Animals
We were coming up on the final barrel, the one closest to the barn. Now, one lightning turn around it and...
The mare didn't turn. Instead, she had the bit in her teeth and was pounding straight for the barn, faster than she'd ever run before. I gave up trying to turn her. I just wanted to stop her. She was heading straight for the open barn door. There was only one problem. The doorway was high enough for a horse. But not for a horse with a rider on its back. If I didn't do something fast, I was about to lose my head.
After a long time the quiet peace of sleep-time returns. The cat creeps out to the iron pole. The smell of blood and the burning stink linger in the air. Two-legs are dangerous and unpredictable. They aren't that different from the bare-tails in the tunnels. They hurt each other for no reason she knows. That is why she walks alone.
He opens his hand, and there's this little plastic bag of powder. White powder. He reaches into his pocket again and pulls out a short straw. "Voila," he says. "Care for a toot?"
I stare at the cocaine, and while part of my brain wants to say, "No, jerk, get out," another voice inside me is saying, "Why not?"
The bear lowers its head. When a dog looks like this, it means you could get bitten. When a bear looks like this, it means you could be lunch. The bear's eyes harden, as if he has lost patience with us. We're on his trail and he wants us off. The bear opens his jaws. Big jaws. Really big teeth. His jaws make a smacking sound.
I whisper, "He's going to eat us."
