The Mare

Paul

They attacked her and beat her. That’s what Edie said. Not at the party, but later, they swarmed her and beat her. She didn’t even try to fight back; there were too many of them. Her little brother was there, but he didn’t help. He actually stood there and laughed.

Between me and Ginger, there was hell to pay. Leave the girl alone, I told her. What do you want to do, get her hurt worse? And she went nuts. She beat the wall and screamed that if it weren’t for me, she could come stay with us and nobody would hurt her again and I told her she was crazy and selfish and she ran out the door. It was raining and she just ran out into it. I waited and she didn’t come back for I don’t even know how long. So I went out in the car and found her walking in her sopping pants.

I opened the door; she got in. We drove around, up in the neighborhood where we’d first taken Velvet bike riding. I waited for her to talk. She said, “Please don’t take her away from me. You wouldn’t let us adopt, so at least let this happen. Can’t you see how good it is for me? Don’t you see how even Edie finally respects me? She finally sees me as a normal woman. I am a normal woman. I want to be normal. If we can’t adopt, this is the closest I can come to having a child.”

I told her I was willing to consider adoption. She said no. She said, “I love her.”

I struggled to control my voice. I said, “If you love her, think about her safety. She’s already been hurt. The truth is, she could get more hurt on those horses.”

She didn’t answer until we were almost home. Finally she said, “I know.”

But when we talked to Velvet, she said it wasn’t about the clothes. She said those girls just didn’t like her. She said the clothes made them respect her. She said she was friends with some of them again.