Read Online Galloping Gold by Terri Farley - Free Book Online Page A

better now.
    â€œYou know what we’re having for our Fourth of July barbecue, Patrick?”
    Darby moaned as her grandfather had known she would.
    â€œNo, sir.”
    â€œKalua pork.”
    â€œYum,” Patrick said.
    â€œ Not yum,” Darby said.
    â€œYou don’t like it?” Patrick asked.
    Darby swiveled in her seat and told him, “Not when it’s made from a pet.”
    â€œYou can’t possibly be speaking of Pigolo.” Patrick sounded horrified.
    â€œSee?” Darby demanded. “Besides, he’s too young for…that.”
    â€œNever heard of suckling pig where you come from?” Jonah teased.
    â€œWhy, the very idea turns my stomach,” Patrick said.
    â€œThen I guess we won’t invite you,” Jonah said.
    â€œWait, Mr. Kealoha. Let me change your mind with a few little-known facts about our porcine cousins.”
    â€œGo ahead, but I’m no cousin to a dirty pig,” Jonah told him.
    â€œActually, swine—given a choice—are not dirty. They have no sweat glands. That’s the only reason they roll in mud. If there’s clean water around, they’drather swim. And all pigs keep their”—Patrick cleared his throat—“toilets far from where they eat. Why, newborn piglets will leave their birth nest and totter some distance to relieve themselves.”
    Jonah was smiling, but Patrick was behind him, so he couldn’t see that Jonah was struggling not to laugh.
    â€œMy mind’s not changed,” Jonah said.
    â€œPerhaps it would interest you to know that pigs are the fourth most intelligent animal in our universe—tested by human standards.”
    â€œWhat’s smarter?” Darby asked. “Monkeys, horses, or dogs?”
    Patrick shook his head. “Chimpanzees, dolphins, and elephants. By the age of two weeks, a piglet living with humans has not only learned its name, it will answer to it.
    â€œAnd they’re really quite affectionate. They love sleeping in close contact with other members of their—”
    â€œWe’re here,” Darby said.
    â€œI see it,” Jonah said as the Land Rover slowed.
    â€œYou’ll have something to do besides torment us,” Darby said, but her grandfather didn’t show even a hint of a smile.
    Â 
    Ann and her mother waved as Jonah parked the Land Rover next to the house. They stood outside the pinto pasture. In just a few minutes, Darby, Patrick, and Jonah had joined them.
    â€œAloha,” called Ramona. “Ed’s inside making dinner.”
    â€œI can smell it from here,” Jonah growled appreciatively and patted his stomach.
    â€œHe thought you might want to get a preview of our bad boy before we sat down to eat.”
    â€œSuits me,” Jonah said.
    â€œThis is really exciting!” Patrick said. “I’ve hardly been off the ranch since my mishap, and a puzzle like Sugarfoot is just what my stagnant brain needs.”
    â€œIt’s good to see you, too,” Ann said, giving him a quick hug.
    â€œGood-lookin’ horse,” Jonah said, and then added, “For a paint.”
    â€œHe looks absolutely serene,” Patrick observed.
    â€œDoesn’t he?” Ann asked.
    Sugarfoot grazed between Smudge and Red Cloud. The caramel-and-cream pinto grazed side-on to them. His two-toned mane touched the ground and his conformation showed the best of both breeds. He had the grace and finely molded head of an Arabian, but his deep chest and short-coupled body looked more like a Morgan. When Sugarfoot saw the newcomers, he lifted his head.
    With his gold-and-white forelock blowing clear of his face, he studied them, then snorted and came closer at a trot.
    â€œThat’s not chasing, is it?” Patrick asked.
    â€œNot even close,” Ann said.
    Darby slipped in next to her friend at the fence. Ann’s eyelids were red-rimmed and puffy.
    Darby heard Jonah’s sigh. They’d