Lead Me Home by Vicki Lewis Thompson Page A

something was going on between those two, some level of communication that even Matthew, with all his years of experience, hadn’t achieved. Houdini lowered his head so that Lester could scratch it better, and bumped his nose playfully against the boy’s knee during the long monologue.
    With a huge smile on his face, Lester glanced over at Matthew. “He likes me.”
    “He sure does.” Matthew wondered if Houdini’s former owners had had a teenager who’d spent time with the horse. That would partially explain Houdini’s reaction, but Matthew thought it went deeper than that. Lester and Houdini just seemed to get each other. It reminded him of a scene out of The Black Stallion .
    As the boy and horse continued their love fest, Matthew decided the time had come to try his experiment. “Why don’t you ask him if he’ll let you up on his back?”
    “Okay.” Lester rubbed Houdini’s nose. “Houdini, how about giving me a ride, buddy? I’m just a kid, and I only weigh ninety-one and a half pounds, so you’ll barely feel me. Plus I’ll get street cred like you wouldn’t believe. So can I?”
    Houdini snorted.
    Lester glanced over his shoulder at Matthew. “I think that means yes.”
    “All right. Here’s the plan. I’ll help you on but we’ll go slow, and I’m going to hang on to Houdini in case you have to get off in a hurry.”
    “I won’t have to.” Lester’s smile was filled with confidence. “Houdini likes me. He won’t buck me off, will you, boy?”
    Houdini butted Lester’s chest.
    Lester laughed. “But I think we should give him one more piece of carrot to chew on, so he’ll have something else to think about while I climb up there.”
    “You have the instincts of a horse trainer, Lester.”
    “That’s because I’m gonna be one, like you.”
    Matthew was impressed with the conviction in Lester’s voice. “When did you decide that?”
    “About ten minutes ago.”
    Now that was humbling. So far as he knew, Matthew had never changed the course of a person’s life, but he had a hunch that he’d just changed Lester’s. “It’s a great life,” he said, and was surprised at the emotion clogging his throat. He hadn’t realized that being idolized by a young boy could affect him so much. “So, ready to mount up?”
    “Yep.”
    “Okay, I want you to climb up on the fence and I’ll bring him over to you. That way you can ease onto him gradually.”
    “Okay.”
    Once Lester was on the fence, Matthew led Houdini over. “Keep your left hand on the fence as you slide your right leg over. And talk to him. Talking’s good.”
    Assuring the horse that everything would be just fine, Lester put one leg over his back and slowly began to transfer his weight. Houdini shivered but stayed where he was.
    “Now take hold of his mane with your right hand.”
    Houdini swung his head around to see what was going on, but other than that, he didn’t react. So far, so good.
    “Grab his mane with your other hand and shift all your weight onto him. That’s it. Sink your weight into your heels and lower your center of gravity. Good. Sit up straight and tall. Excellent.” Matthew gripped the reins in anticipation of an explosion.
    Amazingly, it never came. Houdini shifted his weight and looked back to see if Lester was still up there. Apparently the horse was fine with that. Matthew let out a breath and relaxed his hold on the reins.
    Lester made a little clicking noise with his tongue.
    “Hey, don’t—” But Matthew had no more time to protest because Houdini started off at a slow walk, and Matthew followed along, holding the reins.
    “See that?” Lester said. “He’s letting me ride him.”
    “Yes.” Matthew mentally crossed his fingers that this little stunt wouldn’t backfire. “So he is.”
    They made a circuit of the corral, which was about all Matthew’s nerves could take. “I’m going to guide him over toward the fence again,” he said. “When I pull back on the reins, you say