Falling Over the Finish Line
(Sample - Chapters 6 & 7)
Chapter 6: Gloria
“What
in the hell took you so long?” Raymond shouted across the stable as Earl and
Gloria walked in. “Didn’t you bring Dr. Maxon?”
“He’s
right behind us, Uncle Ray. He’s just getting his things out of the truck.”
“Daddy,
why aren’t you in there with Shore? Is she ok?”
“Gloria,
I just looked in on her and the last time I checked, I don’t answer to you. You
need to learn how to hold your tongue. Now go back up to the house and get your
mother out of bed.”
“Ok,
but I’ll be right back and then I’m staying here until the foal is born.”
Gloria tried to sound defiant, but her father was intimidating and she knew
that she was only shortening his temper.
Ray’s
eyes fixed on hers with pupils resembling coals turning from black to red hot.
He walked over, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the stable.
“Daddy,
stop. You’re hurting me!”
“Then
next time you remember your place and don’t you dare sass me like that again!
Now go back up to the house. I ain’t going to tell you again!”
Gloria
started to trek up to the house through the cold air. She knew she wouldn’t be
able to get her mother up this early. The sun had only just risen. It would be
a few hours at least before her mother got up.
Gloria
prepared some coffee and was finally able to wake up her mother around nine
o’clock. As her mother followed her downstairs, Gloria let her know that
ShoretoDream was in labor.
“Daddy
probably won’t come back up to the house until after the birth.”
“Is
Doctor Maxon out there too?”
“Yes,
he’s there.”
“In
a little while I’ll prepare some lunch for you to take out to them. If your
daddy had his way though, that horse would stay in labor for two and a half
more weeks.” Faye said as she poured a bit of whiskey in a mug before she
poured her coffee.
Having
paid close attention to the business of her family’s stable in past years,
Gloria knew why her father was so upset. He had taken a chance when he decided
to put ShoretoDream with King Duke to breed and it had probably cost him a lot
of money. ShoretoDream had already given birth to several foals. The last foal
she had given birth to was Snow Angel when she was bred with Fists of Fury. It
was a difficult birth for her and Gloria’s father had only been able to race
Snow Angel a handful of times.
Snow
Angel was a great runner, but he was the most temperamental horse her father
had ever had in his stable. He also got spooked very easily. When he was calm
though, he made the Earth spin a little faster underneath his hooves. He was
something. They named him Snow Angel because of his beautiful pale coloring
when he was born. As an adult his coat was a shiny silver color, so the name
was still very fitting.
“It’s
no wonder the foal is going to be born prematurely. It’s Daddy’s own fault.
Shore’s a champion racehorse, but she already had trouble with Snow Angel’s
birth. He took a chance breeding her again. He got greedy.”
“Gloria,
don’t you dare question your father! I won’t have it! Your father is a smart
man. He’s the reason you live in luxury and don’t you forget it.”
“Yes,
Ma’am.” Although Gloria knew she was right.
As
a young girl, every day after school and in the long daylight summer days, her
life was horses. She spent her childhood mucking out stables, brushing manes,
and learning everything she possibly could from her father, no matter how
reluctant he was for her to learn any of it. He was not only the sole owner of
Weldon Farms Stables, but he had also started and built the family’s farm from
the ground up. He had expanded the business so much that they had to move
several years ago from their small, modest house and farm into the mansion they
now occupied that sat on many acres of land. He was a very wise horseman,
businessman, and trainer.
Her
father and Doctor Maxon would be spending the day with ShoretoDream. Gloria had
chores to do, but she knew the horses needed their workouts as well. Since she
could walk, she followed her father watching him closely as he trained
thoroughbreds. He was one of the best in the business until the past two years.
Since the start of the season in 1944, the Weldons still had horses in the
Triple Crown races, but only a few had managed to place. What was worse was
that the Reeds had come in second place in the derby that past summer and were
ready for their first big win.
Faye
filled a coffee urn and put it on a matching silver tray with two coffee cups.
“Take this down to your father and Dr. Maxon. You do your chores and then you
come straight back up here to get their lunch and take it down to them.”
“Yes,
Ma’am.”
“I’m
going to finish sewing your dress this morning too, so you can try it on this
afternoon.”
“Thank
you.”
The
tray was heavy and Gloria had to concentrate on keeping it steady all of the
way down to the stable. She walked in and set it down on the desk in the office
where her father and Dr. Maxon were sitting.
“May
I pour you a cup of coffee, Dr. Maxon?”
“Please
don’t trouble yourself. I’ll have a cup in just a little while.”
Gloria
nodded and smiled to him as she poured her father a cup adding a touch of sweet
cream and a lump of sugar exactly the way he liked it.
“Here
you are, Daddy.”
Dr.
Maxon smiled, “Raymond, you and Faye are raising quite the proper young lady.
My compliments to you both.”
“Thanks,
Doc. I hope you and Wendy received your invitation to Gloria’s birthday party
this Saturday.”
“We
wouldn’t miss it for anything. It’s all anyone is talking about.”
“I
hope so. We’ve invited the most elite families from three counties, especially
the ones with eligible young sons. If we can have Gloria find a well-to-do
young man, we won’t have to waste money sending her to college.”
Gloria
couldn’t stand when her father spoke about her as if she wasn’t standing in the
room. She hated even more that instead of celebrating her birthday, her parents
were throwing her an elegant party to give themselves an opportunity to find a
rich son-in-law. She wouldn’t be surprised if there was an auction block in the
middle of their dining room for her to stand on all evening.
“I
have no doubt that Gloria won’t have any trouble finding a suitable young man.”
“Thank
you, Dr. Maxon. If you’ll please excuse me though, I have chores to start
before I bring out lunch.”
Gloria
wanted so much to ask Dr. Maxon about Shore’s progress that he must have seen
it written all over her face and also that she was holding back so as not to
upset her father. She was relieved when he offered the information without any
prompting before she left the office.
“Gloria,
you’ll be happy to know that ShoretoDream is doing very well. You will have a
new foal by supper time most likely.”
“Thank
you, Doctor Maxon.” She smiled. “I’m comforted in knowing she is in the very
capable hands of you and Daddy.”
Gloria
walked out of the office and let herself relax. Just those brief moments in the
office of acting so proper exhausted her. She wasn’t sure how she would survive
an entire party. Gloria stopped and thought for a moment. Her father was
preoccupied with Shore and her mother would be busy sewing her dress. She
decided that no one would notice if she didn’t go back up to the house or if
her chores didn’t get done that day. She went to the last stall by the doors of
the stable, furthest away from the office.
She
took the saddle off of the wall and started to put it on Snow Angel, but he
started to fight her from putting it on. She held his saddle and took him by
the reigns and led him as quietly as she could out of his stall and out of the
stable doors. She walked him around to the other side of Earl’s tiny house and
began to put his saddle on there. He didn’t seem to mind it as much after she
took him outside.
“What
are you doing?”
Gloria
spun around. “Earl, you nearly scared me half to death! And keep quiet,” she
whispered. “I’m taking Snow Angel for a walk out in the woods.”
“If
Uncle Ray finds out, he is going to ring your neck.”
“So
don’t tell him. He won’t notice we’re gone. We’ll only be an hour. If Sam or
any of the grooms come before we’re back, tell them not to say anything
either.”
“Don’t
wander too far. You know if Uncle Ray asks me anything that I’m no good at
lying to him.”
“I
have to be back in time to bring down lunch from the house, so I won’t go far.”
Gloria
had the saddle securely on Snow Angel, so she put her foot in the stirrup and
hopped up. She guided Snow Angel into the woods. She looked behind her and saw
Earl watching her with a worried look on his face. She smiled and winked at her
cousin to reassure him, but he just shook his head and got back to work.
Chapter 7: Ben
“Benjamin? Are you out here?”
“I’m
in the stable, Pop!” Ben called to his father.
“Do
you know where your brother is?”
“He’s
not in his bed? That’s where I saw him last. I was up before the sun this
morning, so I came straight out here to start today’s work.”
“Well
at least we know he came home last night.”
His father’s tone made Ben realize
that Pop was just as fed up with David’s escapades as he was. It relieved Ben a
little since his father usually made excuses for David. Ben had begun putting
the saddle on FlashbyBoy.
“Pop,
I’m saddling up Flash, but he doesn’t seem to want to run today. David pushed
him pretty hard yesterday. He ran him too hard in my opinion. I think you
should just let him walk and trot around today.”
At that point Ben heard the truck
pull up outside. The truck door slammed shut and David came walking briskly
through the double doors. “Morning, Pop. I found out that the Weldons’ horse
ShoretoDream is giving birth today. You know the one they matched with King
Duke? What everyone has been saying is right: Raymond Weldon is going to run
his farm into the ground. With this early birth, he doesn’t have a chance next
year.”
“If
the horse hasn’t even delivered yet, how could you possibly know that?”
“Oh
I uh… I overheard it in town. That’s where I went after I woke up this morning.
Ben, you make sure that horse is properly saddled today. It started to come
loose yesterday.”
Ben knew there had been nothing
wrong with the saddle, but David needed something to criticize him about in
front of their father. Ben started to respond, but Pop jumped in first.
“Flash is taking today off from
training.”
“Taking off? Pop, I’m the one who
has been training him and I know what he needs, not you. We have stakes races
to enter him in before The Bluegrass Stakes and the Derby. If he doesn’t run
well, we’re going to lose our shot at it.”
“I know you’ve been working hard on
training him, but boy don’t you forget who runs this farm. If you don’t want
your ass and your suitcase to be thrown out onto that dirt road at the end of
the driveway, then it will do you well to remember that.”
“Sorry, Pop. But we can’t let him
just stand in the stable all day.”
“Ben is taking him out today. After
you work out Golden Girl and Free Runner, get all these stables cleaned out.
I’m giving both FlashbyBoy and Ben the day off.” Pop walked away before David
could respond.
David glared at Ben. “Make sure you
get Golden Girl and Free Runner saddled before you take Flash out. And I don’t
care what Pop said, you run that horse today.”
“No problem.” Ben replied simply to
appease his brother.
“I mean it, Ben. That old man is
losing his senses when it comes to training horses.”
Ben and David heard Pop’s voice from
outside of the stable. “I haven’t lost a single sense, especially not my
hearing! And saddle up your own damn horses!”
David turned and walked into the
equipment room and Ben heard the loud bang of something being thrown at the
wall. He stroked Flash’s head to make sure the sound hadn’t bothered him and
then walked him out of the stall.
Ben mounted Flash and walked him out
of the stable. “Well Flash, we both have the day to ourselves. Let’s go for a
walk. You lead the way.”
They walked along the edge of the
woods that lined their farm. After about a half of a mile, Flash turned and
walked on the trail through the trees leading away from the property. Ben knew
where Flash was going. He wanted to walk through the woods because about
another mile through the trails was a clearing, a creek where Ben had walked
Flash to before. In the summer time, Ben would go there and swim at night to
cool off after a long day, but on that December morning, it was going to be
much too cold for that. He would just enjoy the beautiful view while Flash
wandered around and drank from the stream.
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