Read Spirit Horses for Free Online Page A

made his way far in to the hilly countryside west
of his farm. Suddenly a covey of quail flew up in front of them. The filly
spooked with a sideways jump. Shane quickly grabbed the saddle horn and hung on
as he skillfully got her back under control.
    “Easy girl, those birds scared me too.” As he calmed
her down, he was pleased to see how quickly she began to relax and walk on as
if nothing happened. During the ride back home, he patted her neck often and
told her how good she was doing.
    As the two made their way down the last hill into
the big grassy field next to the barn, Shane looked up to see Terry waving
frantically at him. This also caught the filly’s attention. “You’re okay,” he
told the worried horse. “I don’t know why he’s acting crazy like that.” Shane had
to keep rubbing her neck to try and ease her bother. He was really starting to
get upset with Terry’s behavior. “He knows
better than to carry on like that when I’m on a green horse,” he said quietly
to the filly.
    As he rode in closer he realized that what he first
thought was excitement with Terry’s body language and expressions now looked
more like sheer panic. His breathing was shallow and rapid, and he was having
trouble speaking.
    “Chill out, man,” Shane told him sternly, as he
stepped out of the saddle. “Just calm down and tell me what’s wrong.”
     
    Chapter 4
    “It’s Jen and the kids, boss. They’ve been in a car wreck! The sheriff
was out here about twenty minutes ago, and said you need to get to the hospital
right now!”
    “A wreck! When?” Shane’s forehead wrinkled as his
heart began to pound with fear. “Is everybody all right? What exactly did the
sheriff say?”
    “He didn’t really say much. All he would tell me was
that the accident was a bad one.” Shane, now trying to control his panic,
handed the horse over to Terry and ran to his truck.
    He drove like a mad man all the way to the hospital,
praying that they were all okay. He crashed through the ER door and found Jen’s
sister waiting for him in the lobby.
    It was a teacher’s work day. This meant school was out
for the kids, so Jacob and Tina were with Jen for the morning. Jen’s sister,
Abby, had met them to go shopping and was following the three in her own car to
a restaurant for lunch. The accident happened right in front of her and she had
followed the ambulance to the hospital.
    Abby was sitting on a couch sobbing hysterically,
leaning over with her face in her hands. A young nurse was sitting next to her
trying to console her. Abby looked up and saw Shane. She immediately jumped up,
ran over, and threw her arms around him still crying
uncontrollably. “The man that crashed into them ran a red light. It wasn’t
Jen’s fault!” she bawled.
    Shane was really scared now, and pushed Abby away to
arm’s length. He looked into her swollen red eyes and loudly asked, “How bad is
it?”
    She tried hard to answer but had trouble catching
her breath. She finally sputtered out the words that stabbed Shane like a knife
in his gut. “Jen and Jacob are gone,” she said with tears streaming down her
face, “Tina’s in intensive care.”
    “What!” Shane whispered. “No. No way. You’ve got to
be mistaken. What do you mean, gone?”
    “I’m sorry,” Abby said as she fell down to her knees
crying.
    Shane ran to the counter, and yelled at the lady
working there. “I want to see my family. I want to see them, now!”
    The lady realized that Shane was on the verge of
losing control. He was loudly demanding to see his wife and kids over and over
while threatening to tear the waiting room apart if she didn’t comply. She
wasn’t sure how to handle him, and was now in tears herself. She finally picked
up the phone to call for help. Almost immediately, two very large male
orderlies came rushing through the door. They calmly told Shane that a doctor
was on the way to talk to him and asked him to follow them to a small room
beside the