5. THE HORSE
The rest of the week went very fast, but it was really amazing.
Not much happened on Tuesday, as I was too tired to do anything from the night out with the Chamberland's.
On Wednesday, I had English again, but Judd had changed seats, and was now sitting in the back row, so I was unable to talk with him.
On Thursday morning, Evan and I went for a jog in the morning, and she came over my house in the afternoon and we did our Physics homework together.
Friday morning Evan and I got up early to swim at the local pool, and we both slept over at Ruth's house.
Ruth also gave me another one of her weird warnings, this time she said: "if you ever ride a horse, make sure you dont ride in the wheat fields, because they get scared of snakes."
I had to leave her house early on Saturday morning, as Dad had arranged for us to visit the Ranch with Sadie and Nicola, as she had become like my big sister.
We picked her up from her Dad's huge house just outside of town, and then made the ten minute long drive to the Ranch.
We drove through the wooden archway that read 'Linklater Ranch', and continued on to the old two story farmhouse.
Aunt Meredith was waiting excitedly on the front porch, and my cousin Jesse was sitting on a horse just outside of the big red barn.
"Oh my lord, Amber! Look at you!" she greeted, hugging me tightly in her arms.
"Hey aunt Meredith." I replied, less enthuisiastically as she was.
"And who's this?" she asked pleasantly, gesturing towards Nicola.
"Nicola, she's our house assistant. Dad and I wanted you to meet her, cause she's my big sis now." I answered. Meredith and Nicola shook hands and began talking about boring adult stuff.
My Uncle Harry came out of the house, and the first person he looked at was Nicola.
He looked stunned, as if someone had slapped him across the face.
He stared at her talking to Meredith for a long hard moment, then slowly turned his attention to me.
"Hi, Amber," he began, coming back to his senses. "boy you look like your Mom."
I moaned. "everyone says that! Does that mean its a compliment?"
"Of course, you're Mom was the prettiest girl in Keys County." he replied, and I noticed the word 'was' in particular, as he was knowing staring at Nicola again.
"Um...Uncle Harry this is our house assistant, Nicola." I said, and they shook hands awkwardly.
Nicola looked at my uncle the same way that he had looked at her, and I had to restrain myself from laughing.
I did the math, my Dad had turned thirty seven two weeks ago, and Uncle Harry was four years younger than he was, making him thirty three, and Nicola had told me that she was turning thirty in march.
Perfect, I thought. Match made.
Meredith and Harry had already met Sadie before, but they made a few comments on how much she'd changed.
Jesse came striding up to us, looking like a cowboy.
"Howdy." he said, tipping his hat. Sadie and I laughed.
"Alright, thanks. You?" I asked. He spat in the dirt, sending me and Sadie into laughter again at his attempt to be a cowboy.
"Yeah, good. Do you want a ride?" he suggested, gesturing towards a large brown horse.
"Are you serious?" I asked, wondering how I would get on it.
"Sure. If you're allowed." he said, but his question was directed at my Dad.
"Um..." Dad began. I got down on my knees, and started the begging.
"Oh, please Dad?" I begged, trying to make myself look sad.
"Yeah, c'mon Mr Linklater, I'll ride with her. I've done it before." Sadie assured him.
Dad agreed and I soon found myself being told how to ride a horse by Jesse.
I wasnt really paying attention though, as I just wanted to get onto the horse.
He was mumbling something about wheat fields, and I was stroking the big brown horse, Woody.
Jesse concluded his horse riding lecture, and then helped me get onto the saddle first.
Woody was a huge horse, but Jesse lifted me up with ease.
After I got myself adjusted, hands clutched tightly on the reigns, he lifted Sadie up as well.
We only just fit on the saddle together, and it was the comfortable, but I was excited.
"Dont worry about getting lost, cause I wont be far behind. Oh, and make sure you're back before noon." he added.
I glanced at my watch, it was half past ten, plenty of time.
He shook the reigns for me, and we were off.
We trot along slowly at first, just talking and deciding where we should go, and then we sped up as we got out of sight of the house.
We began to go quite fast, and the feeling was amazing. We got jolted around a little but the feel of the breeze blowing through my air was priceless.
Woody sped up to a bit more than a jog, and I started worrying how to stop, as I hadnt listened to that part of Jesse's lecture.
We sped along, getting faster and faster by the second.
As we approached the wheat fields, I heard Sadie yell something in my ear, but I ignored her.
The weat fields were somewhat overgrown, and Sadie and I were soon being whipped across the face by long wheat strands.
I wanted to stop, but I didnt know how, so I tried tugging on the reigns hard, but Woody didnt react at all.
"How do we stop?" I shouted to Sadie, but I didnt hear if she replied or not.
I was scared of falling off, as Woody's incredible speed was shaking Sadie and I around, so I clutched to hs neck as tightly as I could, and I felt Sadie grab onto my back tightly.
We lasted like this for about ten mintues, until Woody suddenly stopped, and stood up on his back legs, sending me and Sadie sprawling onto the ground.
My arms shot out in defence as I fell of the left side of the horse, and I felt my left arm snap as I collided with the ground.
Pain shot up my arm and throughout my entire body, and I moaned in pain.
I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard Woody trotting away from us, and I didnt know what had happened to Sadie.
"Keep...very...still." I heard Sadie whisper.
I opened my eyes and looked around me.
Just must of just slipped off the back of the horse, as she was in the exact spot as where Woody had stopped.
She was croutching on the ground, looking directly at my feet, her eyes fixed on something.
I looked, and saw what she had been looking at.
There was a large snake, hissing at me with an angry look.
I gasped, and the snake went into it's attacking position.
"No!" Sadie screamed, and jumped in the way pf the snake.
The snake sprung forward, and clutched onto the left side of her neck.
She screamed, and pulled the snake off her.
It slithered away quickly into the safety of the wheat fields, leaving Sadie clutching her neck.
"Sadie?" I half shouted, she looked at me, looking very sick.
"I'm fine," she assured me. "c'mon, we have to get back."
She helped me get onto my feet, and I stared at her, absolutley stunned.
"Jesse!" she yelled, then winced in pain because of the strain shouting had done on her neck.
I didnt know why she was yelling, as no one was going to hear us.
But, to my surprise, Jesse came running out of nowhere within half a minute.
"What happened?" he asked, as soon as he was in hearing distance.
"We fell, and Sadie got bitten." was all I managed to spit out.
He didnt even gance at Sadie, but instead pick me up and cradled me in his arms.
"What about Sadie?" I demanded.
"We'll come back for her." he assured me, and then he began to run.
I must of forgotten how fast Jesse ran, as it seemed we were back at the house in no time, or I might have passed out along the way.
Dad, Meredith, Harry and Nicola came rushing outside, and they took me out of Jesse's arms.
That's when I lost conciousness.