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"I’ll carry her back," Jack says, slipping an arm underives his son a look, but Jack doesn’t pay attention

"Put onna takeme all over the place" He iulfshis eyes and wiping sweat off his face, glancing between Mr Goodwin and Jack I can see Dad’s pulse racing beneath the skin of his neck

"Son, get her off the track," Mr Goodwin says, and Jack grabs my arm and pulls me toward Hillcrest

"Can I still race on Saturday?" I ask, hobbling

Jack avoids "

He leads me back to Hillcrest and escorts me to my bedroo enough for a twin bed and a shtstand A fras beside the door Yellow paint is peeling off the walls and the only sunlight filters through a tiny rectangularnear the ceiling The twin bed has the saht--Strawberry Shortcake

Jack chuckles at my bedspread as we plop down "I knew you were a Shortcake"

I want to dive under the covers and die from embarrass loves and vest, Jack pulls s onto his lap, peelspurple welt for "You should ice it, but it doesn’t look serious--"

"Son," Mr Goodwin says, appearing in s in Jack’s lap "You need to get back on the track and let the horse You need to do your job, understand ?"

The emotion disappears from Jack’s face, he removes my feet from his lap, and he suddenly stands "Yes, sir"

"I hope you feel better, Savannah," Jack says seriously before leaving, clicking the door shut

Dad watches Jack disappear then sits down on my bed "What happened out there? How did you lose control?"

"Star’s strong and he was scared"

My father shakes his head "I don’t want you riding that horse anyue--"

"The only reason the Goodwins are training me as a jockey is to ride Star--"

"And you think they’ll let you now after you lost control of the horse and fell?"

"That happens to everybody! And raccoons were involved! This happened to a rider on the third day ere here, for God’s sake!"

Dad clenches the Strawberry Shortcake coive up the chance to make a better na the sa just proves I need better opportunities So better

"Please," I say "I’ll do anything Please let et back to work," he says "Stay in that bed"

"Dad!" I call out, but he leaves without another word

God, is it all over after less than a week? I buryscaredscaress film for me to watch and I s a sonna let me quit just because I fell

"When I was a jockey," Gael says, "I fell at least once a month And I didn’t even have raccoons to blame"

Later in the day, Dad sits on ," he says "But you need to get your body in better shape so you can ride at high speeds if you want to keep your job"

"I can keep it?" I exclaih his hair "What happened this oddamned raccoons"

Dad pats my knee "Hey, watch your mouth, Shortcake"

"Can I race this weekend?"

"We’ll see…but you need to start doing more workouts with Gael And don’t think I won’t hesitate to stop your training if I don’t think you can handle it, understand?"

I hug his neck, proht--this job can be the difference between life and death

Dad hands ht your schoolwork"