No other anxiety attack symptoms presented themselves though, so at least the Ativan was doing its job there.
Too bad there wasn’t a drug that could stop you from finding someone attractive.The only thing to stop that was castration, and I wasn’t ready to go to such lengths.Not yet anyway.
CHAPTER SIX
Danica
Ifullyexpectedmychild to be more nervous than she was, stepping into the stall with the horses.But it was like she was born to do this.All the animals seemed to believe it too.Even Mouse let Sam pet her cheek for a few more seconds than she did yesterday, which of course just caused my daughter to light up like a birthday cake for an octogenarian.Today’s fiasco with Clyde seemed almost entirely forgotten as she swept the big brush down Monarch’s body.I was on the other side of the enormous gray giant, brushing him and dodging his curious tongue, as he curled his neck around and kept trying to lick me.
Sam and I were both giggling and telling Monarch to behave himself when Tommaso came bursting through the barn in a panic.
“Danica!”he hollered.
The way he bellowed my name with that thick accent of his should not have made parts of my body tingle the way it did.
I raced to the front of the stall where the horses usually poked out their heads.“Yes?Is everything okay?”
“No!”he said plainly, going to a vacant stall that didn’t seem to have a horse assigned to it and throwing open the door.
My eyes met Sam’s, and together we made our way back out of Monarch’s stall, watching as Tom unfurled a hose from the far end of the barn and lugged it to the empty stall.“What’s wrong?”
“I have a horse.A severely neglected, very sick horse, coming.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now!”he almost snapped.His voice wasn’t harsh, but it was frantic, which was probably where the clipped tone came from.“They’re on the ferry with her now.Normally, I have more time.”
“Can we help at all?”I asked.“What can we do?”
He paused for a moment, the spray nozzle for the hose in his hand, and he just stared at me.That’s when I realized he’d been doing this all by himself for so long that he’d neverhadanybody to help him.Let alone offer.
Finally, he nodded.“Si.You can clean this stall.I need to get fresh hay and straw, and call the vet.”He thrust the nozzle into my hands and took off back out of the barn.“Grazie!”He called out just before the door slammed shut.
“A sick horse?”Sam said, her voice soft as she came to stand beside me.“How sick?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, matching her worrisome tone.Oh, my empathetic little animal lover.She rescued everything from bees to ants to butterflies.Even wasps she found in distress were freed rather than squashed.Unlike some kids who changed their minds about what they wanted to be when they grew up, almost as often as the seasons changed, Sam had been steadfast in wanting to become a veterinarian and had never wavered.
So, of course she would take to being with the animals this way, and of course she would be worried about a sick, neglected horse coming to the ranch.
Running my hand down the back of her head, I offered her a small half-smile.“I guess we’ll find out.”
Her nod was half-hearted as she went back to Monarch’s stall to brush him while I hosed out the empty stall for the new arrival.
I was just coiling up the hose when the barn doors opened and Tom entered, towing a big wagon loaded with straw.Or was it hay?I didn’t know the difference.
With a pitchfork, he started filling the stall, a sense of urgency in his eyes that I felt down to my toes.I wanted to ask him if he knew what condition the horse was in, or how sick she was, but based on his jerky movements and the laser focus in his eyes, I knew now wasn’t the time.
Our attention was pulled at the same time to the rattle of a diesel engine and the crunch of gravel under tires.Tom finished with the straw just as a horse trailer came into view, backing up to the opening of the barn.
Sam came to stand beside me as we watched Tom and the man in the truck shake hands.
“Was headed to the glue factory, this one,” said the man with the tattered, denim ball cap and olive-green khakis, remorse thick in his voice.“Neglected, as far as we can tell.Starved.You should see her feet.”He shook his head, removed his hat to reveal a bald head, and swept his wrist over his forehead.“Poor thing.We tried to find a sanctuary on the mainland, but they’re all full.”
“I have the space.It is fine,” Tom said, nodding.“She will be loved here.”
The man replaced his ball cap back on his head and went to open up the trailer.
I gasped, and Sam murmured a stunned, “Oh my god,” when the boney, brown hindquarters of the mare came into view.She stomped her overgrown hooves that seemed to curl under themselves and made noises of distress as the man cautiously reached inside to grab the reins.
