New Friends (ages 9-12)

 By Laila L. 

Word prompt #17 (loosely based) : The chestnut looked like she had seen cruelty her whole life. Her sides were scarred and bleeding and her head hung low, the only sign of life in her thin frame found in her deep, fiery eyes. The blond-haired girl looked from the mare to Andi. “You have to help me save her.”

Fifteen year old Andi Carter went for a ride on a bright Saturday morning. Luisa had packed her a sandwich, but her mother had told her that she had to be home in time for dinner. Andi urged Taffy into a gallop. She loved the wind in her face on a fresh spring morning. She stopped at her special spot and let Taffy eat grass. She had not brought her fishing pole, so she decided to keep going. 

She had been going for a little while, when she thought she heard something like…maybe a dog barking, Andi thought. Yes, a small black dog ran out of the bushes, barking wildly. Then it stopped barking, and circled cautiously around Taffy, sniffing.

Andi also thought she heard something else, like a child crying, and she saw a horse tied carelessly to a tree. Andi wondered why a horse, a dog, and maybe a child would be out here, on the ranch. Didn’t they have someone with them? It was time for Andi to find out.

The little dog had ran into the bushes, Taffy snorted her relief and started eating grass. Andi slowly got off of her back, walked toward the bushes, and stepped back in surprise. The black dog was sitting next to a small blonde haired girl. She had her head buried in her arms.

The dog noticed Andi, got up, and started growling at her. Andi just stood there and looked at the little girl, who sniffled, reached out, and grabbed the dog. “No boy, d…don’t go, n…not again,” she said. The dog went to her, but turned around and growled at Andi.

“What’s the matter?” Asked the girl, then she looked up and saw Andi.

The child’s jaw dropped, and her eyes got big, tears welled up as she let her head fall and started weeping.

Small tears welled in Andi’s own eyes. Something must have happened to this little girl, or to her horse, Andi thought. Andi slowly knelt down beside the girl, she reached out, and gently touched her back.

The girl looked up startled, the dog growled, the girl stared at Andi, her face full of innocence and sadness. Then she said slowly, “who are you?” 

“Well, I might ask the same of you,” Andi said. “I’m Andi Carter.”

“Andi,” said the girl, “where are you f…from? It seems a long way ou…out here f…from any place.”

Andi stood up, sighed, and looked out over the land toward her house. Then she remembered that Mother had wanted her to be home in time for dinner. “I live on the Circle C Ranch,” Andi said. 

“A ranch. Horses. Do you know how to deal with horses?” The girl said excitedly. She shot up from where she was sitting, the dog at her heels. She pointed to the chestnut tied to the tree. The mare’s sides were badly scratched, and her hair was matted with dried blood, her head hung low, and she was slowly breathing - the only sign of life in her thin body. The girl’s expression had turned sad and scared again, “you have to help me save her,” she said slowly. 

“Well…well, I don’t know if I can,” Andi said. “What happened to her?” 

“That blasted mountain lion,” the girl said, “at least that’s what Uncle Patrick says.”

Andi gasped. A mountain lion, here? But mountain lions only lived high in the mountains. Well, one might come down if they had to. “And that mountain lion attacked her…,’ Andi said. Well, it might as well been looking for something to eat, Andi thought. 

“Oh, an…and that ranch. Where’s that ranch?” Asked the girl. Now she was asking where the ranch was.  Will her questions ever end? Well, I don’t have to answer all of them, Andi thought. She sighed, ‘we’re on it now.” The girl suddenly bit her lip, ‘I…I’m trespassing,” she said. 

“Oh no,” Andi said, “we really don’t use this land much.”

“Oh,” said the girl. “Good. Who’s ‘we’?”

Andi sighed, “my family and I, of course.”

“You have a family?” The girl said, wishfully. “A ma? A pa?” 

“Yes…well, my father died when I was young.” There, why did she say that in front of this girl? She hated to think of Father. 

“Oh, that…that is sad. I know what it’s like to lose a father, and I…,” the girl stopped. She must have lost her father, too, or both of her parents. That might explain why she was out here all by herself.

Poor child, Andi thought. “Well, I should be going,” Andi said. A few minutes later dinner would be ready. 

“Oh, no, you can’t go! Well, could you come back?”

“I could make time,” Andi said. “It’s Saturday.”

“Wonderful,” said the girl. Then she looked at her horse, “Andi, will you be able to save Holly?”

“What?” Andi said.

“My horse, Holly. Will you be able to save her?” 

Andi looked at Holly. She was very hurt. “I won’t,” Andi said, “but I know someone who will.’ Andi walked toward Taffy, then she turned around, remembering her sandwich. The girl had went over to Holly, and was gently rubbing the mare’s neck. “Are you hungry,’ Andi asked. 

“Yes,’ the girl said, turning around. 

“I have something for you,” Andi said, pulling out the sandwich wrapped in a napkin. The girl walked over and took the sandwich Andi was holding out, she unwrapped it and gasped. “Oh, thank you, thank you! I don’t know how to thank you!” 

Andi smiled, “you don’t have to thank me. I forgot about it, and I’m going home for dinner anyways.” As she mounted Taffy she asked the girl, “what is your name?” The girl looked at her, “Christy. Short for Christina.” 

“Ok, thank you. That’s what I’ll call you from now on,” and she rode away. 

The ride was quick, and despite her chores, she knew that she would have to be back with Chad to help Holly. 

She was home just in time for dinner, so Mother didn’t wonder where she was. When dinner was over she went and found Chad and, of course, he did not want to stop working. 

“Please Chad, come with me,” Andi begged. 

“Go on and do your chores little sis, leave me alone."
“I already did,” Andi said. She had done her chores, hoping that Chad would go with her. 

Chad looked at her, “oh all right, what is it?”

Andi sighed, “I met a girl on my ride, her name is Christy. She has a hurt horse who needs your help, and I’m not sure if she has any parents.” 

“Ok,” Chad said. “Where did you meet this girl?”

“Just past my special spot,” Andi said.

Chad sighed, “alright, I’ll go tell the hands I’m leaving. You go get Taffy ready to go.”

“Okay!” Andi said, and she ran toward the barn. 

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“Are you sure she doesn’t have any parents?” Chad asked on the ride. “Or are you just fibbing to get me out here? If you are…”

“I’m not fibbing!” Andi burst out.

Chad looked at her sternly, “You better not be.”

Andi urged Taffy into a gallop, and Chad followed. When they got to the spot where Christy was, the little black dog ran out barking. Andi got off Taffy and Christy ran over from where she was petting Holly. She stopped short when she saw Chad. A minute later she asked, “is this who you were talking about, who could save Holly?”

“Yes,” Andi said. “Can you, Chad?”

“I don’t know,” Chad said, dismounting and walking over to Holly. He gently patted the mare, who flinched at his touch. “What on earth happened?” He said, turning around.

“A mountain lion,” Andi said. 

“It was evening,” Christy said. “I was just going to bed, then the horses started screaming outside. Uncle Patrick grabbed his gun and ran out.” She started crying at the memory. “The chickens were scattered half way across the earth. Then the gun shot sounded. Uncle Patrick came in and said it was a mountain lion, and that we’d have to go look for the chickens, and that…and that Holly had ran away. So the next morning I set out looking of her. And here I find her, standing under a tree. Poor horse.”

She lives with her uncle, Andi thought. 

“Well,” Chad said, “I can’t fix her up out here. If she could run all the way here from…where ever you live, then she can go to the ranch.” 

“Where do you live?” Andi asked. She could not live on the ranch, but how could Holly have ran here from any place not on the ranch. She was a hurt horse. Andi could see that Chad was thinking the same. 

“Not too far away,” Christy said. “It didn’t take long for me and Scout to get out here.” She nodded at the dog who had been sitting at her heels the whole time. She did live on the ranch!

“Would you mind showing me where you live,” Chad said. 

Christy looked at him confused. “Well, um, Uncle Patrick doesn’t much care for visitors,” she said. 

“Take me to where you live,” Chad said. “Holly can wait.” 

“Christy bit her lip, “well…maybe…”

Chad walked over to Sky, “you can sit right here in front of me.”

Christy timidly walked over and he helped her up. 

“Can I go, too?” Andi asked.

 Chad sighed, “Andi, I…”

“Chad!”

“Oh, alright, mount up,” Chad said. So Andi did.

Christy directed them to where she lived. Scout followed them the whole time. Soon, they came to a small shack. It looked newly built, though it wasn’t a good build at all. It did not even have a roof, but a canvas tarp was stretched over the top and nailed to the logs that were stacked to make a small, square structure. A hole was cut to make a doorway. It had a quilt hanging over it.

Across from the shack there were four logs upright in the ground with another tarp stretched across them. There was a large wooden hay feeder on the ground under the tarp, full of hay. Two horses were tied to the logs eating hay. A boy ran over a hill holding a hen.

“Well, this is where I live,” said Christy quickly. “Do you want to go?”

“Where’s your uncle?” Chad asked.

“Around here somewhere,’ said Christy. 

The boy ran up to them. “Christy,” he said. He looked at Chad and Andi, “Pa’s out back tannin’ that ol’ mountain lion hide. And you oughta be ashamed, runnin’ away like that. Me ’n’ Ma been out findin’ hens all day,” he sighed. “Who are these new friends you got here?”

Christy dismounted with Chad, who started walking around the shack, leading Sky. Andi dismounted and listened to Christy and the boy, who had set down the hen, talk. 

“Sorry, Sawyer, but I found Holly.’

“Of course you did! The dumb horse couldn’t of run far, for how hurt she was. And you know that Pa didn’t want to keep her anyways.”

“But she was my pa’s,” Christy sobbed. “She’s the only thing I have to remember my pa!”

Then a lady came over a hill with a hen in each arm, “Sawyer!” She called. “You boy, you should have been carrying another hen up by now!” 

“Sorry, Ma,” said Sawyer, running to take a hen out of her arm. As they came to the top of the hill the lady gasped, “Christina!”

“Aunt Margaret,” said Christy.

“Oh, child, you should not have went away and you know it. And who in the world is this girl?”

“She’s my new friend, Aunt Margaret.”

“And why is she here?”

“I…I don’t know, Aunt Margaret.”

The lady sighed, “well, I am sorry, but you will have to go to your uncle and take matters up with him.” She turned to Andi, “and how in…” 

Just then Chad’s voice sounded, “we had a little talk, and the Petersons don’t intend to do anything with our land but live on it. Mr. Peterson says they have done a lot of moving, but they like it here!” 

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And from then on the Carter family had good friends and neighbors. Chad had them build a proper house and barn, and Holly was alright.

Andi never really knew why Christy had lost her parents and come to live with her aunt and uncle, but she did know that after that, they were kind to her and acted like parents. Christy lived happily with her Uncle Patrick, Aunt Margaret, cousin Sawyer, horse Holly, dog Scout, and their chickens and their team of bays.