Read Season of Ponies for Free Online Page B

strange shadows on his dark face.
    Pamela closed the door and led the dripping Nimbus up to the fire. “She’s all wet,” she said. “Is there something I can rub her down with?”
    Ponyboy nodded approvingly. He handed Pamela a grain sack. “I don’t suppose you brought anything—like cookies maybe?”
    “No, I didn’t.” Pamela felt in her pockets just to be sure. “I’m sorry. I came away so fast I didn’t think.”
    “Oh, never mind,” he said quickly. “I just thought you might have. It doesn’t matter.”
    But Pamela thought he looked quite disappointed. She opened her mouth to say, “Are you hungry? Where do you get your food?” But just in time she remembered about questions.
    The boy seemed to guess what she was thinking, however, because he said quickly, “I have lots to eat. The forest is full of things to eat, if you know where to look. It’s just that there’s not much of some kinds of things, like—like cookies, for instance.”
    Pamela was busy rubbing Nimbus dry so she couldn’t see his face, but his voice had a wistful ring. “Next time I’ll bring cookies,” she promised.
    “Don’t bother,” he said grandly. “Nuts are just as good. I brought some along. I’ll show you how to roast them.”
    “All right, but first I want to say hello to everyone.”
    Nimbus was almost dry now, so Pamela went around to all the ponies, patting their necks and whispering in their silky ears. Solsken trotted around with her trying to get more than his share of petting. Even the timid white mares, Neige and Nuage, greeted Pamela enthusiastically.
    “They all remember me,” she said as she came back to where Ponyboy was fixing a comfortable seat of grain sacks near the fire.
    “Of course. Ponies don’t forget their friends,” he said. “They’re not like people.”
    It was quite warm near the fire. Ponyboy arranged some nuts to roast on the coals at the edge of the drum. Outside, the wind roared, and high overhead rain pattered on the roof.
    “It’s nice in here,” Pamela said.
    “We come here a lot when it rains. Either here or to one of the other buildings on the farm. We like to stay near Oak Farm in bad weather. There aren’t many other places where we can get indoors and know we don’t have to worry about Them snooping around.”
    “Oh!” exclaimed Pamela. “That explains the pink hair I found on a splinter there by the door. Aurora must have swished her tail as she was going through. I wondered how it happened to be there.”
    Remembering the pink strand made Pamela recall Brother’s strange behavior when the pink hair touched his face. She wanted to ask Ponyboy for an explanation, but she knew better. Perhaps if she just told the story—
    “You know,” she began carefully. “There was something funny about that. I was taking that piece of hair to my room and Brother—that’s my Aunt Sarah’s cat—”
    “I know who Brother is,” Ponyboy interrupted.
    “Oh?” said Pamela, wondering how. But she was beginning to get used to his knowing things he had no way of knowing. “Well anyway, he was on the stairs and I tickled his face with the hair. You should have seen him! You’d have thought he’d seen a ghost.” She looked at Ponyboy hopefully. He was grinning. He leaned forward and carefully rearranged the nuts on the coals.
    “Brother’s a realist,” he said finally.
    “What does that mean?” The question popped out before she could stop it.
    Ponyboy frowned slightly. “It means he was born without one of his senses,” he said in a tone that plainly meant he had no more to say on the subject.
    Pamela still didn’t understand, but she said no more.
    The nuts were ready soon, and Ponyboy raked them out of the coals. They were delicious. Pamela thought she had never tasted any that were quite so good. As they munched together, she decided to make one more effort to get some information. She took out her amulet and, leaning forward so that the firelight gleamed