Read Online Chasing Dream by Dandi Daley Mackall - Free Book Online

stomachache. She ate too many oats when she got out of the fence. I should have built it higher when we knew she was getting out. I was so worried about the Harvey’s Hardware account and the barrel campaign, I guess I didn’t want to take the time to make more fence out here.”
    The barrel account! How could I have forgotten? Dad’s presentation was this morning. He had to go ahead without my rhymes, without the list of words I promised him.
    I can’t even look at my dad. Guilt tightens around me like a burning belt.
    â€œMr. James,” Colt says, “your fence is taller than ours. We should have gotten a real storage bin instead of that trash can. And I should have figured out what was going on with the missing oats, but all I’ve been thinking about lately is getting Bullet ready for barrel racing.”
    There’s one more thing I forgot about. I let Colt and Bullet down.
    Dad and Colt can talk all day about things they should or shouldn’t have done, but it doesn’t matter. I know whose fault this is. And so does God. It’s not just that I didn’t pick up on the warning signs of colic and how weird Dream was acting. It’s not just that I didn’t keep looking for an answer to how Dream was getting out or where she was going.
    It’s everything I haven’t been doing. I was so set on proving to everybody how great my horse is that I let everything else go. I didn’t just let Dream down. I let everybody down.
    â€œSo how was your game, Ethan?” Colt asks.
    This time I wheel around to see my brother’s answer.
    We won. But I think Coach was mad at me about something. He yelled a lot in our after-game talk. And he pointed right at me. Only don’t ask me why he was so fired up.
    Chalk up one more letdown by Ellie James.
    No wonder God doesn’t answer my prayers for Dream. I don’t deserve to have anyone listen to me. Especially God.
    Dr. Snyder leads Dream back to us. She’s holding the lead rope high like she’s trying to keep my horse on her feet.
    Again I ask God to make my horse well. But I can tell by Dream’s wide eyes and heavy breathing that she’s still hurting.
    â€œWell, I don’t think her intestines are twisted,” Doc Snyder says. “Beyond that, I’m just not sure. I’ll give her a shot of butraphol to ease the pain. Then all we can do is wait and see. If the colic is mild, it should pass in twenty-four hours.”
    She doesn’t say what will happen if the colic isn’t mild. But she doesn’t have to . . . because we all know.

14

    P-R-A-Y-I-N-G
    Ethan walks up beside me. I don’t turn around. I can’t face him. He touches my arm, and I feel his fingertip spelling out a word on my skin. I don’t think he’s ever done this before. It feels like whispering. I make out p-r-a-y-i-n-g . Praying .
    I touch his hand and nod. I’m praying too. But Ethan is better at it.
    I circle my fist over my heart, making the sign for sorry , then look in his direction.
    Ethan signs, What? and acts like he doesn’t know what I mean.
    Coach’s talk.
    Ethan brushes it off like he’s forgotten I promised to help him. Maybe he has.
    But I know God hasn’t.
    Dr. Snyder gives Dream a shot. Dream doesn’t jerk away like I do when I get shots. It’s like she doesn’t even feel the needle.
    â€œYou call me if she gets worse. Okay, Ellie?” Doc drops the syringe into a little metal case, then puts it into her black bag. “And try not to worry.”
    â€œThank you,” I mutter. But I don’t know why grown-ups bother telling you not to worry. It doesn’t do any good.
    Mom finally gets back from the cat farm and finds us all in the backyard. She tells me the same thing Doc Snyder did. I should try not to worry. Only she says this in her own way. “Worry is like shoveling manure with a toothpick. Waste of time, and nobody comes out