Free Nickel-Bred by Patricia Gilkerson Page B

somehow
become a superhero, but really, who wouldn’t have done it to save a
horse’s life? I did what I had to do.
    Mom came over and hugged me tight. “I am so
glad we will be rid of those horrible people.”
    “Angel was the ringleader,” I said. “Earl
went along with her. Chickie wanted to leave, but she talked him
into staying and putting us in the basement. He wasn’t all bad-- at
least he wanted a good home for Nickel.”
    “Maybe he wasn’t all bad,” said Dad, “but he
was bad enough to take you into that house and leave you tied in
that basement while Crazy Lady set a fire. That’s plenty bad.”
    “You said it,” said Harvey Martin. “You make
choices like that, you should expect to pay for it.
    “I hope those people get put in prison for
fifty years,” Mom said. “I was scared for all of us, but then you
came in. You’ll never know how it feels until you have a child of
your own. And as far as I’m concerned, you can have all the horses
you want.”
    “Could I have that in writing?” I said, and
everyone laughed. They thought I was kidding. “But where is Nickel
now?”
    “I tied him to your dad’s truck bumper a
minute ago,” said Addie.
    “I think I’ll go take him to the barn and
give him a special treat.”
    “I’ll go with you,” said Addie, “I would have
taken him myself, but I had to make sure everyone was okay.”
    “Well, folks, if y’all are okay now, I think
I’ll go out and wait for the patrol car,” said the sheriff. “I’ll
follow it to the station and make sure everyone is tucked in for
the night. Miss Julie? Miz Jones?” Miss Julie and Mom nodded that
they were fine, so the sheriff waved and ducked out the
backdoor.
    “ Dan, what about Willie Nelson?” asked
Miss Julie. She was holding the kitten.
    My dad took the little ball of fur and
cuddled it in his arms. He felt around on it, moved its legs and
looked in its eyes.
    “He doesn’t seem any worse for wear. Maybe a
bit bruised, so watch him for any limping, but I think he’ll be
fine. Nothing seems broken.”
    He deposited the kitten in Miss Julie’s lap
again, where it curled up and purred so loud we could hear it
across the room. She stroked it and smiled.
    Addie and I went out the backdoor and stood a
minute, watching the criminals tied up on the lawn. They looked
angry and uncomfortable.
    “You!” shouted Angel, looking at me. “Hey,
brat! Come over here! I have something for you!”
    Having someone hate me that much made me
nervous, so we gave them a wide berth. We walked to where Nickel
was tied to my dad’s truck bumper. I wanted to ride him with a
saddle on, so I mounted and turned him toward the barn.
    At that moment, Angel came flying across the
lawn with a large tree branch clasped in her handcuffed hands,
swinging it at Nickel’s head. I saw it, but the horse didn’t.
Luckily, his blindness had prevented him from shying away. I turned
him away from Angel as Dad jumped on her and wrestled the branch
away from her. Sheriff Martin grabbed her and pushed her back with
the others, where he put her on the ground and tied her feet
together.
    “You jerk!” she shouted to Dad. “You had a
chance and you blew it! And you and your little brat kid will be
sorry. I should have put a bullet in the stupid horse’s brain a
long time ago.”
    At that point Harvey put a gag in her mouth,
as a patrol car arrived. ”Well, girls, I think we’re done here. Put
the horse up and go get some rest,” said Harvey Martin.
    And that’s what we did.
     

Chapter
Seventeen
    ~ Riding Together ~
     
    We had to
wait another day for Addie to be able to ride again. She had
reinjured her ankle when she had jumped down off of Nickel. Dr.
Williams didn’t want her to stress it any more than she already had
and told her to rest it another day. I couldn’t rest when there was
a new horse in our barn, so I spent the day brushing Nickel and
Dotty, riding them one at a time around the corral, and generally
spoiling