Page 34 of His Country

Win, lose, draw at least he could say he tried. That he squared up and took the hits on the chin.

At least he could look that kid in the eye.

He jumped down from the truck and drove out of the graveyard that was once a home. He didn’t look back, but he did look at himself in the rearview mirror.

For the first time in a long time, he didn’t look away.

And later that night, when he told Ethan he’d speak at the meeting, his smile was blinding. Aiden didn’t look away from that, either.

Hay rained down his jacket as Aiden dropped the round bale into the paddock. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the horses vying for the fresh hay, watching him with their ears pricked. They shuffled around, the more dominant horses pushing the others out of the way. Aiden couldn’t say much, Eagle was usually one of them. The little gelding never turned down an opportunity to pin his ears and crinkle his nostrils.

Thinking of his cranky gelding gave him a reprieve. Since he’d agreed to speak at the town hall meeting, it was all he couldthink about. One moment he was convinced it was a terrible idea and the next he was planning what he’d say. Aiden had never been big on speaking to anyone, let alone in front of people. And save trying to tell his mom cookies were a suitable substitute for broccoli, he’d never tried to convince anyone of anything.

Ethan assured him the words would come, but that was easy for him to say. The man oozed confidence. One look at his big brown doe eyes and people would be back flipping to do what he said. Aiden didn’t have that. He was short, broad shouldered, with an impassive face a girl at school had once called ‘serial killery’. He wasn’t built for public speaking.

But he was someone who kept his word. So even if he didn’t want to do it, and was certain it would be a total disaster, he was going to do it.

Pulling his knife from his back pocket, he began cutting through the netting holding the hay together. The horses began circling, debating on whether they could snag a bite before he was finished.

“Vultures,” he muttered, rolling his eyes.

Once he’d freed the net, he was able to drop the hay ring. It was an old, rusted thing but it kept the horses from crawling into the center of the bale and absolutely destroying it.

The moment it clanged into place they swarmed, leaning over the railing to eat at the first bits their lips could reach. As if they hadn’t been stuffing their faces just a few minutes ago on the remnants of the last bale.

He tossed the netting into the back of the truck and watched the horses eat. Sugar was circling them, her head low. A single hoof out of line and she’d be at their heels. It was so cold their coats were all fluffed up, looking more like stuffed toys than real animals. Frank’s mare stood out, towering over most of the herd. She had a bored look on her face as she chewed. Aiden usually went through the horses every morning, getting a good look ateach one to make sure they were doing ok, but he took a moment to do it again now.

Pushing his way through the crowd, he ran his hand down a pretty palomino’s leg that looked a little swollen. Feeling no heat or tenderness, he moved on. Eyes narrowed against the bright grey winter day, he looked at each horse. They were all there eating.

Except Eagle.

Worry began to gnaw at him as he stood on his tiptoes to look around, sure he must have missed him. The gelding hadn’t missed a meal in his life, especially on a cold day like this. He was usually first in line, finding Aiden to demand a peppermint before he chased off one of the more fainthearted horses.

Whistling for Sugar, he jumped up onto the truck bed to get a better view of the big paddock. It was twenty acres in total, cross fenced so they could rotate the horses should they need to. Now all the gates were open. It was relatively flat but there were some undulations, small hills, and tree groupings.

Sugar joined him, leaning against his leg. He shaded his eyes and scanned across the paddock until he saw him. A small dark blur laying down at the base of a small hill.

Despite common misconceptions, horsesdidlay down. But not for long, usually only twenty to thirty minutes at a time. The rest of the time they napped standing up. For Eagle to be laying down, alone, when the rest of the herd was eating was a bad sign.

Swearing, he hopped down off the bed and got into the truck. He drove across the field carefully, never taking his eye off Eagle. He was lying flat out, his blaze like a beacon against the dead grass. Pressing the accelerator, Aiden held his breath until he saw the rise and fall of his barrel against the grey skyline.

Throwing the truck into park, he was out the door before it rocked back. Sugar was close behind. He gave her a quick command to stay back as he approached Eagle’s head. Thegelding’s legs were straight out, and his breathing labored. The ground around him was chewed up, like he’d been thrashing, and Aiden’s heart broke.

“Hey big guy,” he called softly, relieved when he saw an ear flick his way. “What’d you do to yourself?” he knelt beside his head, stroking against his furry jaw. He didn’t need to check to know his pulse would be racing.

Eagle pushed himself up, looking at Aiden with the whites of his eyes showing. Aiden swore. This had to be colic. The last couple days had been pleasant and then today the temperature dropped. Eagle hadn’t had a problem before, but clearly this time it got to him.

Aiden had handled his fair share of colics. It was a broad term—it could be anything from gas to impaction, but nothing made horse owners break out in a sweat more than those two syllables. Unpredictable, and often unpreventable, it was a crapshoot. He’d had horses pull out of it without even needing to call the vet and others die in less than an hour.

He’d only come out to drop the hay, and the idea of leaving Eagle to go get a halter was abhorrent. Brushing his forelock from his face, he took a handful of mane.

“C’mon buddy, I know it hurts but I need you to get up.”

A few tugs had Eagle folding his legs underneath him and standing. He didn’t seem too weak yet. Hopefully he’d caught it quickly. With a cluck, he used the hand in Eagle’s mane to guide him toward the gate.

Aiden usually had no problem with his lack of a cellphone, but times like these made him want to kick himself. He would have liked to call ahead, get Isaac to come help. As it was, he struggled to keep Eagle walking. The gelding kept wanting to swing his head to bite at his sides, grunting in pain. Once, Aiden paused to let him rest so he could put an ear to his sides. He didn’t hear any gut sounds on either side. Another bad sign.

It took them a while to get up to the barn, by the time they did, evening was already falling. He got a halter for Eagle, sliding it over his head just as Isaac walked into the barn. He took one look at Eagle and the look on Aiden’s face, and he was pulling his phone out to call Frank.