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“Nothing. He’s all tied up.” I move to the front of him while Rhett lets himself in the stall. “His heartrate is still increasing.”
Rhett has his phone to his ear. “Dr. Adler, yeah, it’s Everett Copeland at Sea Star Ranch. Yeah, I called earlier. Yeah, he’s down.” There’s a pause before Rhett hands the phone to me. “He wants to know Chief’s vitals.”
Chapter 19
Rhett
H
How’d she do it? ow’d she do it? How’d she know it was coming? I’ve grown up here and I’ve never seen a horse hide colic. But watching her move, talking to the vet on the phone, checking gums, relating vitals, she clearly knows what she’s doing.
“I don’t think I can get him up,” I overhear her say to the vet. “We can try, but don’t count on it. What else can we do?”
She shifts again, palpating Chief’s belly, following the instructions of the vet on the phone. I can’t help thinking what might have happened if she’d followed my advice. Dad’s had Chief since he was born. His sire was Commander, my grandfather’s horse. Losing chief like this, I don’t know what it would do to Dad.
“Rhett, do you have Banamine?”
I stutter at first, not sure. “I think so.” I let myself out of the stall, not bothering to lock up. Jogging to the office, I pull open the equine first aid cabinet. Searching out the medication, I find the tube of Banamine paste. I jog down the runway back to meet Sunny. Chief’s quiet disposition has faded, instead the discomfort has increased as he tries to roll back and forth.
“The vet is on his way.” Sunny steps back from the ailing horse, watching with nervous eyes. “He wants us to try to get him up and moving if we can, and we should give him a dose of that.”
She starts to get in a position to urge Chief to stand, but I catch her arm. “Sunny, I just want to say—”
“Save it. Tell me you’re sorry when he’s fine. I don’t have time right now.”
Once more, I’m given a glimpse at the person she was before she came. Emergencies don’t scare her. She comes alive like she was raised in the midst of this. I’m freaking out because I never deal with any of this. Something happens, Dad calls the vet or deals with it himself. I step back and let him handle it, but not Sunny. She throws herself into the thick of it. Once more, I don’t know what would have happened if she weren’t here. I don’t know how Dad’s going to take any of this, but I know I’m not going to shrink back this time. No matter what, I’m staying by her side.
“Tell me where you want me.”
Rhett
“I’ll take a turn. You look like you’re gonna drop.” I hold my hand out to Sunny. Without a fight, she puts the lead rope in it. I’m not sure how we got the old man on his feet, but now that he is, I’m not willing to let him stop walking until the Dr. Adler shows up.
“It shouldn’t be long now, right?” Sunny perches against the rail in the yard, lights from the stalls barely illuminating her face.
“Any minute.” Dr. Adler lives about thirty-five minutes from the ranch, and since I alerted him early, he was ready to go. As if cued by the conversation, truck lights pull down the road. I pat Chief’s neck. He’s not out of the woods yet, but he’s got a better chance with Dr. Adler here.
“Vet’s here,” I call to Sunny over Chief’s head. Chief groans, either from the pain he’s in, or because he hates the vet, I can’t be sure. Sunny hops down from her perch, eager to talk to the vet.
Dr. Adler parks and approaches, calling for me to pull Chief into the light at the front of the barn. “Bring that old boy over here, would you?”
“Sure thing, Dr. Adler.” I walk the ever-tiring senior horse to meet the vet, noting the way his head is drooping. “He was fine up to about an hour ago. Sunny noticed some loose manure, but I guess I didn’t think anything of it.”
Dr. Adler ignores me, instead moving his trained hands all over Chief’s body. Talking to himself, and a little to Chief, he works his way around. I look up toward the house just in time to see Dad storming up the pathway in his bathrobe. I swear under my breath, knowing this won’t be pretty. “Sunny, can you take his lead for me?” I pass it off to her quickly, hoping I can stop this escapade before it explodes full blast.
“I told you Everett that Chief was fine and no way were you allowed to entertain this girl’s wild ideas about what is going on with my horse.” Dad’s arms flail through the air. He shoves the hands that pull at his shoulder an continues his tirade. “I’ll call the sheriff, I’ll call the FBI, I’ll call the CIA if that’s what it takes but I’m done taking orders from this girl that came out of nowhere to turn our lives upside down!”
“Dad,” I’m surprised to see that the arms trying to hold him back belong to Carl, “calm down. It’s not a huge deal. She’s trying to help, I’m sure of it.”
I move to intercept him, but he bullies right past me. “I can’t believe you call Victor down here in the middle of the night!” His chubby finger points directly at Sunny. “You better get packing. You’ve caused your last problem around here. Always getting your claws in my boys, filling their heads full of ideas about trail rides on the beach and pulling them away from the work they were born to do! You better get a move on because I already called the sheriff, and your meddling days are through!”
Dr. Adler clears his throat from Chief’s back end. “Buddy, is that you?”
“Victor,” Dad’s tone changes as he rewraps his robe around his round body. “I’m sorry Everett dragged you out of bed for nothing.” He motions to his robe. “Seems to be a talent of his, I suppose.”
Adjusting his glasses, Dr. Adler comes from behind Chief. “I don’t mind, especially since this wasn’t for nothing. Chief definitely has an impaction in his pelvic flexure. I think I’m here in the nick of time.” He points to Sunny at the front of the horse. “Close as I can tell, Buddy, that girl saved your horse’s life.”
Sunny
