Free The Second Life of Abigail Walker by Frances O'Roark Dowell Page B

twisted some of the hair around her fingers. It was going to take her ten million years to get this done. She wasn’t going to be any help to the Bentons at all.

riding the bus home that afternoon, Abby smoothed out the sheet of paper Mrs. Benton had given her on Sunday and started reading it again. Bushy-tailed woodrat, mule deer, pronghorn, white-tailed jack-rabbit, Columbian ground squirrel . . . 
    Leaning back in her seat, Abby tried to imagine what some of the animals might look like. What in the world could a pronghorn be? She pictured a deer with a plug on top of its head. But Lewis and Clark wouldn’t have named something based on electrical appliances. Theydidn’t even have electrical appliances in 1804. Hmm. Something else, then. A horse with antlers?
    She thought of the horses she’d met on Sunday when Anders had taken her on a tour of the stables. There were eight in all, although only three belonged to the Bentons; the others were horses they stabled for other people. Two of the horses were jet-black, and another one was a beautiful golden brown, like the color of fall leaves. All the horses had whinnied at Anders and Abby as they’d walked through the stables, poking their noses over their stalls and snorting.
    They had all been absolutely huge. How in the world could anybody sit on top of one of those things? It would be like riding on top of a school bus.
    Abby told herself to just imagine them with prongs growing out of their heads, and giggled a little. She still hadn’t decided whether to go watch Mrs. Benton’s riding lesson at four o’clock. Even with the silly picture of pronghorned horses in her head, she couldn’t helpfeel a little nervous thinking about the humongous animals in the Bentons’ stable.
    What if she went and Mrs. Benton tried to get her to ride one? She’d feel silly standing in front of the other students and saying no thanks, not today, maybe some other time. They’d probably look at her and think she was too fat to get on a horse anyway.
    I could just go watch , Abby thought. I wouldn’t even have to get near the horses.
    She thought about the swishing sound the horses’ tails made as they flicked flies off their haunches. Like a straw broom sweeping out a cabin. Like Snow White making the little house nice and neat before the seven dwarves got home from work. Swish, swish. It was one of the nicest sounds Abby had ever heard.
    She could just watch. She could watch from some place Mrs. Benton couldn’t see her.
    There were six riders in the ring when Abby reached the Bentons’ farm. They all wore hard black hats, and five of them had on cream-colored jodhpurs and high leather riding boots. Thesixth one, who was riding the golden-brown horse Abby thought was so beautiful, had on jeans and sneakers.
    â€œThat’s Louise,” Anders informed Abby when he and Wallace came to stand beside her at the far side of the barn, where Abby felt she was at a safe distance from any suggestions that she get on a horse. “She’s Grandma’s best rider, but she can’t afford a horse or any of the gear. So Grandma lets her muck the stalls for lessons. And she lets her ride Ruckus whenever she wants.”
    â€œThat’s really nice of your grandmother.”
    Anders shrugged. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”
    Abby caught the laugh coming out of her throat before it had a chance to escape. Some of the things that Anders said cracked her up, but she could tell he wasn’t like Gabe, who didn’t mind being laughed at. Maybe Anders was trying to sound like a grown-up because he had to act like a grown-up when it came to his dad. That thought sobered Abby up.
    â€œDo you ride?” she asked, wondering what itwould be like to live surrounded by horses. Maybe if you saw horses every day, the idea of riding one wouldn’t be so frightening.
    â€œNo, not really. I mean I used to, when