Free Dark Sunshine by Terri Farley Page A

to keep them from getting all pins and needly, he scooted away.” Mikki looked down. “And that’s dumb. He knows he can’t get out of there.”
    â€œMaybe he doesn’t,” Sam said.
    â€œWhat?” Mikki sneered.
    â€œHe broke down a fence at the place he used to live,” Sam began, then she told Mikki about thesnubbing post, the bucking, and the weeks of being ignored.
    Mikki listened intently until Sam finished. Then the girl looked frustrated. “So when can I ride him?”
    â€œNot this year,” Jake said.
    â€œWhat?” Again, Mikki’s shrill words made Popcorn bolt around the corral. She glanced his way with regret, then plucked at her feathery blond hair. “I can’t ride him? Are you afraid I’ll screw him up worse?”
    â€œNo, we need him to trust someone.”
    â€œLike you,” Mikki said to Sam. “You’re the one reading his mind.”
    â€œI’m not reading his mind, just guessing.”
    â€œAnd what do you guess it means that he won’t let me look into his eyes?” Mikki wagged her head mockingly.
    â€œI think…” Sam swallowed and cast a nervous glance at Jake.
    This was all his fault. When the Phantom was a foal, Jake had helped Sam think like a horse. She’d never expected to do it aloud.
    â€œI think,” Sam said, “that he got everything wrong with people the first time, right after he was captured. Then, instead of trying to understand, they scared him, hurt him, and then shut him out. He wonders why he should try again.”
    For just an instant, Mikki looked sympathetic,but then she noticed Jake waiting for her response.
    â€œThe reason he should try it again ”—Mikki pronounced each word slowly, as if Sam weren’t very smart—“is because he’s a horse. That’s what horseys do . They give people rides.”
    â€œNot wild horses,” Sam said.
    â€œHe could learn.” Mikki flipped her hand toward the corral. “I bet he could learn in a week. You’re just teasing me so I’ll be a good girl. I’ve played this game before.”
    It was quiet for a minute, except for the faraway drone of a small plane overhead. Sam noticed Jake watching it, too.
    â€œSee that plane?” Jake nodded toward the cloudless sky and the white trail stretching behind the aircraft.
    â€œYeah. Why, are you sending me away on one?”
    Jake almost smiled. “No,” he answered. “Can you fly one?”
    â€œOf course not. Are you crazy?”
    â€œBut there’s a person flying that plane—”
    â€œA pilot ,” Mikki said in a singsong voice. “Duh.”
    â€œA pilot’s a human and you’re a human.” Jake spread his hands out as if he’d explained something simple. “So, you could learn to fly the plane, right? People fly planes. How long do you think it would take you to learn? A week?”
    â€œI’m only eleven years old—”
    â€œOkay,” Jake conceded, “so we could give you two weeks.”
    â€œI’ve never done anything like that. You have to learn about wind currents and flaps and—” Mikki stopped, breathless, then closed her eyes. “I get it.”
    â€œThree weeks?” Jake teased.
    â€œI said I get it , so quit it.” Mikki’s face flushed.
    Sam thought Jake had broken through the girl’s cockiness, until Mikki squinted up at him.
    â€œHow long till I can ride him?”
    Sam gestured toward the sky. “Jake,” she muttered, “if I ever, ever criticize your patience, remind me of this.”
    â€œHow long?” Mikki asked again, and Jake recognized the dare.
    â€œWhen he trusts you,” Jake said.
    â€œHow will you be able to tell?”
    â€œWhen he eats out of your hand,” Jake began, then shook his head. “No, when he comes to you instead of running away, but you’re not carrying