Riding Chance Read online

  They were yelling a whole bunch of other stuff that I couldn’t hear and bumping into each other. Between the dust, and the shouting, and the flying ball, and the horses’ thunder, I felt my heart beating real fast like it does after I run the fifty-yard dash.

  I couldn’t just go home after the match, so I went back over to the barn. Jerome and the rest of the team were taking care of their horses. Winston was in the middle of their little group talking real fast. They’d won but, from what I could hear, Winston wanted Little Keith and Marcus to work on their swings.

  “Pretty cool, right?” said Alisha. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the second floor of the barn. “We’re having hoagies up at Dre’s,” she said. “Come on up.”

  I hadn’t been up in Dre’s apartment before. It was above the front of the barn, over Winston’s office and the horse shower stall. It wasn’t as long as the whole barn but it was just as wide. He had a lot of open space up there that he had sectioned off into separate rooms. There was a kitchen with a wooden table and some chairs on one side of a bookshelf. On the other side of the shelves was his living room. He had a big rug with a red couch and a couple of old leather chairs sitting in front of a wide-screen TV. Up against the wall was a black exercise bench with weights scattered all around it. I liked these little Japanese lamps sitting on wooden crates sprinkled around the place. And there was another bookshelf hiding where he slept in the back. I wasn’t surprised to see he had loads of animal books laying around the place. The funny thing about being up there was that the horses were right below. You could hear neighing and snorting no matter where you were.

  “It must be spooky living up here,” I said, standing at the top of the stairs. Alisha walked right over to the kitchen and plopped down at Dre’s table.

  “Spooky,” said Dre. “What makes you think that?” He leaned a bulletin board he’d been sticking something on against the bookshelves.

  “Well, you’re all alone,” I said, looking around.

  “Are you deaf?” he laughed. “I’m not alone at all.”

  “He’s got twenty horses living on his ground floor,” said Alisha. “Besides, he’s with us all day.”

  “Don’t the horses keep you awake at night?” I asked.

  Dre looked up to the ceiling like he could see the sky straight through the roof. “It’s the total opposite,” he said. “I sleep like a baby up here.” Dre was smiling the way he does. His whole face was lit up like he was in heaven. We could hear the horses moving around in their stalls downstairs.

  “So, Troy,” said Alisha, “what did you think of the game?” She took a bag of paper cups down from the top of Dre’s refrigerator and walked to the sink to fill one with water.

  “Fierce.” I grinned and shrugged. “That’s about all I can say, man. You have to be fierce to play polo.”

  Dre laughed. “Could you follow what was going on?” He turned the bulletin board around so we could see it. Star of the Week was spelled out in big yellow letters across the top.

  “Not really,” I said. “It was hard to—”

  “What’s that?” interrupted Alisha. She finished drinking her water and pointed to the board.

  “Oh,” said Dre. “We’re going to start, you know, acknowledging what folks are doing around the stables.” He bent over and straightened up the big letter S that was drooping to the side. Alisha smiled at me and shook her head no while Dre was looking down. His idea was cornball, but we didn’t tell him that.

  “Here’s what you need to know about polo,” said Dre. “Matches are usually broken down into six periods. They’re called chukkas and each one is seven minutes long. Each team has four players and they wear a number on their jersey that tells you what their position is.” He’d fixed the S and sat down at his table. “Number one plays mostly offense, number four is predominately defense—defending his team’s goal. Number two is also offensive but plays deeper. Number three is the most important player—basically, the quarterback.” Dre looked real excited. “Number three has to be totally on point with hitting long distances as well as controlling the ball close in with his stick.”

  “That’s what I had a hard time seeing,” I said. “I couldn’t tell what was going on when the horses were all bunched up together.”

  Dre nodded. “That’s what makes Jerome so good. He’s very good with his stick.”

  “The mallet, you mean? How long is that thing?”

  “Yeah.” The letter S on Dre’s bulletin board had fallen back down. He bent over to fix it again. “How big is a mallet? That depends on a lot of things, like how big the player is and his hitting style.” Dre scratched his head. “I guess the most common length is around fifty-two inches.”

  We heard Winston and everybody coming up the steps. “I think I smell food,” said Alisha.

  Jerome, Marcus, and Little Willie were talking about different hitting angles and all this other stuff, but Winston and Keith were carrying two six-foot-long hoagies.

  “They can talk about polo forever,” said Dre, “but take my advice, Troy. Grab something to eat quick because it won’t be here long.” He got up to get paper plates and napkins and, next thing I knew, the table was covered with meat, cheese, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and bread.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” said Winston, nudging me. “They looked pretty good out there, don’t you think?”

  He caught me with a mouthful of hoagie, so I just nodded.

  “He’s speechless,” said Jerome, blowing up his cheeks like his mouth was stuffed with food. Little Keith and Willie laughed, and Jerome pointed to Dre’s bulletin board. “But this … this Star board says it all. Who else would that be but me?”

  FOSTER WASN’T IMPRESSED when I told him about Dre’s apartment or the game. Said it sounded dangerous. I told him it was rough. Rough but beautiful. I tried to tell him how good those guys looked on their horses, how each player had his own style and beat and swag. I spent the whole week trying to tell him how we could look like that, too.

  “I thought we were just doing this ’cause we had to,” he said. “I’m not trying to be the next Winston.”

  How could he say that? Polo was dope, man. I couldn’t stop talking about it.

  “You should have seen Willie doing neck shots.”

  “He hit the ball across the front of the horse … under its neck?” Foster shook his head. “Now that I’d like to see.”

  “Well, you can, man. It can be you.”

  We always did everything together, so I thought he just needed a little more time to come around. I thought I had time to work on him slowly. I didn’t know Winston was gonna kick everything up a notch that Saturday.

  We’d finished cleaning the stalls and were outside with Winston and Luke. I remember how the sky was really blue, with streaky white clouds.

  “Let’s try some exercises so you won’t be so afraid of the horses,” said Winston.

  I answered for me and Foster: “We’re not.”

  “Not what?”

  “Afraid of them.”

  “Oh, we’re still playing that game?” Winston sighed real heavy like Pops does sometimes. “Look, you can’t fool the horses. You have to be in tune with these animals or you could get hurt.”

  That shut me up.

  “Luke’s very gentle,” Winston said. “He’s taught a lot of kids how to ride.”

  “We’re actually going to get up on him today?” Foster asked.

  “Yes, bareback.”

  Me and Foster looked at each other.

  “Without a saddle,” said Winston. “I want you to see how it feels to be on a horse. Feel how he moves.”

  Up until then we’d been watching other kids ride. Now it was our turn. Winston went on.

  “First, you’re going to come closer to Luke, on his left side, and pat his neck. You’re going to let him smell you, get used to you. Then you’re going to get up on the mounting block and sit on him. When you’re comfortable, you’re going t
o lean forward and hug him with your arms around his neck. You’ll sit back up and I’ll use the lead to walk him around, just right here by the door and then, if you’re up for it, you’re going to lay back on his rump and let your hands hang free.”

  “With no hands?” I said.

  “No hands.”

  “And why are we going to do all this?” Foster asked.

  “You’re building trust,” Winston said. “Luke’s very reliable. I want you to feel that.”

  I ain’t going to lie; I’d been thinking about how cool I would look on a horse, but now I wasn’t so sure.

  “It sounds okay up to the laying-down part,” I said.

  “That’s where the trust really comes in.” It was Dre. He’d just come out of the office. “You decide how far you want to go,” he said.

  Now, I trusted my family and I trusted Foster and Miss T. I didn’t know about trusting nothing or nobody else. Around my way, you had to keep your guard up. Here they wanted me to do the opposite. I looked at Luke, standing there waiting. I remembered how his lips felt on my palm and how Alisha led him around. I figured I’d been close to him before, and Winston and Dre were here. They wouldn’t let anything bad happen, so I said okay. Winston looked at Foster and he nodded.

  “Okay, you know where the tack room is, right?” Winston pointed to one of the rooms off the wide aisle inside the barn. “Go in and get a helmet. And pull your pants up, too,” he added.

  Me and Foster had been past this room but we’d never been in it before. There were saddles, halters, all this leather stuff on hooks on the walls. The whole room was just filled with it. Helmets were stacked on these big shelves on one side.

  “It’s going to be hard finding the right size for your big dome,” I said, taking a helmet down. It was too small for Foster but I put it on his head anyway. I thought he’d knock it off but he didn’t.

  “That’s all right,” he said, searching the shelf for another helmet. “I’m wearing two for extra protection.”

  He was being funny, but not really. He didn’t take that little helmet off until I told him I was going to get my cell and take his picture.

  “We’re stepping up in the world,” I said as we walked back outside.

  Dre was still there with Winston and Luke but he had another horse with him, too. It was that real pretty dark brown one me and Foster had seen on our first day. I checked her out real good. Her mane was black and it hung down over her eyes like bangs and she had white bands around her ankles that made it look like she had socks on. Her long tail was flicking back and forth.

  “We have two of everything, so you can both do this at the same time,” said Winston. I could see he really wanted us to try this. “Foster, you’ll take Luke and, Troy, you’re going to be working with Chance.”

  I walked over to Chance’s left side and did what I’d seen everybody else do with the horses. I patted her on the neck. I still wasn’t used to that big eyeball, but it didn’t look so wack to me like before. I ran my hand over her shoulder and back.

  “Don’t be shy about talking to her,” said Dre. “That way she’ll get used to your voice.”

  “Hey, Chance, what’s up?” That big eyeball took me all in. I didn’t hear Foster talking to his horse, though.

  Dre gave me the lead and, with him right beside me, I walked Chance over to the mounting block. There was another one for Foster.

  Then we had a problem. Trapped by our pants.

  “I can’t get my leg up over this horse,” said Foster. I didn’t turn around to look at him ’cause I was afraid to take my eyes off of Chance. But I was stuck, too. My pants didn’t give me enough room to swing my right leg up. Couldn’t ease down onto the horse like Winston told us to. I was sorta squatting over Chance with one leg still on the block.

  “I guess we’re gonna have to start wearing pants like Winston,” I said, trying to make a joke.

  Foster picked up on it. “Miss T can’t afford no stretch pants, even if I did want to wear them.”

  “Any time you’re ready.” Winston looked at Dre and shook his head. “I told you to pull up your pants, but you didn’t want to listen. And these aren’t stretch pants; this isn’t the mall. Polo players wear breeches.”

  We heard Jerome and his crew laughing. They’d come around the side of the barn just in time to see us looking dumb. Chance was starting to paw the ground. Even she wanted me to get it together.

  I hitched up my pants and swung my right leg over Chance, and I was on her back. I know I wasn’t that far off the ground, but it felt like I was high up in the sky. I mean, I knew she was big, but it didn’t really hit me how wide she was until I was sitting there. It was funny to look down on Winston and Dre from up there. Like I was on another planet and they were still down on Earth.

  “Now, lean forward and give your horses a hug,” Winston said.

  I was afraid to touch her at first. Her neck looked so long I thought it might break or something, but she was real strong. Made me feel like a little kid again, hugging something like that.

  “You ready to take a little walk?” Dre asked.

  I didn’t really want to stop hugging her, but I didn’t want nobody to think something was wrong with me.

  “Hold on to her mane,” he said.

  “It won’t hurt?”

  “No, it’s not like our hair.”

  Chance took a few steps and I felt like I was riding an elephant. You know like you see in cartoons? Real lopsided, like you’re going to fall at any minute. Dre stopped so I could straighten myself out. We started again and I could feel her shoulders moving her front legs. Her head was bobbing back and forth on her neck. I don’t know why but I just started smiling. We went around in a little circle and stopped in front of the side barn door. Foster was there on Luke, too.

  Winston looked at us real close like he was trying to see what we were thinking. “Now, if you want, you can let go of your horse’s mane, put your hands behind you on the rump, and lay back.”

  Me and Foster looked at each other. “Okay,” I said.

  Dre was standing right there, holding Chance’s lead, so I knew she wasn’t going to take off or nothing, but it was scary to let everything go. I never do that.

  I laid back and I could feel her backbone up against mine. Like we were connected or something. Next thing I knew, my eyes were closed and I could feel the sun beating down on me. The sun was so warm it felt like I was laying out on a beach, but without the sand. And you know what came into my head? My mom. From out of nowhere. Laying there on Chance, I was seeing my mom. She was in the sunshine, all around me. Felt like how it used to be when she was still alive. I just let everything go. I wasn’t thinking about fronting or nothing.

  Nobody was saying a word. Then I heard Dre whisper, “I don’t know who’s more comfortable, him or the horse.”

  Winston’s voice was soft, too. “There’s some serious bonding going on here.”

  I could have stayed like that forever, but after a few more minutes, Winston said that was enough. I opened my eyes and everybody was looking at me. Foster was already sitting up and Winston had a funny look on his face.

  “Okay,” Winston said. “Sit back up, swing your right leg over, and dismount.”

  I slid back down to the ground and laid my head up against Chance’s side. Didn’t want anybody to know I had a lump in my throat, but it felt like Chance knew. She knew she’d made everything all right.

  Winston didn’t have anything else for us to do after that. I was glad ’cause, I don’t know, I was sorta confused. The leaves on the trees looked greener and I noticed all the birds twittering around. Reminded me of how I’d felt in the wintertime when I was taking long walks in the woods all by myself.

  I felt like that until me and Foster went inside the barn to get our backpacks. That’s when I saw Jerome’s drawings on Dre’s Star of the Week board. One was of a cell phone sitting on a turd. But worse than that was the second one. He’d drawn a guy wearing bagg
y pants squatting over a horse with his eyes shut real tight.

  CRYING. HOW’D WINSTON get me to almost crying up on that horse? That would’ve been totally uncool. At night, when my mom first passed, I couldn’t help crying but I never did nothing like that outside the house. Never let my guard down. But that horse, Chance, being around her made me feel like I didn’t have to hide nothing. I don’t know, it’s kinda hard to explain.

  After that first ride, I told everybody how cool I was. I didn’t need no saddle. I rode bareback and all like that. But I didn’t say nothing, not even to Foster, about the other thing. So I was surprised when he brought it up. Not during the week. He waited until we were on our way back to the stables that next Saturday. We were on our bikes, cruising down that road that leads to the place. There wasn’t any traffic, so we were riding right next to each other.

  “So, Mr. Mellow, been dreaming about Chance all week?”

  “Mr. Mellow,” I said. “Where’d you get that?”

  “You know that’s your new name, don’t you?”

  “Since when?”

  “Since you went into a trance.” He threw his head back and crossed his eyes. “Oh, don’t tell me you forgot.”

  The truth is, I’d been thinking about it all week. And looked like he’d been thinking about it, too.

  “A trance?” I said. “Man, I was just catching up on my sleep.”

  “Yeah right.” He flipped his hand at me.

  “I caught a few z’s,” I said. “If you were smart, you would’ve done the same thing.”

  “Ain’t no way I was going to close my eyes up on that big thing.” He took his hands off the handlebars and spread them real wide. “You must really be into this,” he said. “You go into a trance every time you come here.”