The Mare

Velvet

She cursed Ginger to her face, but she took the sandwiches Ginger made and laughed. Paul drove us to the station and she was laughing then too. He didn’t even know, I could tell. His eyes kept going in the mirror, like, What the hell is this? At the station, Ginger got out the car, she kneeled down and hugged me. She said, “We’ll work it out. Call me.” My mom took my arm and yanked me up on the train. She told me to sit. She took Ginger’s sandwiches out of her purse and threw them at me. “Mami,” I said, “that lady was just being nice. I’m not riding horses.”

“Liar!” She dropped my ticket on the seat and walked away with Dante, her back hard and hating. I wanted to call for her, but I was ashamed. I sat forward in the seat and tried to act not ashamed. People looked at me, their eyes stretched and sorry. I turned my body back around and watched them walking down the aisle. Dante looked back at me with a scared face. I tried not to cry. They left the car. I thought, She’ll have to come back. If she doesn’t, the court will take Dante away. Then I thought, What if she says she lost me? I got up and followed them, not crying. A man in a uniform came out of the other car where they went. He looked at me like it was my fault and said, “Where is your ticket? Who are you with?” I said, “It’s on my seat. I’m trying to find my mom.” He took me to her and made her be with me. She told him I was a worthless liar and didn’t deserve to sit with them because I didn’t even want to be part of the family anyway. Everybody could hear. He didn’t care; he tore my ticket and went away.