Free Wild Horse Spring by Lisa Williams Kline

herd because she had been exposed to the diseases of domestic horses.” Sally hesitated, then went on. “Sometimes the horses become too used to people. One of our horses a few years ago knocked a woman down trying to gether to feed him. So the herd manager had to remove him from the herd.”
    “And they can never go back?”
    “No.”
    A lump formed in my throat, and tears pricked my eyes. It sounded so final. Why was nature so cruel?
    “When they remove the horses from the herd, what do they do with them?”
    “They adopt them out. The fund works with a couple of experienced horse trainers in particular to gentle the horses before they’re adopted. We make a point of finding really good homes for these guys. So, I hope that sorrel can stay in the wild. But if he can’t, we’ll make sure he has a good home. I’ve got to be going.” Sally climbed back into her SUV. “But if you see that the sorrel is looking worse—or if anyone is being cruel to the horses—get in touch.”
    “I will.”
    “Take care, Diana.”
    I waved as she pulled away.
    I walked home. The broad sky arched over me, a pale, washed-out blue with a few tattered wisps of clouds. The water had looked choppy and green yesterday, but today it was calmer, and an iridescent shade of blue.
    Just beyond the dunes, I saw the triangular window of our gray house. I recognized Stephanie’s beachtowel hanging over the armrest of a chair sitting on the beach. But I didn’t see her anywhere.
    I headed inside. I drank a big glass of milk and ate a peanut butter sandwich. I had a lot to think about. I hadn’t admitted to Sally that Firecracker had already eaten several carrots and an apple that I had fed him. If what Sally said was true, what I had fed Firecracker could make him sick, could give him colic.
    I ran my hands over my face. If I had made Firecracker sick, I would never forgive myself. I made a promise to check on him tomorrow, and every day we were here, to make sure he was okay.
    From the bottom of the stairs, I called for Stephanie. No answer. I went upstairs, and she wasn’t in the bedroom either. I headed back out onto the beach and saw her towel and book, abandoned on her beach chair. Her phone was gone, though.
    Then I noticed tire tracks beside her chair.
    I could not believe that she’d be out riding the ATV with Cody. She’d never get on an ATV! She was so scared of everything. But here were the tracks, and she was gone.
    Slowly, at first, I started jogging along, following the ATV tracks. I was already tired from running before, and then walking, and right away I started getting these twinges in my right calf that sometimes meant I wasabout to get a cramp. The sting of a blister throbbed on my left heel from sand getting into my socks.
    After about a half mile, the tracks led to a place where they went in a circle. Then they peeled off to the area behind the dunes. What had happened?
    I kept following the tire tracks, over the dunes through the soft sand leading to the houses behind the dunes, and then down sandy paths farther away from the water and into the maritime forest. Because I was so tired, I stopped and walked through the forest for a while, listening to see if I could hear the sound of the ATV nearby.
    This was probably hopeless. Cody and Stephanie were going much faster than I was, and I’d never catch up. I rounded a corner, and gnats swarmed my face.
    I arrived at a fork where grass had grown over the path, and I couldn’t see the tire tracks anymore. Which way had they gone? I walked back and forth, but separating out the tracks I’d been following from other tracks was now impossible.
    I thought I recognized where I was from yesterday. Then I heard a motor. It definitely sounded like an ATV. I stood to the side of the path, waiting, hoping, as it got louder and louder.

10
S TEPHANIE
    C ody and I came flying around the corner, past a huge live oak, with me holding on to him for dear life, and there was Diana. Her