Wind Dancer Read Free Page A

feelings aside. She couldn’t help Max, but she and Cara had to do something for these horses before it was too late.
    “They need food and water.” Ali motioned for her friend to shine the flashlight around the inside of the barn. “Let’s see what we can find.”
    “There’s got to be a water spigot close by,” Cara said just as the beam of light landed on a broken water pipe.
    “Bummer.”
    “Go outside and check for a tap close to the barn,” Cara said. “I’ll look in here for some hay or grain.”
    Ali grabbed a bucket and found the tap outside. She filled the pail and returned, letting herself into the horses’ stall. The black gelding lifted his head, his dull eyes wary and untrusting. “Easy, big guy.” She squatted down beside him, placing the water bucket beneath his muzzle.
    The white mare nickered and took a feeble step forward, begging for a drink. “It’s your turn next,” Ali assured her. “I think your stablemate is a little worse off than you.”
    The gelding stuck his muzzle into the bucket and sloshed the water around with his lips, but he didn’t drink at first. Then he seemed to come out of his stupor and greedily gulped the cool water.
    “Maybe you’d better not let him have too much at one time,” Cara said from the hayloft. “Looks like they haven’t had anything to drink for a while. Too much now might make them sick.”
    Just then the gelding choked, coughing hard and tipping over the bucket.
    “Oh, no!” Ali jumped to her feet. What had she done?
    “What happened?” Cara climbed out of the hayloft. “Is he okay?”
    Ali looked from Cara to the coughing Appy, unsure what to do. She’d never seen a horse choke before. The Heimlich maneuver was definitely out of the question.
    The gelding coughed and wheezed, then collapsed onto his side, his legs thrashing against the filthy floor of the stall. After a few more seconds, he rolled into a more upright position. The coughing had stopped, but his breathing was still heavy. Ali wasn’t sure if this was a good sign or not.
    The mare stumbled over, pushing the bucket aside as she tried to suck up the spilled water that pooled in a muddy mess on the floor.
    “Ugh! That is so gross. Don’t drink that.” Ali gently pushed the mare away, then picked up the bucket and went to fetch more water.
    When she returned, Ali tried to make sure the mare sipped the liquid slowly. It was almost impossible. She buried her muzzle in the bucket, and Ali had to keep pulling it back after every few sips. Cara tried to help, gently tugging on the mare’s head. It was a difficult task, even with two of them.
    When they finished, Ali offered water to the gelding again. He hesitated, but finally drank.
    “That has to be a good sign,” Cara said. “If he refused water, he might be too far gone.”
    “Did you find any food?”
    Cara shook her head. “Not a single stem of hay or a handful of oats to be found. We could pick some of the grass from next door. It doesn’t look like they’ve mowed their lawn in a while.”
    They moved silently to the neighbor’s yard and picked as much of the new summer grass as they could carry. When they reentered the barn, the white mare whinnied weakly and pawed at the wall. The crickets grew quiet at the sudden banging on the wooden wall, but at least the neighbor dogs didn’t bark this time.
    “Shhhh.”
Cara placed her hand on the mare’s nose, trying to quiet her. The horse smelled the grass and stretched her lips toward the bunch Cara held in her other hand. “Wow, she’s really hungry!”
    “I’m going to try feeding the black horse.” Ali hunkered down and placed the fresh blades of grass right under his nose, but he barely looked at her. She tickled the underside of his chin with the blades. “He doesn’t seem to want any.”
    “That’s not good.” Cara paused for a moment and the white mare whinnied loudly, demanding more food.
    The neighbor’s dogs began barking again. “Keep her