Riding Chance Read online

  My pants were wet, but luckily, my rubber boots kept my feet dry. I walked to the other side of the creek; that’s where I found my bike. It was totally busted. It didn’t have a seat anymore and the front wheel was bent. I just left it there.

  I didn’t know where I was, just somewhere in the park. Then I remembered I left my cell in my backpack and my backpack was still at the stables, so I couldn’t even call nobody. I had to pull myself up, grabbing on to tree branches and stuff just to get up to flat ground.

  That’s when I sat down. I pulled my hoodie up on my head to keep the gnats away. I crawled over to this opening in a real tall tree. Buried myself in that tree for a long time, trying to figure everything out. You know, I thought I was way over being scared of Chance, but that wasn’t true. I was scared she didn’t want to be my horse anymore. Scared I was gonna lose her forever.

  I don’t know how long I stayed there. I must’ve fallen asleep ’cause when I woke up it was starting to get dark and the trees were creepy-looking. Plus, I was hungry. I wasn’t no nature boy, so I couldn’t pick berries or, you know, get a fish out of the creek. All I knew was I didn’t want to be in the woods after it really got dark. So, I just started walking back the same way I came. Tried to think up a story for Pops. Yeah right.

  I HAD TO WALK most of the way home. It took me forever to even get out of the woods. Then, after that, I had to make it back to the intersection where I went left instead of right. I was at the edge of Fairmount Park when I heard a car horn honking. It was my neighbor Mr. Glover.

  “Are you all right? Everyone’s been out looking for you.” He pulled over to the curb under a streetlight and leaned over to open the passenger-side door. I just nodded and dropped down into the seat. I didn’t really feel like talking. I was tired. I was hungry. I was wet.

  “I’ll call your dad so he’ll know you’re with me.” Mr. Glover handed me a bottle of water while he dialed Pops’s number.

  “Good news, Dave. I’m here with Troy. He’s fine.” Pops said something that I couldn’t hear and then Mr. Glover said okay and hung up.

  “You look like you could use a few minutes to collect yourself,” he said. He hadn’t started the car yet.

  “Today just got out of control,” I said, looking out the window.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that,” he said. “The man from your riding program—”

  “Winston?” I cut in.

  “Yes, Winston. He called your dad when he realized you’d left the stables without checking out. He was very concerned and, let’s just say, your dad and grandmother have been worried.”

  “Great.” I groaned and slid down lower in my seat.

  “Your uncle Ronnie’s combing the streets on his Suzuki. Your dad checked with Miss T and Foster, but they didn’t know where you were. What’s this about you having trouble with your horse?”

  “Who said that?”

  “Winston.”

  “So everybody’s been talking about me all day?” I sorta shouted ’cause I was pissed off.

  “Take it easy. You can’t just disappear and show up looking like the Wreck of the Hesperus.” Typical Mr. Glover. I caught a look at myself in the side-view mirror. I did look bad. Twigs and leaves were stuck in my hair, my hoodie was poked with holes, and I had a big scratch across my right cheek.

  “It’s a long story. I got lost in the woods and wiped out my bike.”

  “What were you doing in the woods?” Without waiting for an answer, he went on. “With all due respect, Troy, this is not your finest moment. Why didn’t you call home?”

  “ ’Cause my cell’s in my backpack.”

  “I thought you young people never put those things down,” he said.

  “I forgot to take it with me when I left the stables.” I’d stopped carrying mine around the stables after it fell in the muck. Besides, I didn’t like to be bothered when I was with Chance. Mr. Glover kept talking.

  “Your dad was going to call the police if you weren’t home by ten.”

  “What for? So they can beat me up again?” My stomach tightened and it all came back. I could feel my face pressed down against the hood of the cop car. Everybody on the block saw me laid out there. Everybody.

  “Troy, I know that wasn’t an easy thing,” Mr. Glover said. It was dark by then. The streetlight shone on Mr. Glover and for the first time I saw how much gray he had in his wiry hair. “We all admired how you carried yourself with dignity during that encounter.”

  “Some dignity,” I said. “I passed out.”

  “Everybody talks about how you didn’t let that ugly incident stifle your spirit. And that’s a hard thing to do.”

  I’d fooled everybody. They didn’t know I’d shrunk a little inside. Funny, I couldn’t hide that from Chance.

  “I better get you home,” Mr. Glover said as he started the car. I realized then that I’d never seen him off the block before. He never left his post in the hood, but he did for me.

  I GOTTA HAND it to Pops. He didn’t go off when I got home. First, he made sure I was all right. Then he asked me what happened, real calm like. Grandmom gave me something to eat and then I took a shower.

  This was hard. I didn’t have a good story, but I figured I could act out if Pops did. He wasn’t going to let that happen. Real smart.

  He knocked on my door before I went to bed. He came inside, closed the door, and leaned up against it.

  “Troy, do you have any idea what you put us through today?” His shoulders were slumped and I saw the dark circles under his eyes. I didn’t say anything ’cause, really, I didn’t know what to say. Pops had been looking better the past few weeks, but that night, I saw him slipping backward. He needed that door to hold himself up.

  “I’ll save some money and buy myself a new bike,” I said real fast.

  He sighed. “It’s not the bike I’m worried about. It’s you and the riding program.” Pops looked so tired, like it took all his energy just to keep talking. “Winston and Dre are responsible for you during the day. They can’t have kids in the program who don’t follow the rules.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. Exactly what he was saying.

  “What’s going to happen now? Am I kicked out?”

  “You’re not kicked out, but your behavior is a problem. There can’t be a repeat of today.”

  It would have been easier if he had shouted at me, or grounded me, or even cut off my allowance. This was way harder. He was treating me like an adult. We looked at each other; we both knew I’d screwed up. I didn’t want to lose Chance and I didn’t want to make Pops sad again, either.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Everything’s … everything’s just real messed up.”

  “What do you mean?” He walked over to my desk and leaned against it. “I thought you loved being around the horses.”

  “I do, but …” I looked at the horse poster Grandmom bought me. “I haven’t been feeling too good lately.”

  “Are you sick? Why didn’t you say something?”

  “It’s not like a stomachache or nothing.” I walked to the window and pulled down the shade so there wasn’t any light coming in from the neighbor’s house. “I just feel sorta bad all the time …”

  “When you say bad, do you mean mad?” he said.

  I nodded and turned around. “How’d you know?”

  “Mad like you could hurt somebody?” He reached down and picked up the mallet I kept propped against the side of my desk. “I know the feeling,” he said. “Especially after the cops tried to mess with you.”

  That’s when I told him everything. I told him about being mad and kicking Percy. Being mad and arguing with Alisha. Being mad and struggling with Chance.

  Then he told me things. How some things in life aren’t right or just. That’s the word he used. He told me how you have to know who you are and never, ever let anybody convince you you’re not whatever that is. He told me how biking was the way he let off steam, although he never went crazy in
no park like I did. And I told him that horses were my magic. How it felt like my mom was with me when I was riding. Funny, he said, he had the same feeling. He’d felt my mom’s presence in the park that day, too. Neither one of us wanted to lose that.

  IT WAS FULL-BLOWN SUMMER after that. I don’t know, something about being out in Fairmount Park by myself that day helped me deal with stuff. Or, maybe, it was seeing how me being hard was making Chance hard. And me being hard was making Pops sad again. Winston had told me I had to have heart to be good with the horses. I needed it for people, too. Real heart, not the phony kind I’d tried to run down on everybody.

  Turns out, I didn’t get kicked out of the riding program. Me and Pops had to meet with Winston and Dre. Winston said I would be suspended if I broke the rules again. Said that would be a shame ’cause I had a special touch with the animals. I was glad to hear that ’cause I was afraid Alisha told everybody about me and Percy. She hadn’t.

  Pops said I would have to contribute half the money for a new bike but, in the meantime, he let me use his.

  The toughest part was getting right with Chance. Winston had me taking care of her again but it was going real slow. Felt like she had to get used to me all over again. I planned to talk to Dre about it ’cause I was feeling lonely, too. I ain’t gonna lie; I was missing Foster tough. We weren’t hanging out ’cause he was doing something with the basketball league. And I didn’t mean to, but I missed the block party. Well, maybe I could have caught the last part of it, but by the time I got home from the stables, Mr. Glover was breaking things down so the street could reopen to traffic.

  “I saved you a slice of Miss T’s blueberry pie,” he called over his shoulder when he saw me coming around the corner. “You owe me big-time.” The highlight of the block party was always Miss T’s pies. Folks waited all year for them.

  “Thanks,” I said, looking around at the balloons that were still tied to the backs of some of the folding chairs. “How’d everything go?”

  “Great, as always.” He straightened up and put his hands on his hips. “You can still catch up with some of the kids,” he chuckled. “They’re having a little after-party over at Foster’s. Club Parachute they’re calling it.”

  “Club Parachute?” So Foster’s room was open to everybody now? Used to be that spot was just for us. “I’m sorta tired now,” I said. “I think I’ll …”

  “Hold on a minute,” said Mr. Glover. “Let me go get the pie before I accidentally eat it.” He stopped to look at me. “You okay?” he said.

  “Yeah, just tired.” I faked a big stretch so he wouldn’t keep asking questions.

  WHEN I WASN’T at the stables, I spent most of my time on the Internet watching polo videos and reading all about horses. The videos all said you had to have the right attitude. Being slick or mean wouldn’t work with the animals. I didn’t want to be corny like Dre, but he lived with all the horses. I knew he’d have good advice.

  I was looking for him the next day but I just had to stop to watch the polo players doing their stick-and-ball practice. That’s where you ride around the field and hit the ball. It sounds nice and easy, but it isn’t. You gotta control your horse and practice your swings at the same time. It was hot and the horses were kicking up a lot of dust. Our polo field was dirt, not nice grass like out at Blanchard.

  All the players looked good but you could see Jerome was the best. He could hit the ball long distances, longer than any of the other players. They all knocked the ball up and down the field like there was nothing to it. And they all had their own style. Each dude had his own way of showing his stuff. Same as in b-ball.

  They ended their practice, and Willie and Little Keith walked their horses over to the hose. Jerome and Marcus walked their horses toward me. I wiped my forehead with the bottom of my T-shirt. I wasn’t really feeling Jerome. I was tired of all the fronting that went along with being around him but Marcus saw me and waved.

  “What’s going on?” he said when he got to the railing where I was standing. I hadn’t stopped him; he spoke to me first. Jerome kept walking. Good.

  “I’m looking for Dre,” I said. I couldn’t help but add, “You guys looked great.”

  Jerome had already passed, but he had to turn and shout over his shoulder. “Better than you ever will.” Marcus rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Marcus,” Jerome said. “Are you coming or you gonna waste your time with him?”

  “Why you sweating me?” said Marcus. “I’ll catch up with you.” He waved Jerome off.

  Marcus and his horse were both dusty but the shine from his horse’s coat still peeked out in between the patches of dirt. “I gotta take care of him,” he said, looking at his horse, “but, you know, I’m going to be leaving soon. I just wanted to tell you to hang in there.” I hoped he wouldn’t mention the cops. “I’ve seen you and Chance together; you definitely got something going on.”

  “Well, we’re having some problems now,” I said.

  “I’m not worried; you’ll straighten it out.” Marcus patted his horse. “Winston’s already counting on you to play at exhibition.”

  “I haven’t been riding that long.”

  “You’ve got something special,” said Marcus. “Don’t worry, Winston’ll help you along.”

  Marcus led his horse away. I kept thinking about what he’d said. You’ve got something special. That’s what everybody kept saying but I didn’t really know what that meant anymore.

  DRE WAS INSIDE, gathering up some medicine he needed for one of the horses.

  “How’s things going with Chance?” he said.

  “That’s what I came to talk to you about.”

  “Isn’t Winston helping you with that?”

  “He is, but it’s going slow.”

  “It all comes down to trust,” Dre said. “Don’t try to rush it. Just be honest with your animal.” He checked some papers on his desk before looking back up at me. “They don’t like ugly.” Horses weren’t the only ones who didn’t like ugly; I didn’t, either. “You’re bigger than that,” Dre went on to say. “Deal with it when you have to, but that isn’t the real you.”

  That’s sorta what Pops had said. Seemed like everybody went through some bad stuff sooner or later but you couldn’t let it bring you down. I wondered what Jerome had to deal with. Must have been pretty bad to make him the way he was.

  “Well,” I said, “I found some videos about how to get back with your horse.”

  “Check you out,” Dre said, smiling. “Smart to do your own research. Let me take care of this new horse. She’s not feeling too good. After that, I’ll have some time to talk.”

  Dre knew the horse wasn’t feeling too good. I’m sure he could tell I wasn’t feeling too good, either.

  FOSTER WAS ON MY MIND when I woke up. Usually, it was Chance, but this time it was my boy. I just wanted everything to be good again, like it was before we went out to Blanchard, before I came home and let my guard down.

  Winston and Dre kept telling me you can’t fake it with horses. They can tell when you’re all twisted up inside. Well, I was over trying to be slick but I still had to find a place inside my brain for that cop thing.

  Chance was out in the field rolling around on her back when I got to the stables the next morning. I remembered how surprised I’d been the first time I saw a horse do that. Now I knew she was just scratching herself.

  I’d just finished mucking out her stall when I saw Alisha standing in the open doorway. Hadn’t really talked to her since our argument. It wasn’t like I was avoiding her or nothing. Just seemed like our paths hadn’t crossed. That was funny, though, since the place wasn’t that big.

  She was standing there looking up at the sky. It wasn’t hot yet ’cause the sun was just getting to the top of the trees. When I walked toward her, I could smell the fresh air coming through the open door. You know, that smell when you’re outside early in the morning. You can’t smell it on the block, but it’s there in the park.

  “
What are you looking at?” I said, walking up behind her. She put her finger to her lips to shush me, and a really big bird took off from a tree in front of the barn. She shielded her eyes with one hand and pointed at the bird with the other.

  “A hawk,” she said. “That’s why all the little birds disappeared.”

  “You sure do know a lot about nature,” I said.

  “It’s not hard. You just need to open your eyes to what’s around you.” That was easy to do here with the trees and grass and all. Harder to do when I was anyplace else. “I think Chance misses you,” she said. She dropped her hand and looked at me. I could tell she wanted to say something else, but she let it go. I’m glad ’cause I didn’t want to get choked up or nothing. “Uncle Winston tells me you’re further along with her than you think.”

  “We’ll see,” I said. “I’m gonna let my girlfriend tell me herself.”

  Alisha laughed and turned to head inside. “Oh, I almost forgot. I’m having a party in a couple of weeks. Hope you can come.”

  “Who else is gonna be there?”

  “Kids from here and some from my school. You’ll get an invitation.”

  “An invitation? Sounds fancy.”

  “It’s not. That’s just Uncle Winston’s way of doing things.” She saw the look on my face. “Don’t worry. It’s not going to be all like that. It’ll be fun.”

  Other kids had arrived at the stables by then. I walked over to the field to get a closer look at Chance. She was back up on her feet, so I went over to her. I could see her skin rippling as she tried to shake off some flies. I didn’t try to grab her or nothing. Just let her look at me, smell me. Maybe that was the way to do it. She starting walking around me, so I did the same thing. I walked around her. We were sorta circling each other. I wasn’t chasing her. Just walking slow. That’s when it hit me. The horse smell didn’t bother me anymore. Winston said it would happen sooner or later; here it was.