Secondhand Horses Read Online Free Page A

and goat heads connected with a
craaack
.
    Sunny winced.
That’s going to leave a mark
. Just like her foot. Flapping her arms, still on one foot, she lost her balance and dropped into the dirty sawdust. The goose, disturbed from its food hunt, flapped its wings, rose up, and dive-bombed the nearest part of Sunny—
    Her T-shirted stomach.

Chapter 7
Loose Goose
    O w! Help!” Sunny immediately exchanged that plea for another one: “Knock it off, goose. We’re trying to help the goat!” The goose appeared not to care, darting in and out at Sunny. “Help! Vee! Esther! SOMEBODY!”
    The pig began snorting. It sounded like, well, like the big ol’ pig was
laughing
.
    Vee stepped through the rails to shoo away the goose, and as she did, the goose turned its snaky neck and beak toward her. Sunny, whose howls had turned to nervous laughter, saw her friend turn around and dash for the rails, the goose in hot pursuit. Scrambling to her feet, Sunny watched as Vee rolled under the lowest rail. The girl who did not like bugs and other icky stuff was not going to be happy with what had smeared on her back.
    The goose followed.
    “Oh no!” This was worse. “Loose goose!” she yelled. “Look out—loose goose.”
    “I don’t care!” Vee yelled back, getting up and brushing off her knees and elbows. “That goose is mean!” She reached behind her and peeled her shirt from her back. “WHAT IS WET ON MY SHIRT?”
    The bandanna lay crumpled and beaten into the ground by animals and girls. Sunny bit her lip. She was supposed to get that goat away from the kid. If she hadn’t gotten distracted, none of this would have happened.
    “Hey!” A rough voice at her elbow caused her to jump sideways. A man no taller than herself glared and then gestured to the corral before bending to step between the rails. A very strong smell—a horrible stench—preceded him. “What’s going on? Where’s the goose?” He glowered at Sunny like she had tucked the fowl into her back pocket. He had three teeth in the front, holes on either side of the three, and a big mole on his nose. A dirty, red-striped, long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up hung off his skinny shoulders. He spit when he talked.
    Gross
.
    Sunny backed up.
    “Um, my friends are running after it.” She pointed at the backs of Vee, Esther, and Aneta, who were arranged in a triangle: Vee running backward in front of the goose to halt its forward flapping waddle; Aneta on one side waving her hands to keep it away from the midway rides; and Esther opposite, bending over with her hands out, biding her time to swoop in and grab the thing. Esther was bossy enough to think the goose would be okay with that. The goose was winning. The group disappeared behind a cotton-candy stand.
    The creepy carnival guy began mumbling and swung his gaze to the goat, who had calmed down and stood in the middle of the corral chewing something. “Get over here!” he yelled between gritted teeth and took a step forward. The goat stopped chewing and took an equal step away. That seemed to make the creepy carnival guy madder; he lunged for the goat’s head, twisting the tiny horns. The goat struggled silently to free himself.
    “Hey! Don’t do that!” Before she had time to think, Sunny yelled, pushing herself between the goat and the man. For a few body-stink, bad-breath moments, his three teeth—bared in a snarl—met the deadeye stare her brothers received when they took stuff from her room. Then he whirled and spat on the sawdust. “I’m through with these stupid animals. I’ll sell ’em all tonight for somebody’s dinner.” He disappeared into the crowd.
    The pig laughed. In a piggling way.
    When the miniature horse nosed Sunny from behind, she turned, scratched its nose, and frowned. “We have got to
do
something.” Quiet brown eyes blinked. “You need a nicer place to live. That guy is
mean
.”
    The Squad would figure out what to do. She ducked between the rails, heading in