Chapter 12
She stepped towards him, putting pressure on him with her presence. 'Face up.' The stallion's head shot up, his nostrils flaring as he looked her back in the eyes. As soon as they locked gazes she dropped her head to break contact and took a step back to let him think on it for a moment.
What on earth are you doing? Adam wondered as he watched her repeat the exercise over and over with the stallion. She'd make him look at her then when he did she'd step back and drop her head. How was this training a horse? What was the point of it? What was she doing with him?
Missie kept on asking him to face up and started moving around the corral so he had to turn to look at her. A few times he started running again and she'd release the pressure right back till he was calmer than ask once more for him to face her. The stallion was watching her closely, still uncertain and unsure about the whole proceedings but concentrated on her.
Finally Adam couldn't stand it any longer. 'What on earth are you doing?'
'Training Adam, training.' She moved around towards the stallion's hindquarters but still a good distance from him. 'Face up.' She waited, the stallion looking at her but not moving his rump. She asked again and this time reinforced the request by clapping her hands. The stallion spun around, his ears pricked as he watched her and she dropped the pressure once more. 'Pressure and release. What I'm doing is a different version of what you do while riding. You want to turn Sport, you lay the rein opposite the way you want him to go across his neck and take it away when he turns. It's the same thing here. I put pressure on him to look at me then release it when he does. He begins to understand that looking at me and watching me is what stops the pressure. See how I've slowly getting closer too when I ask him to face up? I'm building slowly on the distance that he's tolerant of me standing at.'
Well I'll be. Missie kept working him, making him turn to either side as she slowly got closer to the stallion. Once she was working near twelve feet or so near him she started to approach one step at a time then stepped back. As he watched his temper at her outrageous behaviour began to cool and he lent the rifle against the fence. The way Missie was working him was something he'd never seen anything like before. It was fascinating honestly how she had managed to quieten him down and had started progress on approaching him. She started moving her hands in a weird motion as she stepped forward and he wondered what that was in aid of.
'I'm not so scary now am I?' She coped gently, stepping forward then stepping back. The stallion was watching her carefully, his muscles still taunt and tight but he stood in place unmoving. She watched carefully as she started to approach closer, looking for signs she might be getting too close too soon. The stallion was receptive to her approach, cautious but starting to show slight curiousness. 'That's a boy.'
'What are you doing with your hands?'
'I'm showing him they're nothing to be frightened of, just like me. I'm going to touch him in a moment when he's ready. I'm watching his body language. He's scared and unsure but slowly starting to wonder if I'm really as bad as he thought.' She was only a few feet from him now, still approaching and backing off but alternating the distance now. One step forward, three back. Three steps forward, two back. 'Matter of fact, working with wild mustangs it's the stallions that are easier to tame than the mares.'
'Yeah, right.'
'No I mean it Adam. Out of the mustangs I helped my Pa break the stallions sometimes were tamed twice as fast as the mares. I can't explain why but they did.'
'I thought your Pa bred horses.'
'He did but there were mustangs we caught to train and sell too. That's how we raised most of the money to move west.' She was close to the stallion now, watching to see if he was ready for the first touch. He was. 'Alright, I'm going to touch him now.' She stepped forward like she had before but this time brought her fingers down across the rim of his nostril before backing away. The stallion snorted and watched her but stood still and she let him have a moment to think. 'There. That's not so bad is it?'
'That all?'
'Little steps Adam.' She stepped forward then back without touching him. As before with getting him to face up she began to mix up what she did with him. A touch here, a touch there. A step forward, a few back. Moving side to side and asking him to turn with her. 'It's all little steps. It's so much easier than busting them the normal way. You don't get thrown and there's hardly any chance of getting hurt to man or beast.'
'But what about time wise? How much longer does it take this way then bronc riding?'
'How long does it take to have a bronc reliable to a point where he won't throw you?'
'Riding four, five times over a few days.'
'And how many times will you get thrown off?'
'More than I care to count.'
'Three hours.'
'Three hours? There's no way.'
'Try me.' She touched the stallion again, this time with both hands and midway up his face. 'Three hours for me to touch and sit on a wild horse.'
'I don't think you could do that in three hours.'
'Sometimes it takes a little longer but three hours is the usual I've found.'
'Three hours?'
'Three hours.' Missie ran her fingers closer to the horse's eyes, this time leaving her hands there a little longer before she backed away. 'How long would you say we've been out here already?'
'I'm not sure, maybe an hour.'
'Alright.' She looked up at the sun. 'I'll be sitting on him before dinner time.'
Adam shook his head in disbelief. 'There's no way. I'll bet you fifty dollars you can't.'
'You sure you want to part with that amount of cash?'
'You seem pretty sure of yourself. There's no way you could do that.'
'We'll see.' The stallion was starting to relax a little as she touched him for longer and longer periods of time, still approaching and backing away but starting to run her hands over his face each time. As she came in again this time she placed her hands under his eyes, rubbing beneath them with her thumbs. She could feel the horse relaxing beneath her touch and the black closed his eyes, leaning his head against her. She turned to her brother with a grin. 'Fifty dollars you say?'
If anyone had said the girl would have that stallion asleep before an hour the way he'd been acting at the start he'd have called them crazy. 'This doesn't change anything, you are still in deep trouble young lady.'
'I know.' She stepped back, the stallion opening his eyes as if asking why she'd stopped. 'But at least this guy isn't liable to hurt anyone now. He's a lot like how I was Adam, just in need of a lot of assurance and faith.'
Missie continued to work with him slowly and gently, starting to touch him down his near side. The stallion was unsure once more of what she was doing but she kept on and it didn't take long for him to let her touch him right to his tail. She started down his other side and it took less time then the first since he was figuring out what was going on. With both sides touched she started to alternate which side and where she approached and patted next. She approached his rump, placing a hand on top then walked behind around to the other side. The stallion didn't move, his ear back to listen to what she was doing but trusting she wasn't going to hurt him.
'What is going on here?'
Adam glanced around as his father approached and stood beside him at the fence, watching the girl. 'Well Missie here is showing me her way of training a horse.'
'That horse doesn't look like he needs any training, he looks fast asleep.'
'He wasn't an hour ago, he tried to kill me.'
Ben turned to his son. 'What? What's Missie doing in there then?'
'She saved my hide from getting thrashed into pulp. I wasn't happy about her being in with the stallion either but I couldn't get her to come out of there.'
'You'd better start explaining yourself.'
He sighed heavily. 'I started working with him and he was fine. When I went to get on he snapped and went to attack me. Missie got in between and distracted him away from me so I could get out then she started to work with him her way. I tried to get her to come out but she wouldn't leave and I didn't want to go in and risk her getting hurt. Honestly, it's a miracle he didn't trample us both. Missie's only a child.'
Missie didn't take notice that her father had joined Adam at the fence with how involved she was with the stallion. He was ready to be led now and she started walking him around the corral, just walking wherever she wanted and the stallion followed calmly behind. Once she was happy with that she led him to the gate and started to unsaddle him. Speaking softly and gently she undid the cinch then slid it from his back and placed it aside. The saddlecloth and bridle went to, the girl replacing it with his halter. She led him back towards the middle and started to swing the lead rope around.
'What's she doing?'
'I don't know Pa.' Adam frowned, the girl swinging the rope around beside him. 'I'm guessing it's the same thing she was doing with her hands, getting him used to it before she places it on him.'
'What do you think so far?'
'She got him calmed down and following her like a lamb after the way he was, I haven't seen anything like it before. I don't know of anyone either who could get him as calm and gentle as he is now after what happened.'
'Looks like she's starting to put the rope on him.'
Missie started flicking the rope around his legs, starting softly then putting a little more force into it. The stallion flinched a little at first then as he realised it wasn't actually hurting he calmed down again and let her flick it all over him. The girl was surprised just how fast he was learning. With how he'd been not an hour prior she thought he would have been a lot harder to tame.
With him having been roped down there wasn't much left to do for the moment except get on. Placing the rope around his neck she started to lean her weight against his back then progressed to jumping up and resting her stomach on him. His ears went back the first time she did it but that was all that moved and she praised him generously. Repeating it over and over on both sides he began to accept the idea of her jumping beside him and putting her weight on his back. She repeated it until he was falling asleep again and chuckled. 'I wonder what I can buy for fifty dollars hey.'
'Is she going to get on without a saddle?'
'Looks like it.'
This was it. The moment of truth. Missie took a handful of his mane, glancing at his face and sprung up. The stallion's head went up and he snorted a little but didn't react any further and a huge smile spread across her lips. 'Good boy. Good boy. See, not so bad hey?' She slid off, repeating mounting and dismounting from both sides then finished up by sliding off over his rump. The stallion hardly flicked an ear when she went over his tail and she gave his shoulder an enthusiastic rub. 'There we go boy, that'll do for today.'
'Missie.'
Her head shot up at her Pa's voice and a shudder ran up her spine when she saw him standing at the fence with Adam. Adam would have told him what had happened and judging by his tone he wasn't impressed. The stallion nudged her and she unclipped his lead rope to turn him loose. There was no getting out of it. She was up to her neck in hot water.
'I thought I told you not to go near this horse.'
Missie nodded, her head down as she stopped in front of him, still in the corral. 'Yes sir. Sorry sir.'
'Adam told me what happened. He might have been seriously hurt had you not stopped the stallion but you might have been seriously injured for staying in here with it.' He spoke firmly, the girl taking it with her head bowed. 'Look at me when I am talking to you.'
'Sorry sir.' Her lip quivered as she looked back up to him.
'What have you got to say for yourself?'
'Nothing sir. I'm sorry.'
The stallion walked over, nudging the girl in the back before sniffing Ben and Adam curiously. Ben scratched the stallion's cheek then turned back to Missie. 'You risked your life to help Adam and this animal. Why?'
'Because Adam is my brother. I saw he was going to be hurt if I didn't stop it and so I did. The stallion because he's me. He was scared and frightened, he just needed someone to trust in him and help him. I'm sorry. I couldn't leave him. He needed my help and I helped him.'
'I want you to go to your bedroom and stay there until I come see you.'
'Yes sir.'
Adam rubbed the stallion's neck as the girl headed towards the house. 'What are you going to do Pa?'
'I don't know.' He sighed heavily and climbed over the fence to get a better look of the stallion. 'How aggressive was he?'
'As mean as a cornered polecat. He was standing quiet as anything till I went to get on then he just snapped. I've never seen anything like it. He had me down good then Missie was there in between him and I. She broke that stick over there over his nose and held him off till I got away.'
'Do you think he was being mean when he attacked you? Do you think he might have killed you?'
'If Missie hadn't stepped in I doubt I'd be standing. I'm less than impressed with her right now either but I think she had her heart in the right place.'
'Will he be aggressive again is what I wonder.' He ran his hand down the stallion's shoulder, Adam holding onto the halter. 'He is a fine animal, a real fine animal.'
'What are you going to do with him now Pa?'
'I don't know. You saw Missie work him from the start. What is your opinion?'
'She's got more guts then I have. When he charged at her she stood there and he was the one who went around. I wouldn't have stayed put, not by a long shot. I'd have put a bullet in him. She knows what she's doing and I'll give her that much. For a young girl she has no fear of bossing around a fifteen hundred pound animal.'
Ben patted the stallion one last time then climbed back out of the corral. 'You think she can handle him?'
'If she could get him calm like this with as wild as he was acting she could handle any horse.' He let the stallion go and he walked off to take a drink. 'He is a magnificent animal. I think you're going to have a hard time keeping her from him. I think she needs this horse as much as he needs her.'
'I'm just worried about her safety. If he were to turn aggressive again there's no guarantee she could handle him.'
'I believe she can. I'm the first to admit if I make a mistake and I did. Missie told me twice he wasn't ready for me to ride him and I didn't pay heed to her warning.'
'Maybe I should have you in your room instead of Missie then.'
Adam glanced up to Missie's window. 'What are you going to do with her?'
'I'll go talk to her. I'm just thankful neither of you got seriously hurt by your foolishness.' Sometimes he swore that his sons were intent on sending him to an early grave. Watching the stallion a moment longer he turned and started to the house as Adam went to the barn. The house was quiet as he walked in and he paused at the bottom of the stairs to gain his composure before he went up to her room.
Missie didn't look up as she heard the door open, seated on her bed with her knees up against her chest and her head on her arms as she hugged them tight. She heard him walk over and take a seat on the bed beside her.
'Missie, I'd like to speak with you.' His voice was softer but still firm and the girl looked up after a moment, tear stains decorating her cheeks. 'You been crying?'
'No sir.'
'I think you have been.' He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped beneath her eyes. 'Adam said you told him that the stallion wasn't ready to be ridden and he didn't listen. Is that correct?'
The girl nodded. 'Yes sir.'
'Would you like to tell me your side of what happened?'
'I was out watching Adam work with the stallion-' She turned away from him again, looking down at her hands. She paused as she tore at the skin beside her nails anxiously and took a deep breath. 'I could see the stallion wasn't ready to be ridden. I tried to warn Adam and get him to work with him on the ground instead but Adam didn't listen. He tried to ride him but it was just too much too fast for the stallion. The stallion spun around when he went to get on, Adam was holding onto the saddle but he slipped and the stallion knocked him down. That's when I ran in. The stallion was going to trample Adam, I couldn't sit there and do nothing. I picked up a stick and ran in between them. I held him off so he could get out of the corral.'
'Why didn't you get out once Adam was out?'
'I couldn't. If I did the stallion would have learnt he had the upper hand and he wouldn't have been aggressive from fear he'd have become plain out of his mind wild. If you let a horse win through aggression once they get that in their mind there's no alternative except to destroy them. They become dangerous and unpredictable.'
'And that's why you wouldn't get out when Adam told you to.'
Missie nodded again sadly. 'I'm sorry Pa, I know you told me to mind Adam and I should have obeyed. I let you down. I'm sorry.'
'I'm not pleased that you went against both him and me regarding that animal, not at all young lady.' Her head lowered further, the girl biting at the skin beside her nails. 'Missie, I told you to stay away from him until we knew what he was like. I didn't want you to be hurt. Adam is a grown man, he can take care of himself.'
'You don't understand Pa.' She whispered after a moment, almost expecting to be hit for talking back. 'I saw a man trampled to death almost the same way Adam might have. The stallion was going to kill him out of being afraid of him, I know. I just couldn't let Adam get hurt.'
'Even at your expense? How do you think Adam would feel if you'd been killed protecting him?'
'What should I have done then Pa?' She broke, her voice raising as tears started running down her cheeks again. 'Should I have stood there and watched that stallion crush your son to death? Tell me what I should have done. What would you have done? I could have shot at the stallion but I could have hit Adam too.' He placed his hand on her shoulder but she pulled away and tucked herself as tightly as she could in the corner. 'I'm sorry Pa, I'm sorry I went against what you said. I didn't want to, I really didn't want to. I stayed away from him but I couldn't let him hurt Adam.'
Ben didn't know how to reply to her. The girl had explained the reasons behind her actions and under the circumstances if he'd been in her position he'd probably have done the same thing. At least in getting the stallion off him, after that he'd just have shot the horse. He looked back at her, the girl rocking back and forth as she bit her fingers- He grabbed hold of her hands, taking them away from her mouth. 'Missie, your hands are bleeding.'
She looked at her hands, blood trickling down her fingers. 'I didn't know-'
'Come on honey, we need to clean you up.' He went to place his arm around her but the girl pulled further away from him and he could see her shaking. 'Honey, Missie, it's alright. It's alright sweetheart.'
'I let you down, I let you down-'
'No baby girl, no you haven't.' He didn't know what was going through her mind or what was going on with her but the way she was now acting scared him. It was like how she had been before, after her fathers hanging. It'd taken weeks of careful nurturing to get her through those episodes back then but this appeared to be worse than previous ones. He tried touching her again and she pulled away once more. 'It's alright Missie, just calm down honey.'
He heard the door downstairs open and close, standing up and glanced back at her. The girl was definitely in an episode there was no denying that but he couldn't snap her out of it. He left, Adam going to pick a book up as he stopped at the top of the stairs. 'Adam I need your help, Missie's having an episode and I can't bring her out of it.'
Adam placed the book he'd been holding down and hurried up the stairs two at a time. The girl was crying and shaking on her bed as he walked in, turning to his father. 'What did you do?'
'I was only talking to her, I wasn't being harsh or angry-'
He didn't wait to listen to anymore and sat down on the bed beside her. Missie was staring right through him, rocking as she bit already bleeding fingers. 'Missie, Missie it's Adam. It's alright-' He went to touch her but she flinched and pulled away from his hand. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she flinched and tried to pull away again but he wouldn't let her. 'Missie! Missie listen. It's alright, you're alright. Come on, it's alright.' He kept talking and slowly she began to look like she was returning to reality. 'That's it. Good girl. I'm here, everything is alright. You're alright.' She looked at him, her lip quivering and he took her in his arms as she started crying once more. 'Ssssh, it's alright. It's alright.'
Ben came over quietly and sat down on the end of the bed, watching Adam consoling the girl. Had he been too harsh with her? Had he said something wrong? He didn't know what had happened or what to do. He hadn't thought he'd been hard on her, when it came to Missie he was always so careful in everything he said or did with her. 'I'm sorry honey if I said something-'
'No, no it's not your fault Pa.' She interrupted, sniffling back another sob. 'It's been a really hard day. It's not your fault.'
Adam gently took her hand from his vest, holding it up to her. 'What happened?'
Missie frowned, looking at her hands in disbelief. 'I-I don't know.' She turned to him then her father. 'What happened?'
'You had an episode Missie.' Ben explained, placing his hand on her shoulder. 'I was speaking with you, do you remember?' The girl nodded after a moment. 'Are you okay now?'
'I'm alright Pa.'
'We better go take care of your hands Missie-Moo.' He kissed her head, continuing to stroke her hair like he had been earlier. 'Shall we?'
'Alright.' She followed them quietly downstairs, curling up in her Pa's big chair as he went to the kitchen. Adam sat down beside her and placed another log on the fire. 'Adam, am I bad?'
'Bad? What do you mean honey?'
'I went against Pa, I went against you. I shouldn't have but what would have happened if I hadn't?'
'Missie, you're not bad sweetheart.' He turned back to her, placing his hand on her knee. 'Doing something wrong doesn't make you bad.'
'My father said it did.'
'Your father was wrong. When you went into the corral even though Pa said not to go near the stallion what were you thinking? Were you thinking 'hey, Pa told me not to do this so I'm going to go and do it?' or maybe 'I'll just do what I want any no one can stop me?'
'Of course not, I just didn't want you to get hurt. I wasn't even thinking, I just ran in.'
'See? That doesn't make you a bad person. You didn't wilfully go against Pa's instruction on that account. However, you did choose to not obey when I asked you to get out. What were you thinking when I wanted you to come out?'
'About the stallion. I just wanted to help him. I know I went against you, I know you were only looking out for me and that's why you wanted me out. I should have done what you asked. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I disappointed you.'
'Here we go.' Ben returned with a basin of warm salt water and placed it down in the table. 'Hop Sing will bring in some salve shortly but you need to clean those fingers first.'
Missie knelt down beside the table and placed her hands in the bowl. 'They look worse then they are.'
'You don't want to risk them getting infected.'
'I know. Thank you for bringing this in.' She winced, washing the blood off her fingers. She was appalled and ashamed that she'd bitten them till they bleed. Biting her fingers was something she only did in private and she didn't even remember doing this. 'I'm sorry you had to see this. I didn't mean to lose control, I don't know what happened.'
'You needn't apologise, my girl.'
'I'm in big trouble, aren't I?'
'We'll talk about that later honey, right now I think you've had too much for one day. Okay?' The girl nodded. Hop Sing brought a towel and a jar of salve in, handed it to him and left to prepare dinner. 'Pass me your hands.'
She bit her lip as he gently dried them and put the salve on where she'd torn her skin off. It stung but she had no one to blame but herself. She was hurting so bad inside it didn't matter anyway. Maybe outside pain could make the inside pain fade away. Finally he finished and placed the lid back on the jar. 'May I please go lie down before dinner?'
'You may. We'll call you down to eat.' She headed back up to her room, Ben sitting down in his chair with a sigh after she left. 'I had problems with you and your brothers but they're nothing compared to parenting her.'
'You've been doing a good job.'
'Have I?' He scoffed. 'In case it missed your notice Adam, your sister was just a quivering mess.'
'Pa, it's not your fault.' Adam put his hand on his fathers back, standing beside his chair. 'Missie's episodes aren't anyone's fault, they just happen and have to be dealt with then moved on from. It's nothing against you or the way you're raising her, it's just how her body reacts as the after effects of what she's been through. There's nothing you or I can do about it.'
'Oh Adam-' He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. 'I don't know if I can do this. She needs more help than I can give her, I don't know what to say or how to deal with her. You three were a walk in a park compared with her. The slightest raise of my voice or even going to touch her and she shakes like a leaf. I don't want to let her get away with disobedience but I can hardly punish her either.'
'How many times has she disobeyed you Pa?'
Ben thought for a moment, the only time he could really think of being that when she rode the bronc at the breaking pens. 'Once.'
'And how long has she been here? When we were her age, how many times were we in trouble?'
'More than I care to remember.'
'Missie isn't being directly rebellious and belligerent Pa, if she were we'd know about it. I'm not saying that she should be allowed to get away with anything but on the other hand she's a pretty decent kid. Yes, she disobeyed when I asked her to get out of the corral and I'm not happy about it but I'm not about to go bend her over my knee for it.'
'With how she's been punished in the past there's no way I could use that with her.'
'Exactly.' Adam thought for a moment, a conversation he had with her earlier coming to mind. 'I think perhaps Missie's outburst wasn't from what happened with the stallion.'
'Oh?'
'We had a talk this morning about why she's never learnt to swim. She's terrified of water, her father would hold her head under in a barrel.'
'He what? That's nigh on torture.'
'I think it explains partly too about how she was with the last storm we had as well.'
Ben sighed wearily. 'Poor girl didn't get a break back then and she's not getting one now. First the accident at the river then her relapse, she gets over that and now this. Maybe I was wrong thinking we could deal with her and her past.'
'I don't think you are wrong, I just think none of us had any idea of what to expect. Sure, it was tough after the hanging but I think we had expectations that she'd get over it and that would be that.'
'How very wrong that assumption was. The question is though, do I try to come up with something to punish her with for what happened or let it go?'
'How would you feel leaving that decision up to me?'
He thought about it for a moment. 'Alright Adam, I'll let you decide. However, what are we going to do with that stallion?'
'Why don't you leave that up to me as well Pa? I might just have the answer for both Missie and him.'
