Chapter 8: Learning things and moonlight kisses

I woke up smiling, knowing that Sphinx and Blink were back together and Ponine and Itey were closer than ever. Crutchy and Chewy had been sleeping in the same bed for a while and had gone out to Tibby's alone for a date. *Aww! lol*

I squirmed out of Races grasp slowly so he wouldn't wake up and went to the washroom. I had braided my hair and put them in pigtails and was wearing a different change of clothes. By the time Race got up I was walking out of the bunkroom. He walked down to stop me.

"Hey, were ya going?" He asked. I smiled at him. "Didn't I tell you? I used to go to the Racetracks a lot and I got to know the horses. The girl who usually takes care of them, Becky, had to call in sick so they asked me to do it."

"You're gonna take care of the horses?" He looked amazed. "Are you gonna ride them?"

I laughed. "Yea, probably, well,, I'll ride Toddy." I told him. He looked down at the ground thinking.

"Its just a one time only thing, its not like I'm gonna be doing this everyday, but I hjave4 to go, they wanted me there earlier." I kissed him goodbye and he said he's stop by when he was finished selling.

*~*At the Track*~*

"Now, you know all of the horse and what to do, so there isn't much to explain to you. You may ride them after the races, since there is only 5 that should be about an hour and a half."  Mark told me, he was the manager of the tracks.

"Ok, I'm going to feed them now, then groom them. That should take about an hour then I'll tack up Toddy and ride her out, the races should be done by then right?" I asked him, half talking to myself.  He smiled at me. He was at least 25. "Exactly." He said.

The time had passed quickly when I was looking at Annie, who was in heat. She was stomping her foot on the floor of her stall and she kept turning in circles. I gave her an apple and started to tack up Toddy.

*To tack up means to put on the saddle, bridal, girth and everything, get him ready to ride.*

*It happens every month, when your in heat you want to have baby.*

*~*Sellin Papes*~*

Race hurried to sell all of his papes, it had almost been an hour and he had 15 papes left. If he could sell them in 15 minutes he would have just enough time to walk there.

*I didn't know she could ride horses…* Race thought, he smiled to himself. *my kinda goil.*

*~*Back at the Tracks*~*

I had tacked her up and was riding out to the track when I heard footsteps and then the door sliding open. I ignored it, figuring it was Mark checking on how I was, and trotted out to the tracks. When I got out there I paused to look at everything, the sun, the empty bleaches and the track. It was huge.

"Trot." I told Toddy, pulling on his reins and kicking his sides he trotted and I lifted my arms to my sides and closed my eyes, my face toward the sun. I hadn't noticed someone watching me from the bleachers. I hung on as he broke into a canter and went faster. I leaned down by his neck, as if I was a jockey, something I had always wanted to do.

When we went around the track I stopped by Races side. "Race!" I said happily. I had missed not seeing him but I got 3 dollars and hour for begin here. He gazed at me. I hopped down.

"What's up? How was selling?" I asked, holding onto Toddy's reins and putting my other hand in my pocket.

"Um, good, good." He said slowly, still starring at me. "What?" I asked, still confused.

He was quiet for a minute.

"Can you teach me?" I looked at him questioningly. "What?" He smiled. "Teach me to ride." I smiled at him. "Yea, hop on, this is Toddy."

"Here comes Tada." I looked up at him, "yea, that's his name when he's racing."  I walked him through the steps of riding when it had been about an hour. He could ride on his own and was able to trot with her.

Mark came out and looked at me, holding his clipboard above his eyes to shade them from the sun. "Are you teaching him how to ride?" He asked me. I smiled. "Yea." HE gave me my pay, a total of  $7.50 and Race and I went to un-tack Toddy. When we were done it was one and we headed to Tibby's.

"Race said you were riding, how much did you get paid?" Spot asked as we sat down at Tibby's. "7.50." I told him. He smiled. I rolled my eyes. "Don't get used to it, I wont do that everyday or anything." I said.

Race slung his arm around me and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled at him and kissed him back.

"Get a room!" Spot said as he threw a fly at us. Race and I laughed. After awhile of talking everyone else food came when Chewy walked inside.


"Hey Chewy!!" I said, greeting her. She smiled at me. "Where's Crutchy?" I asked her, knowing they weren't together like usual. She sighed in disappointment as if she didn't want to realize he wasn't here.

"He's inside, he wasn't feeling well, I'm just here to get his food." She told everyone. It had been a few hours and almost everyone was ready to go to sleep, except Spot and Miracle, so he took her on a walk toward Brooklyn.

"You know your gorgeous right?" He asked her. She smiled sheepishly and looked into his eyes. It was a full moon and the water was glistening. "I like you a lot, I mean, I haven't had much luck in finding great guys." She stated.

"You don't need to worry about that. I always want you by my side." He smiled as he pulled her in for a moonlight kiss.