Read Online Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen - Free Book Online Page B

her,” Martha said. “And do some grocery shopping while she’s getting checked out. We’re low on everything. I checked your pantry and fridge.”
    â€œThanks,” Mom said, knowing full well I would pump Martha for answers, and Martha would give them to me.
    *   *   *
    In the car, Martha told me everything I wanted to know and some things I didn’t. How there were only five riders left, with horse vans coming to transport the last of the boarding horses to nearby stables that very afternoon. How our various suppliers of oats and straw were demanding immediate full payment. How Mr. Suss from next door had made a low offer for our farm, so low it was laughable. How the Angottis were threatening to sue us.
    â€œI think we should sue them for…” Martha thought a minute. “Well, just for being the Angottis!”
    â€œHow come I wasn’t told any of this before?”
    â€œBecause your mom is treating you like a kid,” she said, her eyes on the road, which was just as well. Martha is a terrible driver.
    â€œI am a kid.”
    â€œDon’t be a sassy-pants. You’ve never been a kid. You were born a grown-up.” She turned to glare at me, and the car took a slight bobble to the right.
    I shrank back in my seat.
    â€œSince Kai’s been born, she’s afraid all the time for you. And for Robbie. She’s protecting you.”
    â€œI don’t need protecting,” I said. “But Robbie does.”
    At least she was looking at the road again.
    â€œShe’s your mom. She’s supposed to protect both of you.”
    After that there was silence.
    When we arrived at the dentist’s building, I got out and refused to turn to say good-bye. I was angry. Angry with the boarders and riders for being unkind; angry with Mr. Suss, who was a thief; angry with Martha and Mom for keeping things secret; angry with Dr. Herks, who seemed to have stopped being there for us; angry with Robbie for needing help when we were already stretched too thin; angry with myself for being too young to be a real help—even angry with Agora, who got herself pregnant and …
    Well, at least I wasn’t angry with Kai.

 
    9
    Freak of Nature
    O N THE DRIVE HOME, my lips still tingling from the Novocain, my tongue exploring the two new fillings, I refused to speak to Martha. But if I didn’t talk to her, who could I talk to? Patti and Maddi were already gone, and besides, I never really said very much to either of them. Even if I wanted to, how could I have explained what was happening at the farm? How could I have trusted them with our secret?
    My tongue found the fillings again, and at that I began to wonder what Kai would be eating after he was weaned off his mother’s milk—once he lost all his baby teeth, and all the adult teeth came in. Given how fast he was growing, that might be any day now.
    Horses eat grass and oats mixed with peas and beans and lentils. For treats they get carrots, apples—our horses love McIntosh the most—and the occasional sugar lump. But that’s not a growing boy ’s diet.
    Mom always drilled that into me—every day something protein, something green, a grain, a piece of fruit, and milk. My lunches at school had been boring. No one in elementary school ever wanted to share. I mean who would take celery sticks over a candy bar? Or trade a chocolate chip cookie for a box of raisins?
    Dr. Herks hadn’t said a word about Kai’s diet, which was odd. Made me wonder about our pony boy’s stomach. We knew he had two hearts. But what if he had two different stomachs as well?
    I supposed Kai could be fed vegan. Both my aunts, Dad’s sisters, were in the Vegan Society. No eggs or fish or butter or any kind of meat at all. Come to think of it, Aunt May ate a lot like a horse: oversalted vegetables and dandelions she picked in her yard. Dad used to tease her about it and offer her