Grown Ups

"Come on Dutch"  I yelled.  "Nikki & Brownie are right behind us!"

I was grown up now.  Me & Nikki are neighbors.  Every morning we would bring our horses, Brownie & Dutch, out to the field to race.  Right now I was in the lead.

"Come on Dutch," I said gently.  "Just to the top of the hill." As if that quarter horse had heard me, she went a little faster.  By now Nikki & Brownie were right beside us!  I carefully reached over & poked Nikki in the shoulder.  She poked me back.  I laughed & turned my attention back to Dutch.  We were almost there!  I leaned forward.  Dutch could feel that I had given her the strength she needed.  She trudged forward.  but Brownie was already in front & had reached the top of the hill.  "Uh Man!" I cried.

When I reached the top of the hill, I dismounted.  I gave Dutch a pat.  Then I held Dutch's reins & waited for Nikki.  She did the same & we walked down the hill.  When we had untacked our horses, me & Nikki went into the field.  "This is for beating me," I said.  I tackled Nikki & we rumbled in the grass.  I thought, I don't feel like a grownup.  I feel like a child.  We stopped tackling each other & laid on the grass, looking up at the sun.  The sun hurt my eyes.  Then I noticed some things have solutions.  If the sun hurts your eyes, wear sunglasses.  And if Brownie & Nikki beat me, I'll practice with Dutch and finally beat them.  A smile crept on my face.  Tomorrow, just wait till tomorrow...

Later the same day I was eating lunch with Nikki.  "I'm going outside," I said.  Before I could even reach the door, Nikki stopped me.  "You don't have to practice," she said.  "You know Dutch is faster than Brownie.  I just gave her extra sweet feed."  I was relieved.  "Let's go ride the horses for fun," I said.  "Sure" said Nikki.

We went outside.  I had sneaked an apple for Dutch.  I hope Nikki didn't notice.  When we got inside the barn, we split up.  I went into the tack room to get the tack for both of the horses while Nikki groomed them.  When I got into the barn with the tack, Nikki was already grooming Dutch.  She always grooms Brownie first.

"Done." she said, throwing the hoof pick into the bin.  "Let's get them tacked up."  Me & Nikki finished tacking in two minutes.  We got their reins & headed into the field.  When we started to trot, we heard a siren.  Well, not just A siren.  A police siren!  We stopped as the car rolled into the gravel.  Me & Nikki galloped to it.  A little man came out of the car.  He had a police outfit on.  "Mr. Linder," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"I am here," started Mr. Linder, "to tell you that you still don't have enough money to pay for those horses."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," said Nikki.

"You will have to sell them if you can't pay for them in two weeks."

"Oh no!" I said,  "You can't take them!"

"Two weeks." said Mr. Lender.  "Remember."  And just like that, the little man was gone.

Right when he left, I said, "We have to rob a bank."

"WHAT?" said Nikki, "We can't do that!"

"We have to save our horses," I said.

"Ok, but how do we get in?" asked Nikki?

"Use the horses to get in and use a paperclip to open the door.  We can take the rottweilers for pets.  It's easy."

"Ok," said Nikki.  "I don't know how you talked me into this."  So me & Nikki planned that we would rob the bank tonight.

The only thing I heard on our way to the bank was the horses hooves clopping on the pavement & Nikki complaining.  "I feel like a child," she had grumbled.  "We are grown ups, right?"

"Yes" I said every time she asked.  Every few minutes I would feel nervous.  Then I would bend down and pat Dutches neck and say "for the horses."  When we finally reached the bank I was really nervous.  What if we got caught?  We would go to jail.  I pushed the thought to the back of my mind.  I looked up at the bank. In the dark it looked creepy.  "Let's go," I said, pulling out a paperclip.  Me & Nikki dismounted then tied the horses to a pole.  I sticked the paperclip into the door and opened it.  We were in.  Suddenly dogs started barking & ran toward us.  "Rottweilers! Halt!" I said gently.  The dogs slowly crept toward me then stopped. A big rottweiler came over and started licking me.  "Nikki" I said quietly, "I want to take this one."  But Nikki didn't hear me.  She was being licked to death by a huge German Shepard.  "I...want...to...take...this one." she said.   "Ok," I said. "We have to find the money."  We crept through dark corridors with Banker the rottweiler & Buddy the German Shepard.  Finally, we reached a door with a big lock.  "This must be the door," I said.  I reached in the bag & got out 2 hammers.  I gave one to Nikki.  We started banging on the lock.  In twenty minutes it opened.  We crept inside.  Money was everywhere!

"Grab a sack & put it in my bag," I told Nikki.  She grabbed one.  I put it in my bag.  "Let's go" I said.  We went through the corridors with Banker & Buddy still behind us.  When we reached the outside, four hands reached out & grabbed us.  I recognized the face of Mr. Linder.  One other police man was with us.  "You're going to court," snarled the other police man.  This can't be happening. I thought.

Then I heard a loud bark & Banker and Buddy were biting the police men's legs.  "OWWWW" they yelled, "Get off dumb mutts!"  But the dogs wouldn't give up.  All the way to the police car, the dogs stayed.  "Just let us take the dogs & horses with us" me & Nikki begged.  "Fine." said the police officers.  "At least we have a trailer"  Me & Nikki got the horses & brought them up the ramp.  I took off Dutches' bridle & stuff and Brownie's too.  We got into the police car with Banker & Buddy.  I knew we were busted.

Me & Nikki were sitting on the cold, hard chairs of court.  I was petting Banker's head.  Nikki wouldn't let go of Buddy, as if he was a protection shield.  We will be ok. I told myself.  We will be ok.  The sound of shrill whinnies split the air.  I knew it was Dutch & Brownie.  They missed us.  I sniffed, then wiped my nose with my sleeve.  Then the judge banged his hammer on the desk.  "Order!  Order!" he yelled.  Me & Nikki slumped in our seat.  Many people turned to look at us.

"We are here to announce that Nicole F & Jackie W have robbed a bank for no reason." said the judge.

"But we do have a reason!" yelled Nikki.

"What would that be?" asked the judge.

"We stole money because we wanted to keep our horses." we both blurted out.

Mr. Linder was about to say something, but the other police man said, "Why didn't you say so?  You can have some money."

"But they didn't pay for their horses, Randy" said Mr. Linder.  "Who cares?" asked Randy.  "They deserve money if they robbed a bank just to save their horses."

The judge slammed his hammer on the table.  "They are free of guilt!"

"YES!!!" Me & Nikki yelled.  Banker & Buddy barked.  I heard Dutch & Brownie whinny outside.  I danced around the court.  Everyone stared at me.  I was too excited to be embarrassed.  "Can we go now?" I asked the judge.  "Yes." he said.  Me & Nikki ran out of the court house with Buddy & Banker barking excitedly behind us.  We got the horses out of the trailer & galloped bareback.  Banker & Buddy were always in front of us.  "What if we have to rob another bank?" I asked.

"We can do it," said Nikki, "because we are grown ups."

I smiled.

THE END