Something so terrible and humiliating happened to me today that I won’t even bring it up, except to mention it obliquely here, to remind myself in the future, so that, if there comes a time when I need to look back and wonder “When did I lose control of my life?” I will know it was today.
In other news, we went up to feed the horses some apples (and some carrots to Buddy, because he seems not to be too fond of apples) and they were way on the other side of the hill and so we were calling and calling and all they did was prick their ears up like “Is this anyone we have to pay attention to? Oh, no it’s just those weird apes.”
So, finally, I did my best Mack impersonation, trying to sound all mean and authoritative “Come here.” and Lena looked over at me like “Oh, you poor girl, that’s really not how to get my attention at all. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” but she came a little closer and I yelled again and she looked back over her shoulder like “Are any of the rest of you getting a load of this?” And then the nephew started hollering and they were all like “Well, you know, the little kid is more interesting than the far side of the hill. Maybe we should go check him out.”
So, they came over and the kid is all “You have to feed the Queen first! Here, let me feed the Queen first.” And the thing that kills me is that here they are, these great big animals looking at you like “God, you’re stupid” and Lena is just so gentle and careful with the boy, just barely brushing her lips onto his palm to take the apple slice. The boys were all “Om nom nom” like the horse equivalent of Cookie Monster and Lady ate some and then she turned her tail to us like “I have tolerated you about all I can.”
But I think Lena had a plan to gently and kindly lure the boy out into the field where she would raise him as her own and teach him to bring her apples whenever she wanted. At least, that’s what I suspect, seeing as she was being so sweet to him.
He said, “When I come back, do you think Mack will let me ride one of the horses?”
“Maybe,” I said.
I think six going on seven is a good age. I suppose they’re all good, but this is the first time since he was a baby that I felt like “No fair, I want to have a cool kid like this!”
Filed under: Family
Buddy’s health-conscious. A horse-lovin lady told me once that carrots are much better for horses than apples - I can’t remember if apples are more fattening or bad for teeth, but either way I imagine it’s more of a concern for carriage horses in Philly who don’t have fields to work out in and good grass to clean their teeth.
I love the nephew-with-horses stories.