Mom sighed and nodded. "I know. Sometimes you're father gets so
carried away with things I just can't talk to him."
Mom left too, and Maggie studied the horses in silence. Dad came back.
He said, "Well, do you like your surprise?"
"They aren't _my_ surprise," she replied. "I wanted a horse I could
ride."
Dad's grin faded. "You can ride them," he said. "In the olden days all
the kids rode draft horses like these."
"No way," Maggie said under her breath.
* * * * *
Later Dad brushed the horses. Maggie watched, but she didn't offer to
help. They weren't _her_ horses.
When Dad went to milk the cows, Maggie walked around to the front of
the new animals. At least they're more interesting than cows, she told
herself.
Molly had dropped a piece of hay over the side, so Maggie handed it to
the horse. The huge nose sniffed. The long lips popped, taking in the
wisps of hay.
Maggie went to the oats bin and got some for both horses. She gave
them each a handful and patted their noses. They wanted more, but she
said, "That's enough. Dad already fed you."
The horses seemed very disappointed, and Maggie decided to pat their
necks. She started to crawl into Polly's feed box. But Polly rolled
her eyes and threw herself back against the end of her rope. Maggie
quickly got down.
Instead, she got into Molly's feed box. Molly gave Maggie a friendly
sniff and waited. Maggie scratched Molly's ears, and the big horse
closed her eyes with pleasure.
"Well," Maggie said at last. "I'd still rather have a pony, but you're
pretty nice. I guess you can't help being so big."