“Yes, Mom,” he answered, as he walked into the room. “Dad gone to work?” His nose wrinkled as he sniffed the appetizing aroma of griddle cakes and sausages.

“Yes,” his mother answered. “He wanted to see you, but he couldn’t wait any longer. Where on earth have you been all this time? And just look at you!”

“I’ve been exercising the Black, Mom,” Alec answered. He didn’t know whether he should tell his mother about the Black running away. He decided against it—it would only worry her more, and now that the stallion was back, everything was all right.

“You certainly spend a lot of time with that animal,” his mother said. “I don’t know what you’re going to do when you have to go to school.”

Alec walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. He felt the water oozing out of his shoes. “Oh, I’m going to get up early every morning, Mom,” he said, “and feed and groom him before I go to school.” He fumbled with his shoelaces underneath the table, attempting to get his shoes off without his mother’s noticing him.

“When the weather’s nice,” he continued, “I’m going to leave him outside to graze during the morning. I’ll be in the early session at school this term and have classes right through, and get out at twelve-thirty. That’ll give me lots of time in the afternoon to be with him.” Alec slipped his shoes and socks off and wound his feet around the legs of the chair.

“I don’t want you to neglect your studies, Alec,” his mother said. “If I see you doing that, I’ll have to tell your father, and we’ll have to do something about the Black.”

“He won’t interfere, Mom,” Alec answered, as he hungrily applied butter and maple syrup to the griddle cakes his mother placed before him. Life was settling down to normal again—as normal as it could ever be with the Black.

PARTNERS
11

The rest of the day passed quickly for Alec. After breakfast, while his mother was in the living room, he slipped upstairs and put on dry shoes and socks. When he came down, he chatted with his mother, sharing little incidents of his experiences on the island and telling her about Uncle Ralph and the fun they had had together in India. In the afternoon he groomed the Black until the stallion’s black body glistened, and his long mane fell smoothly down on his neck.

Henry came into the stable. “Been cleaning the attic,” he grunted. He carried a large package wrapped in newspapers under his arm. He placed the bundle down on the floor. “Come here and look what I found,” he said to Alec.

He began unwrapping the package, as Alec knelt beside him. The papers, brown with age, cracked and fell apart as he took them off. Inside was a small racing saddle and bridle. Henry gently lifted them out and looked at them. He didn’t say anything. A minute passed and then he reached down into the bundle again. Almost caressingly he drew out a blazing green jockey cap and shirt. Alec looked down into the bundle and saw a faded pair of riding pants and black boots.