The Bond

We hid behind an oak tree on the far side of the parking lot and listened to the voices coming from the trailer. I recognized Walter immediately and soon I understood that the second voice belonged to a vet. He was just examining Peace. Why don’t they take him out of the trailer?! I didn’t like the situation at all. They were quiet for a while and then, the vet spoke again. “I am sorry, Walter, it’s a comminuted fracture of the second phalanx. In addition to that, the flexor tendon is completely severed.” Oh, no! I didn’t understand half of what the vet had said, but there was no doubt that it was really bad. “It seems he got his hoof stuck between two rocks up there, and did it himself while trying to pull it out,” the vet continued. “Will he walk again?” Walter asked with a strained voice. “It’s hard to say without an x-ray and MRI. They can fix the pieces of the bone with screws and plates and stitch the tendon back together, but the prognosis is still quite poor. It also depends on the extent of damage to the joints. They will tell you more in Oakdale.” I was devastated. It was even worse than I had imagined. Brian, who was standing behind me, put his arm on my shoulder and whispered, “I am sorry.” I couldn’t face him. I just kept staring at the trailer, frozen with pain. After giving Peace some painkillers and fixating his injured leg for the transport, the vet came out of the trailer with a big medical box in his hand. Walter emerged behind him and followed him to his car. “Thanks for coming in the middle of the night, Roy,” he said gratefully. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t give you better news, Walter. Call me from Oakdale when you know something.” They shook hands, the vet climbed in his car and left. I waited a moment to make sure he was gone and then shot forward with all my newly acquired strength and speed. Brian had no chance to stop me this time. “Walter!” I shouted, hearing Brian swear behind me. Walter, who was already getting into the trailer, turned around and stared at me with a surprised look on his face. “Silvia, where the hell have you been???!!!” he started to yell at me while walking towards me slowly. “I tried to call you a hundred times!!!” I had never seen him so angry. He finally found someone to blame, someone he could let all his pain, frustration and despair out on. “D’you have any idea what happened?!!!” he raged. “The arena burned down, Mack is gone and Peace –” his voice broke off. I realized he was getting too close and started to move backwards while trying to find some words to my defense. But before I managed to say anything, Brian was standing in front of me, shouting at Walter, “Stop yelling at her as if it was all her fault! It was Silvia who saved your horses from the fire!” “And you are who?!” Walter asked, taken aback. “I’m the one who called you. I’m Silvia’s boyfriend.” “Is this true, Silvia? You never mentioned anyone.” I stepped forward trying to act normal. “Walter, this is Brian. I met him this week in Clayton. I didn’t say anything ‘cause it was all too fresh, you know…” I lied. While I spoke, Walter was eyeing me with a searching look. “God, you look pale! What happened to you?!” “I’m fine. I just had a little accident when I was letting the ponies out of the arena. Luckily Brian found me and helped me get out of there.” I was surprised how easy it was to make up a credible story. However, Walter wasn’t done questioning yet. “But where have you been till now?! The firemen said there was nobody home at the Bells’ house!” “She was a bit shaken, so I took her to my place to get some rest,” said Brian coming to my rescue. Walter looked around and, seeing no other car, he asked, “And how did you get here?” “Silvia wasn’t sure where the place was, so we left the car down the road,” Brian explained. Walter gave me a questioning look. He wasn’t that stupid. “Forget the car! I came here to find out what happened to Peace!” I said urgently. Walter’s expression changed. He didn’t seem angry or suspicious anymore. “He shattered the short bone right above his hoof to pieces and tore off the tendon that flexes the hoof. It’s really bad,” he stated gravely. “But you are taking him to a horse clinic, right?! They will help him there!” Even though I had heard the vet, I still believed there was a chance Peace would walk again. Walter saw it differently, though. “I am sorry, Silvia, we are most probably going to lose him. It’s a complicated injury. The surgeries, the treatment and the hospitalization – we are talking about thousands of dollars here. I don’t have that kind of money.” As he spoke his features filled with pain and sorrow. “Money’s not an issue,” Brian remarked and I looked at him gratefully. “Walter, Brian has money. He’ll help us. We can save him!” I insisted enthusiastically. But Walter shook his head. “Silvia, it’s not just about the money. I am going to do what’s best for Peace. After the surgery, he would have to stand tied in crossties till the bone grew back together – he wouldn’t be able to move for months! I don’t want to put him through that. Not to become a cripple like me.” I had no argument to that. The last thing on Earth I wanted was for Peace to suffer. Walter once told me that he had a human soul and I believed it. He was so different from the other horses I had ridden before. If he became a lame horse, it would be the end of him. I was at my wits’ end – I couldn’t bare Peace being miserable, but at the same time, I couldn’t let Walter put him to sleep. Suddenly, I realized there was a third option. A crazy one as hell, but it existed.