Look at me! I was riding a horse!!
The only animal I’d ever been around on a regular basis was Butterscotch, who was soft and huggable. But Jolie—the power and energy that I felt pulsing through her neck and body made me feel safe, and not afraid at all. This horse knew what she was doing. It was like she was telling me, Chill, Melody. I got this.
So I chilled. And let the horse do her thing. She kept on going down that path.
Plop. Kerplop. Plop. Kerplop.
Gentle stepping of her hooves.
Bronze dirt.
Gold sun.
Pink breeze.
Purple shadows on a dirt road.
And I was riding a horse.
How ’bout that?
CHAPTER 36
The sun glimmered above. The pine-needle-covered path muffled the rhythmical thumps of Jolie’s hooves. That made me think of our music session the other day. I wondered whether Athena, if she patted her drums real softly, could capture that sound. After a while, I let the greens and golds envelop me.
Plop. Kerplop. Plop. We headed deeper into the woods.
Jolie’s walk was a little like a sway—almost like a sideways rocking chair! I wondered if she was bored. Or tired of folks riding on her back day after day. I’d seen documentaries of wild mustangs galloping in herds across fields. It made me sad to think that Jolie probably never had the chance to do that.
But I was glad she was my horse.
The more I relaxed, the more I became aware of more than just me. Duh! This wasn’t just riding day for me. I’d forgotten that the rest of our team were having their own adventures! I saw Athena and Sage up ahead on a black horse in front of me. Athena kept rubbing her helmet—she must have known that she looked really regal in it. Even though nobody was looking, she waved like her job was to greet her cheering fans.
I decided to try waving as well. Look at me! I’m holding on with one hand! Then I quickly grabbed the reins again, just in case.
Karyn and Kim clomped up next to us. Karyn’s horse was pure white. Wow—pretty! In movies, the good guy always seems to ride a white horse. And for sure, that’s Karyn. She was on the perfect horse.
One other thing I noticed? Lots of poop!
CHAPTER 37
As we rode, I started daydreaming—imagining this was the movie of my life, except this was my life. I was gradually understanding Trinity’s instructions to pull the left side of the reins to turn Jolie to the left, and pull to the right side to turn her right. My right hand sometimes obeyed, but the left just wouldn’t. But it was okay. Because today I was riding a stinkin’ horse!
Just as I was thinking how this movie was going to develop, how I was gonna remember this moment forever, a commercial came on! Well, not exactly, but the silence of the forest was suddenly rudely interrupted by boisterous laughter.
Oh yeah—the Panthers were riding today too. I guess it had just temporarily tiptoed to the back of my mind—ha-ha!
Jeremiah, leading the charge, shouted out, “Yeehaw!” and “Passing on your right, passing on your right!” and Trinity, slowing down, pulled Jolie to the left, letting him by. He and Noah were going lots faster than we had been! But then I remembered Noah had ridden before. Jeremiah gave Trinity a salute as they bolted by. “Sorry about that—Devin got a head start, and we want to stay together!” Birds fluttered away in alarm as more Panthers rode up hollering, “Wait up!” And the director of my movie shouted Cut!
“Noah’s horse is called an Appaloosa,” Trinity told me, as Brock and Malik, who was looking a little sunburned, scooted by with a wave on what I was pretty sure was called a palomino.
Bringing up the rear were Santiago and Harley. Santiago looked totally chill—and was even holding the reins all on his own; I wondered how often he’d ridden before. Harley bellowed, “Excuse us, excuuuuse us!” as they slipped by.
The Falcons ahead of us had moved to the side as well, and our horses took advantage of the stop, grabbing mouthfuls of leaves from nearby bushes. They also peed and pooped without caring who saw! Oops! No manners here!
“You wanna catch up with the guys, Melody?” Trinity asked, her voice playful. “Or let them go on alone? Left hand up, we stay on this path. Right hand up, we follow their route to the right.”
I thought for a moment. Okay, half a moment.
Right it was!
With Trinity’s gentle tug on the reins, Jolie tossed her head and turned slightly to the right and back onto the path. Trinity made a click-click sound with her mouth, and I felt her heels thump twice into Jolie’s side, and Jolie started walking again. Then Trinity repeated the clicks and thumps, and Jolie started trotting! Well, it wasn’t exactly a gallop, but it was faster than before.
The Panthers were hooting and shouting and yeehawing ahead of us. It took just a few minutes to catch up. And Trinity—she was so sassy! She pulled up right beside Noah and Jeremiah.
I was trying to picture in my head what Noah saw—a wobbly girl wearing a black helmet, bouncing along on the back of a lovely brown horse.
Hey, that wasn’t such a bad image!
Just then Jolie whinnied, stretched out her neck, and snorted—hard! I jumped in my seat in surprise.
Noah yelled, “Bless you!”
I must have looked confused, because he told me that was how horses sneezed! Trinity added that horses also snorted to talk to one another.
Noah laughed and said, “Yeah, sneezing usually involves a lot of snot!”
Okaaaaay, that was reasonable. Horses didn’t have tissues to blow their noses on… or wait—ewwwww! I’m sorta like a horse—my sneezes can get ugly! Okay, that was a little bit weird. But interesting, too. I’d have to tell Noah later.
As if he sensed me thinking about him, Noah said, “Hey, there, girl with a name that sounds like a song. I hope Jolie’s giving you a good ride!”