Chapter One
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4 May 1985 – Saturday
Richmond, Kentucky
Angellica stood in the doorway of her new bedroom and felt like screaming. She wanted to scream the house down, along with its beige carpet and off white walls. The place felt like an institution. She hated the room. She hated the house. She hated this town. She hated the smell. She hated the taste. She hated the reason she was here. She wanted her old room, her old house.
“Angellica!” Charlotte, her mother, called from the stairs.
“In my room!” She called back, moving into her room and she sat on the side of her bed, gazed out the window, and could see for miles.
Outside she could see four flat fields with lush green grass. Beside the fields to the left sat a small stable block big enough to accommodate four horses in the four loose boxes. It had a tack room and a small loft for hay storage.
The garage was nestled between the stable and the house. She couldn’t see it from her seated position on the bed. There was a training corral on the right hand side of the stables and a gravel path heading up past the four fields, which led to a large plantation that lay beyond. She estimated it to be about 40 acres of pine trees to explore and escape in.
Maybe it would be tolerable.
Charlotte entered the room and stood casually with her arms folded in front of her. Her style of dress was immaculate as was her makeup.
Charlotte was a tall woman at 5 feet 9 inches. She had glossy black hair and dark brown eyes that looked black when the mood took her. She was flawless in her looks, her eyes were evenly spaced and her nose was the perfect shape. Everything was perfect until one looked at her mouth. She had a thin-lipped mouth, which she held in a permanent disapproving manner. She never used to wear makeup. It was a new thing for her. Charlotte now adored cosmetics, as she often expressed, during breakfast, dinner, driving the car, even meeting the principal of Angellica’s new school. She had become a martyr for perfection.
Charlotte was silent for a full minute before she spoke.
“Blue cod for tea.” She turned and left the room.
Angellica remained on her bed staring at the doorway in confusion. How long she sat she had no idea, until the phone downstairs started ringing and she stood and moved to the window. It must have been around two in the afternoon. The sun was still above the trees on the far side of the fields, but wouldn’t be for much longer. She smiled to herself, and turned away from the window.
Angellica reached the field on the left hand side at a run; she climbed the gate and almost dropped the halter as she landed in the grass. Cash and Snap lifted their heads as she strolled towards them. She stopped next to Cash and stroked his neck. He nuzzled her shoulder; she slipped the halter over his ears and let him have the sugar cube that he knew was hiding in her hand. Snap waited for hers, Angellica held it out to her and the mare took it gently.
Angellica led Cash away towards the gate; he followed obediently, without objection. Snap didn’t try follow; she stayed and watched as they left the paddock.
Angellica and her big horse walked back to the stable. He stood quietly while she brushed him and put his bridle on. She decided to ride bareback for the afternoon.
By the time she was ready to go, it was nearly three and as she was getting up onto Cash’s back, her mother appeared at the back door. Angellica watched her for a long moment, and then nudged Cash away from the rail.
