Nickel-Bred (8 page)

Addie stood there with a bunch of towels and
dry clothes. What a friend!

“Can you take Nickel? He needs to get dried
off and put in a stall with hay and some oats,” I said.

“I’m on it,” said Addie, taking the lead rope
from me, as I slid off and handed it over. “Are you okay?” She
rubbed Nickel’s dripping head.

“I think so,” I said. “I’m freezing cold and
sopping wet, but we did it!”

“No, I meant Nickel. Is he okay?”

“He’s a jewel. All the way in the storm and
not a single panic attack.”

I went into a stall and stripped off my wet
clothes, toweling myself dry as I went. Now that the rain and wind
had stopped, the air was warming and beginning to feel humid. I put
on a dry t-shirt and jeans, then fished my cellphone out of my wet
jeans, hoping it wasn’t ruined.

I checked on Addie. She was brushing Nickel,
who had his head in a rubber feed dish, eating oats. They looked
happy with each other. Addie looked up at me.

“Hey, thanks for my horse.”

“You’re welcome. I wonder when you can ride
with your hurt ankle.”

“I’ll ask Doc Williams. I have to go see him
again tomorrow. Maybe I can ride soon.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“Not too much, as long as I don’t jump on it
or anything.”

I put my bundle of wet clothes in a corner of
the barn. Dotty had a walk-in stall and had come in to see who was
in her barn. She stood with her nose over the stall divider,
sniffing at Nickel who sniffed back. They made gurgling sounds in
their throats as they got to know each other. Horses were herd
animals and liked the company of other horses. I had to smile when
I saw them.

Since the rain had stopped, I looked at Addie
and we nodded at each other, mentally agreeing it was time to go.
The sky still lit up and thunder rolled in the distance, but the
storm seemed to be mostly over. We turned out the barn light and
walked up to Miss Julie’s house to face the music with my mom. I
was guessing that Miss Julie, Mom and Sam would be the only ones
there. Then, when Mom got over yelling at me, she could call Dad
and break the news to him. Or maybe she wouldn’t yell. Maybe she
would be nice and understanding since Sam was there. I could only
hope. I must have worried out loud because Addie stopped me and
said, “Pipe, what’s done is done. We have to live with it. And so
do they.”

Chapter Fifteen

~ Trouble ~

We walked
up to the back door. I peered through the window in the door and
was surprised to see Miss Julie, Sam and Mom all standing in a
huddle in the middle of the living room. I was even more surprised
to see that their hands were tied in front of them. Standing near
them and talking to each other were Chickie, Angel and a man I
guessed must be Earl. I grabbed Addie’s arm, pulling her off the
porch and all the way to the barn.

“What’s going on?” she said.

“Shhh! Don’t be too loud! The storm is over
and our voices could carry! Chickie, Angel and Earl are in there
and they have Mom, Sam and Miss Julie tied up. They must be robbing
Miss Julie!”

“What are we going to do?” Addie’s voice
shook.

“We have to call for help,” I said, taking
out my phone and dialing 9-1-1. Nothing. My phone was dead. “It’s
dead as a hammer. Addie, do you have yours?”

Addie took out her phone and dialed 9-1-1. No
signal. She walked all over the barn, trying to get bars on her
phone.

“Stupid phone!” she said. “Stupid cell
towers! I’ll have to go to the road. Once you’re on the main road,
you can usually get a signal.”

“Okay. I’ll go see if I can distract them
somehow. They won’t be expecting me. Hey, what are you doing?”
Addie was pulling down the halter I had just put up.

“I’ve got to ride out to the road. It will
take too long to walk and someone could be hurt...or worse, by
then.” She went into Nickel’s stall, haltered him and led him out
into the main area of the barn without hesitating.

“Addie, are you sure you want to do
this?”

“I have to, Piper, and I have to do it fast!”
She swallowed. I knew my friend. She didn’t want to think about the
riding involved, she just wanted to start doing it.

“At least let me do this.” I grabbed a saddle
that we had thought would fit Nickel and threw it over his back,
cinching it tight. “You be a good boy just a little longer,” I said
to the horse, hugging his neck, “and I’ll give you a lifetime of
apples and carrots.”

Addie swung up onto Nickel’s back, turned his
head with the halter rope, took a deep breath and walked
purposefully out into the light drizzle. I grabbed a plastic
carry-all with a horse brush, currycomb and hoof pick in it, and
headed toward the house.

Addie started up the long driveway, Nickel
stepping out quickly. He had a lot of energy left after just
plodding three miles in a thunderstorm. What a horse we had! I
turned to go to the house and throw my horse grooming tools at the
windows to distract the criminals.

As I neared the house, the back door opened
and Chickie came running out. “Hey!” he yelled, looking at Addie on
Nickel. “One of those girls is out here! I’ll get her. Get back
here, girl!” He started running across the yard toward Addie. He
would go directly in front of me, trying to grab Addie. I couldn’t
let him grab her, or make Nickel spook and throw Addie, so I
jumped. I jumped a long way and I jumped hard, landing on Chickie’s
back. As we fell to the ground, I started hitting him on the head
with the heavy plastic box.

About then, someone grabbed me from behind
and pinned my arms behind my back. This man was skanky and dirty
with greasy hair. A match for Chickie. It had to be Earl.

“Hey, let go! He was trying to hurt my
friend!” I said, trying for innocence and indignation. I struggled
against him. Chickie picked himself up off the ground and wiped mud
and blood off his face. “I’ll take her inside,” he said. “The other
kid is long gone, so we better get goin’ ourselves and get outa
here.”

“Yes, you should get out of here,” I
retorted, trying to seem braver than I felt.

“Shut up and get inside,” said Earl. He
shoved me in the door, through to the living room, where he dumped
me into the fat armchair that was Miss Julie’s reading place. I got
a strong whiff of armpits from him, as well as cigarette smoke.

“Look what I found,” he said. “She was
throwing stuff at the windows.”

“Well, well, it’s the smart aleck brat,” said
a female voice, and Angel appeared in front of me, holding a large
knife. “You have to interfere in everything, don’t you?”

“Piper,” my mother said in a shaky voice, “do
what they say. They don’t want to hurt us, they just want to take
some things.”

“You shut up, too! I told you not to talk,”
said Angel.

“Sweetie, we really should leave,” Chickie
said to her. “There are too many people here and we thought there
would only be one little old lady in the house. Would have been
easy pickin’s, but it’s not worth it. The other kid probably went
for help.”

“Sweetie, we should leave,” Angel mimicked
him in a nasty voice. “Do you hear yourself? Where are your guts?
You need to put gags in all their mouths before I get super ticked.
We just need to hurry a little.”

I looked over at Sam, Mom, and Miss Julie,
trying to tell them with my eyes that help would be coming. Sam was
bruised and had a bloody lip. He must have put up a fight. Mom
looked fierce. Her temper would help her out if she didn’t make
them angry. Miss Julie was paler than usual and I hoped she wasn’t
going to pass out as Chickie put kitchen towels in their mouths and
tied the towels behind their heads.

“Now, Sugar-pie, don’t talk like that,”
Chickie said. “We decided before we came here what we wanted to do.
But all these people make it impossible. We should go.”

“Hold on, bro,” said Earl. “I’m kind of
agreein’ with my Angel there. We’re here already, so let’s look for
jewelry and silver and stuff. Make it worth our while. We can be
gone fast where no one will find us, but let’s get some sparklies
to justify our time. A rich old lady like this must have collected
a lot of bling over the years.”

“Wait! What do you mean,
your
Angel?
She’s
my
Angel, if she’s anyone’s,”said Chickie. “Tell, him,
Sweetie.”

“I’m nobody’s Angel, but my own,” said Angel.
“You two can’t manage to find two dollars between you. Both of
y’all are loser dopers. And
you
!” She looked straight at me
with crazy, hate-filled eyes.

“I had a chance with that handsome doctor you
call Daddy, but no! You had to poison him against me!”

“No, I didn’t ever...” I began.

“Shut up, brat! Earl, will you gag this
child? I have to think.” She paced the living room hardwood floor,
looking out the window every now and then. Willie Nelson came
mewing into the room and Angel delivered a swift kick to his side.
The kitten sailed behind the sofa where I couldn’t see it. Tears of
pity leaked from my eyes. What kind of maniac would kick a
kitten?

“Stupid cat,” she said. “That cat was
supposed to soften up the doc so he’d like me.”

Earl put an old dish rag in my mouth and tied
it behind my head. I moved it around in my mouth, tasting
grease.

“Earl, you go upstairs and search for watches
and good jewelry. You know the kind of thing I like. Then come down
and find some fancy silverware.” Angel was good at giving orders to
the men and I realized that she was the leader of this pack. The
crazy brains behind their scrawny brawn.

“Okay, darlin’, I’m on my way.”

“Chickie, do you think you can manage to take
these three people to the basement and tie them up down there so
they can’t get away? I’ll bring the brat, but I want to mess her up
a little first for causing us problems.”

“Yeah, sure, Sweetie. But maybe you should
take the adults, since their hands are tied. The rope is down there
and I can bring a little girl downstairs easy.” Angel looked at
him, looked at me, and nodded.

“I guess it does make sense for me to take
the bigger ones. Let’s go, people!” She poked Sam in the side with
her big knife. He glared at her, then looked at me helplessly.

“Head for the basement, pretty boy!” she
said. Sam led the way, with Miss Julie and then my mom close
behind, glaring at Angel.

“
Let’s go, girlie,” said Chickie. “Too
bad about this. I was hoping you would give my horse a good home.
But once Angel gets something in her head, well, it’s best to do
what she says. At least you won’t be up here with her and her
knife. She don’t like you.”

As we started to walk toward the basement
door, I bumped into a lamp, knocking it hard so it went crashing
into a table.

“
Hey, stupid, what’s going on up
there?” Angel called from the basement.

“Just a little mishap, sweetness,” Chickie
called back, picking up the lamp. “Don’t be dumb, kid. Just do what
you’re told.”

He directed me to the basement door and down
the stairs. The others were tied to various poles around the
basement. We were met by Angel, who handed him some rope. Chickie
tied my hands together, and then tied me to a pole. Angel stood in
front of me, staring and playing with the large knife she held.
“Any phones?” she asked Chickie.

“Uh, I don’t think so,” he said.

“Didn’t look, did you, dummy?” She patted me
on the butt and the front of my jeans, checking for phones. When
she found nothing, she straightened and checked her watch. “We’d
better hurry it up,” she said.

“Hey, Angel!” Earl called from upstairs. “I
found a bunch of watches, jewelry and stuff. We better get goin’.
We’ve been here way too long!”

“You are really lucky, brat,” Angel said. “I
won’t have time to do what I wanted. But I will have time to start
a little fire.” She snickered and trotted up the stairs, Chickie
following and arguing.

With Angel, Chickie, and Earl upstairs, we
were all left tied and gagged in the basement. We looked at each
other, but there was no way I could tell them that Addie had gone
for help. My mom was beginning to look scared, Sam looked
ferocious, and Miss Julie sagged against a pole, breathing heavily.
We heard a lot of clomping back and forth upstairs, and all of us
kept looking up and wondering who was going where and with what. I
was pretty sure they were cleaning out the whole house and there
would be nothing left. I didn’t care as long as they left us
alone.

That was when I smelled the smoke. I closed
my eyes and tried not to panic. Were we going to die down here in a
housefire before help arrived?

Chapter Sixteen

~ Threats ~

As the four
of us stared at each other, worried that we were going to die in
that basement, we heard the best sound in the world: sirens. Sirens
of police cars pulling up to the house, then running feet, slamming
doors and shouts. We looked at each other, unable to speak, but
silently telling each other that help had arrived and we were
safe.

In a few minutes, there was a clomping of
feet on the basement stairs and soon Dad was hugging me and pulling
the gag out of my mouth. Harvey Martin undid the ties on Miss
Julie, then Sam and my mom. Dad went over to check on Miss Julie
and then came back to me.

“Are you all right? Are you really all
right?” he kept asking.

“Yes, Dad, I’m fine. I’m worried about Miss
Julie, though. And Addie. She rode out to call for help.”

Miss Julie was sitting down on an old sofa
she had stored in the basement.

“I’ll be all right, child, I just need to sit
down a minute. I’m a tough old bird and it will take more than that
passel of no ‘counts to finish me off.” She sounded like her old
self, at least.