The early morning mist lay heavy on the racetrack, blurring the outlines of the Mountains and cloaking the scene in a cool gray. Piper and Bones leaned against the rail at Copper Meadow Downs, cups of hot coffee warming their hands from the morning chill, watching the jockeys take their mounts through the morning warm ups.. There was a slight breeze, a hint of rain to come, according to the weatherman earlier that morning, (aka the cat she often looked to for the weather predictions based on the various howls emitted each morning at daybreak.) Piper wasn't so sure. She sniffed the air. It didn't have the feel of rain, she thought, only summer heat. Maybe it would peter out, pass them by.
You're not supposed to be sentimental in racing; you're not supposed to fall in love with your horses because they come and they go; they flash like comets across your sky and disappear just as quickly. But Piper Tippet had made a career of falling in love?with horses, with the few people in her life she admired and who mattered to her. Which was why she and Bones were friends. They both thought most people were shifty, not worth the cost of the dynamite it would take to blow them up. They both came from the same background and had similar values: You find the few good people you can trust and hang on to them. Putting this love toward Pegasus' was going to be a whole new adventure.
Bones started his stopwatch just as Leo the jockey got the Old Man (the sentimental name Piper had attached to the aging quarter horse) to run, a little stiff-legged at first, then looking better, stretching out those heavily bandaged legs and straining against the bit. Keeping a tight Dead Heat 15 hold on him, Leo moved the Old Man slightly out from the rail and gave him his head until he hit the finish line. Bones glanced at his watch as Leo stood up and pulled hard to bring the Old Man to a slow gallop. ?Forty-eight and two, perfect,? he said, ?just what he needed.?
The jockey looked like a plague victim, but obviously he could still ride; he could handle the old pro even with a weeks worth of cheap gin pumping through his veins. ?Maybe he'll come through this latest binge,? Piper said. ?At least, I know the Old Man will run for him.? The race was five days away, $32,000 claimers going six and a half furlongs, and against horses the Old Man had once horrified but that would now give him all he could handle and maybe a little more than that.
Bones turned his back to the track, leaned his bulk up against the rail and tried to will the sun to break through the cool mist. ?I'm going back to the barn, Piper? Bones said. ?You coming??
?Nah, I'm going to wait for the programs to show up, then go home and do a little handicapping. Maybe I can hit another pick six." Wincing at her last bet which had failed miserably with her horse throwing the rider, she brushed the memory aside like so much dust. She was going to have to make a killing soon, or she'd be flat out of coins. "Then I am going to snag Lydia away from whatever it is she thinks is too important to ignore and head off to that other race track, The Tropicana Sands. They race Pegasi there.? To say she was addicted to the ponies was being kind, in the extreme. Adding a new leg to the addiction was just icing on Piper's cake. Her heart was already beating like a trip hammer at the possibilities and that winsome smile was evidence of her hopes.
?You still living on that money?? Bones was chuckling at her wistful expression as he pocketed the stopwatch and being much too fond of the slight slip of a girl to laugh in the face of her dreams, regardless of what he initially thought on that form of racing. She'd been trailing around at his heels for as long as he could remember. He'd practically raised the girl himself.
?A few lousy grand can carry you quite a while,? smiling, she was still savoring the last win she had managed to snag weeks before. Piper and her penchant for long shots were no strangers.
She had yet to tell Bones about her intentions of buying a Pegasus. Hell, she hadn't told anyone yet! She planned on springing it on Lydia that day after the races. As well as feeling her out on the possibilities of the Pegasus wearing The Stitch in Time silks. "I'll see you this evening. When I win, grab the winnings for me, yeah?" Handing over the tickets for the horses she'd already picked for that days races at The Copper.
"Just don't be betting your knickers, girl!" With a laugh, he took the tickets with a nod then he patted her on the shoulder and turned her about with a gentle shove to send her on her way. "Go on, now. I got mans work to be seeing to." Heading for the barn, he was skimming over Piper's picks for the day. A low whistle left his lips with a rueful shake of his head. "Yeah, good luck on that!"
(Cross-posted from the Simplicity folder- http://rdi.dragonsmark.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t= 5828)
You're not supposed to be sentimental in racing; you're not supposed to fall in love with your horses because they come and they go; they flash like comets across your sky and disappear just as quickly. But Piper Tippet had made a career of falling in love?with horses, with the few people in her life she admired and who mattered to her. Which was why she and Bones were friends. They both thought most people were shifty, not worth the cost of the dynamite it would take to blow them up. They both came from the same background and had similar values: You find the few good people you can trust and hang on to them. Putting this love toward Pegasus' was going to be a whole new adventure.
Bones started his stopwatch just as Leo the jockey got the Old Man (the sentimental name Piper had attached to the aging quarter horse) to run, a little stiff-legged at first, then looking better, stretching out those heavily bandaged legs and straining against the bit. Keeping a tight Dead Heat 15 hold on him, Leo moved the Old Man slightly out from the rail and gave him his head until he hit the finish line. Bones glanced at his watch as Leo stood up and pulled hard to bring the Old Man to a slow gallop. ?Forty-eight and two, perfect,? he said, ?just what he needed.?
The jockey looked like a plague victim, but obviously he could still ride; he could handle the old pro even with a weeks worth of cheap gin pumping through his veins. ?Maybe he'll come through this latest binge,? Piper said. ?At least, I know the Old Man will run for him.? The race was five days away, $32,000 claimers going six and a half furlongs, and against horses the Old Man had once horrified but that would now give him all he could handle and maybe a little more than that.
Bones turned his back to the track, leaned his bulk up against the rail and tried to will the sun to break through the cool mist. ?I'm going back to the barn, Piper? Bones said. ?You coming??
?Nah, I'm going to wait for the programs to show up, then go home and do a little handicapping. Maybe I can hit another pick six." Wincing at her last bet which had failed miserably with her horse throwing the rider, she brushed the memory aside like so much dust. She was going to have to make a killing soon, or she'd be flat out of coins. "Then I am going to snag Lydia away from whatever it is she thinks is too important to ignore and head off to that other race track, The Tropicana Sands. They race Pegasi there.? To say she was addicted to the ponies was being kind, in the extreme. Adding a new leg to the addiction was just icing on Piper's cake. Her heart was already beating like a trip hammer at the possibilities and that winsome smile was evidence of her hopes.
?You still living on that money?? Bones was chuckling at her wistful expression as he pocketed the stopwatch and being much too fond of the slight slip of a girl to laugh in the face of her dreams, regardless of what he initially thought on that form of racing. She'd been trailing around at his heels for as long as he could remember. He'd practically raised the girl himself.
?A few lousy grand can carry you quite a while,? smiling, she was still savoring the last win she had managed to snag weeks before. Piper and her penchant for long shots were no strangers.
She had yet to tell Bones about her intentions of buying a Pegasus. Hell, she hadn't told anyone yet! She planned on springing it on Lydia that day after the races. As well as feeling her out on the possibilities of the Pegasus wearing The Stitch in Time silks. "I'll see you this evening. When I win, grab the winnings for me, yeah?" Handing over the tickets for the horses she'd already picked for that days races at The Copper.
"Just don't be betting your knickers, girl!" With a laugh, he took the tickets with a nod then he patted her on the shoulder and turned her about with a gentle shove to send her on her way. "Go on, now. I got mans work to be seeing to." Heading for the barn, he was skimming over Piper's picks for the day. A low whistle left his lips with a rueful shake of his head. "Yeah, good luck on that!"
(Cross-posted from the Simplicity folder- http://rdi.dragonsmark.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t= 5828)