Bits and Breeches

Ben stood up with a start, nearly upsetting the stew he tended. He had not heard nor seen Lissie in some time. Dusk was falling, and 'twas irregular for her not to make an appearance for supper.

"Lissie?" he called. She was not in her room, not in his. The door to the necessary swung open on his knock, and the spring house did not hide her.

As fear began stirring in his gut, Ben took the pot off the fire and went in search of the flighty girl.

-x-

Felicity pressed her head against the horse's mane and squeezed her eyes shut. Her grandfather had taught her so many things about horses: how to approach, how to groom, and feed, and speak to them, how to ride, both astride and sidesaddle as Mama insisted. All of it came flooding back to memory at the sight of the red-brown mare, slating her thirst in the creek.

Bribing her was easy. Felicity climbed an apple tree and brought back the bounty to her new friend, placing several on the ground at the foot of a tall rock. She waited patiently for the horse to come for the treats and used the rock to boost herself onto the mare's back. All had been well until then.

The mare did not like the strange weight and immediately tried to buck her off. Felicity squealed and clung tight, but the stubborn horse was determined to remove the girl and reared most violently.

Lissie was unaware of how much time passed as she held fast, but despite the desperate tension in her fingers and neck and back, she endured, praying that soon, very soon, Ben would notice she was missing.

She thought she heard him calling her name but was too frightened to open her eyes.

"Lissie!" Yes, that was Ben. He would be so cross with her! She tightened her hold, looking less forward to his displeasure than being thrown from a horse. "When it stops bucking, I want you to let go." She did her best to shake her head, but he couldn't see. "I'm going to catch you," he promised. Ben lowered his voice to a soothing murmur, calming the feisty mare as best he was able.

Finally, it seemed to tire, and now that she was no longer being shaken out of her wits, Lissie was able to catch her breath. She dared to open her eyes.

Ben came forward, arms outstretched. In a hoarse voice he bid her let go.

She could not. She could not let go or she would fall, and break her legs, and get trampled to death by the angry mare.

Not wasting a moment, Ben tore her from the horse's back and fell to his knees with an armful of Lissie as the horse sprang away. She clung to him for dear life, unable to tell whose heart was racing faster.

"What," Ben asked when he'd caught his breath, "were you thinking? You cannot ride wild horses!"

"I don't think she's wild," she panted, still holding fast to the security of his arms. "She had a mark… she belonged to someone, but was treated poorly. I shouldn't have tried riding her yet. She wasn't ready."

Ben took her by the shoulders. "You are not to go near that horse again!"

"I'm nine years old and no infant you can order about," Lissie huffed.

"I wouldn't care if you were nine and twenty, foolish girl! You'll not go near it again!"

"You're not my father, Ben Davidson, and you cannot forbid me!"

"No, yet I'm far older and stronger than you, and I can prevent you."

She shoved him away in defiance and glared at him a moment before stalking off towards the house. Just before she disappeared behind a straggle of trees, she called back over her shoulder, "I hope you haven't burnt our supper!"

Ben rose from his seat in the ground and tried to still his shaking limbs.

What was he to do with such a willful girl?

-x-

The door creaked loud as a bell to Felicity's straining ears as she scuttled outside under the moon's pale light. She waited a moment until certain the noise had not awoken Ben before creeping on. She kept a pair of his breeches—found far in the back of his chest and never seen worn by him—tucked under an arm while she closed the door behind her. She did not trust herself to change in her room. The stirring and shuffling might alert Ben to her scheme.

She held her breath until safe in the necessary house, changing with hasty fingers, tightening the breeches with a length of rope. She bounded off to the apple tree, feeling her way to the upper branches by memory, selected an apple by touch, and rushed to her secret meadow where the mare would be waiting.

She did this every night, taking apples to her and slowly earning trust. Bit by bit, she coaxed her to eat apples from her hand, be led about on a rope, and at long last she could ride without the horse trying to throw her. Felicity grinned to think what Ben would say when he saw her riding this "wild horse" who had been tamed.

Ben did not say much of anything. He certainly looked ready to; his mouth hung ajar in an angry way and he looked as if he had quite a lot to scold Lissie for. In the end, he looked up to heaven and sighed instead of speaking.

It was not until she had gone a few circles around the house and dismounted without assistance that he spoke. "I suppose she'll need a name."

Lissie laughed merrily. "Perhaps something to remind you of how wild she is."

He ignored her teasing. "Penny, I think; for her shiny copper coat."

"Penny? What do you mean?"

"A copper piece?" Ben looked at her in astonishment. "You do know what a penny is, surely! You must. I am certain you've seen a penny before."

"Perhaps, but… 'tis been some time." Felicity undid her hair and shook it out so it fell in tangles around her shoulders. "Penny. 'Tis a fine name for a horse."

"Shall I take a trip to town for a bit and bridle?"

Lissie watched as Penny nickered and shook her own brownish mane. "No. She should be free to come and go as she pleases. I'll not keep her like a pet. She's an independent Penny."

Ben nodded. It seemed not long ago Lissie's highest delight came of climbing apple trees with Bitsy or racing rabbits. Now she was taming horses and asserting the importance of the creature's independence.

Her wild hair brushed his arm as she walked past. "But I shall need to keep your breeches."