A HORSE FOR ANGEL. Sarah Lean

       RAN BACK TO THE CAR AND LIFTED THE BROWN leather case out of the boot.

      I’d just wanted to see the carousel built again. That’s all. And I wanted to build it myself this time. I’d hidden it in the boot when Mum wasn’t looking. She wouldn’t know and then it would only matter to me. Only I hadn’t thought about how to get it into Aunt Liv’s house without anyone seeing. I couldn’t think how to do it without getting found out and I was about to put it back in the boot, cover it with the picnic blanket and forget the whole stupid idea, because now it was actually happening it wasn’t easy or like I had imagined. And then I heard something. The thunder of thumping hooves.

      I spun round. Galloping round the corner, pounding straight towards me, was a black-and-white horse, a dark rider hidden behind its flying mane. They hadn’t seen me.

      I dropped the case. All the metal pieces inside clanked as it slammed to the ground. The horse swung its side round towards me, skidding on the gravel. I leapt back to flatten myself against the car, but missed and fell. The horse screamed, reared up, its long mane billowing around it like a storm. I covered my head, curled up, held my breath.

      And when you believe you’re going to die because the flying hooves are going to crush you, you can’t help what you think. And what I thought in that moment was that I’d be dead and Mum was going to find the carousel next to me and then I wouldn’t be able to explain and she wouldn’t understand. She’d think I’d been hiding it all along. She’d be unhappy forever thinking I had betrayed her too. And then the tin girl was there in my mind and she whooshed around and turned her back and I shouted, “No!” because I thought she was going to leave me and somehow it mattered more than anything.

      Instead, there was a cry, a thud, as the rider hit the ground. The horse stamped down beside me, brushing my arm with the long feathery hair on its legs as it kicked away from me.

      For a moment the startled horse stood over me, throwing its head, its skin quivering. I could see me in its wide dark eye, a tiny me lying there on the ground. It snorted, its nostrils flaring. Then it turned and galloped away, its white tail streaming behind it.

      From the verge behind the car I heard the footsteps of the rider.

      “Help,” I said.

      Nobody came. But from where I was lying I saw a pair of small feet in black pumps tiptoeing past the other side of the car. I saw a hand reach out to the brown leather case and drag it away.

      “Hey!” I said.

      But the feet were running, running away with the case and the carousel.

      UM LEAPT UP, SCRAPING THE CHAIR AGAINST the floor, as I stumbled into the cottage dragging the grey suitcase behind me.

      “What happened?” she said.

      I held out my hand so she could see the graze and the blood and the dirt.

      My throat ached from not crying, from holding in the things I wouldn’t be able to say. Mum brushed me down, got some tissues and antiseptic cream from her bag.

      “There was a horse—”

      “A horse hurt you!” Mum said, which wasn’t what I’d said at all. “What were you doing going in a field with horses? They’re unpredictable, dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re far more sensible than that. Really, what has got into you, Nell?”

      “I wasn’t in a field,” I said. “The horse came down the lane and nearly crashed into me.”

      “What sort of horse was it?” said Aunt Liv, taking the grey suitcase from me.

      “Black and white,” I said, “and very hairy.”

      “It might be one of Rita’s horses,” said Alfie.

      “I don’t think so,” said Aunt Liv, looking puzzled. She turned to Mum. “There used to be about a hundred of those horses next door at Keldacombe Farm, but they’ve been gone for quite a while now. They’re due to be sold soon.”

      Gem gasped. “Is there a hundred now?” Then she said in a spooky kind of voice, “Like the story about the hundredth horse.”

      “What story?” said Aunt Liv.

      “It’s like… I think it’s if there’s a hundred horses then something special happens.”

      “There were only ninety-nine at Rita’s, though,” Alfie said.

      “No, but I mean if there are then the hundredth horse is magic or something… but I can’t remember exactly now.”

      “Gem,” Aunt Liv interrupted, “where did you hear that nonsense?”

      But Gem was looking at Alfie, who was making a face as if he was trying to make her be quiet.

      “Somebody told me in the playground, ages ago,” Gem sulked.

      Aunt Liv shook her head. She turned to Mum.

      “It’s just some silly old wives’ tale.”

      Gem mouthed, No, it’s not, and folded her arms.

      Aunt Liv rolled her eyes and turned back to Mum, who had her hands on her hips, waiting for a proper explanation.

      “I’ll have a chat to Rita at the farm,” Aunt Liv said. “See if she knows anything about the horse. Really, it’s nothing to worry about.”

      “I think there was a girl on the horse,” I said, careful not to say anything about the carousel case. “But I didn’t really see.”

      My cousins looked at each other, their eyes wide. Aunt Liv sighed, like you do when you’ve just worked something out and wish you hadn’t.

      “Oh,” she said. “Perhaps that means Angel’s back.”

      I noticed Gem nudge Alfie and he shushed and glared at her.

      “And what’s that supposed to mean?” said Mum.

      “Oh, nothing,” Aunt Liv said. “There was a girl who used to hang around the horses on Rita’s farm. There was some trouble. I think she was caught stealing at the supermarket.”

      Mum had a look on her face now that said, Did I really agree to this?

      “Anyway,” Aunt Liv said, as if she wished she hadn’t mentioned it, “I heard her family moved away some time ago now, so nothing to worry about.”

      There was a heavy silence as Mum put on her jacket and tugged her sleeves straight. Oh, good, I thought. She’s taking me home again.

      “Well, as long as you’re sure you’re OK, Nell, because I have to get back now. I need to finish preparing for the conference.”

      I held on to her. Because I wasn’t OK and I had nothing I wanted to stay for. Not now the carousel had gone.

      “Don’t worry, Cathy,” Aunt Liv said. “We’ll take very good care of Nell.”

      Mum and Aunt Liv had a private chat outside the door before Mum kissed me about fourteen times and squeezed me in a hug. I linked my fingers round her waist so she couldn’t pull away. But she did.

      AVE