The Black Stallion

added soberly.
    Together they watched the colt for a long while. He was moving swiftly about the paddock, enjoying his freedom, and his mane swept back from his red neck like a black flame.
    "You like him?" Miss Elsie asked without taking her eyes from the fast-moving colt.
    Tom nodded but said nothing.
    "You like him?" Miss Elsie asked again.
    "He's the best," Tom said quietly. "The very best that ever was."
    "You're generalizing, Tom," she said. "And I've always told everyone around here that Tom Messenger was good on detail, and that's why he was going to make a fine horseman."
    Turning away from the colt, Tom saw the challenge in the woman's gaze. He turned back to Bonfire again and said, "He's pure-gaited. He's got good control of action and never leaves his feet when going at top speed. He's only a baby, but even now he never shifts or changes a beat as long as he's out there. He's it for Jimmy… and for George and me," he added.
    "That's better… and more like you," was all Miss Elsie said.
    Tom was silent for some time before he asked, "Did you find a future Mr. Guy among your two-year-olds?"
    "No," Miss Elsie replied, and she tried to draw her upper lip over her prominent teeth with no success. "I don't have him in this year's crop."
    "You'll sell them again—all of them?"
    "I think so, Tom. I'll know better next month." She smiled as she added hopefully, "But maybe next year I'll have the one I've been waiting for. I have a yearling up at the farm who looks as good as yours. It's a filly, so maybe she'll be a female Mr. Guy. She's black except for four white stockings and a blaze." Miss Elsie pushed herself back from the paddock fence, laughing as she said, "I call her the Princess with the four white stockings. She looks like the best I've ever had."
    And with all the colts Miss Elsie had bred, raised and trained, Tom never had heard her say that before. He didn't think anyone else had, either. Miss Elsie knew horses, and she wouldn't say anything like that unless she honestly meant it. Her black yearling filly would be something to see.
    Miss Elsie was leaving when she said, "I'll have my filly down here at the track this summer. You'll see her." She paused. "You are going to be here, aren't you, Tom?"
    "Yes, Miss Elsie," Tom replied. "I'm taking care of Bonfire while Jimmy and George go out to the fairs."
    Tom watched Miss Elsie climb into her jeep and go bouncing down the road; then, after spending a few minutes more with his colt, he went into the shed to clean Bonfire's stall and bed it down for the night. He decided he'd stay there until Jimmy and George returned.
    It was almost dark when Tom saw Jimmy's car come down the road. Jimmy was sitting beside George and Tom felt relieved to see him, for he had been afraid that Jimmy might have something seriously wrong and be hospitalized.
    They left the car and as they came toward him Tom searched their faces. Jimmy grinned. "Nothing wrong with me at all," he said.
    "Don't let him kid you," George muttered. "He's got an ulcer. He's had it for years."
    "The doc said a lot of people had 'em," Jimmy retorted. "Nothing for you to get all upset about."
    "
You
were the one who got upset when he told you to live a quiet life with no more excitement," George reminded him. "That would mean giving up racing, and hopping from one fair to the next, wearing yourself out."
    "That's silly," Jimmy said angrily. "I might as well be dead as to give up the fairs."
    "Then you got to follow that diet he gave you and take it as easy as possible," George returned. "And don't get upset about anything. We'll get along all right."
    "Who's upset?" Jimmy shouted angrily. "I never get upset. You're the one who gets all excited about everything." He stalked into the shed, still bellowing.
    George stayed with Tom at the door. "Sure," he said. "I'm the one who gets upset, all right."
    "How serious is his ulcer?" Tom asked.
    George spat his tobacco juice on the ground, thought a minute, then said, "The doctor wasn't too worried about it. Says there's a lot of people like Jimmy walking around with one and they don't even know it."
    "What do you mean people like Jimmy?" Tom asked.
    "Guys who've worked hard all their lives an' have a lot of worries like Jimmy has had, 'specially the last few years. About makin' ends meet, I mean. That and never sitting down a moment, and taking all the responsibility, thinkin' no one else can handle a horse like he can. All those things, plus never takin'