America The Dead Book Two: The Road To Somewhere by Lindsey Rivers Page B

Kate said from beside
him.
    He laughed. "I was thinking exactly that when
you said it," Mike told her. "How big do you think he was?" Mike
asked.
    "Probably about 6 feet at the shoulder," Kate
said. "Big."
    "Got to be," Patty said from the back seat.
"Because we're way off the ground, and it was pretty much even with
us."
    "Anybody ever ride a horse?" Ronnie
asked.
    "Nope," Mike said.
    "Not me," Patty said.
    "Me either," Kate added.
    “ It looks easy," Ronnie continued.
"But of course I'd bet he'd buck you off pretty quick if he didn't
want you on him."
    "She," Patty said. "It was a she. And females
are supposed to be better tempered."
    "Pats, I didn't realize a girl horse could get
that big," Ronnie said.
    "How'd you learn that, about female horses
being better tempered?" Kate asked.
    "It was a novel I read, Lonesome Dove . The
horses, female horses, mares , had the best temperament. But you could get a male horse
that was gelded, a Gelding, and they would be pretty even tempered
too," she said.
    "I never read that book," Mike said. "Wanted to
though."
    "You can learn a lot from a book, I guess,"
Ronnie said. “ I wonder what a Gelding is. Like a... like a
specific type of horse I imagine? I've heard of a Paint. A Paint is
a kind of horse.”
    Patty giggled.
    Kate nodded. "I always wanted to ride a horse.
I went to Rochester once. The cops there ride them downtown. There
were several horse farms that I saw along the way also."
    "All the cops are on horses?" Patty
asked.
    "No, just around downtown. I was there with
someone for a concert at the War Memorial. I was just a kid, so
they looked even bigger than they probably were, but it made an
impression on me." She finished.
    "Well, I'm pretty sure you'll get to ride
horses," Patty said, "We both will. Even Geldings," she said and
laughed.
    “ Okay,” Ronnie said. “How have I
got it wrong?”
    “ No testicles,” Patty said. “A
Gelding has had their testicles removed.”
    “ Jesus,” Ronnie said. His eyes
looked hurt.
    “ Guess that would make you pretty
docile,” Mike said.
    “ Yeah,” Ronnie agreed.
    “ We'll learn how to ride,” Patty
said.
    Kate turned and smiled, and they touched closed
fists and laughed. "It's going to be so good," she said. They both
looked over at Ronnie who was still cringing. His lips compressed
into a thin line. They both laughed.
    ~Donita in the daylight~
    She had seen them start into the field, but
even before that, she had known they would come. It was the way her
new mind worked. It had seemed cloudy for so long that it had
surprised her when it suddenly began to process thoughts again. She
thought maybe she was coming back to her old self. But like her
eyesight, it was completely different.
    She simply knew things. One second they were
not there and the next they were. Clear, concise, every detail
fully understood. What was not there was reasoning. There was no
reasoning process she had used to arrive at the information her
mind had held. It was as though it came from some other place. As
though it had been delivered to her.
    That had caused her to panic. Delivered meant a
kind of dependance, and she did not desire dependance on anything
or anyone. But she had come to understand that dependance was not
what it was, and delivery was not what it was. Knowing was what it
was. She knew things. She knew things out of the air. They came
with the scenting, a part of her new abilities.
    Even so, she had nearly waited
overly long. They had stepped into the field and panic had leapt
into her chest and shot through her body like a live wire. She had
leapt backwards where the two lay sleeping and kicked them into
flight. Mindless, screaming flight, and they had run through the trees soundlessly,
leaping from footfall to footfall.
    They had run until they had come to the
opposite end of the small woods and Donita had stopped. The sun was
up, sapping their strength, seeming to burn her eyes, but she was
not dead again. She did not fall down