Morning Star (9 page)

He saw her at the bottom of the steps. Cindy, who was right behind him, screamed. He took the steps in leaps and skidded on his knees to her. She lay unconscious, blood seeped from a cut on the back of her head. 

"Get Martha!" Nate yelled, but the nurse had already hit the stairs bounding down them as fast as her legs would carry her, Cindy right behind.

The nurse pushed Nate out of the way. She immediately checked the girl's pulse, then the head wound.

"Towel," she yelled out and as Cindy went to run into the kitchen she saw the flames.

"Nate!"

He turned and saw them too.

"Get the towel," he bellowed to his wife and ran for the phone. He dialed the Millsborough Fire Department.

"I need an ambulance and fire trucks to the Rising Sun ranch now. My daughter's been hurt and the horse barn's on fire. Hurry please!" He hung up and ran back to Dannie. Martha held the towel firmly on the back of Dannie's head, Cindy knelt beside the girl holding her hand. She looked up at Nate.

"Nate, the horses."

Nate stared at Dannie and then out the window at the burning barn. He wouldn't try to save the horses. His daughter needed him also and he would not leave her side.

Nate carried Dannie up the stairs. Martha walked beside him applying pressure to Dannie's wound as  Cindy followed behind. Once in her room, they laid her on the bed. Cindy turned on the overhead light and the nurse moved in closer, examining the cut. 

"Talk to me Martha," Nate said while kneeling by the bed, holding his daughter's hand.

"The cut's not bad. It needs to be cleaned and stitched," she replied.

"The ambulance is on the way," Nate said.

"I'll clean the wound." The nurse turned to Cindy. "I'll need some warm water and a towel."

Cindy nodded. "Right away," she said and ran into the hallway.

"Best you take care of your horses Mister Walker. We'll meet you at the hospital," the nurse said while eyeing the wound.

"The horses are gone by now. I've lost them."

"Your girl's in good hands. Take care of your horses."

"Okay." He stood up. "I'll be back Dannie. I'll be right back," and he tore out of the room.

The stable closest to the house was engulfed in flames. The two stables next to it were untouched. He could hear the fire engine's siren in the distance above the crackle of the flames. It was only then that his mind turned from his daughter to the horses.

Twenty-three in this barn. Twenty-three including Betsy. He sank to his knees and covered his eyes. The weight he'd lost to a dream a few nights past had found him again. A different weight but just as heavy as before. It was too heavy to bear.

He heard the whinny of a horse behind him. He recognized Morning Star from the sound, but he sounded closer than the corral. He sounded nearer.

Nate rose up and turned around. Morning Star stood in front of him. Behind the dark blue horse were other horses. He saw Betsy among them. They stood still, all facing the flames. They stood still enough for him to count. He counted twenty-three of them.

27

The firemen did their best but the barn was a complete loss. Nate didn't care. The horses were secured in the corral, all but Morning Star who insisted on pushing Nate toward the back of what was left of the stable. The Millsborough police chief had arrived by then and followed behind.

The horse nudged Nate to the edge of a field. There amid the weeds lay a body.

The chief pushed forward. "Let me have a look."

He bent down and shined a flashlight beam into the body's face.

"It's Tommy Travers," he said. "He's alive, just unconscious. Looks like he's been up to no good. From that lump on his forehead. I'd say he paid the price for it. I'll call in another ambulance."

Nate looked down at the still body of Tommy Travers. His eyes scanned the ground around him. Something he remembered from a dream. His friend Dave had said it.
You need to find the flower.
And so had Katy.
You need to find it outside of a dream.

"Can I borrow your flashlight, Glenn?" he asked the policeman. 

It was handed to him and he walked to the right of Tommy Travers and stooped down. He pointed the light into the field. Dark blue flowers that looked like roses spread out around him. None were in bloom. 

Nate stood up and handed the flashlight back to the police chief.  

"I need to take care of something real quick and then I'm headed to the hospital to see Dannie,." He said. "Call me there if you need me."  

Nate arrived at Dannie's hospital room to see Martha, Cindy, and Doctor Fleming huddled around the girl's bed.

He walked over to Cindy. "Dannie?" 

She stared at the bed and held Dannie's hand. "She's patched up but still hasn't woken up."

"It might be a concussion. We're waiting on the X-rays," Fleming said.  

Cindy turned to him. Her eyes were red from crying. "I'm scared Nate."

Nate moved around to the nightstand by the bed. He held a drinking glass in his hand. Dirt filled the glass. A large flower bud, dark blue in color rose high and straight from the soil.

Nate placed the glass on the stand close to his daughter's head and walked back over to his wife.

"What?" she softly said.

"Shhh."

The room grew silent. For several seconds no one gathered around Dannie spoke. Then the flower next to Dannie began to unfold.

All eyes turned to the flower. It spread its petals slowly, each one smaller than the one before, as it spread apart. And when it had blossomed fully, when it looked as radiant as a spring morning, Dannie opened her eyes.

She turned her head to her father "Did you save the horses?" she asked him.

He reached for her hand. Tears of joy fell from his eyes as he bent down to kiss her forehead. The sound of crying filled the room around him. Doctor Fleming smiled and grasped Nate's shoulder.

"I didn't save them," her father said, "Morning Star did."

28

Fleming entered the room carrying a large white packet. "The X-rays are negative," he said to the group. "Had a feeling they would be. Want to have a look?"

"I'll take your word for it," Nate replied.

"I want 'em!" Dannie yelled out.

He handed the packet to her. "Take them as a souvenir," he said to her.

They left the hospital together, but not before Dannie visited her friends in the children's ward.

She had decided she was hungry the minute she was tucked in, famished she said. She woofed down one bowl of cereal and now plowed into her second serving.

"We'll be right back Dannie," her new mother said to her. "Okay?"

"Okay mom," Dannie said without looking up from the bowl in her lap. Martha waved them out with a smile.

They walked onto the porch. The night was still dark but in the distance, on the horizon, the sky had the light red color of the dawn.

She turned to him, wrapped her arms around his neck,  and kissed him on the lips. When they broke apart she gently caressed his cheek.

"What did you do in Dannie's hospital room, Nate? A blue rose that blossomed just as Dannie opened her eyes?" Cindy shook her head. "I thought I was seeing things."

"You were," Nate said.

Morning Star snorted behind them. It drew her thoughts to other matters.

"How did Morning Star save the horses? How did he escape the corral? Was the gate unlocked?"

"The gate was secure. I checked it when I let the horses in."

She started to speak, but he cut her off. "I know, he couldn't have jumped the fence, it's too tall. He couldn't have unlatched all the wooden enclosures in time. Maybe Tommy did it before he set fire to the place."

"What do you think?" she asked him.

He looked over at Morning Star. Behind the horse the sky was brightening. The horse turned around and looked up. A shooting star pierced the sky, disappearing in the brightness of the rising sun.

When it vanished the horse again turned to face them.

"I think Morning Star saved the horses," he said.

"So do I," said Cindy. "Now tell me about the blue rose."

The sun had crested the distant fields and climbed quickly in the early morning sky. Nate had said what needed to be told and now they sat side by side on the top porch step watching the sunrise.

Inside the house a phone rang.

"I'd better get that," Nate said.

Cindy raised his hand and kissed it. "Thanks for telling me," she said as they both stood. 

She headed up the stairs as Nate took the call. Dannie slept peacefully and Cindy tiptoed to Martha who sat by the bed smiling down on the child. She sat next to the nurse who turned to her.

"Dannie will be alright," the nurse whispered.

"Would you like to hear a story?" Cindy whispered back. 

29

The phone call came from Walker General. It seemed that not long after Tommy came around he confessed to the fire, stating it was an accident.

According to Glenn Slaton, the chief of police, Tommy claimed his intent was to hijack the horse his father wanted. He was scouring the barn looking for the horse when the fire started. Seems he forgot to bring a flashlight and used matches to find his way around, one of the matches finding its way into a stack of straw. He further claimed that he went to get a water bucket from the trough when the very horse he was looking for approached him, introducing himself with a hard kick to Tommy's forehead. 

When Slaton asked Tommy if that was the case, how did you end up passed out in the rear of the barn? Tommy, with a straight face, told the police chief that's where he landed from the kick.

Bill Travers hopped on the line then, apologizing up a storm and saying he would personally assure Nate that his barn would be back up, bigger and fancier than before, in record time. 

Nate passed this information on to Cindy who sighed in disbelief. 

"That boy needs to be locked up somewhere far away from matches and horses," she said.

"Shouldn't be a problem. I understand this is his third offense. He's being charged with reckless endangerment. Would have been worse if any of the horses perished. I doubt his old man will bail him out this time. It's time he learned a lesson, Bill told me."

They sat around the kitchen table drinking coffee, Nate, Cindy, and Martha. Dannie slept upstairs.  

"I told Martha what we discussed on the porch, the flower, the dreams, everything," Cindy said.

Nate turned to the nurse. "How do you feel about the events of the last couple of weeks."

The nurse sipped her coffee then placed the cup on the table. She folded her hands in front of her.

"I went to the field in back of the barn a little while ago. The blue flowers are there, lots of them, and none have bloomed. Later today I will dig up five of them, one for each child at Walker General. I will take them to the hospital and personally place a flower at each bedside."

She closed her eyes and continued. 

"I believe in miracles. There was a time not long ago when I didn't."

She opened her eyes and smiled.

"What did I know?"

Al and Margaret arrived a short time later. Cindy told Margaret everything while they waited for Dannie to wake. Nate did the same as he and Al inspected the remains of the barn and tended to the horses.