Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen Page A

and a bit more. And Martha was right afterward. But for that time before the storm, Robbie and I spent hours and hours in Agora’s stall. With how quickly Kai was growing, we didn’t want to miss anything .
    *   *   *
    By the end of the week, Dr. Herks had set up a run for Kai by blocking both ends of the corridor outside Agora’s stall, saying, “He needs the exercise.”
    It turned out Kai had an absolute passion for speed, all his little hooves sometimes lifting off the floor at the same time. But because both ends of the corridor were blocked off, gated and locked, he couldn’t run away.
    Kai wants to gallop , he would beg when he wanted to go out, and as soon as he was let loose in the corridor, he raced up and down, incredibly pleased with himself and screaming in delight.
    Agora would walk sedately behind him. Of course she couldn’t keep up. Well, who could? But whenever Kai became too boisterous, her whinny always brought him galloping back to her side.
    â€œI wish I’d been able to discipline you two that way,” Mom said that first morning we watched Kai and Agora in their run.
    â€œ Mom! ” Robbie and I said together.
    She put out her hands to us, and we each took one.
    â€œLove you, too, Mom,” I whispered.
    â€œMe three,” said Robbie, and sang out:
    Me three,
    We three,
    That makes
    A family!
    â€œIt sure does,” said Mom.
    â€œAnd there’s Kai, too,” Robbie said. “Or Kai four.”
    â€œAnd Martha,” Mom reminded him. “So five.”
    I almost added Dr. Herks’ name then, but instead bit my lip to keep myself from jinxing that dream.
    *   *   *
    Later, watching Kai sleeping in the stall, Dr. Herks remarked, “I think he’s only got an on and off switch, nothing in between.”
    That made Mom laugh so loud, she snorted. Then Dr. Herks started laughing as well, as if he’d caught the laugh flu. Soon the two of them were like little kids, snorting and giggling and unable to stop.
    â€œCut it out, you two,” I said.
    Robbie added, “You’re gonna wake the baby.”
    That started them laughing all over again, and I had to shove them out of the stall as if I was the mother and they the naughty children.
    *   *   *
    Besides cake and apple butter on toast, Kai adored apples and carrots, though we had to cut them into small pieces because he didn’t yet have all of his permanent teeth.
    â€œAnd because we don’t want him choking,” Dr. Herks said.
    Kai also loved peanut butter and bolted down oatmeal in the mornings as long as there was plenty of raw milk and cooked McIntosh apples mixed in.
    Dr. Herks warned us we had to keep him on a vegetarian diet. “We’ve no idea if his body can process meat products,” he said. “Horses don’t eat meat.” Then he mused, “Maybe if he has two stomachs the way he has two hearts…”
    However, without actually x-raying Kai, we couldn’t be sure, and we weren’t about to get him an X-ray because then his “oddness” would be revealed.
    So we kept the secret and the lull that went with it. We thought it was for Kai’s sake, but a good part was for our own sakes as well.
    *   *   *
    The first sign of the oncoming storm was a phone call from Mrs. Angotti. I picked up the receiver in the living-room phone the same time Mom picked up the one in the kitchen.
    â€œI’m sorry, so very sorry, because I didn’t want this to happen and I promise you she’ll be punished for letting it out, but Angela told her best friend, Zoe, who swore she’d say nothing, but you know teenagers and she had a fight with Angela over something, which if I ever find out what it is, heads will roll or at least bounce a bit, but they’re friends again so it’s no use following that particular trail!”
    Clearly Mrs. A had lost her