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My horse is named Petunia.

A pretty name for an asshole.

“Use the reins!” Paul shouts back.

“I am using the reins!”

The guide turns in his saddle. “You need to kick.”

I look down at the horse’s sides. “Kick her?”

“A little kick.”

“Okay! Geez. Stop ganging me.”

Paul laughs harder.

“Watch it, Pauly.”

That shuts him up for a second, which is satisfying enough that I almost miss Petunia drifting back toward the water.

“Nope.” I pull left. “We’re land mammals. Remember?”

Petunia disagrees.

The surf washes around her hooves. The ocean is bright and beautiful, all sparkle and foam, with no idea I’m fighting for my life here. A few people watch down the beach, like my humiliation is included in the tour package.

I give Petunia the smallest possible kick. She takes it as a declaration of war and surges into the surf.

“Oh shit.”

Water splashes up around us. The saddle shifts, my body goes with it, and the whole world goes sideways.

I grab for anything. Reins. Mane. Air. God.

Paul yells something. The guide yells something else. I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying.

Petunia is charging through the water like she’s remembering a dream of becoming a seahorse. My right foot slips free, my left foot stays in the stirrup, and suddenly I’m no longer riding the horse so much as I’m attached to her side, one leg hooked, the other flying up like I’m auditioning for the circus.

“Stop!”

Petunia doesn’t give a shit.

My shirt rides up. Saltwater hits my face. My hat flies off and is taken by the ocean.

I can hear Paul laughing and panicking at the same time.

“Clint!”

“I’m fine!”

Petunia slows. For one wild second, I think maybe I have survived.

She stops completely, but my body does not. The stirrup lets go, gravity takes me, and I drop into the surf with a splash big enough to impress myself.

“Well,” I say to no one. “That went great.”

I stay exactly where I landed. I can’t bear the thought of attempting to stand right now and failing. The surf rolls around my waist. My shirt is plastered to my chest. Sand has discovered several new and private regions of my body.