beach.”
“What mile marker? There are green signs by the dunes. Can you find one near you?”
“Run up and find out what that mile-marker sign says!” I hissed at Cody.
He ran toward the nearest green sign and yelled it out to me. I gave the man the mile marker.
“Can I get your name, please?”
I took a breath. I couldn’t do that. Without answering I hung up. We should leave now if we didn’t want to get into trouble.
But how could I leave the mare and Dark Angel? She had tired of trying to get up and was lying on her side now, breathing heavily, her eyes wide and terrified. Her fur was streaked with sweat. Dark Angel, still afraid of us, had not come any closer but continued to whinny. She kept her mother between herself and us.
“Let’s wait with her for a little while and then go hide in the sea grass when they get here,” I said.
We sat down on the sand a short distance from the mare. Her side rose and fell with each painful breath. Just listening made me shaky and teary. Dark Angel lay down next to its mother and put its head on her flank.
A bright band glowed on the eastern horizon, and the sky lightened. A breeze blew off the ocean, some dried grass tumbled by, and I noticed a sand crab scuttle over tire tracks near the mare.
“Cody, look. Tire tracks.”
“Really?”
“That’s what it looks like. So someone hit her and then drove away!” Her streaked flank rose and fell, and the sound of her panting eclipsed the crash of the nearby waves.
“Wow,” Cody said.
“I know! She seems weak now.” What if she died? What would happen to Dark Angel? “I bet those kids we saw yesterday had something to do with this!” I said.
“You think?” he said.
The mare moaned suddenly and struggled again to get up. When the foal raised its head, its little anvil-shaped head, and nuzzled its mother, I scrubbed the tears off my cheeks. “Why would someone hit a mare with a baby foal?”
“I don’t know,” Cody said. “Maybe it was an accident.”
I stood up, barely able to take my eyes away from the mare and her foal. The sounds of the mare’s suffering were burned into my memory forever and kept making me cry. I hated crying in front of Cody. I never cried in front of anyone!
“Someone will be here soon. We should hide or leave so we won’t get in trouble,” Cody said. We righted our bikes and walked them behind the first dune and crouched in the sea grass. Both of us sat hunched and cross-legged, listening to the mare.
Even though we’d only waited ten minutes, I got anxious.
“When is someone going to get here?” Cody said. “Maybe we should just leave.”
A faint band of early morning sun filtered through the waving sea grass.
Cody hadn’t said anything about me crying. He’d pretended not to notice. I was grateful he hadn’t made fun of me, and I was starting to see why Stephanieliked him. One thing I had noticed about Stephanie was that she always saw the good in people. I had been in the habit, for a long time, of seeing only the bad.
And Cody’s smile made a kind of tingle travel up my spine.
Only a minute or so later, two sets of headlights headed up the beach. They slowed as they approached the mare, and once again she tried to stand, moaning with the effort. A white SUV stopped, and two men jumped out. One had a beard, and the other had a gray ponytail and wore a baseball cap. An officer climbed out of the sheriff’s car.
“It’s Isabel and her foal!” said the man with the beard. “Someone has hit her.”
The man with the baseball cap took a few steps toward the mare. “I would have to examine her. Let’s use the darts so we can get close.”
I realized the man with the baseball cap was a veterinarian. From the back of the pickup truck, he pulled out something that looked like a slim rifle and inserted a brightly colored dart. I was familiar with these from helping the vet with the wolves last summer. He took aim at the mare’s haunch and fired.
Even
“What mile marker? There are green signs by the dunes. Can you find one near you?”
“Run up and find out what that mile-marker sign says!” I hissed at Cody.
He ran toward the nearest green sign and yelled it out to me. I gave the man the mile marker.
“Can I get your name, please?”
I took a breath. I couldn’t do that. Without answering I hung up. We should leave now if we didn’t want to get into trouble.
But how could I leave the mare and Dark Angel? She had tired of trying to get up and was lying on her side now, breathing heavily, her eyes wide and terrified. Her fur was streaked with sweat. Dark Angel, still afraid of us, had not come any closer but continued to whinny. She kept her mother between herself and us.
“Let’s wait with her for a little while and then go hide in the sea grass when they get here,” I said.
We sat down on the sand a short distance from the mare. Her side rose and fell with each painful breath. Just listening made me shaky and teary. Dark Angel lay down next to its mother and put its head on her flank.
A bright band glowed on the eastern horizon, and the sky lightened. A breeze blew off the ocean, some dried grass tumbled by, and I noticed a sand crab scuttle over tire tracks near the mare.
“Cody, look. Tire tracks.”
“Really?”
“That’s what it looks like. So someone hit her and then drove away!” Her streaked flank rose and fell, and the sound of her panting eclipsed the crash of the nearby waves.
“Wow,” Cody said.
“I know! She seems weak now.” What if she died? What would happen to Dark Angel? “I bet those kids we saw yesterday had something to do with this!” I said.
“You think?” he said.
The mare moaned suddenly and struggled again to get up. When the foal raised its head, its little anvil-shaped head, and nuzzled its mother, I scrubbed the tears off my cheeks. “Why would someone hit a mare with a baby foal?”
“I don’t know,” Cody said. “Maybe it was an accident.”
I stood up, barely able to take my eyes away from the mare and her foal. The sounds of the mare’s suffering were burned into my memory forever and kept making me cry. I hated crying in front of Cody. I never cried in front of anyone!
“Someone will be here soon. We should hide or leave so we won’t get in trouble,” Cody said. We righted our bikes and walked them behind the first dune and crouched in the sea grass. Both of us sat hunched and cross-legged, listening to the mare.
Even though we’d only waited ten minutes, I got anxious.
“When is someone going to get here?” Cody said. “Maybe we should just leave.”
A faint band of early morning sun filtered through the waving sea grass.
Cody hadn’t said anything about me crying. He’d pretended not to notice. I was grateful he hadn’t made fun of me, and I was starting to see why Stephanieliked him. One thing I had noticed about Stephanie was that she always saw the good in people. I had been in the habit, for a long time, of seeing only the bad.
And Cody’s smile made a kind of tingle travel up my spine.
Only a minute or so later, two sets of headlights headed up the beach. They slowed as they approached the mare, and once again she tried to stand, moaning with the effort. A white SUV stopped, and two men jumped out. One had a beard, and the other had a gray ponytail and wore a baseball cap. An officer climbed out of the sheriff’s car.
“It’s Isabel and her foal!” said the man with the beard. “Someone has hit her.”
The man with the baseball cap took a few steps toward the mare. “I would have to examine her. Let’s use the darts so we can get close.”
I realized the man with the baseball cap was a veterinarian. From the back of the pickup truck, he pulled out something that looked like a slim rifle and inserted a brightly colored dart. I was familiar with these from helping the vet with the wolves last summer. He took aim at the mare’s haunch and fired.
Even
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