Read Online Dawn Runner by Terri Farley - Free Book Online Page B

alwaystalked about the ranch, your dad, the horses and stuff, but now you actually live there. I can’t picture it.”
    â€œYou don’t have to. You can come over and see it with your own eyes,” Sam said.
    â€œThat would be cool,” Pam said, and even though she nodded, Sam caught Pam’s eyes darting toward Ace. “Maybe Mom can drive me over while she’s doing her research.”
    â€œWe could ride double on Ace,” Sam teased.
    â€œPamela, you really should take this opportunity to learn to ride, if Sam’s willing to teach you,” Dr. Mora said.
    â€œSure,” Sam began. She’d already begun wondering which horse Pam should use when her friend interrupted.
    â€œWe won’t have time. Sam’s in school until three?” She looked at Sam for a nod. “What we need is to catch up on each other’s lives, Mom. You can’t do that on a horse.” Sam didn’t have time to point out they could talk and ride at the same time, before Pam went on.
    â€œNot when Sam would have to be giving me remedial lessons so I wouldn’t fall off. But we could shoot a few baskets and talk at the same time.”
    â€œCan you believe we don’t have a basketball hoop at the ranch? I didn’t have anyone to play with, so I just—” Sam shrugged.
    Basketball had been such a big part of her life in San Francisco, it was hard to believe she’d abandoned the sport. In San Francisco, she’d persuadedAunt Sue to let her and Pam mount a basketball hoop on her narrow garage, even though her short driveways led over a sidewalk and into the city street.
    â€œNo big deal,” Pam said. She looked up at the soaring rock walls, then down at War Drum Flats before gazing at the endless blue sky. “You really live in this place.”
    This magical place, Sam thought as she looked up, too. For a minute, she felt as if she’d been towed aloft by a balloon. She was floating, sighing with pride at the beauty surrounding them.
    â€œThere’s nothing out here,” Pam went on.
    Sam felt as if someone had shot the balloon she’d clung to, and she hit the ground with a bump. She almost launched into a lecture about the wildlife and plants Pam was too blind to see, but then she stopped.
    â€œI love it,” Sam said.
    â€œAnd so do I.”
    Sam smiled gratefully at Pam’s mother, whom she’d always called Dr. Mora, instead of Dr. O’Malley.
    â€œIt’s beautiful country,” Dr. Mora said with a slightly reproachful glance at her daughter. “An oasis for the soul.”
    Pam’s eyelashes lowered. She jammed her hands into her pockets, then looked bashfully at Sam.
    â€œI guess it does take some getting used to,” Sam said.
    â€œWell if you love it, I bet I will, too.” Pam slippedher arm through Sam’s. “In fact, it’s already coming to me.”
    Sam gave a skeptical smile.
    â€œNo, really. It’s pretty, but in a bleak kind of way,” Pam insisted. “Wide open, and so big, it’s kind of overwhelming and scary.”
    â€œNot as scary as some things ,” Sam said. One city experience had become the yardstick by which they measured fright. She wondered if Pam remembered.
    â€œLike Chinese New Year?” Pam asked.
    â€œExactly,” Sam said.
    Their eyes met in the memory of a night when they’d gotten separated from Aunt Sue and Pam’s mom. Squealing in mock terror at a line of dragon dancers, they’d wiggled through the crowd watching the parade, darted by a vendor selling savory pork buns, and jogged past dozens of incense-scented shops. By the time they ended up in an alley where teenage guys were competing to see who could throw lighted firecrackers highest into the night sky, Sam and Pam were no longer pretending to be scared. They were lost and terrified.
    After thirty minutes of searching, they followed directions from two little girls in