No Horse Wanted by LLC Melange Books

headed toward him, along with everyone
else.
    “Okay, here’s the deal.” He laid out the
route. It was still pretty easy, just four miles around town and
only a couple big hills. “Any comments?”
    Porter tapped her foot. “Okay if we do it
twice or three times?”
    “No. You do it once, Porter.” Coach Norris
ran a hand through his thinning brown hair. He was in good shape
for a guy older than my dad. “The rest of you get going. Gwen,
Robin, and Porter, stay here. I want to talk to you.”
    Steve gave us a sympathetic look, then jogged
off with a couple of the guys.
    Coach waited until everyone was gone. He
frowned at us, his tone stern. “I know what you three are thinking.
Don’t go there. Until I get permission from the principal and
school board to increase the duration, the most we do during
practice is four miles. Got it?”
    Gwen widened big blue eyes and put on her
super-innocent look. “But, it is okay if we keep practicing on our
own time, isn’t it?”
    “You’d better if you want to improve your
Personal Records at this meet.” He winked. “Now, get out of here
and try not to get lost. I expect you back in an hour and a
half.”
    “Yes, Coach.” I led off and the other two
girls followed me. I saw the guys up ahead of us, but I didn’t
care. We’d gotten a pretty strong hint that if we veered from the
route, Coach Norris wouldn’t say anything as long as we kept to the
same timeframes as the rest of the team. I glanced at Gwen when she
caught up with me. “Up Golf Course Hill and then down
88 th street or the other way around?”
    She laughed. “Golf Course.”
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    Monday, September 16 th , 6:45 p.m.
     
    Conversation ebbed and flowed around the
dinner table. I waited for one of the pauses, then glanced across
the table at Jack. “Can you help me with an English
assignment?”
    Silence and the three of them stared at me
like I’d escaped from a horror movie. Dad was the first one to
talk. “Robbie, I thought you weren’t that interested in
school?”
    “I’m not,” I said, “but you told me I had to
earn half the money for my car and I guess I want to try for some
A’s. Besides, Mrs. Weaver isn’t like the teachers at my old school.
She’s not going to let this go. If I don’t do my work for her, I’ll
end up on academic probation. Then, I can’t do cross-country.”
    “How will she stop you?” Mom asked, curious.
“Cut off your legs?”
    “I just told you. Coach Norris warned us that
he’ll be sending around grade-checks every week before the meets.
Anything below a C in any of my classes and I’ll be benched.”
    Mom nodded, satisfied for the moment. “Well,
I knew your teacher wouldn’t convince you to give up cross-country.
You’ve been running as long as I can remember. I’d take you with me
to the Farmer’s Market, and you’d race from one end of the street
to the other. You were so cute. When you were exhausted, you’d plop
down in front of my booth and go to sleep with your blankie and
teddy. Customers had to walk around you.”
    “It was really embarrassing when she did that
last summer,” Jack said.
    I stuck my tongue out at him before I
remembered I needed his help, and he laughed at me. For once, Mom’s
stories didn’t make me feel bad. I must have been really little
when I went with her to the open-air, summer market. “I bet Jack
did something equally wonderful.”
    “Oh, yes.” Mom was off and running. “He used
to help carry things from the car, and Felicia would want to set up
my booth. But, Jack would go out and stop people wandering through
the market. He’d say, ‘You need one of my Mom’s quilts. You have to
buy it so I can have a new book or new paints or new whatever.’ The
other gals wanted to know if I’d rent him out so they could make
more money at their stalls.”
    While she chattered about how amazing the
three of us were as little kids, Jack scowled at me. “Don’t you
dare tell Vicky any of