Dreaming of Tomorrow Page 2

  Chapter Two

  “I don’t want to be any trouble.” Emily seemed panicked at the thought of drawing any attention to herself.

  “Don’t give it another thought. It’s not just for you, it’s also for safety.” David yelled up at the announcer’s stand, “Hey Mac! Find Cliff and get him over here quick!”

  “Cliff to the In-gate! Cliff go to the In-gate please.” Came over the speakers.

  “What’s the problem. David?” A middle aged man with a cowboy hat, a florid face and a belly hanging over his belt buckle soon came jogging over.

  Just as Cliff came over, the event ended and there was a break in the action in the arena. David and Emily opened the gate wide so that all the riders could go in to get their awards. David stayed where he was, with Emily, and listened as the awards were announced. Most of the riders led their horses in to get their awards, but some rode. They gave out awards for all three age groups at once.

  The twelve and under group surprised Emily, since some of their horses seemed almost asleep, and others were prancing energetically. Next came the thirteen to seventeen group. Most of them seemed to be typical teenagers, and their horses were just a bit crazy, with only a few that were calm and well-mannered. The seniors ran the gamut from sedate to frisky. While the riders got their awards, some men were busy in the arena moving tall poles around, measuring the distance between each one.

  As the awards were given out David turned to Cliff.

  “I want to know whose bone-headed idea it was to stick a woman on the gate who not only doesn’t know a thing about horses, but is scared of them to boot! Not only that, but there’s no chair here for her. To top it off, she’s dying of thirst. Is that how we treat a volunteer?” He was livid. “It’s stupid, and potentially dangerous, and it’s a hell of a way to treat someone who’s trying to help out.”

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am,” Cliff said to Emily. “I can replace you on the gate, if you wish.”

  “Or I can help you until you get used to the job,” David offered, “and give you some insights on what’s going on with various horses and riders.”

  “I’d really like that David, but could you do that and still ride? I’d hate to cause any fuss,” Emily said softly because she was enjoying his company.

  “Sure I can. Target’s no problem.” He grinned at her. “I’ll just get someone to walk him around and keep him loose until I need to ride again.”

  “In that case, I’ll stay, with your help. I’m really not that afraid.” Emily smiled at him.

  Heck, it was one way to keep talking to the best looking man she’d ever seen. It was worth putting up with the horses just to spend some time with this thoughtful, friendly and gorgeous man. He couldn’t possibly know how unaccustomed she was to any attention from a man. Spending time with any man, other than her father, was rare for her. David seemed so nice too. She knew it was hopeless, he’d never be really interested in her but it was nice to be around him for a while. Half an hour of innocent talk with him would feed her daydreams and secret fantasies for a year.

  “Okay, I’ll work alongside you and help you get the hang of it,” David replied, looking into her soft brown eyes and noticing the eagerness in her expression. “But I’m still going to kick some butt, if you’ll pardon the expression.”

  “I agree.” Cliff turned to Emily. “I’m sorry Ma’am, if you want, I’ll send someone out to relieve you as soon as possible.”

  “I’ll be okay, I guess.” She looked over at David and smiled shyly. “David here said he’d help me out.”

  “There’s still the little matter of something to drink, and a chair.” David squinted at Cliff. “Do me a favor and take Target to the trailer and ask Nikki to walk him around for me after the awards are handed out.”

  “I’ll get right on it. And Ma’am, feel free to shout up at Rusty if you want to be replaced, this is a horse show not a slave labor camp.” Cliff walked away only to return a few minutes later with a pair of cold beers. He handed one to Emily and one to David. “This is just a start, I’ll be back with a cooler and a chair. Thanks again for helping us out, Ma’am, we surely do appreciate it.”

  “Thanks.” Emily very seldom drank alcohol but she pulled the tab and gulped the ice cold beer.

  She had forgotten to bring any cold drinks with her and it seemed like she was too busy to head up to the cook shack. David watched with amusement as she drained her beer in one long gulp, handing her his unopened beer as soon as hers was gone. There was something appealing about this girl, he decided. She was so determined to do this dirty little job, and enjoy it, in spite of her shyness and the haunting sadness that never left her eyes.

  “Here, take this. I have lots of cold drinks in my motor home,” he offered.

  “Thanks.” Emily grinned, took the can and drank the second beer more slowly.

  She was so thirsty, she never noticed someone coming over and taking David’s horse.

  “Hey!” she exclaimed. “Where’s your horse?”

  “Cliff took him over to my trailer to get him out of the way. I’ll ask Nikki to walk him around to keep him loose.” David explained, “It can be dangerous for a horse to cool off too much between events or to run without being warmed up.”

  He looked up and saw Cliff hurrying back. “Here comes Cliff with a chair and a cooler.”

  “Here you go Ma’am, I’m sorry that took so long.” Cliff smiled at her as he opened up the folding chair.

  “It’s no problem, thank you, Cliff.” Emily smiled. “I’m Emily, by the way.”

  “Nice to meet ya’ Emily,” Cliff drawled. “Regardless of how it looks, we appreciate our volunteers.”

  He tipped his cowboy hat and left.

  David pulled open the cooler. “I hope you like beer. I should have known that’s what Cliff would bring you.”

  He waited for her response, then as she nodded he pulled out two cans, opened one and handed it to her.

  “Wow! That’s three beers in one day. I almost never drink beer but today it seems perfect. Thank you.” Emily accepted the can.

  David opened the second can for himself.

  “Here, David.” A woman rode up, leading David’s horse.

  She handed him a silver plate, about 10 inches in diameter. “You looked busy so I grabbed it for you.” Even dirty, with her hat pulled low to shield her face and sunglasses covering her eyes, Emily could tell she was gorgeous, and thin. Damn!

  “Thanks, Nick,” David said in an off-handed tone. “Hey! Thanks for taking care of Target for me. Will you walk him until you have to ride? And throw this thing in the trailer?”

  He handed the trophy back to her.

  “Sure thing.” She walked her horse to David’s trailer to take care of Target.

  The show started up again. As they talked, David and Emily let horses in and out. He explained the event to her and pointed out which riders were the best and which were not. The first group of horses had very young riders.

  “Now, you must know by now that these are timed events and they are divided into age groups, 12 and under, 13 to 17, 18 and over. There are time penalties for knocking over a pole or a barrel, and going off course is a disqualification. Did you notice anything different about this sport than other sports?” David asked.

  “Well, the horses for one thing,” Emily said, grinning. “It’s like a team sport with an animal as a teammate.”

  “Exactly!” David smiled at her. “I approve of the way you put it. The best riders and horses really do form a team. What else?”

  “Well, most sports have separate competitions for men and women,” Emily mused.

  “And we don’t,” David said. “We compete head to head. Sometimes there are separate events for men and women but usually there are just age groups. The third difference is more subtle: we cheer each other on. We’ll cheer a good ride. We’ll all run out to help if a rider falls. We loan each other equipment if something breaks. We even offer advice to help a new rider. Then
we go all out to win. The sportsmanship you learn at these shows, if you have a brain, is excellent.”

  “If you have a brain?” Emily prompted.

  “There’s always one hot shot who just can’t grasp the concept of sportsmanship, but for the most part the riders all support each other,” David explained.

  The announcer called for the 13 to 17 riders to get ready, giving the numbers of the next three to go: “All right heads up! Number 25 in the arena; number 28 on deck; 42 get ready and then we move to the 13 to 17 group, with number 53 going first.”

  “This event, if you didn’t hear the announcer, is called Pole bending. The horses weave through the poles which are spaced twenty feet apart, and are timed. Watch that rider there.” He pointed to the girl waiting to go into the arena. “She’s the state champion for her age group in this event. Notice how she barely skims through the poles, without wasting any motion or losing her horse’s forward momentum. She and her horse are so in tune with each other that you can hardly see her give him any signals.”

  Emily watched and saw that the girl and her horse did indeed move as a perfect team through the poles, which were about six feet tall and just over an inch in diameter, painted white, with round flat bases to hold them up, not too much bigger around than the poles themselves. She let the girl out and the next rider in.

  “Now watch him, he’s new to the sport, not as talented, but with potential. See the differences in his ride?” David watched with a critical eye. “I think he should slow down just a bit until he gets the horse more schooled.”

  Emily watched and realized that she could see exactly what David meant. The boy’s ride was choppy and rough; he had to really work hard to get the horse around the course, and there was no flow, no rhythm to the ride. She told David that.

  “Exactly!” David was proud of her insight.

  “Watch this girl.” He pointed out a slightly older rider. She had a very rough ride, knocked over two poles, and got a bad time. “She used to be really good.”

  “She didn’t seem very good to me,” Emily puzzled.

  “She wasn’t good today,” David said in a disapproving tone. “That’s what can happen when a teenage girl discovers boys and forgets to practice her horse.”

  “Why are so many of the horses male?” Emily asked.

  For an answer he pointed out a horse over by a red trailer. Every few minutes the horse would squeal and kick out at nothing in particular.

  “See that mare? She’s in heat once a month.”

  “Even I don’t that bitchy every month,” Emily quipped.

  “Thank God.” David grinned as he reached out with one arm and gently squeezed her shoulder.

  “Doesn’t having a mare in heat arouse the male horses?” Emily asked.

  “Most of these old boys are geldings,” David grinned, “which means they don’t have all their, umm, original equipment.”

  His running commentary made the show much more interesting for Emily. He was a lively conversationalist, with a subtle sense of humor. Emily forgot her usual awkwardness around men, or more specifically a handsome man, and began to really enjoy herself.

  The gorgeous woman rode up with David’s horse.

  “Will you be okay until I get back?” he asked before mounting the huge black horse.

  “Sure, I’ll be fine.” Emily smiled at him. “Good luck.”

  David mounted and rode his horse over to the warm up arena. Emily watched him between opening and closing the gate. He looked great on a horse, natural and relaxed, but heck, Emily thought, he’d look great anywhere. The teenagers finished and the senior riders started through the course. David was second, right after the gorgeous woman. Someone came over to talk with Emily and she didn’t catch the woman’s name. She did notice the woman’s ride however, it was one of the fastest of the day. Great! She looks terrific and she can ride like a demon!

  David was next. His horse entered the arena looking lazy. Target was a giant, muscular horse, almost coal black. He trudged in, looking like he couldn’t run if he tried. David sat relaxed and held the reins loosely in one hand. Target plodded calmly over to the starting point and stood still. David picked up the reins with both hands and made a clicking sound, and Target exploded into a burst of blinding speed. He wove through the poles as easy as it could be done, then after crossing the finish line he stopped, settled down and plodded slowly out of the arena. The announcer called out his time, and it was the best so far. The time held up after all the riders had run the poles, so David had won the senior event. This time he went in to accept the small sliver plate. He gave the plate to Emily as he left the arena.

  “Here’s a memento for helping us out today.” He dismounted. “Let’s go get something to drink before they begin the next event.”

  “I can’t take this, you won it,” Emily protested.

  “I have plenty of ‘em, Target here is pretty good.” He patted the horse with affection. “In fact, I usually don’t take the awards home anymore, enough is enough.”

  Emily was touched by the gesture. “Then I’d love to take it, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” He smiled, taking Emily’s hand. “Come on, it only takes about five minutes for them to set up the next event.”

  They walked a short distance to a very nice looking motor home with a horse trailer hitched to it. There were several folding chairs next to the trailer.

  “Have a seat. What can I get you? I have Coke and beer, and of course iced tea and even water.”

  “I’d love a Coke.” Emily smiled at him.

  “Diet or regular?” David asked.

  “Regular, please,” Emily replied ruefully, “I hate the diet stuff.”

  “Me, too.” David grinned.

  David walked into the motor home and brought out the Cokes. It seemed like the minute he handed the cold can to Emily, the announcer called for the next event to begin.

  “Ain’t that the way?” David stood up. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Three

  They walked back over to the arena. The next event started without any surprises, but about halfway through the twelve and under age group a horse stepped on Emily’s foot. David was right there as Emily gasped with the pain of having a thousand pound animal in steel shoes land on her.

  “Just elbow him in the ribs and tell him to move his big as . . . ah body,” he advised.

  Before she could do it, David leaned down and picked up the horse’s hoof, holding it high in the air as Emily moved her foot out of the way.

  “Are you okay?” David asked.

  “It’s tender but I think it’s all right,” she told him, shaking and flexing her ankle.

  “It’s a good thing you wore boots.” David was relieved.

  “I borrowed them from Laura,” Emily admitted. “She insisted I wear boots here.”

  “Laura’s a very smart woman,” David muttered with a strange look on his face.

  “The next event is called Flying Figure Eight,” David said as they got back to the job of opening the gate. “It’s a run down to the end of the arena, with a figure eight loop around those three poles and a run back. It’s fairly easy and the times should be quite fast, around 10 seconds each. The whole event should go fairly quickly. Then we’ll run quadrangle. After that we’ll have a lunch break.” David smiled almost shyly then asked, “Will you have lunch with me?”

  “Are you sure?” Emily said with surprise. “That’s going above and beyond helping out the novice.”

  “I’d really enjoy it,” David said gently, realizing that Emily was shy.

  During the event there was an incident when one of the horses, another one of what turned out to be a relatively low percentage of arena-shy horses, backed hard into a sleeping horse tied to a rail by the arena entrance. The second horse, surprised and resentful at being awakened out of a nap, bit the first horse and pulled back from the rail he was tied to, fighting the rope. The rope broke and the already upset horse fell over backwards.


  In spite of her fear of horses, Emily was scared sick that the beautiful animal might be hurt. She hurried over to the animal who was just rising to his feet, getting there even before David. Gingerly, she reached out and caught the end of the lead rope, talking quietly to the nervous horse. She looked down and saw blood running down the horse’s foreleg just as David got to her.

  “David, he’s hurt!” Emily said in a shaky voice, pointing at the trail of blood.

  “Let me look at him,” David said, looking Emily in the eye. “Are you okay holding him?”

  “Sure.” Still, she surrendered the end of the rope gratefully when another rider came over and offered to help.

  “He’s okay.” David straightened up. “It’s a fairly minor cut.”

  Addressing the gathered riders, he asked, “Where’s Mike?”

  A young man jogged over. “I’m here. What happened? Someone said Max was hurt.”

  “He got spooked and broke his rope when one of the horses backed into him. I thought I told you not to leave him unattended so close to the arena,” David said with a trace of anger. “His leg is cut but it’s not too bad. If I were you, I’d bandage it up and take him home. Your saddle is pretty scraped up too.”

  “You’d like me to take him home, wouldn’t you? Especially since I’m your closest competitor for the annual high point trophy,” the younger man snapped angrily.

  One of the other riders spoke up, “Don’t be a jerk, Mike. Your horse is hurt and it’s your own darn fault. Do what’s right for your horse and worry about the trophy later.”

  “You’re right, Cap.” Mike turned to David looking abashed and said, “Sorry about that. I was just upset. I really am more concerned about Max than any trophy.”

  “I have some bandages and ointment in my trailer if you need it,” David said with no trace of resentment.