Little Sharpshooter

Little Sharpshooter Chap 1

"Randy!" Pa pounded on the bed with his foot. "Randy, that horse a' yours is gonna break that door down again if you don't get up and feed him. You're fixin' it this time if he breaks it."

Randy sat bolt upright in her bed and pushed the brown mop of hair out of her eyes.

She could hear it. The Bang ... Bang ... Bang ... of Al trying to kick down the door of his stall. There was very little wood left to reattach it to if he did it again.

Randy shoved her feet into her boots and didn't have time to tie them. She ran through the hall then out the back door to the barn, running past the water pump. Water would have to wait until she told him good morning. He was more impatient than usual. No wonder. It was only morning and sweat beads were already forming on her forehead.

The barn door was already wide open. Pa had taken care of the other horses, Senora the cow, and the chickens. Pa would have nothing to do with Al because Al would have nothing to do with Pa.

"Good morning, Al-Hayibe!" Randy shouted as she grabbed an armful of hay.

Al stuck his head over the stall door and whinnied his morning greeting to her.

"Yes, I overslept and you're one spoiled horse." Randy rubbed the star in between his eyes, the only patch of white on the dappled grey Arabian. She was proud of her outstanding horse and his graceful look. With his perfect wedge shaped head, dark grey mane, and long, delicate looking legs. Randy had never seen a horse that compared to him at the auctions in town. His breed wasn't typically seen in the New Mexico territory.

Al-Hayibe meant "gift" in Arabian, and that was what Al was after Pa brought in the cattle rustlers that stole cattle from one of the biggest ranches in Texas. It was the last official job Pa did as a Texas Ranger. Part of his payment was the beautiful gelding. What they forgot to mention was Al-Hayibe had been gelded after he was deemed unfit for breeding because of his temperament. When Pa brought him home he didn't think the horse was a gift, more like the devil in a stunning horse disguise. Pa refused to call the horse by his full name. He was only called Al after that.

Randy brushed his sleek coat until it glistened, making his dappled coat look like sunlight reflecting off water.  It had been three years to the day that Al was brought home when Randy was thirteen. It had taken Randy months to earn Al's trust behind her pa's back. Al's appearance definitely put the other horses and Randy's pony to shame. Pa had grumbled all the time that he hoped horse thieves might run off with such a useless horse. But no one would be able to steal him even if they wanted him that badly. Al only let Randy touch him, feed him, and lead him around. That was only when Al felt like it. Randy had been sick the entire week and Al had broken the stall door down more than once. 

"Let's go find some carrots." Randy opened the crooked stall door, and he followed her like a pup. She carried a bucket to the water spout and pumped the handle until water gushed into the bucket. Al was already drawing in long drinks. That gave Randy a minute to run to the vegetable garden before he followed her in the fence to have his fill. She pulled up two carrots that were not very impressive, but they would have to do. After she ran them through the water, she teased Al with the greens so he would follow her back willingly into the barn. She wanted to go on a ride since she hadn't been on one in almost a week.

In the barn she dangled the carrots in front of his face so he would let her put the bridle on. He flung his head up in the air and whinnied.

"Easy," Randy tried to bribe him again but he pushed her back with his muzzle until she backed into the wall "What is it?"

Randy jumped and so did Al when several gunshots went off.

Randy instinctively knew what to do but it didn't stop her heart from racing. In fact it climbed into a place it didn't belong and she had to swallow hard. She kicked off her boots, climbing up the slats on the wall of the stall to Al's bare back.