Free Dark Sunshine by Terri Farley Page B

food.” He numbered the first condition off on his index finger, then added, “And when he lets you pet him on the face and neck. Then we can try you on him. Bareback. In this corral.”
    The gray van that had delivered Mikki just over an hour ago had come to pick her up. As it rolled slowly over the River Bend bridge, Mikki’s shoulders sagged.
    Before the van parked, though, Mikki started toward it. She didn’t say good-bye or thanks or anything, but just before she reached the van she turned back, pointed at Jake and shouted, “You got yourself a deal, cowboy.”

Chapter Eight
    â€œI ’ D LIKE M IKKI , if she weren’t such a brat.” Sam watched the gray county van cross the River Bend bridge.
    â€œYou would,” Jake said, and it wasn’t a question.
    Sam thought of the way Mikki’s shoulders had drooped when she saw the gray van. What was the place like, where the van was taking her? Probably halfway between school and the orphanage in Annie , Sam figured, where you didn’t get to decide when to study, what to eat, or if you should go for a walk.
    It would be a controlled, structured place. Sam wished she could creep inside with her camera and a roll of black-and-white film and show what the girls inside were really like.
    â€œShe’s got a great vocabulary for a seventh grader,” Sam said. “And sometimes she sounds really mature. Do you think that’s because she’s got a messed-up childhood?”
    Jake shrugged.
    â€œWell, I think she’s intelligent.”
    â€œProbably is,” Jake said. “But I’m going to tell Wyatt to watch her. She’s dangerous.”
    â€œJust because she’s a smart mouth?”
    â€œI don’t think you’re dangerous,” he said. “And you’ve never been anything but sassy.”
    Sam stuck out her tongue at Jake, then asked, “But really, what don’t you like about her?”
    Jake shook his head. “Hard to say. I guess ’cause she’s trying to make us think this is no big deal to her.” He gestured toward Popcorn. “When it’s really the best thing that’s happened to her for a long time. She might, I don’t know, sort of sabotage herself, and one of the horses might get hurt.”
    Sam brought Popcorn’s food to the round pen while Jake retrieved Witch, his roach-maned black mare, from the barn.
    Witch and Popcorn sniffed each other through the panels of the pen, and Witch gave a snorting whinny. Dark Sunshine answered from the barn corral. Sam longed to make the little horse happy.
    â€œIf Brynna says it’s okay, I want to try everything you’re doing with Popcorn on the buckskin.”
    â€œWell, that’s a fool idea,” Jake said.
    â€œWhy? I wouldn’t do it in the round pen to begin,” Sam said. “In fact, I’d leave her where she is, but isolate her from Ace and Sweetheart. What do you think? Maybe she’d start to see me as her herd.”
    â€œI won’t be part of this,” Jake said. “That animal is half scared you’re going to put her in the dark, and half scared you’ll bring her into the light. You can’t trust her to act like a normal horse.”
    Jake was always too protective, so Sam changed the subject. “Are you going to tell Brynna what you think of Mikki?”
    â€œDon’t know. First impression could be wrong, but my gut says it’s not.”
    â€œThey’d probably pull her from the program.” Sam heard herself almost defending Mikki, and she couldn’t believe it.
    â€œYou don’t know whether they would or not,” Jake scolded. “They didn’t send her to another state because she was an angel.”
    Jake tugged the front of his hat even lower, so Sam couldn’t see his eyes. “Anyway, I want Wyatt watching her.”
    â€œSince when did you get to be northern Nevada’s leading psychologist