Read Online Taming the Star Runner by S. E. Hinton - Free Book Online

right audience, I think word of mouth might be terrific … Travis, are you still there?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œHave you told anyone?”
    â€œThere’s nobody here to tell.”
    â€œOh. Well, I’ll write soon and let you know when I’ll be there. Can I have your new address and phone?”
    After he hung up he dialed Mom. She’d be nuts. He’d like to see the look on Stan’s face. There was nobody home. He called Joe. He’d be nuts. There was nobody home. He called Ken at the office and his secretary said he was in a meeting. Travis was having trouble breathing. He walked around and around in circles.
    Motorboat jumped up on the sofa and Travis grabbed him and shook him. “I sold my book! I sold my book!”
    Motorboat twisted loose and ran.
    He might as well tell Casey—she’d be down at the barn by now. He might as well tell her, she’d find out anyway.
    He had to tell somebody.
    Jennifer and Kelsey were hanging on the arena rails.
    â€œHey,” he said. “Guess … What’s going on?”
    Casey was riding the Star Runner. He had never seen her ride him before. She was cantering him around in a small circle while a lady stood on the side.
    â€œMore inside leg, Case. You need more bend.”
    â€œWhat’s going on?” he repeated. He kept looking at the Star Runner’s face. He could swear it was seething with rage.
    â€œOh, look at that frame!” Kelsey sighed. “He’s so beautiful.”
    Beautiful, yes. Breathtakingly beautiful—but for a second Travis had a cold, irrational fear: This was no flesh-and-blood animal at all, but something demonic…
    Casey sat deep in the saddle, using her whole body, back, legs, shoulders, to maintain that hold, her will against his will.
    â€œCasey’s taking a riding lesson?”
    â€œDressage,” Jennifer said. “It’s a real technical form of equitation.”
    â€œGood, Casey. Very good. Downward transition to a walk.” The instructor dropped her voice as Casey came up to talk.
    â€œI just don’t see how Casey can stand it. He just hates all this. He’s never going to love her.”
    Travis was remembering some of the stories he’d been hearing around the barn, about the Star Runner, bits and pieces he hadn’t paid much attention to before.
    How he’d been a lunatic horse, practically given away off the racetrack, how he’d jump out of his paddock to race alone in the pasture. Casey’s biggest fear was he’d kill himself running one of these hot days—he didn’t know how to stop running. The kids wouldn’t go near him. Only Robyn was brave enough, or stupid enough, or stoned enough, to groom him. He’d bitten one of the handlers at the track, tearing off a chunk of flesh—Casey herself had a scar on her forehead, he’d reared up on her while she was leading him. Casey, laughing, called it the mark of the beast.
    â€œDon’t be silly, Jenna,” Kelsey was saying. “Casey doesn’t care if he loves her.”
    Casey rode next to where they were standing, her face abstracted and intent.
    â€œCasey, you don’t care if the Star Runner loves you, right?” Kelsey asked.
    Travis couldn’t believe she had the nerve to break in on Casey’s exhilaration. He knew the feeling. Like walking to the front step after a good chapter and finding the guys blithering about getting laid, getting drunk.
    Casey didn’t have time to connect to what she was saying before Kelsey went on, “You just want him to love jumping, right?”
    Travis said, “She wants him to do it because he
can
do it.”
    Casey stared at him for a second, startled.
    Okay, he thought, staring back, I do know you better than anyone else does. Think that over, lady.
    He turned and walked off. He didn’t want to tell her about the book right now. Jennifer and Kelsey would get silly