Clouds and Rain

especially not when it also started raining.
    Gable looked up at the dark sky and saw it split by lightning, so he took a deep breath and quickened his hobbling pace toward the warm and dry barn.
    Gable didn‟t regret coming here. The smell of the horses, the hay stacked to the side, it all helped to make him feel at home again. After a particularly loud thunderclap, he heard Brenner whinny, so he made his way over to his horse‟s stable.
    “Here, boy, everything‟s all right.”
    The horse came closer, obviously recognizing his owner, and nuzzled his hand. “Sorry, boy, didn‟t bring any carrots or apples,” Gable apologized. He scratched the animal‟s nose. “Has Flynn been taking good care of you?” Brenner moved even closer by way of an answer. “Can‟t ride you right now, boy.”
    Suddenly, Gable looked toward the barn door as he heard a ruckus and saw a dripping wet figure on T.C.‟s back storm into the barn. He wasn‟t wearing any rain gear and Gable could just make out the plaid pattern of Flynn‟s fleece work jacket.
    As Flynn dismounted and shook the rain out of his long curls, he looked up and startled at seeing someone else in the barn.
    Gable smiled at Flynn‟s seemingly excessive reaction. “Doing something we weren‟t supposed to do?”
    Flynn‟s eyes were still closed from trying to calm his heartbeat down. “I just didn‟t expect anyone to be here,” he answered as he looked at Gable sheepishly.
    “Fair enough,” Gable replied teasingly.
    “I got caught out in the rain,” Flynn continued, clearly trying to change the subject. “Didn‟t see that one coming.”
    “You should know by now that the weather can be a bit unpredictable here,” Gable said, moving around until he could get to a bale of hay where he could sit down.
    “Weather man said five percent chance of rain, and it was a clear blue sky when I left.”

    120

    Clouds and Rain

    Gable chuckled. “I‟d like to meet the weather man who can predict this weather.”
    Flynn sat down next to him and took off his soaking jacket. “So what are you doing out here?”
    Gable shrugged. “Got tired of sitting inside and I figured I‟d come visit the barn.”
    “Good,” Flynn smiled back. “Want to go riding when the rain stops?”
    Gable‟s face went sullen again and he shook his head.
    “Brenner misses you,” Flynn tried. “But maybe as a first ride, you should take T.C., since he‟s easier to handle?” Gable shook his head again.
    Flynn put his hand on Gable‟s knee. “You‟re an experienced rider. You don‟t need the stirrups. We can take them off or tie them up so they don‟t bother you? I‟m sure you can manage.”
    “I still need to make it up on the horse, Flynn.”
    “Ah, I thought of that!” Flynn exclaimed as he got up from his seat and grabbed a handful of straw, which he wrapped into a tight ball.
    He walked over to T.C., who was fidgeting because he was still dripping from the rain, and started wiping the water off the paint‟s coat.
    “We get two bales of hay and stand on those and I give you a leg up.” Gable thought about it. “I don‟t know, Flynn.”
    “We don‟t have to do it today, but maybe tomorrow? I can take the side off the porch railing and bring T.C. to you, and you can get on from the house too,” Flynn suggested. “I think the porch is about the right height.”
    “You really thought about this, didn‟t you?” Flynn nodded. “I have a lot of time to think when I‟m working.
    Besides, it‟ll give me the chance to ride Brenner some more. He needs the exercise just as much as T.C. does, but I find myself saddling up T.C. more because he‟s a much better workhorse. Brenner tends to get bored when we‟re checking fences, and then he get into all sorts of mischief.” Flynn took the saddle off T.C.‟s back and put it in its place near the side of the barn. He then continued rubbing T.C. dry.

    121

    Zahra Owens

    Watching Flynn work gave Gable the time to think. He wanted nothing more than to go riding again, but could he? He knew he could ride without stirrups; he‟d ridden T.C. bareback more than once before the accident and even after it, but he still had to get up on the horse, and he remembered how hard that was right after he‟d injured his foot that first time. More importantly, could he fail in front of Flynn?
    Flynn led the horse to his stable and closed the half door before coming back to where Gable was sitting, flopping down next to him with a