Part 24

It was a couple days before they would head to their clients’ first show and I thought I would take the warmblood out one more time.

“Aunt Eileen, I was thinking of taking Big Ben out one more time,” I said sitting down next to her on the couch. “What do you think?” I asked.

“Deep down, I think they should have gotten rid of that horse, but they put a lot of money into him. That horse even dumped Cheryl a couple times before coming here.” Eileen sighed. This was a horse she would have passed on, but the clients were very rich and indulged their daughter beyond the pale. If Aileen wasn’t such a good rider, she would have been tossed already. Or herself for that matter.

“If you go, wear all your safety gear. Maybe let Joe loose. He is as good as Lassie. He’ll come get us if something happens. God forbid."

“Of course. I only plan to go as far as the beach."  I hugged my Aunt and left the house. I practically ran to the barn. I loved riding.

“OK Ben, be cool.” I said, as I tacked up the warmblood. I kept my riding gear in the tack room in the barn, making it's retrieval easy. Now that Ben was tacked up and so was I, the two of us made our way to Joe’s paddock. It never ceased to amaze me how much I loved the sound of horses hooves clopping on the ground. I opened the gate to Joe's paddock. He would follow at his leisure. In the meantime I found the mounting block and hoisted myself up on the horse. Apparently Joe was happy to be loose and ended up ahead of us, having made the trip to the beach so many times. 

It was a beautiful day. Sunny. Light breeze. I couldn't wait to get to the beach. MMmm, already I could smell the ocean being swept in by the light breeze. And can you hear the seagulls? It reminded me of Southern California only better.

I had Ben moving down the trail uneventfully, with some spots a canter was an option, and other spots a walk, as the trail narrowed. We were getting close to the cliff as the trail did a cutback. Right then a bird flew up right into Ben's face. He reared so quickly I was caught off guard. Not only did he rear, he started to go straight back. I screamed as I jumped off, hitting my head on a pile of rocks right at the base of the helmet and my hairline. Ben landed on my legs before he tumbled over the edge, screaming. That was the last thing I remembered.

Joe heard his mistress scream, hit the ground, and start to roll towards the edge. He galloped back up the trail and managed to get a hoof on either side of her, just in time to keep her from falling over the edge. He was so scared. His one hoof was barely on the edge, tiny rocks falling from under it. He had to shift his weight to the inside leg. He screamed hoping to get someone's attention. He was shaking from the effort and stress.

Vincent was at the top of the lighthouse looking down at the beach. He didn’t see her. He sighed. Wishing he could see her, talk to her, Vincent wanted to tell her he loved her. The furniture and rugs had been delivered and he was excited to show her the improvements. He even got her a pair of slippers. Sighing again, Vince sat down on the chair he kept up there and played his violin. Slowly. Sweetly. Softly.

In the middle of his playing Vincent heard a weird noise. He stopped playing and looked over his violin and bow, thinking maybe it was out of tune. Then he heard it. Screaming. That didn’t sound human. He jumped up and bolted down the stairs, tossing the violin unceremoniously in the studio and ran out the door. For some crazy reason, the pony was there grazing. 

"Here pony," Vince said softly trying not to startle it. The pony actually let Vince up on him and they raced towards the ranch and the beach.

Vince was amazed at the pony as it took him directly to his fairy pixey. Maybe the pony was magical. A fairy reincarnated. Long agonizing minutes later, he found Joe, sweating and shaking, standing over his fairy pixey, keeping her from going over the precipice. Joe saw Vince and started whinnying. Vince knew Joe was worried and wanted someone to take over. The pony walked over and nuzzled Joe in reassurance, then lowered his head and nuzzled Aileen.

Walking carefully over to Joe, whispering reassuringly, “Whoa. Easy Joe.” He bent down to check to see if Aileen had a pulse. Whew, she did, but he was mindful not to move her without help, but he wanted to relieve Joe.

“OK Joe. I’ve got her. You’re good.” He patted a leg and hoped he would be able to move and not go over the cliff himself. Joe was able to move away safely, so Vincent said, “Joe, if you understand me at all go get Eileen and Scott! Hurry,!” He pointed towards the ranch. “Go. Please.” Amazingly, Joe and the pony took off.

Vincent took out his new cell phone that Fiona insisted he get and called the emergency line. He gave them all the information he could as calmly as possible.

A few minutes later Eileen and Scott showed up in their car.

“You must be Vincent, our neighbor,” Eileen stated.

“Yes. Sorry we haven’t met before this,” he said, “I would shake your hand but I don’t want her to fall.”

“No. No. Don’t worry about that.”

“I called the 911.”

“Excellent. Thank you,” Eileen said, relieved. “Scott, would you drive up to the gate and wait for them. And then direct them here?”

Scott kissed Eileen on the cheek for support and took off.

Eileen walked around trying to figure out what happened. She said, “I should have followed my gut and not let her go. That horse was bad news, but Aileen is so fearless.” Eileen paced back and forth along the edge. Then she finally saw the horse at the bottom. Lifeless. Good riddance.

“The horse must have reared,” She continued, “and went over. He may have landed on her and kept rolling. How she managed not to follow I have no idea.”

“Joe. Joe saved her. He was standing over her to keep her from going over the edge. I just didn’t want to move her and cause more damage.”

“Thank you.” She turned suddenly and said, “I hear them now!”

The emergency people were very efficient and had Aileen strapped to a backboard and headed to the closest hospital.

“Will you be following Vincent?”

“Yes. I just need to lock up and I’ll head over in my car.”

“Alright,” she acknowledged and left with Scott.

Vincent walked into his house after locking up the studio, and started to think of all their moments together. How she just showed up in his life. And magically, he believed, because of her, he hadn’t had any nightmares since she landed in his life. Tears started running silently down his cheeks. Vince finished locking up, grabbed his phone and keys, and headed to the hospital.