EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fifth chapter of an 18-part story that The Augusta Chronicle will publish in Your Life on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
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A Horse Race Isn't a Horse Race ...
STORY SO FAR: After an unpleasant encounter in the fog, Ben meets his foster father's niece, Rachel Brennan. But before he can enjoy the thought of making friends with her, she adds a warning of her own.
It was a good thing the kitchen was huge, because besides the usual appliances and counters and so on, it contained an enormous table that could easily seat twelve people. In fact, many of the seats were already occupied when Ben entered, by the same bunch of people who had so noisily arrived at dinner, and newspapers were opened over much of the surface. One guy had his laptop open and plugged into a phone jack, and he was scrolling through pages of numbers. The quiet was intense, broken only by the rustling of paper, the clicking keyboard, and the sounds of coffee slurps and bacon hissing and popping in a skillet.
The scent of bacon brought back a swift, sharp memory: Ben's father making Sunday breakfast, saying Let's you and me go down to Chinatown this afternoon, Ben. Ben cleared the lump that formed in his throat.
"Good morning, Ben. Sit here," Mrs. Brennan said, making room for him by folding her newspaper back on itself to reveal a place mat, napkin, and place setting. She had a slight Southern accent; he'd heard her mention relatives in Kentucky the night before. "Do you want coffee? Juice? What'll you eat? Sit, sit. Bacon?"
"No! No, thanks. Just cereal's okay," Ben said quickly, sliding into the chair and unfolding the napkin. He noticed sunlight was streaming in through the kitchen windows: apparently that chilling fog was just at the front of the house.
Gathering a bowl, cereal, and milk, Mrs. Brennan bustled around, asking Ben if he'd slept well and if he'd been comfortable, and filled him in on the weather report. Ben answered her questions as he filled his bowl. She began fussing with the bacon on the stove, and Ben took a dripping spoonful of cereal. Beside him, Mrs. Brennan's newspaper displayed mysterious headlines: Whatchamacallit Rallies at Belmont, Imsohappy Upsets Rialto, Penny's Promise Mows Them Down on the Turf.
"The racing form, sweetie," Mrs. Brennan said, noticing his puzzled look. She nodded toward her houseguests, who, frowning in concentration, were studying columns of figures and taking notes. "Saturday's a big day at the track."
"Is one of your horses in a race?" Ben asked, wiping milk off his chin with the back of his hand.
"Not today. But there's still money to be made."
Ben grinned. "I get it. They're picking who to bet on, right?"
"Sweetie, a horse race isn't a horse race without a little wager," Mrs. Brennan replied, sitting down with a fresh cup of coffee. She made a sheepish face. "Lawd, I hope you don't disapprove of us. You don't think you've been thrown into a nest of depraved gamblers, do you?"
Ben felt a surge of affection for her. "No way! Well, I think pumping quarters into a slot machine is pretty dumb, but I watched a horse race on TV once and it was really exciting. I guess it's even more exciting if you figured out which horse was going to win ahead of time."
"Amen to that, kid," said Leo, walking in the back door. "How's the Pick Six coming along?" he asked the gang at the other end of the table.
"Coming along, coming along," one of the men mumbled, chewing hard on the end of his pen.
Mrs. Brennan took a big slug of her coffee and sighed. "Anyway, some people say the biggest gamble of all in horse racing is buying the horse to begin with. We don't have to bet on the races to lose money."
The wistfulness in her voice made Ben look away, and he scraped the soggy flakes out of the bottom of his bowl. He liked Mrs. Brennan, but he had a feeling she had just revealed more than she should have about their financial state.
"Umm, I met your niece," he said, just for something to say. Then, to his horror, he began to blush.
Fortunately, Mrs. Brennan had turned her attention back to the racing news, and wasn't looking at him. She merely said, "Hmm," and took another sip of coffee. "Rachel, yes."
"I guess she's in college ... ?"
"Cornell. She wants to be a big-animal vet."
Ben silently formed the word wow to his cereal bowl. Cornell. Vet. Not only was she pretty and confident, she must be incredibly smart.
"I'm sorry," Mrs. Brennan said. She put her newspaper aside and turned toward him, smiling warmly. "Where are my manners? I should pay less attention to other trainers' horses and more attention to you. What would you like to do today?"
Mrs. Langton's face came to Ben's mind, and all her words of caution and warning and advice. He shrugged. "I'm not a guest. I can work. I mean, I don't really have anything to do. It's not like school has started yet."
"And you don't have any friends here yet, either, you don't have to say it," Mrs. Brennan added. "We can always use an extra pair of hands around here, but we're not going to put you to work on your first day, that's for darn sure. Tell you what, you give me an hour to get through breakfast and chores and then we'll find Rachel and we'll go do something fun for the morning. Deal?"
"Deal." Ben poured himself another bowl of corn flakes and sloshed on the milk. A morning with Rachel. Starting in an hour. Deal!
(To be continued)
Text copyright 2003 Jennifer Armstrong; Illustrations copyright 2003 C. B. Mordan, reprinted by permission of Breakfast Serials Inc.
Previous Chapters of 'The Winner's Circle'
• Chapter 1: Welcome to the Wind Rider Farms
• Chapter 2: Hoofbeats in the Fog
• Chapter 3: The Lashing Whip
• Chapter 4: Meeting Rachel
• Chapter 5: A Horse Race Isn't a Horse Race ...
• Chapter 6: The Face on the Wall
• Chapter 7: Fearless, generous, and kind
• Chapter 8: A Ghostly Warning
• Chapter 9: An Accusation
• Chapter 10: Haunted by Doubts
• Chapter 11: Evening Up the Score
• Chapter 12: A Meeting at the Track
• Chapter 13: Race-Day Revenge
• Chapter 14: And They're Off!!
• Chapter 15: The Broken Circle
• Chapter 16: Fire!
• Chapter 17: Death of a firebug
• Chapter 18: Final chapter
