\u201cI want to adopt a BLM Mustang, please mom?\u201d Evie blurted at the dinner table on a Thursday night. She had a shelf lined with books about them. \u201cYou know I\u2019ve always loved them, and I\u2019m old enough now. Plus there is the contest and the check at the end. I could use that check for college!\u201d
\u201cNo,\u201d Kivi said, firmly \u201cAbsolutely no.\u201d
\u201cBut Mom,\u201d Evie started in immediately. \u201cIt would build character, responsibility, and my horsewoman skills. Did I mention the check?\u201d
Kivi heaved a big sigh and looked at her daughter. The Brown eyes belonged to her dad, and the wide brow but the rest of her face was Kivi. \u201cLooks like me, acts like me. Stubborn Like me\u201d She thought as she watched Evie chew her lip a moment.
Their eyes met and Evie thought she saw a chink in the armor so she went for it.
\u201cMom! C\u2019mon. I promise not to shirk my other duties. I\u2019ll still ride Hippy every day. I\u2019ll even start showing in Jr classes. Please, Please, let me adopt a BLM Mustang\u201d
\u201cFirst, You cannot adopt one. You\u2019re not old enough.\u201d Kivi said, still firm. \u201cSecond, I just bought you a horse.\u201d She was a little sad that Evie and Hippy hadn\u2019t made as fast friends as she had hoped. The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, so said Robert Burns. She was going to skin Michael for putting the idea in Evie\u2019s head.
\u201cI love Hippie, I do, but she\u2019s all trained up and half push-button,\u201d Evie said it though cajoling. \u201cA BLM would be fresh and I\u2019d be first. The contest is really unspecific about what the horse can or should do, just best trained! Mom, You\u2019ve said I\u2019m good at training the young horses. Now is a time to prove it. I\u2019ll make sure it\u2019s trained to do ranch work too! Not just tricky stuff.\u201d
Kivi sighed again. Part of her wanted to let the girl try, another part of her wanted to shove the mustang up Michael\u2019s butt.
\u201cUnkie said he\u2019d help!\u201d Evie shot quickly \u201cHe is gonna stay right?\u201d
\u201cOh bloody hell,\u201d Kivi thought as the plans of Michael came plainly in her eyes. \u201cHe did, did he?\u201d Kivi said out loud, her voice taking on an edge. It was an edge Evie knew and she knew when to back up, too.
\u201cWell, think about it then? \u201c She asked, very softly \u201cPlease Mom\u201d She knew by the tone that she needed to drop it for now.
After dinner, Evie had gone to her room and threw herself on her bed. Which in itself was not odd behavior, but when she reached for her stuffed turtle she realized she was more invested in this idea than she had expected. She put her headset on and turned on the local country station. \u201cBuy Dirt\u201d came on the radio as she flipped open her Laptop to cruise TikTok and pass the time.
When Kivi went to check on Evie at bedtime, she found her with her head on her stuffed turtle, headset on, and asleep with the laptop open in front of her.
Kivi sighed softly when she saw the turtle. She only hugged that when her emotions ran high. As much as Kivi hoped that this was a fad, the turtle meant that the child was serious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI want to adopt a BLM Mustang, please mom?\u201d Evie blurted at the dinner table on a Thursday night. She had a shelf lined with books about them. \u201cYou know I\u2019ve always loved them, and I\u2019m old enough now. Plus there is the contest and the check at the end. I could use that check […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":199,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwide.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/205\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmullhollanddesign.com\/stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}