Free Hunter Derby: (Show Circuit Series -- Book 3) by Kim Ablon Whitney Page B

been.

 
    CHAPTER TEN
    Zoe must have done a decent job leading because Kirsten asked her to lead more often. Zoe was nervous again the next few times but soon she became completely comfortable with the different kids and their different disabilities. She got used to seeing their parents help them out of the car and to the ring. She even learned how to work a motorized mini-van ramp.
    The kids all had their different personalities. Zoe felt really stupid for having somehow assumed they’d be anything other than regular kids. Sure, it was painful sometimes to see a kid who had so many challenges in life. But it made her realize how lucky she was and how she couldn’t afford to mess up her own life.
    The horses allowed the kids to do things they usually weren’t capable of. Some of the kids could do more than others. Some could trot and one could canter. Others could only walk, but still Zoe could see how relaxed they were once they were in the saddle.
    One of the kids she led often was mostly non-verbal. On the day he clearly said Daisy’s name out loud, Zoe teared up.
    After that lesson, she’d gone into Daisy’s stall, pressed her face against her coat, and full-on cried.
    Kirsten had found her there.
    “I’m not even sure why I’m crying exactly,” Zoe said. “It was just so amazing. You heard him, right? He clearly said Daisy.”
    “I go home and cry like three days a week.”
    Zoe wiped away her tears and a little of Daisy’s hair that was now plastered to her face. When Kirsten left her alone again, Zoe whispered to Daisy, “He said your name. Did you hear it? You are amazing. You are the best.”
    The next time Zoe spoke to her counselor she told her how grateful she was to be working at Narrow Lane—how she felt it was making her a better person.
    Zoe learned that just like with regular kids, she had her favorites. Of course Molly topped the list. John helped out plenty of days, not just with Molly. He seemed to have fully gotten over how she’d acted that first day they’d met at Narrow Lane.
    “Why the hell didn’t you tell me John’s sister rides at Narrow Lane?” she’d asked Linda the day after finding out.
    “I didn’t tell you that?” Linda said.
    “No, you didn’t, and I totally put my foot in my mouth in front of him.”
    Linda shook her head. “I’m telling you, I can’t sleep so it’s like I’m not even thinking straight most of the time. I’m sorry.”
    It wasn’t as if Zoe and John could hold amazing conversations as they worked together during a lesson at Narrow Lane, but just being in close proximity to him was something Zoe came to look forward to.
    One time after a lesson finished up, Zoe got up the courage to ask him more about Molly. “I don’t know much about muscular dystrophy,” Zoe said. “Is it something you’re born with?”
    “You mean cerebral palsy?” John said.
    “Oh God, yeah. I just got the two confused. I should have known the difference.”
    Here she was trying to be sensitive in how she asked and instead she had solidly inserted her foot in her mouth. Again.
    “Don’t worry about it,” John said. “It’s not like I would have known much about it either if I hadn’t had Molly for my sister and then started helping at Narrow Lane.”
    Zoe wanted to ask him if he would have volunteered at Narrow Lane if Molly wasn’t his sister. Basically she wanted to figure out how saintly he was.
    “So cerebral palsy is usually something you’re born with although sometimes you can’t see it right away,” John said. “I think with Molly they started to know pretty early because she had problems swallowing. She still does. But mostly the muscle problems affect the way she moves. Some kids with CP have seizures but we’re lucky because Molly doesn’t. We’re also lucky that she doesn’t have neurological symptoms.”
    “That’s good,” Zoe said, but then felt stupid again. Could there be anything good about having CP?
    “How do you get it?”