Batch 1, story 1
Abdul let himself fall off the top of the fence and onto the horse. Its hair was slippery, and when he dug his nails in, its skin moved to and fro. It had long hair on the back of its neck, and he grabbed handfuls of that, and held on tightly with his knees and heels. His nose was touching the horse’s back. It smelt like a zoo; it was rough and white and grey and black. He held on and stayed still.
Nothing moved much for ages, except bits of the horse bumped about as it moved a leg or something. He lifted his head a little. The wind smelt of the morning, and the zoo-smell went away. He could see the horse’s spots now: blackish-grey spots, like drips, all over its white hair.
He couldn’t sit up straight because he couldn’t let go of the horse’s neck. You could fit twelve Abduls on the back of this horse: well eight, anyway; maybe six. It was big. It was high off the ground. You could see the grass, but you couldn’t see its feet because they were under its big body. Its tail flicked about. There were great big grey flies with a loud buzz. The horse shook its head hard, and Abdul held on hard with his hands and knees.
The horse was bumping about a lot now. He wished it had wheels. The fence moved further away, and the horse’s head was going up and down. Abdul thought he might change his mind and go home, but there was a problem.
A tree came along and Abdul pressed his face on the horse. There was the zoo-smell again, and his face was bumped. Now his backside was bumped. Sometimes he was flying, except for his hands which held more tightly. The wind started blowing. The horse’s neck was stretched out.
A hedge came along; it was gone and they both were flying. The bumping hurt after that, but Abdul held on and he was starting to like this. A pond came along and so did the horse’s ears. Abdul’s nose was touching the ears and he was upside down with his backside in the air. He was still holding the horse’s mane but his hands were now next to his legs instead of in front of his face. His feet were moving by themselves.
The world turned round and everything was splashing. The horse’s spotty face looked at his face and smiled with its lips.
Copyright © 1991 LS
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