Mel's Arc

Chapter 7 of 36

They cleared the barn yard and started down the dark road. Ted led his black horse by the reins. The animal limped on its front left foot. Every few steps it dipped its head and slowed. Mel watched the horse favor the leg and knew they had a problem. Home was miles off. A lame horse could not carry a rider, and Ted would not push him. "He threw the shoe hours ago," Ted said. "I've been walking him since. He won't make it home like this." Mel stopped. Her heels sank in the dirt. "Then we don't take him home. Not tonight." She looked back down the road. "How far to your place?" Ted tipped his head at a light through the trees. "Close. But my stall's got no fresh shoe and no farrier till morning." "He doesn't need a shoe tonight. He needs to stop walking." Mel handed Ted the lilies and stepped to the horse's shoulder. She ran her hand down the sore leg. The hoof was warm and worn at the edge. "Rest, water, a clean stall. That's the whole plan. We walk him slow and we put him up." Ted watched her work. "You sound like you've done this." "Every lame horse on a small outfit," she said. "We fix what we can't afford to replace." They went slow. Mel set the pace to the horse and not to their own tired feet. She kicked off her heels and carried them. The dirt was cool. Ted matched her step, jacket over one shoulder, flowers awkward in his other hand. Twice the horse balked and they stopped and let him breathe. Ted's house came up out of the dark, a wide porch and yellow board front. A lamp burned in one window. He led the horse around to the stall and Mel filled a bucket from the pump. She spread clean straw while Ted eased the horse in. The animal dropped his head to the water and drank. "He'll stand easy now," Mel said. "Farrier sets a new shoe in the morning. Then he walks home sound." Ted latched the stall. The horse was safe. They were not stranded anymore. But the road home was long, and it was near midnight, and Mel stood barefoot in a borrowed blue dress at a man's house she had told no. "I can't walk the rest tonight," Mel said. "Not in the dark. Not with him needing tending come morning." Ted set the lilies on the porch rail. "Spare room's made up. I'll take you both home when he's shod." Mel looked at the lamp in the window and the empty road behind her. She had chosen the man who stayed. Now she'd be under his roof till daylight, and her folks would want to know why. "All right," she said. "Thank you, Ted." She went up the porch steps and inside.