Read Online Wild Thing by Dandi Daley Mackall - Free Book Online Page A

and kept running. I didn’t stop until I found myself at Pat’s Pets.
    Pat Haven and Barker were settling in a new litter of puppies. I ducked behind the fish aisle. My vision blurred as I watched striped angelfish swim in and out of underwater castles.
    What will happen to Wild Thing? What if the Spidells try to break her again? I shouldn’t have lost my temper!
    “Winnie?” Barker called up. Puppies yapped. Pat laughed. “You need something?”
    I wiped my face with the back of my hand. The horseshoe scar at my elbow whizzed under my eyes like a car out of control. “No!” I hollered back. “I—I’m going to check e-mail!”
    “Good!” Pat yelled up. “Quite a few horse ones.”
    I moved to the computer. One kid had written:
     
My buddy chased me all over the stable yelling that his Paint is better than my Pinto. What should I tell him?
    I answered:
     
Tell him you’re both unbelievably lucky to have horses of your own. And stop running in the barn! You’ll spook the horses.
    I don’t know how long I sat staring at the screen, trying to focus on the words in front of me. My mind felt bombarded with images of Wild Thing, pictures as real as if I were sitting in front of a television watching a horror movie—Wild Thing rearing, tugging against the ropes.
    The mailbox flag symbol popped up: You’ve got mail! It was for me from Hawk . I felt as glad to hear from Hawk as if the message were coming from my best friend.
     
Winnie,
My horse is doing fine. I thought I’d write to see how you’re doing. How’s that Arabian?
—Hawk
    Something opened inside me, and I started typing as fast as I could. I told Hawk about losing my temper and about losing my job.
     
I have to make a lot of money fast! I have to earn enough to buy Wild Thing!
—Winnie
    I hit Send and waited for the reply in new mail. It didn’t take long:
     
I’ve got it! The Auction! You know so much about horses, Winnie! Go to the auction tomorrow and buy a horse cheap. Work with him all week. Then next Saturday, you can sell the same horse for a lot more money at Spidells’ fall sale!
People assume something must be wrong with auction horses, so they sell cheap. But at Spidells’ sale, the seller shows off the horse, and the same horse can sell for hundreds of dollars more. Anybody can sell there too, because Spidell takes a percentage of the sale. But you could still have enough left to buy Wild Thing—especially if they’ve given up on her.
—Hawk
    By the time I’d finished reading, my heart was pounding and my mind racing. It’s crazy, right? Or is it? I can gentle most horses in a week. And I’d look them over carefully and get a good-natured one. But where am I going to get the money to buy a horse at auction?
    “From Dad,” I muttered, getting up from the computer.

    Catman and Lizzy were working on a shelter for Larry the Lizard when I ran up. In between panting breaths, I filled them in on my auction plan.
    “I’ll soften Dad up with my famous Missouri ham,” Lizzy offered.
    “Remember,” Catman said, staring hard into my eyes, “you can’t make a cat do something he doesn’t want to do.”
    I wasn’t sure if he meant cat, as in the animal, or cat, like in old movies where hippies called each other “cat . ”
    “Like . . . you can lead a cat to water, but you can’t make him drink?” I asked.
    Catman grinned. “People think I train cats. But you can’t train a cat. I just get them to follow along. They think it’s their own idea.”
    I felt like I was piecing together a Catman puzzle. “Make buying the horse Dad’s idea?”
    Catman didn’t answer. “Good idea, Winnie. See you later.” He strolled off, staring up at the sky, which had filled with heavy gray clouds and the promise of rain.

    Lizzy spent the rest of the day peeling potatoes and basting a ham with chunky peanut butter. Meanwhile I cleaned the barn, which was in better condition than I’d thought. The red paint had flaked off, making