Wild Girl by Patricia Reilly Giff Page B

with Tio in Jales. He would stamp both feet, pulling at his mustache until he winced. I would yell, my voice as loud as his, and once I threw a book at the wall. Even Titia Luisa would slam the drawers in the kitchen so hard that everything in the house seemed to vibrate.
    I remember how satisfying it all was, because after it was over, we’d sit in the three chairs on the porch, rocking, and one of us would start to laugh, setting the other two off.
    But not here. Here was silence.
    Echoing in my mind was Mamãe’s voice:
You’ll make a family
.
    I hadn’t done that, not even close.
    But never mind that. There was something else I wanted to do. Would I dare? Yes, because the Horseman would do nothing, say nothing, no matter what I did.
    I set my clock for four thirty the next morning so I’d be out of the house before Pai and Rafael were awake. I wanted to be in the barn before five, when they’d begin to exercise the horses.
    But I didn’t even need the alarm. I was wide awake by the time it rang. I threw on my clothes and went down to the kitchen to grab a banana out of the bowl, and another roll of peppermints from the drawer.
    I was out of the house long before five. It was chilly, so I dipped my chin deep into my jacket.
    José and an exercise boy were out on the track already, but a sliver of a girl was opening Wild Girl’s stall, ready to exercise her. She grinned at me. “I’m Sara,” she said in my own Portuguese. “I work here with the horses. Haven’t seen you.”
    I nodded. “My father—” I began, and broke off.
    “Our boss,” she said. “He’s a wonderful trainer. How well he knows horses!”
    I broke in, barely breathing, trying to sound calm. “I’ll be working with Wild Girl this morning. You want to exercise Love You instead?”
    She shrugged. “Sure,” she said, and moved down the aisle toward the end stall. I didn’t look after her. I went inside,leaning against the wall to catch my breath. Then I realized I didn’t even have the saddle.
    I poked my head out the stall door, but the girl was gone, and no one else was paying attention to me. I went into the tack room, brought out what I needed to ride, and was back a moment later.
    I reached for the peppermints in my pocket and fed one to Wild Girl and one to myself. “Remember me?” I asked her, touching that soft muzzle. “The girl with the candy?”
    I put another peppermint on the ledge, and she reached for it. I buckled on a helmet, then saddled her, my hands remembering doing this so many times in Jales.
    “A good taste, right?” I whispered. “I have more, and I can get tons of them. What do you say? Friends?”
    She chewed with thick teeth, then curled her large tongue over them, watching me.
    I reached out to her, raising my hand to run it over her neck, her silky skin rippling under my fingers. I leaned my head against her. “I haven’t ridden in so long,” I said. “Let me ride you. Let me pretend that you’re Cavalo and we’re home in Jales and heading across the field.”
    I pushed the stall door open with one hand and held the lead with the other. We walked along the aisle toward the high, open double doors in the back.
    Wild Girl’s head went up as she sniffed the outside air, and I smelled it, too. Spring! A slight mist was rising above the ground in wisps, and the overhead lights were still on. I could hear the faintest sound of music coming from the barn,and the clump of hooves on the oval. I pushed open the gate with my foot and clutched her black mane. Wild Girl never moved. She stood there quietly, her ears forward as if she was curious about me. She must have heard the sound of my breath, as I heard hers….
    Then I was up in the saddle, the fingers of one hand twisted in her wonderful wiry mane for a moment. I clicked my teeth, and it was as if we’d done this before, as if we’d done it a hundred times.
    Three horses were up ahead, and I could just about see the girl on Love You.
    Wild Girl