Nickel-Bred Read Online Free Page A

that and stuck her hip
out so we knew she wanted my dad to look at her, not the horse.
    Dad sometimes forgot to be geeky and acted
cool, like he was doing this time. Totally ignoring Angel, he
turned around and went through the gate to Nickel. Addie and I
smiled at each other and followed. Addie climbed on the fence for a
better view. Angel stayed behind the fence, hands on hips,
watching. Dad gestured to me to hold the horse’s halter, and took
out the stethoscope he carried in his shirt pocket. He listened, he
looked, and he walked around Nickel several times. He looked in the
horse’s mouth and spoke softly to him, “Easy, son.”
    Addie and I watched and were quiet. Angel
paced around, occasionally tossing her mop of hair and sniffing.
Dad waved his hands in the horse’s face a few times, looked in its
eyes with an instrument.
    “What’s that thing?” Addie asked.
    “This is an ophthalmoscope,” he said, “It
gets me inside the eyeball, so I can see what’s going on.”
    He looked a few more minutes and said, “Okay,
Piper, you can let go of him.”
    “Well, Dad?” I said.” Dad turned and looked
at us for a minute.
    “This horse is healthy, around twelve years
old, as advertised. The only thing wrong with him is that he’s
blind in one eye.”
     

Chapter Seven
    ~ Possibilities ~
     
    Addie and I
stared at each other, seeing our chances of getting this horse
going down the drain. How could we ride a blind horse? How could we
trust him with Addie, who wasn’t a brave rider?
    “Mom even said she’d help pay for horse
feed,” Addie said, her lip quivering. “I had her convinced that it
was a good thing for me to have a whole horse for myself.” I patted
her on the back, but I felt rotten, too.
    Dad looked at both of us, then he looked at
Angel. “Did you know this horse was blind in one eye?”
    “Oh,...um...I didn’t know. Maybe Chickie
knew. It’s really his horse. Hey, I need to get back to the house.
So Doc, you call and let us know what you want to do. I mean, I’ll
help you with anything you want.” Angel ignored Addie and me,
giving my dad a wink and a smirk as she wiggled back to the
house.
    “Have you ridden him?” Dad asked us.
    “Yes,” I said. “He went just fine.”
    “I rode him by myself and didn’t want to get
off!” said Addie. “He’s fantastic. He’s just the gentlest, sweetest
horse.”
    “So how bad do you want this horse?” Dad
asked.
    “Can’t you tell?” I said. “Addie loves him.
She’s crazy about him. We really did want him. A lot. But if he’s
blind in one eye...”
    “That is not a deal-breaker,” Dad said.
    “It’s not?” Addie asked.
    “No, you can ride a horse that’s blind in one
eye. You can even ride one that is totally blind, if you know what
you’re doing.”
    “No kidding?” I said.
    “When you rode him, he was calm and steady?
Didn’t spook or startle?
    “Right,” I said. “He was perfect.”
    “Then I don’t see any reason not to get him,”
he said. “Let’s go home and check the barn you have Dotty in to
make sure there’s plenty of room for this one. What’s his
name?”
    “Nickel” said Addie. “’Cause he’s a
nickel-bred son of a...”
    “Addie!” I stopped her. None of our parents
like to hear us cussing and I didn’t want to ruin our chances here.
“Dad, he’s got an Arabian mother who jumped the fence into a field
of cross-bred colts. He’s not a purebred or anything.”
    “He’s very Arabian-looking,” said my dad.
“And if you really want to, and if his mother had papers, you could
register him as a half-Arab.”
    “You can do that?” Addie asked.
    “Sure,” said Dad. “Although I don’t see any
real reason for you to do that. You aren’t planning to show him,
right?”
    “Right,” I agreed. “Riding for fun. Trail
riding.”
    “Hop in the truck and I’ll take you back. You
can check the barn and make sure there’s room for another stall.”
So we all piled in the green Ford and