most part, I was just an observer and helper, because Janine and Stephanie were in charge of the horses, along with Jimmy, the older wrangler, and Hector, the younger one.  I helped out as best as I could and then ran the programs afterward.

All of the wranglers were patient, having the children first feel every part of the arena in the model first, then feel their horse, and finally feel each piece of equipment, such as the reins and saddle, before they used it. They used a special ramp to get the kids up high enough to get on the horses.

Once the kids were up on their horses, the looks on their faces were priceless. Sure, they were scared at first, to be that high up off of the ground on an unfamiliar, but huge animal. Then, the looks turned to unadulterated terror once the horses started walking. A horse has a sway to its gait that takes some getting used to. But the wranglers held the ropes and guided each horse and rider slowly, carefully, and safely, around the corral. After a while, the faces of the children turned to delight as they got used to the lumbering walk of the horses.

They were riding horses, actually doing it. So freaking awesome!

One thing I had learned in my research, was that if you were blind, your body was often hunched over, since you had to feel your way around, either with a cane, a guide animal, or with a caregiver. But on a horse, other muscles were used, and it was a good experience for the bodies of these children to feel their muscles working in different ways.

Each day, when we were done with the horses after the morning session, I talked with the children, having them describe to me the sensations they felt: the scent of the barnyard, the sounds of the horses, the rough feel of the hide of their horse, the motion of the walk. They also talked about how they felt about riding, from their fear at first, to getting used to it after a while.  We made a recording of their voices so that they could replay it and remember what they felt when they returned home.

Also, once we were done each day, every single one of them wanted to do it again and again, so we went riding as many times as we could manage during their time at the ranch.

For the most part this week, Will was away from the compound, taking care of things around the ranch. His truck was gone, and it came back each day with more mud on it. But he made a point to walk over to the corral on Tuesday afternoon and talk with the kids about their experiences on the horses, taking time with each child individually.

When he met Clarissa, of course she wanted to "sing" his hair, so he bent down, all six and a half feet of him, or so, and let the little seventeen year old touch his curly, brown hair.

I wanted to to do that.

She sang a sweet, middle note, and said that his hair sounded "true, fierce, and loyal."

Interesting. It was sort of like an astrology reading by hair.

Meal times were the only times that I really saw Will this week, and I thought that we both had trouble keeping our hands under control. The flirting with him was a combination of completely under wraps and blatantly obvious. If you didn't know that we were flirting, I hoped that you would have no idea what we were doing. But if you knew what we were doing, I bet you would laugh. When I got up to refill my water glass, for instance, I made it a point to graze his crotch as I got up. He did the same, reaching across my boobs to grab the salt and pepper, and resting his arm just a second too long. And so it went on, in public, playing this game of who can touch the other one the most, without letting anyone else know it.

On Thursday, it happened.

"What is that noise?" asked Clarissa suddenly, her sunglasses on, Bo Derek braids whipping around to turn her ear toward some scrubby bushes at the far end of the corral. I walked over to investigate and, holy shit, there was a full-sized rattlesnake right there. Not only could I see the snake, stretched out across the dirt, but also I could hear the rattle. About all that I knew about rattlesnakes was from cartoons, but I figured that just because it wasn't coiled up and ready to strike didn't mean that we should stick around and meet it.