Every horse seemed to catch Sarah’s eye as she drove through the country side. Ever since she took that weird questionnaire last night, the animals had been on her mind. She’d even dreamed about them, and, though she couldn’t quite remember, Sarah couldn’t get the feeling out of her mind that she’d actually dreamed of being a horse herself.
With a slight smirk, she realized she was just glad it was Saturday and she didn’t have to worry about being distracted with horse thoughts during her classes at school. She’d even looked at the picture the questionnaire loaded a few times on her computer this morning after she woke up and before she left to head out into the country. She was going to watch her friend, Michelle, compete in an equestrian competition.
Michelle wasn’t the friend that sent her the questionnaire, but Sarah almost thought about forwarding it to her all the same. She and Michelle had been friends ever since Sarah took the job at the school she taught math at. Michelle was a biology teacher just down the hall from Sarah’s class and was crazy about animals. Sarah remembered her saying that she actually wanted to be a vet when she was a kid, but ultimately decided to be a teacher instead.
Luckily for her, Michelle’s husband was an executive at a local car dealership and they had a pretty nice place with a couple of acres outside of town. Her husband had a nice car or two, and Michelle had a couple of horses and a few dogs and cats. Plus an aquarium and pet chameleon.
Admittedly, Sarah liked to visit whenever she could.
Either way, Sarah figured she might tell Michelle about the crazy questionnaire during the equestrian competition today, when they were away from her husband. Michelle might be accepting of it enough, since it was just for fun, but wasn’t sure what Burt would think.
In between spotting horses in their paddocks, Sarah’s mind wandered over what kind of animal Michelle might choose to be if she took the questionnaire on the rest of the way to the equestrian center where the competition was being held. No sooner had Sarah turned off on to the dirt road leading to the facility than she saw rows and rows of pickups and horse trailers of all sizes lined up next to the riding arena.
Sarah drove around until she found Burt’s pickup with Michelle’s trailer attached to it and pulled into an unmarked parking space in the grass nearby. Neither Michelle nor her horse, Fools Gold, was there.
Sarah quickly got out of car and started threading her way through the parking area to the main gate of the arena. She could hear the mumbled voice of the announcer echoing around the enclosure, saying something about welcoming their first rider. The competition had just started.
Sarah had hoped to wish her friend luck before the competition started, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. She thought about texting Michelle, but figured she probably wouldn’t have her phone on her. Not right now.
“Figures,” Sarah sighed as she strode through the gate, paid for the admission, and found an empty place in the stands to take her seat. With any luck, she’d be able to catch Michelle after the competition was over. For the moment, though, all she could do was watch the other rider and his gorgeous grey Andalusian chart their way around the jumping course.