“Well,” Dave said, laying the Saturday morning paper down beside the half eaten plateful of eggs, bacon and hash browns that had gone cold while he read the half page interview with Shay. “It looks like we have a real hero living in our house, Jolene. What do you think of that?”
Jolene beamed at Shay. “Oh, I knew this girl was something special, all right,” she said, and then quickly added, “ just like all our girls,” as she turned her smile to Larissa. The younger girl didn’t notice, however, her sole focus was on the ketchup bottle she was shaking vigorously above her plate of scrambled eggs. Jolene looked back at Shay,
“So, tell us, what was it like to be interviewed by a newspaper reporter?” Jolene asked.
Shay sighed. “Well, it’s really kind of weird,” she answered. Since the incident Shay had been getting more attention than she’d ever had or ever wanted. First there was the long interview with the R.C.M.P officer. Then, her regular social worker, Sue, had come out again and lectured Jolene for letting Shay ride horses in the dark. After she left, they both had a good laugh about that, although Jolene had tried her best to be respectful and had reminded Shay yet again that the social was only doing her job.
Yesterday at school some of the kids mentioned that they heard about Mr. Fletcher on the radio, but few knew about Shay’s involvement. The police had kept their word to be discreet when they re-interviewed her and they let Jolene take her to the detachment after school instead of interviewing her in the Principal’s office. The Constable had promised Shay that he would not embarrass her by showing up unannounced during the school day. For too many years Shay had dreaded the sight of the police arriving at her school with a social worker to remove her, once again, from her parent’s custody. This time, she didn’t want to have to deal with what the other kids would think if the police showed up for her at school.
Last night, the journalist from the local newspaper came to the Halliwell’s home and talked with Shay. Shay couldn’t recall all she had said, but the way the article was written made it sound like she had single-handedly saved Mr. Fletcher’s life. Now, with the winter morning sun coming in through the large kitchen windows to brighten the room, Shay just wanted to finish breakfast and do the household chores so that she could get over to the horses. She knew it would be up to the regulars to arrange for care of the horses until Mr. Fletcher got out of the hospital. Shay was particularly anxious to get to Freckles. The sturdy old mare had done well getting through the snow to the herb farm and back on that dark, snowy evening, and Shay hadn’t even had time to brush her after the ride.
“I’ll go over there with you,” Larissa said, still shaking the near empty ketchup bottle over her eggs as if she was performing a religious ritual before eating.
“You don’t have to work there, Larissa,” Jolene reminded her. “Your grandparents pay for your riding. Besides, I’m not sure either of you should go to that farm, at least not until the police know what happened and we can be sure it’s safe for you to be there.”
“What do you mean?” Shay asked, alarmed. “I have to go over to the barn. There isn’t anyone else to take care of the horses today.”
“What about the other regulars? Can’t they do some of the work this week?” Jolene asked.
Shay shook her head. “Some of the regulars from Nelson went out yesterday but there’s no one going out today,” she explained. “The horses need water and food, and their stalls need to be mucked out every day.” She had already done some planning with three of the regulars, who would help out with the horses, but none of them could show up before noon, and only four days of the week were going to be covered by kids whose parents were willing to drive them from Nelson out to Proctor.
“I’m going too, Jolene,” Larissa said insistently. “I know my grandparents pay for me to ride but I love the horses and I know how to take care of them. I can help Shay.”
“Thanks, Larissa,” Shay said. She was surprised at the girl’s eagerness to do anything other than talk or eat.
“I don’t know,” Dave said slowly. “I don’t think your social workers would want you two hanging out all on your own at a place where someone was hurt. If we let you go, maybe I should stay with you just to be on the safe side.”
Shay sighed again. She felt frustrated, and for once she didn’t care if her foster parents thought she was rude. She liked Dave and she knew he meant well, but he just didn’t understand that this was her territory, and she didn’t want a grown-up butting in.
“You both know I go there alone all the time, and Sue Osner knows that, too,” Shay protested. “I know what I’m doing with the horses, and I won’t get hurt. Besides, the police said it wasn’t a random crime; the Constable said that someone must have been out to get Mr. Fletcher. That means us kids are safe enough there. Anyway, it’ll only be until Mr. Fletcher is able to get something organized, or until he gets out of the hospital.”
“Well, it’s true the police didn’t think you would be in danger and it could be a while before Fletcher is up and about again. That knock on the head and the hours he spent lying in the cold barn took a toll on the old guy. I hear he’s developed some heart problems from the experience.” Jolene said thoughtfully. “I guess you girls can go over there alone this morning, but you come back for lunch, and you stay off the horses while you’re there. There’s to be no riding without a responsible adult present, do you understand? You’re just to feed and water them, maybe clean a stall or two, and that’s it,” Jolene said. “Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Shay and Larissa said in unison. Larissa giggled and Shay smiled back at her. It was beginning to look like things would work out after all.
Dave was good driver and well used to the snow and ice-covered roads, but still he drove slowly and extra carefully as he rounded the corner, bringing the barn into view. Suddenly, a flood of images rushed through Shay’s mind. She recalled a blur of her father lying on a floor, which was quickly replaced by another blurred image of Mr. Fletcher with the blood oozing from the wound on his head. A shiver of dread crawled down Shay’s spine and her stomach unexpectedly made a nauseous twist. Shay took a deep breath and rubbed her gloved hand across her fore head, as if she could erase the images that hid inside of her mind. The past is the past; just get over it, as her mother used to say. There was nothing from yesterday, or any other day in her life, that could hurt her today. She didn’t know if she really believed that, but her parents always insisted “the past is the past” whenever she reminded them of the many occasions they had forgotten her.
Dave pulled to a slow stop in front of the barn, and a chill wind blew up from the lake, blasting Shay in the face the moment she stepped out of Dave’s car. She was glad she hadn’t bothered to sneak any eye liner today, because the cold made her eyes tear up and she didn’t want to have black stain running down her cheeks. She looked around the field and saw that only a few of the horses had ventured out, and they had started a slow pace back to the barn. Shay knew that the horses interpreted the arrival of people as a signal that fresh water and more hay would soon be available.
Dave turned off the ignition and got out of the car. “I just want to have a look around, and make sure no one is here who shouldn’t be,” he said. “You girls stay by the car while I check out the barn and look around the fields a bit.”
“Do you think there are any bad guys in there, waiting to pounce on him?” Larissa asked excitedly as Dave disappeared into the barn. The younger girl was hopping from foot to foot, whether from the cold or from excitement, Shay couldn’t tell.
“Pounce?” Shay smiled at Larissa’s choice of words. “No, I don’t think Dave is going to get pounced on by anyone. Are you sure you want to stay here with me?” Shay asked. “It’s okay of you want to go home.”
“No,” Larissa said indignantly, “I’m not scared, I just wanted to know if you thought there were any pouncers around.”
Shay smiled at Larissa, “You and your words,” she said.
&
nbsp; Dave came back out of the barn. “Well, I don’t see any signs that anyone has been here since the police left. Remember, you two girls,” he said, shaking his finger at them, “be careful. I don’t want you riding the horses or doing anything risky. Just feed and water and clean. I’ll be back to pick you up in three hours.”
“We’ll be careful,” Shay replied and waved him off. She still wasn’t used to anyone worrying about her safety. Her parents had barely noticed her, let alone worried about anything bad ever happening to her, and Shay had stayed as invisible as possible in the other foster homes so no one ever had to tell her to do anything. She didn’t know if she liked this much attention. Sometimes it felt like Dave and Jolene were intruding on her privacy, and other times it made her feel smothered. Still, she didn’t actually hate the concern, and that was a good enough reason to let it go without argument, at least for now
“Okay, Larissa,” Shay turned to the other girl after Dave’s car turned the corner and was out of sight. “We’ve got a lot to do this morning. Have you ever mucked out a stall before, or carried oats, or done anything with the horses other than ride them? I can’t remember ever seeing you do any of the work when we were riding.”
Larissa shook her head as she struggled to keep up with Shay’s long strides. She wasn’t much shorter than Shay, but she was rounder and she always made walking look like it was a challenge.
“I usually just ride, so I’m not sure how to do everything, but I know how to brush the horses, and I can learn to do the feed and water. Anyone can shovel horse poop, even me,” Larissa replied cheerfully.
Shay laughed. She was realizing that Larissa was trying to be like her and she couldn’t help but feel flattered by the younger girl’s attitude. “Well,” she said, “if the horses have the two of us working on them, they should be okay.”
“Hey,” a friendly voice called from a distance.
Shay looked up to see Grace’s winter-bundled form making her way down the road. “What are you doing here?” Shay called out, happy to see her friend.
“I called your house and Jolene said you were here so I had my dad drop me off at the road,” Grace replied. “I thought I’d come over and help you guys with the horses. I have nothing else to do, and I like horses well enough.” Grace smiled at the other two girls, her cheeks rosy from the walk and the weather, making her look like a pink-cheeked cherub. The only thing that gave away her teen status was the new flash of dyed blue hair that ran through her bangs.
“Hey, what did you do to your hair? I really like it,” Shay said.
“Oh, I just sprayed some colour in. Mom nearly flipped, but when she found out it would wash out she said I could leave it for the weekend. She’ll never let me wear it to school. Do you like it?”
“It looks great, Grace!” Larissa gushed.
Shay laughed “It looks good, but you look kind of like a retro punk.”
“Wow, do you think so? Do I really look like a punk?” Grace asked excitedly.
“Yeah, you look like trouble. Does that make you happy?” Shay asked, smiling. Grace was eager to stretch her limits, but she always tried to find ways to do it that didn’t cause trouble for anyone. Without waiting for a reply, Shay went on “Okay, it’s three of us here to do the mighty job of shovelling shit.” The other girls giggled. “Come on in the barn,” Shay said, “and I’ll show you what to do.”
The trio trudged across the dirty snow that was pounded down hard by the hooves of the milling horses. Shay felt unusually happy, even better than ‘good enough’. She was sorry about what had happened to Mr. Fletcher, yet she couldn’t help but feel happy for herself. It seemed like her life was going okay for once. She liked her foster parents, even if they did fight with her about her make up and sometimes her clothes. They were kind to her but they didn’t push her to hug them or try to make her pretend she was part of their family. And Grace and Larissa were her first real friends.
School wasn’t bad, either. Her grades were good and her teachers were okay. She didn’t know a lot of kids there, but she got along with them well enough to say hi and to find someone to eat lunch with if Grace wasn’t around. Most importantly, on the weekends and sometimes after school, she had the horses. And, maybe even better than how the horses made her feel was the feeling of calm she got from knowing that her parents couldn’t drag her out of this life and back to their lives of chaos and fear. There was a court order this time. If they ever wanted to see her, they could visit, but they couldn’t take her back to that everyday life of fear and hunger and loneliness. Shay smiled again, and then closed her lips quickly as a chill wind blew against her teeth. Despite the bad thing that had happened to Mr. Fletcher, it was going to be a good day for Shay James.
Chapter Four
Stacking the Deck