Chapter 28: Naomi and the Horse-Flavored T-Shirt
She stepped through the fence and onto the grass. Naomi ran a hundred yards into the field and the horses approached from every direction. She stopped and the horses surrounded her. They turned their heads to look around their big noses, rows upon rows of them. Naomi was lost in an equestrian sea, floating on an island of grass. Though she might have been scared earlier, now she felt no fear. The horses were large and intimidating, but she knew they meant her no harm. They just wanted to figure her out.
Sammy came to Naomi’s side. When he drew near the horses shuddered as if a cold wind had blown through the field. One horse bobbed its face and snorted. Another whinnied. Others joined in the whinnying and the noise shook the ground like an earthquake.
Sammy froze. The whinnies died, but the horses seemed agitated. A chestnut brown mare with a shelf of bangs sniffed the air, nostrils flaring. Fluttering its upraised ears, it turned its head and snorted. The chestnut looked back, and the others stepped forward, sniffing.
Again, Naomi sensed no danger. The horses were curious. Sammy, on the other hand, was very rigid. She said, “Calm down,” and took his hand. The nosier horses seemed satisfied and turned away, blending into the crowd. New horses came. Naomi smiled because they actually stepped closer this time, more confident that she and Sammy meant no harm.
A horse whinnied. With a speed Naomi hardly believed possible, the horse skittered and ran away through the field. Other horses, startled, joined the first, running off as white people entered the field. The horses closest to Naomi seemed confused. They turned their heads to the white people, then back to Naomi. It was as if they were asking her what was going on, why the white people had come too.
“I’m sorry,” Naomi said as the horses scattered. The white people closed in on Sammy and Naomi. The people were almost on top of them.
Sammy put his fists up, ready to fight the white people. “You have to get out of here.”
“I can’t,” she said.
“Get away from the white people!” he cried. One shot a doughy hand out at Sammy. Sammy swiped at its head, knocking off the light visor. The person staggered and fell like dirty laundry. Another was on him, and Sammy swiped at its visor. It fell on the first. White people began to surround them. “I got this.” Sammy yelled. “Go!”
Naomi didn’t want to leave Sammy, but she knew the horses would never trust her if she stayed near the white people.
She sprinted up a hill that was further into the field. The running horses swirled around her. She held her hand out to the swirl, and nothing happened.
“Stop!” she yelled. Nothing happened.
She moved toward them but the horses moved away. She looked downfield and saw Sammy stagger, still swatting at the white people. Then she saw horses kicking at the white people, knocking them down and trampling them. No, she thought.
Still more people came from the fence. If she did not do something quick, everyone was going to get hurt. What could she do to get these crazy animals to calm down? Clara said she would know when the time came. How could she have been so sure?
Desperate, Naomi ran after the chestnut mare, her arms flailing. The horse stopped, and let out a terrible whinny. It rose on its back legs. Naomi saw its huge eyes were wild with fear. The mare’s leg punched out, hitting Naomi in the shoulder. The blow threw her to the ground, her arm burning with pain.
Naomi rolled as the rearing horse crashed to the ground beside her. She grabbed her throbbing shoulder and felt something there. Under her hand, bunched in the jumpsuit’s folds, was the horse-flavored T-shirt. She remembered that the horses in the turbine room behaved exactly like the horses here in the pen. Though Naomi believed these horses knew she was different, she was dressed exactly like a white person.
She thought of her father helping the injured horse. He was calm and collected, slow and deliberate. And he was wearing the horse-flavored T-shirt.
The chestnut horse put its muzzle down and flipped its ears back, flaring its nostrils. It spun its head in a corkscrew. Naomi didn’t know how she knew, but this horse was not going to hurt her. She unzipped the jumpsuit and yanked it off. The T-shirt fell to the ground. Naomi picked it up. She rose from the ground, unfurled the T-shirt, and pulled it over her head.
The mare no longer corkscrewed her neck, but sniffed the air in Naomi’s direction. Naomi offered her palm. The mare took a step forward and stuck her muzzle in Naomi’s hand. Naomi felt the horse’s wet breath moisten her palm as it sniffed enthusiastically. The mare raised her nose to Naomi’s shoulder, nuzzling against the ache there. Naomi brought up her other hand, stroking the mare’s long nose, feeling the short hairs, and roaming her fingers over the cheeks. She looked into the big horse eye, dark and deep.
“Hello,” Naomi whispered into the mare’s ear, which was as soft as a silk shoe. The mare raised her nose to Naomi’s ear and tapped it, as if saying “Hello” back.
Then the horse raised her head and stepped to the side so Naomi could see all the horses looking at her. Her breath quickened. They wanted to get to know her, but she did not have the time to talk to each one right now. Naomi touched the mare. “Please,” she said, “we should be going.” The mare turned. Naomi put her hand on the horse’s side. The mare lowered her head, putting her nose to the grass.
She was offering to carry Naomi.
But how? Naomi thought. Then she remembered the bridle from the governor’s office. She had dropped it somewhere.
“Wait,” she said. She went back to where the mare kicked her. Horses parted as she approached, and there she saw the bridle, hiding like a snake in the grass. She picked it up and horses stuck their noses in her ears. Naomi squirmed, feeling both silly and out of breath at the same time.
Naomi asked, “May I put this on you?” The mare raised her nose to Naomi’s shoulder. Naomi untangled the bridle and grabbed the metal pin. She offered up the pin, and the mare took it in her mouth. Naomi wrapped the rest over the mare’s head, behind the ears, fastening a small brass latch. The mare shook her head like a girl letting her hair down.
“I promise not to hurt you,” Naomi said.
Though she had never tried it before, Naomi jumped, laying flat on the mare’s back. She pulled one leg over.
The mare floated underneath her. Naomi knew any little dip or jump would send her sliding so she pulled the reins in both hands, and settled herself on top of her slippery friend.
The other horses rippled like stones skipping across a pond. Naomi felt like a leaf on destiny’s winds. Her heart filled and she leaned forward. “Thank you,” she said.
Naomi kicked and the mare leapt like lightning. Wind slapped Naomi’s face and her stomach lurched as the mare moved downhill. Risking a peek, Naomi looked behind her and saw the other horses following. The sound of racing hooves filled the air like thunder ready to storm down upon the white people.
Naomi spotted Sammy surrounded by the mass of white people. She pulled the reins and the mare turned. She shouted Sammy’s name as more white people grabbed him. His hand shot out, knocking the visor off one. He turned to the other side and hit another visor. He swiped at a third, who caught his hand.
The mare erased the distance between them and the white people. Naomi bent low as the mare smashed into the crowd, scattering them. The horse reared. The other horses launched into the throng. The white person holding Sammy went flying, his head bloodied.
“Sammy!” Naomi shouted. The mare turned and there he was. “Sammy!” she yelled again. “Sammy!”
Sammy rolled to face them, awe painted on his face.
“Take off the jumpsuit,” Naomi shouted.
“What?” Sammy shouted, his words nearly lost in the stampede.
“The jumpsuit!” she yelled. She made an unzipping motion. “Take off the jumpsuit!”
He yanked the zipper, bunching it down around his feet. More white people grabbed him. Naomi screamed, “No!” and the ma
re rose to kick the white people. Sammy broke free.
Naomi yelled, “Get up!”
Sammy found his feet.
“Here!” she shouted, holding her hand to him. He rushed to her, grabbed her hand, and she yanked him into the air with all of her strength. For a moment he had no weight, as he landed behind her.
Naomi yelled, “Let’s go!”
The mare jumped. Naomi felt Sammy start to slip away, but his arms clamped around her waist. Naomi gripped the mare’s ribs with her legs, feeling every muscle flex. She kicked and the mare, Naomi, and Sammy galloped as one up the hill. The other horses followed.
She laughed in sheer joy. Riding, the world going by—she never felt so alive.
At the top of the hill, the mare stopped. The horses behind them poured around, like water over a rock. Now that she had a second to watch them, Naomi saw big horses and small horses and thin little horses.
Sammy said, “Crazy.”
The mare snorted and Naomi felt her need to run, to feel the earth fly under her. Naomi patted her side, whispering, “I know. I know.” The mare eyeballed Naomi, then whinnied.
“Whoa,” Sammy said, grabbing Naomi's waist tighter.
Naomi said, “She's ready. You ready?”
Sammy looked to where the chutes to the factory opened. “There, huh?”
“Yes,” Naomi said.
“Let's do it,” Sammy said.
The mare broke like the sky opening for a sudden summer thunderstorm. She became a deluge of hooves. She swept downhill towards the chutes with such fury Naomi felt like they were about to break through night’s surface.
Sammy shouted, “The door's not open!”
Naomi just nodded. She could see white people by the chute doors.
She concentrated on the white people at the chutes. Please, she thought, please, and the mare continued steadily onward.
They ran closer, closer, closer to the chutes. Naomi's breath caught. She gripped the reins, ready to turn away if the doors did not open.
Closer and closer, the field was ending. Please. She realized the doors were not going to open. The gypsies had not made it in time. Naomi gripped the reins, knowing that if she changed course now, if she guided the mare from the chute, she would be failing her mission. The thought was enough to make her cry.
Naomi screamed, “Ahhhhhhhhhh!”
A hundred yards. Fifty.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” she screamed. The reins blistered her grip. Her arms twitched. It was over. She closed her eyes, and got ready to turn.
“Yes!” Sammy yelled as the doors swung wide.
Looking around, Naomi started laughing.