Nicholas Evans - The Horse Whisperer

He had a couple of attempts himself and failed. Joe was giving him the whole spiel about static electricity and was doing it well. He was about to get him to put his hand in water to 'boost the charge' when Annie saw Robert smile and knew he had it. Don't spoil it, she said to herself. Please don't spoil it.

'I get it,' he said. 'You flick it with your nail. Is that right? Here, let me have another go.'

He rubbed the match in his hair and drew it slowly up his palm toward the second one. When they touched, the second one jumped away with a crack. The children cheered. Robert grinned, like a boy who'd caught the biggest fish. Joe was trying not to look disappointed.

'Too darn smart these lawyers,' Frank said.

'What about Tom's trick!' Grace called. 'Mom? Have you still got that piece of string?'

'Of course,' Annie said. She'd kept it in her pocket ever since Tom gave it to her. She treasured it. It was the only piece of him she had. Without thinking, she took it out and handed it to Grace. Immediately she regretted it. She had a sudden, fearful premonition, so strong she almost cried out. She knew that if she let him, Robert would demystify this too. And if he did, something precious beyond all reason would be lost.

Grace handed the cord to Joe who told Robert to hold his finger up. Everyone was watching. Except for Tom. He was sitting back a little, watching Annie over the candle. She knew he could read what she was thinking. Joe now had the cord looped over Robert's finger.

'Don't,' Annie said suddenly.

Everyone looked at her, startled to silence by the anxious note in her voice. She felt the heat rising to her cheeks. She smiled desperately, seeking help among the faces in her embarrassment. But the floor was still hers.

'I - I just wanted to figure it out myself first.'

Joe hesitated a moment to see if she was serious. Then he lifted the loop from Robert's finger and handed it back to her. Annie thought she saw in the boy's eyes that he, like Tom, understood. It was Frank who came to the rescue.

'Good for you, Annie,' he said. 'Don't you go showing no lawyers till you've got yourself a contract.'

Everyone laughed, even Robert. Though when their eyes met she could see he was puzzled and perhaps even hurt. Later, when the talk had moved safely on, it was only Tom who saw her quietly coil the cord and slip it back into her pocket.

Late Sunday night, Tom did a final check on the horses then came inside to pack. Scott was in his pajamas on the landing getting a final warning from Diane who wasn't buying his story that he couldn't sleep. Their flight was at seven in the morning and the boys had been put to bed hours ago.

'If you don't cut it out, you don't come, okay?'

'You'd leave me here on my own?'

'You betcha.'

'You wouldn't do that.'

'Try me.'

Tom came up the stairs and saw the jumble of clothes and half-filled suitcases. He winked at Diane and steered Scott off to the twins' room without a word. Craig was already asleep and Tom sat on Scott's bed and they whispered about Disneyland and which order they'd do the rides, until the boy's eyelids grew heavy and he slept.

On his way to his own room, Tom walked past Frank and Diane's and she saw him and thanked him and said good-night. Tom packed all he needed for the week, which wasn't much, then tried to read awhile. But he couldn't concentrate.

While he was out with the horses, he'd seen Annie arrive back in the Lariat from taking her husband and Grace to the airport. He walked to the window now and looked up toward the creek house. The yellow blinds of her bedroom were lit and he waited a few moments, hoping he'd see her shadow cross, but it didn't.

He washed, undressed and got into bed and tried reading again with no greater success. He turned off the light and lay on his back with his hands tucked behind his head, picturing her up there in the house all alone, as she would be all week.

He'd have to leave for Sheridan around nine and would go up and say goodbye before he left. He sighed and turned over and forced himself at last into a sleep that brought no peace.

Annie woke around five and lay for a while watching the luminescent yellow of the blinds. The house contained a silence so delicate she felt it might shatter with but the slightest shift of her body. She must then have dozed off, for she woke again at the distant sound of a car and knew it must be the Bookers leaving for their flight. She wondered if he'd got up with them to see them off. He must have. She got out of bed and opened the blinds. But the car had gone and there was no one outside the ranch house.

She went downstairs in her T-shirt and made herself a coffee. She stood cradling the cup in her hands by the living-room window. There was mist along the creek and in the hollows of the valley's far slope beyond. Maybe he was already out with the horses, checking them one more time before he went. She could go for a run and just happen to find him. But then what if he came here to say goodbye, as he'd said he would, when she was out?

She went upstairs and ran herself a bath. Without Grace, the house seemed so empty and its silence oppressive. She found some bearable music on Grace's little radio and lay in the hot water without much hope that it might calm her.

An hour later she was dressed. She'd taken much of that time deciding what to wear, trying one thing then another and in the end getting so cross with herself for being such an idiot that she punished herself by pulling on the same old jeans and T-shirt. What the hell did it matter, for Christsake? He was only coming to say goodbye.

At last, at the twentieth time of looking, she saw him come out of the house and throw his bag into the back of the Chevy. When he stopped at the fork, she thought for an anguished moment that he was going to turn the other way and head off up the drive. But he nosed the car toward the creek house instead. Annie went into the kitchen. He should find her busy, getting on with her life as if his going was really no big deal. She looked around in alarm. There was nothing to do. She'd done it all already, emptied the dishwasher, cleared the garbage, even (heaven help her) put sparkle on the sink, all to pass the time till he came. She decided to make some more coffee. She heard the scrunch of the Chevy's tires outside and looked up to see him swing the car in a circle so it was pointing ready to leave. He saw her and waved.

He took his hat off and gave a little knock on the frame of the screen door as he came in.

'Hi.'

'Hi.'

He stood there turning the brim of his hat in his hands.

'Grace and Robert get their flight okay?'

'Oh yes. Thanks. I heard Frank and Diane go.'

'Did you?'

'Yes.'

For a long moment the only sound was the drip of the coffee coming through. They could neither talk nor even look each other in the eye. Annie stood leaning against the sink trying to look relaxed as she dug her fingernails into her palms.

'Would you like a coffee?'

'Oh. Thanks, but I better be going.'

'Okay.'

'Well.' He pulled a small piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and stepped closer to hand it to her. 'It's the number I'll be at down in Sheridan. Just in case there's a problem or something, you know.'

She took it. 'Okay, thanks. When will you be back?'

'Oh, sometime Saturday, I guess. Smoky'll be by tomorrow, see to the horses and all. I told him you'd be feeding the dogs. Feel free to ride Rimrock anytime.'

'Thanks. I might.' They looked at each other and she gave him a little smile and he nodded.

'Okay,' he said. He turned and opened the screen door and she followed him out onto the porch. She felt as if there were hands on her heart, slowly twisting the life from it. He put his hat on.