"No," Malyna said sharply, "I’m not the least bit tired I want to do my chores!"
"Don’t you dare disagree with me young lady," Emily yelled," you need your rest, now go to your room!"
"Humph," Malyna huffed, banging her bowl and the glass on the counter with a huge amount of force. "I’ll go to my room but I won’t sleep," Malyna snapped, running up the stairs, to her room.
As Malyna lay on her bed she thought "I guess I am a little sleepy maybe I will take a short nap."
"Hey sleepy head I thought that you said you were not tired it’s 2:00 you’ve slept 7 hours and you’re still sleeping. Are you ever going to wake up?"
"I might if you stop talking to me and let me wake up on my own," Malyna said rolling onto her back and facing her mom who was trying to wake her up.
"Okay I get it, but you really need to do your chores," Emily said getting up from the bed and moving over to the door. "Oh and if you’re going outside you better change out of your P.J’s," she said as Malyna grabbed the sweater and rubber boots.
"Thanks a lot," Malyna said to the door that Emily had just gone out of, and started getting dressed.
She pulled on her knee high rubber boots, John Deer tractor T-shirt and matching sweater then she put on her navy colored jeans with a golden puppy embroidered on it and then headed down the stairs and out of the back door to the big red barn.
"Hi Carl, hi dad," Malyna said. "What can I do to help?"
"Well..." Carl said thoughtfully. "I guess you can feed the chickens, I was just about to do that so you can."
"Sure," Malyna replied excitedly, she loved feeding the chickens.
"Can I play with the newly born ones, too?" Malyna asked.
"Of course, but keep them underneath the heat lamp or else they will get cold," her dad reminded her.
"Great," Malyna said, a grin spreading across her face. She took the two buckets from Carl; one was for the older chickens and the other for the newly born ones.
Malyna came into the chicken coop singing her usual song "Chickens, chickens come to me, I have your food and you are hungry." As usual all the chickens and even the rooster came to see her.
Malyna quickly spread the grain and corn and checked the water bowl. Then she shut their door and went into another part of the chicken coop, this part was kept above room temperature so the babies would stay warm. Richard built the chicken coop when one of the chicks died from too much cold air. Ever since he built the "warming pen" as Richard put it, none of the chickens die.
"Hi my little ones," Malyna called walking over to the newly hatched babies. She noticed only 4 out of the 6 chicks under the lamp had hatched. Malyna sat down on her heels and watched, they were so cute! Walking all over one another, the 2 week old ones were just as fun; they would run around and play tag. Malyna could have watched them all day and never get bored.
"Malyna," Carl called. "Are you finished feeding the chicks yet?"
"No, not yet," she replied.
"You need to hurry up so you can feed Kendra, Golden, Lexxi and Akayla. Dad and I will do the rest." Carl yelled back.
"Okay," she shouted back.
"Come on little ones," Malyna said walking toward the two week old babies. "It’s time for you guys to learn how to eat regular food, like corn and grain." The Coopers had made up a chicken barn mash sort of like the horse one. Emily made it up; it had molasses, corn and grain in it.
"Come my babies; come and get it," she called pouring the grain into a red chicken feeder and shaking it slightly. Malyna then stood back and watched them devour the tasty treat. Malyna smiled at the sight of them pushing each other so they can get to the food first.
Chapter 7
"Hi Lexxi," Malyna said walking into her horse’s stall. "Are you hungry, girl?" Malyna asked her horse, "Here’s your feed bucket and while you’re eating I’m going to groom you so we can go riding. Right next to the Cooper’s land were a bunch of trails that anybody could use. Malyna loved going on those trails; they were owned by a really wealthy person who knew that most people had enough money to keep a horse but not enough money to pay to go on trails.
While she groomed, Malyna thought of all the fun they would have on the trail. In her mind Malyna thought about where they would go and what they would bring.
There was a nice little pond that was kept clean so on warm days the ponies or horses and riders could go for a swim. There is a smaller pond for ponies and horses and small riders then a bigger one for just experienced swimmers (14 feet deep at middle) horses couldn’t go in here because they would drown.
"I’ll just be a little while Lexxi, I’m getting things we need for our trail ride." Malyna said letting herself out of Lexxi’s stall and ran up to the house. When Malyna came back down to Lexxi’s stall she had a saddle, brindle and hook on saddle bag with her. Malyna had packed everything that Lexxi and she would need for their trail ride in the hook on bag. "Sorry girl," Malyna said putting the bridle on she never did like to do that, like would you want to have someone putting a cold bar in your mouth?
"There," Malyna exclaimed "all done." Lexxi was now saddled and groomed ready for the ride.
"Okay girl, which way should we go," Malyna asked Lexxi when they came to a fork in the path. Giving her the free rein so that she could choose which way to go Malyna watched her intently for some kind of sign that determined what way to go.
"To the left? Sure." Malyna said taking up the reins again and pushing Lexxi into a gallop. "Let’s go to the pond," Malyna shouted above Lexxi’s thundering hoof beats.
Malyna was so glad Lexxi picked this trail it would take them straight to the small pond where they could both cool off, together.
"C’mon Lexxi, lets go swimming," Malyna said stripping off her clothes so that she was in her bathing suit, and leading her mare into the water she dived down a few feet then popped back up doing a back float so she could talk with Lexxi.
"Oh Lexxi I just can’t believe it, mom and dad are going to ask around if the golden puppy is their dog and if they say that the puppy is theirs they will have to have proof like an old leash or something." Malyna said excitedly, "I just can’t wait till he’s mine I just love him so much!"
"Neeeeeiigh," Lexxi neighed stretching her neck out and giving Malyna a stern glare.
"Oh Lexxi you know that I’ll always love you more than any other animal." Malyna said laughing.
The stern glare disappeared from Lexxi’s eyes’ and they turned peaceful once again.
"C’mon Lexxi get out of the pool, we have been in there long enough, mom’s going to wonder why we aren’t back yet." Malyna said calling while she rubbed herself dry with a towel, and then Malyna called Lexxi once again and this time she came out shaking water off of her coat.
"Lexxi," Malyna said sternly "you’re getting me all wet! Let me dry you off with your old blanket that I packed."
"C’mon girl," Malyna said leading Lexxi over to a tree so she could rub her down.
"Go Lexxi go," Malyna said nudging Lexxi with her heels to urge her forward into a canter. If Lexxi and her didn’t get back soon they'd miss their supper and Malyna would be late for feeding the horses!
Chapter 8
"Hey Carl," Malyna said jumping off Lexxi and taking the saddle and saddle bag off of Lexxi’s sweating back. "What can I do?"
"Nothing actually," Carl said coldly, glaring at Malyna.
"Um, Carl why do you look so angry?" Malyna said gulping; she couldn’t think of anything that she did wrong. Bad question Malyna thought bitterly.
"Angry? Angry? I’m not angry," Carl said.
"Oh good but.."
"I’m furious," Carl interrupted. "Why shouldn’t I be furious when one of the horses just got the colic because of something bad in her feed."
"Um how do you tie me into this?" Malyna said shaking her head in disbelief. "You know that I would never poison a horse and anyway what is hay poisoning and
does the horse get really sick from it?
"Kendra is," Carl said biting his lip "She’s really, really sick because of hay poisoning and some colic, this is really bad for the horse."
"No kidding," Malyna knew that colic is really bad for the horse but she had never heard of hay poisoning.
"Um, Carl," Malyna said catching up to him, he was heading to Kendra’s stall. "What’s hay poisoning?"
"It’s when the hay is accidentally sprayed with a chemical that is usually fatal to horses."
"Is Kendra going to die?" Malyna asked fighting off tears that were welled up in her eyes.
"No, of course not; we called the vet soon enough for the medicine to kick in before the colic got really bad," Carl answered unlatching Kendra’s door and letting Malyna walk ahead of him into the stall.
"Dad," Malyna said sitting down beside him and watched him bathe Kendra’s head with cool water and every once and awhile watched him poor a thick but clear liquid down Kendra’s throat then massaged her neck.
"Dad, what is that," Malyna said pointing to the empty bottle that had held the liquid her dad poured down Kendra’s throat.
"It’s a solution for washing a poison out of a horse’s body, I bought it 3 years ago when my old mare; Lucky died from the hay poisoning."
"I never knew you had a horse named Lucky," Malyna said looking at her dad in amazement. "You always talked about all of the horses you had owned. Why didn’t you talk about Lucky?"
Richard sighed and looked Malyna straight in the eye. "It brought back memories, memories that were very painful to talk about."
"Okay, Malyna said watching Kendra once more.
"Are the other horses going to get sick too?" Malyna asked her dad.
"I don’t know it depends if they ate the hay and if they ate other stuff too."
"So what you mean is that the rest of the horses will probably get sick?" Malyna asked her dad. Worriedly she waited for his answer. After a few minutes of hesitation her dad replied.
"Yes," he said sighing and running his hand through his brown hair.
"What I don’t understand is how did the hay poisoning got into the feed," Carl said from his spot by the door. " Harold is always so careful."
"Harold?" Malyna thought questioningly. "Who is Harold?"
Carl noticed her expression and quickly explained. "Harold is the delivery guy who comes in the bright red truck with "Golden Ridge’s perfect hay" printed on the side
"Oh, now I remember; he's the guy with the big brown beard and mustache that once gave me a sucker when I was little." Malyna said smiling at the memory.
"Yup, Harold is a nice guy he would never harm an animal or human for that matter he’s got a gentle heart, that man," Richard said pouring yet again another bottle of the poison getting rid of solution down Kendra’s throat.
"There," Richard said standing up with a smile, "She will be alright now, let’s let her rest, she needs her energy if she wants to get better."
As they left the stall Malyna looked back at Kendra and whispered "Goodbye girl have a nice sleep."
Chapter 9
"Hi Kendra," Malyna said opening Kendra’s stall door and peeking inside her face and body lost their stiffened look, Kendra was standing up and when she saw Malyna standing there she had let out a swift and energy filled neigh.
In the dim light of the stall Malyna set the bag of oats in front of her and started to check Kendra for any signs that she was still unwell.
After examining her for a few minutes Malyna found nothing wrong so she walked around to Kendra’s head and petted her while she ate her oats. Her dad had banned everyone from using the hay while they still thought it had hay poisoning in it.
"Good girl," Malyna praised Kendra latching the door as she walked out of the stall and to the hayloft where the hay was stored.
"Hi dad," Malyna said climbing up the ladder and sat on one of the hay bales. She asked her father and a guy she thought to be Harold, why they were putting hay in a big bucket and why they were wearing gloves.
"Well honey," Richard said mopping his brow with a handkerchief. "We’re piling hay into this bucket for testing on what is in the hay that made Kendra so sick."
"That’s right Malyna," Harold agreed. "I know a fellow that tests this kind of hay for not much money unlike a lot of other hay and wheat testers who charge almost 100 dollars a bushel."
"Bye Harold," Malyna called from her tire swing hanging on the old oak tree, "Hurry back with the results from the tester." She added as an afterthought.
For the next 2 days horses kept getting sick so Malyna took charge of monitoring the heartbeats and pulse and even took charge by writing down their symptoms. Some of which were slower pulse and heartbeat, weakness and falling in their tracks.
When there was a break between horses needing care Malyna went to talk to her dad.
"Hi dad," Malyna called walking through the door to the house.
Richard’s head poked out of the corner where the telephone was and gave Malyna a meaningful look and putting his fingers to his ears in a sign that meant that he was on the telephone and did not want to be disturbed.
So Malyna sat on the floor and waited until Richard had finished the telephone call before asking him. "Who were you talking to on the phone?"
"Well Harold got the results from the hay test back and it turns out that it is Nitrate poisoning it happens when the Nitrate is too strong the Nitrate in our hay is almost 75% Nitrate which is around 10% more than the horses can handle in their dry food diet."
"Oh," Malyna said with alarm in her voice. "Is the percentage of Nitrate too high so it could be fatal to our horses?"
"No it would have to be 83% or higher to fatal." Richard replied.
"But I just don’t know how the Nitrate got so high; the nitrate checkers are always so careful,"
"Oh thank goodness,but right now let’s go down to the barn; I want to look at Steven: he’s been looking funny, he doesn’t have any of his usual spring in him and he has symptoms that none of the other horses have." Malyna said sounding worried.
"Well you go down and have a look at him, I’m going to have a shower and then I’m off to visit Harold so that we can brainstorm what happened to the hay and Carl is out with some friends, Emily and Onisty are at some shop and won’t be back for awhile."
"Okay dad," Malyna said rushing out the door and to the barn.
Chapter 10
"Good boy," Malyna said walking into Steven’s stall and petted his neck while she talked about how the other horses were doing and how they all missed him terribly; Steven’s case of Nitrate poisoning was the worst in the bunch: he had a very hard case of colic on top of it that made him very ill.
"Steven, Steven are you okay," Malyna shouted desperately into his ear, he was twitching very badly now. "Steven can you hear me," Malyna shouted again. But Steven kept kicking. His eyes were slowly closing but Steven’s legs still kept kicking. Malyna only watched with sadness. She knew that there was nothing that she could possibly do: Steven was dying, as soon as her brain processed that Steven was slowly going away forever to land in the sky, there was nothing that could stop the tears from streaming down her face and into his mane. Steven was the one that taught her how to ride; he was the only one other than Carl who could really understand how much pain that she went through.
Wait a minute Carl! Steven was his horse she had to let him know what had happened to Steven but Malyna didn’t want to leave him he might be dead by the time she came back. Malyna quickly kissed Steven’s head and ran to the barn phone, her fingers trembled as she pressed the numbers to Carl’s cell phone and waited. After two rings Carl answered.
"Hi Malyna," Carl said cheerfully.
"Oh Carl," Malyna sobbed into the phone "Steven’s dying, please come home."
"What?" Carl said alarmed but there was a note of sadness in his voice like he was trying hard not to cry. "I’m coming home right away."
Malyna slammed down the phone into its cradle and sprinted back to Steven’s stall.
"Oh Steven," Malyna said as soon as her hand touched his body; his heart was not beating.
Malyna threw herself down on his still warm body and started really sobbing her tears ran over her face and onto Steven’s.
Malyna was not aware that Carl was home until she felt him lie down next to her and gathering Malyna in his arms they both cried until all their tears were shed and they could no longer cry anymore.
"Malyna," Carl said. "He lived a great life you know, always being a great guy. Now we should call dad. But before we do I want to ask you a question. Why didn’t you call the vet?"
Malyna looked down at her shoes and said "I didn’t want to leave him he had already started dying and by the time the vet would have gotten here he would already have been dead."
As Malyna spoke the last few words she broke into a new fit of sobs, she just couldn’t hold them back there were so many memories of Steven; his gentle smooth trot when Malyna was beginning to ride and whenever she fell off, Steven would always stop and put his muzzle on her and poke her a few times till laughed and he was satisfied that she was indeed alive.
More memories flooded into Malyna and filled her with pictures of times with Steven that was fantastic. She remembered her birthday party, when Steven came to them, when her cousins came and played games which Steven always interrupted.
At last her sobs subsided and she knew there would be no more tears from her.
"Carl," Malyna said looking up into his face. "When should we call dad?"
"Malyna listen," Carl said. "We don’t have to phone him he’s already here."
"Dad," Malyna called breaking into a run and threw herself into his slightly dusty arms.
"Whoa," there Richard said. "What’s the matter?"
Malyna immediately gave Carl the tiniest of a nod and he started to explain.
Chapter 11
"I think I better sit down," Richard said running a hand through his hair.
"I just can’t believe it," he kept repeating. "How could he have died? The level of nitrate wasn’t that high that it could have been fatal…."