The Island Horse by Susan Hughes Page B

you heard of Sable Island?”
    She yawned. “Yes, Pa. We learned about it in school.”
    Sable Island was a small island far off their coast. It was hundreds of miles away. Forever away. In the sea. Remote and empty.
    â€œThere are wild horses on Sable Island,” her father said. “Just think, Ellie.
Wild horses!
”
    The horses galloped into her imagination, reared and turned, hooves flying.
    Wild horses!
    Ellie rubbed her eyes, and her father tucked the quilt around her again. She knew he must have mentioned Sable Island because she loved horses so much. And all night, the wild horses were in her dreams.
    The next morning, Saturday, Ellie saw her father holding the paper in his hand. The job offer. He was reading it again, and then he looked up at her thoughtfully. He came to sit beside her, pulled his chair in close, put one arm across the back of her chair and rested his other hand on her knee.
    â€œThe job, Ellie,” her father said. “It’s a good job. But I have to tell you something. The job is on the island, Sable Island.”
    â€œSable Island?” echoed Ellie, confused.
    â€œI’ve got a shore rescue posting,” he explained. Ellie didn’t know what this meant, but she didn’t ask because her father continued. “I’m sorry, Ellie. I’m really sorry. But we’ll have to leave here. We’ll have to move to Sable Island so I can work.”
    â€œLeave here?” Ellie cried. She pushed her chair away from him. She stood up. “Move? But we can’t. We can’t leave here, Pa. We can’t leave our home!”
    It wasn’t possible.
    â€œSweetpea, I know it will be hard for you to leave here. It will be hard for both of us. But I have to take this job.” Her father stood up, too. “We need it, so we can live.” He hesitated. “The supply ship goes to Sable Island only a few times a year, to take provisions across and to bring back the rescued. She’ll be going soon, in ten days. We’ll go aboard when she leaves. That means we’ll have to leave here in eight days.”
    Ellie stepped back.
Eight days?
    â€œThere’ll be some good things about moving to Sable Island, Ellie. Lots of good things, I hope,” her father said eagerly. “We’ll be given a horse so I can ride beach patrol. And then there’s the wild horses. You’ll get to see the wild horses on the island.”
    But Ellie was not listening now. His words had pushed her underwater. She could not hear and she could not breathe.
    She turned and ran. She tore out of the house and up the hill. Her own steps, and her parents’, had worn this narrow path. Ellie reached the top, panting. She made her way to her mother’s grave.
    Ellie traced her mother’s name on the headstone:
Lillian.
She ran her fingertip in the carved valleys of the letters:
Wife and mother.
    It usually calmed her, but not this morning. This morning, Ellie threw herself down in the grass. She lay on her back, looking up at the blue sky, and her hands clutched the grass, not wanting to leave.
    She lay there for a long time, and when the sun was straight above her, Ellie sat up. She brushed her tears away. She looked out and saw the dark blue sea. She watched the sea birds dipping and twirling above.
    â€œMa, we have to move. We have to move to Sable Island. But how can I leave you, Ma?” she said. “How can I?”
    This was home, and nowhere else would ever be.
    Chapter Three
    The days passed.
    Ellie could not speak. She could not eat. Still she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Still she felt as if all around her was water and she couldn’t see the sky.
    â€œTime to pack,” said her father gently on the seventh day. Ellie did not have much to take with her. Just her quilt, some clothes, her pencils and slate, her school books, the precious paper she had been saving and all her horse drawings. But she had so much to