5 - The Neighbor
1988, Dani meets the next-door neighbor, and they have something in common
Things That Can’t Be Broken is a novel presented as a live draft, one chapter every week.
Last week: 4 - Fortune Maeve is singled-out again by her grandfather, 1980
Part 1 | History is an Angel
5 - The Neighbor
Lisa Cartwright
April 22, 1988
La Mesa, California
A familiar beat-up Volkswagen was idling its tinny rattle in front of the neighbors’ house as the Cartwrights pulled into their driveway, bellies full of Friday night pizza. Dani leaned over the front seat, pointing at the girl climbing out of the beetle. She yelled, “She’s got a saddle!” right into Lisa’s ear.
“For heaven’s sake, Dani,” Lisa said, rubbing the assaulted ear, “Please don’t yell.”
“Sorry, Mom,” said Dani.
Tim pulled the brake and Dani was out of the car at a run to accost the poor girl, shouting, “Hey! Neighbor!”
The teen was indeed carrying a saddle hooked over one freckled arm. It had no horn, so it must have been an English saddle from what little Lisa knew of such things. Lisa could smell the horse odor from the driveway as she and Tim approached Dani and the girl, who had stopped when she saw Dani running toward her.
Lisa had seen the girl standing by the curb many times over the last few years, but she never gave her much more than a moment’s thought. Her sandy hair was always a mess, but today her tennis shoes and jeans were filthy with what appeared to be dried mud.
“Why do you have a saddle?” Dani asked, rolling back and forth onto the balls of her feet and twirling a lock of her dark hair with one finger.
“I brought it home to clean and oil it,” said the girl, who lifted a flap of leather, seemingly ready to launch into a longer explanation, until she glanced up and saw Lisa and Tim.
“Do you have a horse?” Dani asked.
“Sort of,” she said, a kind smile on her round face, “I’m in a horsemanship program after school, so I have a horse there, but I don’t own her.”
She looked up at Lisa and stuck out a grubby hand while awkwardly leaning the saddle against her leg. “I’m Barb,” she said.
“Lisa Cartwright. And this is my husband, Tim.” Lisa waved her hand back to Tim, who gave a friendly nod. She gave Barb a firm handshake while directing Dani with a raised eyebrow and a tilt of her head.
She took the hint and said, “I’m Dani! We live next door.”
“Pleased to meet you, Dani,” said Barb, shaking Dani’s small hand, “I guess you’re a horse-girl, too?”
“Yes, I am!” Dani crossed her arms in front of her and cocked her head to one side.
Barb followed Lisa’s gaze to her mud-caked jeans and shoes. She chuckled, and said to Lisa, “It was bath day . . . my horse likes to splash.”
“Ahh,” Lisa said, dismissing the momentary image of a horse in a bathtub.
Tim placed his hands on Dani’s shoulders and gave Barb a hesitant smile before addressing Dani, “Why don’t we let Barb go inside with her saddle now? It looks heavy.”
Dani took a step back toward Tim and Barb gave her a little wave before she hitched the saddle onto her hip and navigated a path through the tall weeds around the rotting orange Datsun to her porch, where she stood fishing for the key in her front pocket. Tim gently held Dani back from following her.
That evening, after Dani taught Lisa and Tim everything she knew about English riding, she assailed them with a barrage of horsey requests that lasted until the moment her eyes closed.
It started with, “Can I go see Barb’s horse?”
“I don’t think so, honey.” Tim said.
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t just invite yourself. It would be rude,” Lisa answered.
“What if she invites me?”
“No, Dani. Just no,” said Tim, patient but firm.
She let that one go, but soon she was back again, asking, “Can I be in the horsemanship program?”
“I think it’s for older kids, sweetie, and I can’t imagine how expensive it must be,” Lisa said, her eyes widening as they met Tim’s. She found it difficult to imagine how the neighbors could afford to send Barb to after-school riding lessons every day, if that’s what a horsemanship program was. Judging from the state of the house and vehicles, they seemed to have little to spare, but who knows? Everyone has their priorities.
Dani tugged at Tim’s arm, playfully, “Daddy, you can get new clients and make more money, then we can have horses!” Evidently, she had overheard Tim talking to Lisa about finding better work opportunities.
On and on. Lisa was losing hope that this horse obsession would ever pass. Tim had created a monster. At some point they would have to find a way to satisfy the child’s obsession, especially now that she had discovered the horse-girl next door.
On Monday afternoon, Dani spied Barb from the front window waiting for her ride. Lisa saw no harm in letting Dani go out there and talk to her for a few minutes while she was building kite frames in the garage only a few yards away.
Dani quickly had Barb’s schedule down after that. She would run out to the curb the minute Barb was visible. Or she would stalk her, riding her bicycle down the block and back until Barb came outside. Barb didn’t seem to mind. Dani always came bouncing back with new intelligence about the goings on at the horsemanship program, which Lisa learned, took place at Allen Haven Ranch in Dehesa Valley.
Tuesday’s news from Dani was, “Barb has an Arabian mare named Fancy, but she really isn’t very fancy. She’s just plain brown all around with no chrome at all. That means, she doesn’t have any white socks or a white blaze on her face.” Dani pointed to her feet and her forehead.
Wednesday she announced, “Barb’s going to get a really good job after she graduates and then she’s going to buy her horse, Fancy. She said after she buys Fancy she would let me come out and see her . . . If it’s okay with you and Daddy.”
And so it went.
Saturday morning’s news from Dani was, “Barb knows how to change a tire and can drive a truck with a horse trailer! Todd Allen is the really nice man who teaches her everything about keeping up the ranch. She says he’s funny, too. He came from Scotland. That’s all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.”
“Wow, that’s very interesting, Dani,” said Lisa, looking up from her sewing machine.
“How far away is Scotland?” Dani asked, “Is it as far as Hawaii?”
Tim had gone to Hawaii last year for a conference, so it was a familiar faraway place. “Hawaii is in the Pacific, but yes, it’s pretty far, maybe twice as far,” Lisa told her.
“He had horses in Scotland, too,” Dani said, “And riding students. His wife is the other instructor. . . I forget her name. They both taught eventing.”
“Eventing.” Lisa said, leaning over to sort through her basket for the next silk panel to sew.
Dani continued, “Eventing is three kinds of riding over three days. The first day is dressage, which is like dancing, but they have to do every step exactly right and in the right place. The second day is cross-country where they run a long distance with jumps and water obstacles to see who’s fastest. And then, on the last day, they have show jumping. That’s where they jump big fancy painted jumps in an arena and lose points if they knock any rails down.”
“I see,” said Lisa, concentrating on an intricate stitch pattern. “Is that what Barb is learning?”
“No, Mom. She doesn’t have that kind of horse.” Apparently done explaining things to silly Mom, Dani galloped off to her room and Jelly jumped from her place on the couch next to Tim to join her, snatching the red ball on the way.
Tim lay his newspaper down on his lap and asked Lisa, “Does she go out there every day?”
“She does,” Lisa told him, “She always comes back with new information. I’m learning a lot about that horse program.”
Tim gave her a serious look. “I’m a little worried about Dani spending so much time with the neighbor.”
“Oh?” Lisa stopped her sewing.
He said, “You see the state of that house. Those kids are almost always there alone, and when that old red truck is parked there, not just once in a while, but almost every single time, there’s shouting. It’s not something I want Dani exposed to.”
“I hear what you’re saying.” Lisa paused to give her answer some thought. Tim was being a protective father, and that was not a bad thing, but she liked Barb. “The house is an eyesore, and her father . . . I assume he’s her father, he does yell. But I don’t think Barb is to blame for that. She seems like a nice kid. Do you remember my home life? It may have been neater and quieter, but it wasn’t all that cheery, or well-supervised for that matter.” She felt her back straighten. “Maybe we can be a good influence in Barb’s life.”
“What if it goes the other way? Dani is only nine. Barb is what, a junior or senior in high school? What interest does she have in a nine-year-old?” Tim was losing his calm.
Horses. Lisa thought. But he obviously knew that.
“Honey, you know Dani,” she said, trying to keep the conversation light, “She thinks everyone is her friend. Barb is just being very patient with her.”
“That’s what worries me most about Dani. She trusts everyone,” Tim said, “Maybe it’s time to think about another neighborhood. If I can get more work, better clients . . .”
Lisa sighed softly. She loved their little house. There were always going to be neighbors. “It’s ten minutes,” she said, looking into Tim’s eyes, “They stand on the curb and talk about horses.”
Tim set his newspaper on the coffee table. “That skinny boy who picks her up every day in that rusty old beetle. . . ”
“Dani says he’s her cousin,” Lisa interrupted, unintentionally.
“Well, he’s even more frightening than she is. His heavy metal t-shirts. That stringy hair past his shoulders.”
Lisa got up and crossed the room to sit next to Tim on the couch. She ruffled his short hair, “You had hair to your shoulders in high school.”
He smiled at that, “Your dad should have been more vigilant.” He kissed her and held her hands. His eyebrows lowered again. “I just don’t want you to let her run out there every time she sees Barb on the curb. I have a bad feeling. I don’t want her to get involved with that family.”
Lisa sat back, facing him now with her hands flat on her knees, “Okay,” she said, nodding her head, “It won’t be easy. And I’m not going to keep her from going outside to play, but I’ll try to keep her from going out there when Barb is waiting at the curb.”
Tim picked up his paper again. “Thank you. Once in a while is okay, but not every single day.”
“I agree. And I’m sure Barb will appreciate the peace, anyway,” Lisa added.
Next
Part 1 | History is an Angel
6 - Allen Haven Ranch
California dreams come together, and a visit from Maeve’s cousin, 1981