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Callie shrugged. “I am. It’s the first time Dark Temptation will be around so many people, but its also the first time I will put my gift to the test in front of a crowd. I just hope we don’t have a reoccurrence of the past.”
Samantha grinned. “You know that won’t happen. The town is finally going to see the real you, and they will love you as we all do.”
Callie could hear the absolute conviction in her friend’s voice, and she kissed her cheek, grateful beyond words to have a friend like her, and to have finally come to terms with this gift.
The sun rose warm over the chill-touched landscape that morning. Dew softened the fields, glistening as the brightness of the sun caressed it, changing the colors of the fresh green grass. Across the fields, horses still slumbered, some laying, some with heads hanging and a hoof propped in rest. Callie looked out over them as she sat on the fence. Her heartbeat steadily, not frantic, but not quite calm either. Today was the day when she would finally face the world with her gift. Today was also the day when Dark Temptation would once again face the world. Together they would show people what trust and forgiveness could do.
As if he sensed her thoughts of him, the dark stallion came across his paddock and whinnied to her. Callie glanced in his direction, their eyes meeting, and she nodded softly. “Yah, I’m ready too, big guy.” And she realized that she was. She was ready to face her fears.
The rodeo grounds in Durango were beyond packed. Callie was certain every single citizen in the community had come out today to see her. The thought threatened to terrify her, but she stopped those feelings right away.
“Callie, dear, you are going to do great today. I will be right in the front, cheering you on.” Mrs. Blumberry called to her from the doorway.
Callie turned, smiling at the wonderful old woman. Walking to her, she embraced her, thanking her. “I’ve got butterflies in my stomach…” she giggled.
“Callie, its time,” her dad called from her other side. Callie nodded, releasing Mrs. Blumberry as she moved toward the doorway to the arena, the doorway to her destiny.
The crowd’s gaze was currently riveted to a screen and projector that showed videos of Dark Temptation in the auction yard where her brother Cody had purchased the young unwanted stallion. In the video, the auctioneer told the crowd about the stallion’s prized bloodline, but all the crowd saw was the dangerous horse who struck out at the fence, rearing and screaming. The video switched to one from their ranch where Cody attempted to keep control of the stallion with a cotton lounge line, but nearly got trampled and kicked. When the screen went blank, and silence had hushed over the crowd, it was Callie’s fathers voice that rang out on the loudspeaker as Dark Temptation was released into the arena.
Callie could feel his distress, his panic as he eyed all the faces in the crowd. She wanted so badly to calm him, but she had to let the crowd see that the terrified stallion was still in him, that his fear of abuse would never be completely healed.
“This stallion, whose bloodline is rich with everything you could ever hope for in a ranch bloodline, was once sentenced to death, by me.” there was an audible intake from the crowd.
“That’s right. Even I, Bill-the-bull-tamer-Hamlyn, thought this stallion was beyond redemption. But it was my daughter, our own Calamity Jane Hamlyn, who made me realize it wasn’t the stallion who was at fault, it was us. He wasn’t mean, or violent in nature, but actually, he was afraid. He had been hurt and lost his trust in us.”
There were murmurs in the crowd, some questioning, some curious. Her father waited for them to subside before continuing.
“As it turns out, my daughter has a gift, a way to communicate with animals…” again the murmurs in the crowd grew until Bill held up his hand and spoke on. “No, we’re not talking about hearing animals talk, but rather, shefeelstheir feelings. And apparently, they can feel hers. Why don’t we just show you?” the crowd roared approval and Bill returned inside.
Kissing Callie on the cheek, he whispered, “You go get them, Calamity.”
Callie walked slowly into the arena and a hush fell over the crowd, absolute silence that was nearly deafening. Callie could hear her own heart beating in her chest.
“I’m a little nervous, I will admit, and my heart is pounding, which isn’t helping him,” she spoke into her microphone and nodded toward the dark stallion pacing across the arena. The crowd chuckled softly at her words.
He paused, his ears going toward her, but her anxiety was fueling his, and he galloped back across the arena.
“I’m going to try and calm myself, which in turn will calm him. Its through emotions that I can communicate with them. If I can get him to feel that I am calm and he is safe, he will calm too. But I want to be clear here, I have spent the last seven months with this stallion, and he and I have formed a bond. This is not our first encounter in a stressful situation. The first time I tried this, he tried to kill me.”
There was a buzz in the crowd, but Callie pushed everyone and everything from her mind except the stallion. He turned toward her again, his ears flicking back and forth, dark eyes watching her from his ebony face. Callie didn’t move. She just focused on her emotions and on projecting them to Dark Temptation. Letting him know it was okay, that she wasn’t afraid, and neither should he be. Every hardened muscle in the beautifully built horse seemed to twitch. His body was tensed, his fight or flight response heightened and instinct trying to take over. Slowly, the stallion came closer, his eyes and ears occasionally turning toward a movement or noise in the mostly silent crowd.
Callie breathed in and out softly, expressing her love for him, and began to walk slowly toward him. The stallion began to visibly relax, and after a few short moments, he closed the gap between them, pushing his forehead into her abdomen as he so often did for reassurance, sometimes his, sometimes hers. There was a roar in the crowd, the stallion’s head jerked up, and everyone silenced, expecting the worse, Callie was sure, but she was as calm as a placid lake, as still as the mountains that surrounded their town.
Stepping toward the stallion’s side, Callie ran her hands soothingly along his back, until she paused at his withers. She waited until the stallion turned his eye to her, giving her permission to mount, after all, this was a bond, a partnership, not an ownership. Callie pulled herself on his back and forced her heart to beat calmly as the crowd went wild and the stallion sidestepped nervously. She flooded her thoughts and emotions into him, reminding him of their bond, and after a tense moment, the dark horse cantered calmly around the arena, moving where she directed by only the pressure of her knees and calves. Callie couldn’t help the smile that came across her face. She had done it. They had done it.
A murmur broke out over the crowd, drawing her attention to the far gate, and Callie sucked in a breath of surprise. A cowboy had just ridden into the arena, and he trotted toward her, the brim of his dark Stetson shadowing his face. This was not part of the plan. She and her father had chosen not to involve any other horses because she didn’t know how strong her gift was just yet when the stallion had so much outside stimulation. She felt a moment of panic, and the dark stallion beneath her reacted. He reared back, neighing wildly and tossing his head as Callie clung to his back. She tried frantically to think calming thoughts, but she didn’t know what was happening.
Now only about twenty feet away, the rider stopped his horse, and a deep all too familiar voice called out to her.
“Calm him, Calamity, I’ve seen you do it. Calm him.”
Callie felt her hands trembling, but her heartbeat began to slow its pace, although she had to struggle to make it happen. What the hell was Mathis doing? Beneath her, Dark Temptation returned to the ground, but stopped a foreleg against the freshly tilled dirt of the arena.
“I am not part of the show, folks, I can promise you this was not planned. But I need to do something, and I needed all of you to believe in her the way I do. I watched her gentle this stallion, a horse who when I first met him, was as mean as he is dark. But she has a real gift, and even in the middle of a thunderstorm, she was able to calm him.”
The crowd was feeding into him. There was excitement in their eyes, but Callie couldn’t focus on that. The stallion beneath her was the only thing she could allow herself to focus on.
Mathis dismounted, leaving his horse where it stood. “Calamity Jane Hamlyn, I came here today to show you how much I trust your gift, how much I believe in you. Calamity,” his voice trailed off, and Callie glanced up at him.
