The Horse Whisperer

'Go on Grace,' Diane said. 'It's fascinating.'

'Well that's it really,' Grace said. She spoke without enthusiasm now, signaling to everyone that her mother had, as usual, deflated not just her but the topic too of both interest and fun. 'They just put him back together again and you can call it up on the screen and dissect him, like in three-D, you know.'

'You can do all that right here on that little screen?' Frank said.

'Yes.'

The word was so flat and final that only silence could follow it. It lasted but a moment, though it seemed to Annie an eternity, and Tom must have seen the desperation in her eyes, because he gave Frank a sardonic nod and said, 'Well, there you go little brother, your chance for immortality.'

'Lord have mercy,' Diane said. 'Frank Booker's body on view to the nation.'

'Oh, and what's wrong with my body may I ask?'

'Where d'you want us to start?' Joe said. Everyone laughed.

'Hell,' said Tom. 'With two thousand pieces, you could put them back in a different way and get a prettier result.'

The mood began to flow again and once she was sure of it Annie gave Tom a look of relief and thanks, which he acknowledged with just the smallest softening of his eyes. It struck her as uncanny that this man who'd never fully known a child of his own should so understand each wounding nuance that passed between her and Grace.

The apple tart wasn't so great. Annie had forgotten the cinnamon and she could tell as soon as she cut the first slice that it could have done with another fifteen minutes. But no one seemed to mind and the kids all had ice cream instead anyway and were soon off to the computer again while the adults sat and had coffee at the table.

Frank was complaining about the conservationists, the greenos as he called them, and how they didn't understand the first damn thing about ranching. He addressed himself to Annie because the others had clearly heard it a hundred times. These maniacs were letting wolves go, shipping the damn things in from Canada so they could come and help the grizzlies eat the cattle. A couple of weeks back, he said, a rancher down near Augusta had two heifers taken.

'And all these greenos flew up from Missoula with their choppers and consciences and all and said, sorry old buddy, we'll airlift him out for ya, but don't you go trapping or shooting him or we'll nail your hide in court. Damn thing's probably lazing by the pool now at some five-star hotel, you and me footing the bill.'

Tom was grinning at Annie and Frank saw and pointed a finger at him.

'This guy's one of 'em, Annie, I tell ya. Ranching in his blood and he's green as a seasick frog on a pool table. You wait till Mr Wolf takes one of his foals, oh boy. It'll be the three big Ss.'

Tom laughed and saw Annie's frown.

'Shoot, shovel and shut the hell up,' he confided. 'The caring rancher's response to nature.'

Annie laughed and was suddenly aware of Diane's eyes on her. And when Annie looked at her, Diane smiled in a way that only emphasized that she hadn't been smiling before.

'What do you think, Annie?' she asked.

'Oh, I don't have to live with it.'

'But you must have an opinion.'

'Not really.'

'Oh surely. You must cover this kind of thing all the time in your magazine.'

Annie was surprised to be so pursued. She shrugged.

'I suppose I think every creature has a right to live.'

'What, even plague rats and malarial mosquitoes?'

Diane was still smiling and the tone was light but there was something beneath it that made Annie cautious.

'You're right,' she said after a moment. 'I guess it depends who they bite.'

Frank gave a roar of laughter and Annie allowed herself a glance at Tom. He was smiling at her. So too, in a less fathomable way, was Diane who seemed at last prepared to let the subject drop. Whether that was so remained a mystery because suddenly there was a yell and Scott was behind her grabbing her shoulder, his cheeks hot with outrage.

'Joe won't let me use the computer!'

'It's not your turn,' Joe called from where the others were all still huddled around the screen.

'It is too!'

'It's not your turn Scott!'

Diane called Joe over and tried to mediate. But the yelling got worse and soon Frank was involved too and the fight shifted from the particular to the general.

'You never let me have a turn!' Scott said. He was near tears.

'Don't be such a baby,' Joe said.

'Boys, boys.' Frank had his hands on their shoulders.

'You think you're so great—'

'Oh shut up.'

'—giving Grace riding lessons and all.'

Everyone went quiet except for some cartoon bird squawking on oblivious on the computer screen. Annie looked at Grace who immediately looked away. No one seemed to know what to say. Scott was a little daunted by the effect his revelation had produced.

'I saw you!' His voice was more taunting but less certain. 'Her on Gonzo, down by the creek!'

'You little shit!' Joe said it through his teeth and at the same time made a lunge. Everyone erupted. Scott was knocked back against the table and coffee cups and glasses went flying. The two boys fell in a tangle to the floor, with Frank and Diane above them yelling and trying to lever them apart. Craig came running, feeling he should somehow be involved here too but Tom put out a hand and took gentle hold of him. Annie and Grace could only stand and watch.

The next moment Frank was marching the boys out of the house, Scott wailing, Craig crying in sympathy and Joe in a silent fury which spoke louder than both. Tom went with them as far as the kitchen door.

'Annie I'm so sorry,' Diane said.

They were standing by the wreckage of the table like dazed hurricane survivors. Grace stood pale and alone across the room. As Annie looked at her, something that was neither fear nor pain but a hybrid of both seemed to cross the girl's face. Tom saw it too when he came back from the kitchen and he went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

'You okay?'

She nodded without looking at him.

'I'm going upstairs.'

She picked up her cane and made her way with awkward haste across the room.

'Grace…' Annie said gently.

'No Mom!'

She went out and the three of them stood and listened to the sound of her uneven footsteps on the stairs. Annie saw the embarrassment on Diane's face. On Tom's there was a compassion that, if she'd let it, would have made her weep. She inhaled and tried to smile.

'Did you know about this?' she said. 'Did everyone know except me?'

Tom shook his head. 'I don't think any of us knew.'

'Maybe she wanted it to be a surprise,' Diane said.

Annie laughed.

'Yeah, well.'

She wanted them only to go, but Diane insisted on staying to clear the place up and so they stacked the dishwasher and cleared the broken glass from the table. Then Diane rolled up her sleeves and got going on the pots and pans. She clearly thought it best to be chirpy and chattered on at the sink about the barn dance Hank had invited them all to on Monday.

Tom said barely a word. He helped Annie haul the table back to the window and waited while she switched off the computer. Then, working side by side, they started to load all her work things back onto the table.

What prompted her, Annie didn't know, but suddenly she asked how Pilgrim was. He didn't answer right away, just went on sorting some cables, not looking at her, while he considered. His tone, when at last he spoke, was almost matter-of-fact.

'Oh, I reckon he'll make it.'

'You do?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Are you sure?'

'No. But you see Annie, where there's pain, there's still feeling and where there's feeling, there's hope.'

He fixed the last cable.

'There you go.' He turned to face her and they looked each other in the eye. 'Thanks,' Annie said quietly. 'Ma'am, it's my pleasure. Don't let her turn you away.'