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Show Moon - 76 horses: would there be horses in Germany? Would they take her to the stable, let her learn to ride in shows? It was as if this daughter had taken the little bit of the flame she'd had once, taken it and blown it into a great heat, all the more dangerous because she kept it banked, so that she smoldered with a strange resentment at everyone around her. She'll burn herself out, Anne thought, or burn everyone around her. She's too strong. But with luck, someone will someday notice her and love her without being afraid of the heat. James, Anne was sure, was a little afraid of his stepdaughter. That must be why he demanded so much of her, that she do the housework of a girl much older, that she take care of the boys, and never show the feelings of a normal little girl. That must be why he glowered at her when she sat on his lap, and made cruel little jokes, like when she said she wanted to become a geologist, and he'd said, "You want rocks? Look in your head." He wants to cut her down to size, she thought, and there was nothing she could do to help her. After all, Joy wasn't his. And Anne was afraid of James. It is possible that sometimes fear is safer than love. In Germany the horses were big. The stern-faced older boys who were Joy's guides never worried that she might fall off when she followed along galloping, scrambling up steep, pine-slippery slopes. These rides were like young rivers: "You can be as strong as you like. No one's going to mind. Enjoy!" |
