Free Dark Sunshine by Terri Farley

fingers under the girl’s nose. “If Dad catches you smoking, you’ll be out of here so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
    The sparkle in Mikki’s eyes said she’d tried toprovoke Sam into losing control. And she’d won.
    Get a grip , Sam told herself as she opened the gate to the round pen. Popcorn sidestepped, eyes rolling. Mikki wasn’t the only one who was supposed to get something from HARP. She might not even be the most deserving one.
    Popcorn was tall for a mustang, about fifteen hands, and he watched her with crystal-blue eyes. Built like a heavy Quarter horse, the gelding had already started growing a fuzzy winter coat that made Sam think of a stuffed toy. But when Sam leaned her head in to talk with Jake, who sat on the ground to her right, Popcorn backed away a few fearful steps, then banged his whole body against the fence as if to escape.
    â€œYou comin’ in?” Jake asked.
    â€œNo.” Sam heard Mikki behind her, so she leaned down and whispered to Jake, “I’ll watch from outside and leave you in here with the wild things.”
    Jake grunted and motioned Mikki in. Sam stepped aside, but as Mikki passed, she shot Sam an angry look. She didn’t like being left out.
    Sam smiled as she withdrew from the corral and closed the gate. One of Jake’s horse strategies built on the fact that they were herd animals.
    Maybe the technique worked with kids, too.
    Sam peered through the slats of the round pen and watched Jake, Mikki, and Popcorn. As usual, Jake didn’t waste words.
    â€œSit there.” He nodded to a place midway between Popcorn and himself. “Lean back. You’re gonna be there a while.”
    â€œA whole hour?” Mikki didn’t whine now that she was watching the mustang.
    â€œHow long ya got?” Jake asked. “He can’t trust you if you’re never around.”
    â€œDon’t I know it,” Mikki said, then plopped cross-legged in the dirt.
    Sam glanced at her watch. She’d bet Mikki couldn’t sit for five minutes without wiggling or talking.
    Two minutes later, Mikki blurted, “What am I supposed to be doing?” Popcorn bolted at her voice, and Mikki made a soft sound of regret. “I’m not doing it right, but I don’t know how. Tell me.”
    â€œNot much you can do wrong,” Jake said. “Just watch him. See what he does with his ears, eyes, feet, everything.”
    â€œOkay. I can do that.”
    This time, she did.
    Sam watched for about twenty minutes. She skipped the snack Gram offered and hurried through her chores. When she returned to the corral, Jake and Mikki were coming out.
    Mikki stretched, then shoved her hands in her pockets and looked away from Jake.
    â€œOkay, what did you see?” he asked.
    Mikki shrugged.
    â€œDon’t interpret, just say what you noticed.”
    â€œWhat’s the point, if I don’t know what it means?” Mikki shrugged again. “He just stood there.”
    Sam wished she had a video camera so she could show Mikki herself “just standing there.” Besides shrugging and jamming her hands in her pockets, the girl kept her gaze focused over Jake’s shoulder. She looked worried, not sassy.
    Sam would bet Mikki didn’t venture a description because she didn’t want to be wrong. She was acting just like the troubled horse inside the corral.
    â€œWhat about his eyes?” Jake asked.
    â€œOkay,” Mikki almost shouted. “He had lines over his eyes, like he was worried, and he didn’t like it when I looked right at him.” Mikki licked her lips. “He looked away if he caught me staring. Then, when I looked at something else and checked back, he’d be watching me . Then the whole thing started over again.” Mikki rattled off the words, daring Jake to contradict her. “So what?”
    â€œAnything else?”
    â€œWhen I moved my hands or feet, just trying