03- Justice’s Last Race
“Cotey, we’re all checked in,” Sam Giran told his girlfriend, Cotey Mallory.
“Great. You better get your silks on, or you’ll be late for your race.” He smiled and gave her a quick kiss before going to the locker room. They had been dating for nearly a year and a half, and were both nineteen. They had lived in the Bahamas, with their two best friends, for close to six months before moving back to Syracuse to begin college. Now they were in Saratoga for racing season. Cotey waited with Justice for Sam to return. Soon he was walking down the aisle toward her wearing his navy blue and hunter green jockey silks. “You look great. I love those colors.” He laughed.
“You should, you picked them out. I’m going to go give my pep talk now.” Before every race or show Sam talked to his sacred mare. The horse was a superb racehorse and excellent jumper. He had had the horse for almost five years, and was very close with her. Cotey watched as Sam went into the stall. He had talked quietly with the beautiful black mare for about ten minutes before his race was announced over the speakers. “Guess what it’s time for Justice? Race time! Let’s go kick butt.” The horse bobbed her head as she was led outside.
“You ready?” Cotey asked. He nodded.
“Yeah, if you’ll give me a leg up I’ll be even more ready.” She laughed.
“I wish Premie didn’t have that banged up leg. I’d be racing.” She grunted as all of his weight was put on her. “You’re a chunk. Lose some weight,” she muttered. Sam stuck his tongue out at her as she took out her camera and clicked several pictures.
“You should talk! God, 100 pounds. You’ll weigh 120 by the time you’re thirty.” She laughed again.
“Yeah, well you shouldn’t even be a jockey. You’re lucky Justice came along.” Sam nodded, knowing that without Justice he wouldn’t be able to race at all.
“Are you going to take more pictures C?” he asked. She nodded and took a few more. Sam motioned for her to come closer. When she reached the horse’s side he leaned down and kissed her.
“Wish me luck.”
“You know I will. Be careful Sam.” The horse moved off and Cotey hurried to find her two best friends, Jason and Carrie.
“Cotey over here!” they yelled. She turned and saw them in the grandstand. Cotey jogged over and sat down.
“Where’s Sam’s dad?” she asked.
“Away on business,” Jason explained. Cotey sighed, wishing that Sam’s father would show up more often. It was very important to Sam, because his mother was dead. Suddenly Carrie grabbed her hand.
“Cotey there he is! Look, he’s waving!” Cotey laughed.
“Relax Carre,” she murmured. Inside, though, she was bursting with excitement. They were loading in the gate; Sam had drawn six in a ten horse race. She groaned silently as he loaded, thinking that it was practically the worse position possible. Jason and Carrie both grabbed her hands.
“He’ll do Ok C. He’s a great racer,” Jason told her. She nodded.
“I know.” The bell rang and the race began. Sam got into third place quickly and Cotey breathed a sigh of relief.
“See Cotey, he’s doing just…” Jason’s reassurance was cut short by a horse down, right in front of Sam. Sam tried to get around the accident, but it was too late. They went down, and luckily the rest of the field avoided them. Cotey was up and over the fence faster than Carrie and Jason could stop her. She ran all the way to where Sam and Justice were. The horse wasn’t moving and was obviously badly injured. She was whinnying and her legs were flailing aimlessly. Cotey swallowed hard, tears sliding down her cheeks. The vet had come up and was shaking her head.
“I’m sorry Cotey. Her legs are broken,” she explained. Cotey nodded, looking away from the grisly scene.
“I have to go now. Sam’s being put into the ambulance,” she muttered. She hurried to the ambulance and climbed in. When she looked back to Justice, the vet was leaning over and giving her a shot. Cotey closed her eyes and then turned to Sam. “You’re going to be ok,” she whispered.
Jason and Carrie watched Cotey pace back and forth in the hospital waiting room.
“What the hell is taking them so long?” Cotey demanded. Jason sighed.
“Sit down Cotey, please. Just relax.” She turned to look at him, a frown on her pretty face.
“Relax? My boyfriend is in the emergency room and has been for close to 8 hours!” she exclaimed. Carrie and Jason looked at one another, at a loss for words.
“Excuse me, are you Sam Giran’s friends?” a voice asked. They turned to face the doctor.
“Yes. Is he going to be alright?”
“He has a concussion, broken arm, and a couple bruised ribs. He got off light. Our only concern is his emotional state once he finds out about his horse. All of the jockeys in this situation do… but he’s been asking about her for awhile.”
“Do you mean he’s been awake and we couldn’t see him? What do you mean…” Carrie cut her off by pulling her back. She smiled at the doctor.
“She’s just worried. What room is he in?”
“214. Break the news to him gently.” Carrie nodded and they all went down the hall to his room. When they opened the door they hurried to his bedside.
“Sam are you ok?” Cotey demanded. He turned slowly and smiled.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Can I be alone with Cotey for a minute?” he asked. Carrie and Jason nodded, leaving the room.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“That’s what I want to know. What’s wrong with Justice? She’s ok isn’t she?” Cotey sighed.
“I’m not sure how to tell you this… she’s gone. I mean her legs, and…” Sam cut her off.
“Shut up! Don’t say anything else. I don’t want to hear any of the gruesome details… that her legs were god damn crushed… any of it! I don’t want to hear it. Get the hell out!”
“Sam, don’t do this to yourself. You didn’t know…”
“Get out!” he yelled. She was crying.
“Don’t shut me out Sam, please. Don’t do that to…”
“Go. Just leave me alone.” He turned away, and Cotey had to fight the urge to lean down and hold him. With a deep breath she walked out.
“Let’s go, he needs some time to himself,” she said to Carrie and Jason. They followed in silence, unsure of what else to do.
The next morning the telephone woke Cotey.
“Hello?” she mumbled.
“Yes, is this Cotey Mallory?” the voice on the other end asked.
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“This is the hospital. We have Sam Giran here, and we’re calling to let you know that he’ll be released today.” Cotey was suddenly completely awake.
“What time should I be there to pick him up?” she demanded.
“Around ten a.m. The doctor has some things to talk to you about.”
“Alright. I’ll be there, thank you,” she said, hanging up and going down the hall to Jason’s room, knocking on the door. “Jas are you decent?” she called.
“Depends on your definition of decent!” he replied.
“Is that a yes or a no?” she demanded.
“Yes!” he called. She could hear the smile in his voice. Cotey opened the door and went in.
“That was the hospital. They said we could come get Sam today.” Jason smiled.
“Great. I’ll get dressed,” he said.
“Hurry up, I want to head out soon,” she said, leaving the room to go get ready.
At the hospital, the three friends were led into an office.
“Please sit down,” the doctor said, motioning to the three chairs across from her desk. “I’m Dr. McGuirk. I’ve been handling your friend’s case. He’s made some mention of never riding again because of this accident.” Cotey sighed and glanced at Carrie and Jason.
“We’ll get him back up there… he won’t last long without it,” Cotey said. The doctor smiled. “Can we go see him?”
“Go ahead. Good luck.” They all stood and left the office, hurrying to Sam’s room. They went in without knocking.
“Hey Sam, what’d you do? Run into a brick wall?” Jason kidded as they walked in. Sam looked at him and frowned.
“No, but I feel like I did. Let’s get out of this hell hole.” He was already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.
“We signed you out on our way up here, so let’s go,” Cotey said. He got up and walked slowly toward the door.
“Are you guys coming or what?” he asked impatiently.
“Yeah, we’re right behind you,” Jason assured him. They all walked out of the hospital, everyone worried about Sam.
Later that night Cotey, Sam, Jason, and Carrie were all sitting in the living room caught up in a heated discussion.
“You have to get back on! It’s alright to get hurt,” Cotey was saying.
“No it isn’t. Not when your horse is dead… not when it was your fault,” he said.
“Sam you could ride Charlie,” Jason added, offering up his second horse. Sam shook his head and got up and they heard the slam of his bedroom door. Cotey stood and started after him.
“Don’t Cotey, not now. He’s too angry with himself,” Jason said.
“He needs to be up there! How can he forget how much he loves it, how important it is to him?” she demanded.
“He hasn’t forgotten, he just wishes that he could. Just give him some time.” Cotey sighed and plopped back down on the couch.
“I just wish there was something I could do,” she said.
“Right now I think all we can do is give him some space,” Carrie said. Jason nodded in agreement and they were silent.
“Are we still going out on our big cross country ride tomorrow?” Carrie asked. Cotey nodded. They had been planning on visiting a local stable and renting some horses to take out on a long cross country ride since their horses were home in Syracuse.
“Yeah, if you guys still want to.” They both nodded and smiled. Just then the doorbell rang, and Cotey went to answer it. They had ordered a large pizza for dinner. Cotey brought it to the living room and called Sam down for dinner. He came in, arms crossed across his chest, and sat down next to Cotey.
“What time are we leaving tomorrow?” Carrie asked.
“I thought we’d leave early, give the horses a chance to warm up before we get out on the course,” Cotey said.
“You guys are still going?” Sam demanded.
“Yeah, why not? We’ve been planning this and looking forward to it for weeks. If you want to be a jerk and give up the thing you love most, I can’t stop you. But I’m not giving up my life for you either,” she said angrily. This time it was the front door they heard slam. Sam glanced at Jason.
“What’s her problem tonight?”
“You,” he answered. He took Carrie’s hand and they left too, leaving Sam alone with his thoughts.
In the morning Carrie, Cotey, and Jason went out on their ride and had an excellent time. Cotey had ridden a large black mare, and upon inquiry she found out the horse was on sale. She looked at the mare’s papers, and was shocked to see that Justice had been the mare’s mother. When she got home she found Sam sitting by the fireplace. Tears were slipping silently down his cheeks. With a sigh she went to his side and wrapped her arms around him.
“It hurts so bad Cotey,” he muttered. She nodded.
“I know Sam. I wish I could tell you that it’s going to stop sometime soon, but it won’t. You just have to get back up there. Justice would want you to.” He sniffed and looked up at her, his eyes still full of tears.
“I’m sorry I was such a jerk earlier. I’m just so mad about Justice.”
“I understand.” They were silent for a long time. “Sam, why don’t you come out and ride with us tomorrow? We’ll take it easy… just a few jumps and some relaxing trails,” she said.
“I don’t know Cotey. Justice was so important to me… it’ll be hard to ride any horse right now.” He thought for another minute and said, “I think I’ll give it a try though.” She smiled and placed a light kiss on his forehead.
“Thank you Sam,” she said.
The next day all four friends went back to the stables. Sam was riding the mare Cotey had ridden the previous day. They trotted up a path in the woods and around a bend.
“Let’s canter guys!” Cotey yelled back. They all broke into smooth, rocking lopes. Sam told his horse to gallop and she obeyed.
“Sam wait up!” Jason yelled. He laughed and pulled up a few moments later.
“She’s so great! She would tear up a race track,” he said, and then his face fell and he thought of Justice. Cotey patted his shoulder and smiled.
“We should take some jumps while we’re out here. There are some great obstacles,” she said. They cantered further up the path, and soon were met with a large stone fence. Sam and his mount flew over it and moved on to the next jump. It was a pile of logs with a fairly steep slope on landing. He smiled as the mare slid down the hill with ease and moved on. After a few more jumps he pulled up and waited for his friends.
“She really is great. Naturally balanced and she takes a real good look at the jumps,” he said.
“She seems pretty great,” Jason said with a smile.
“Come on, we need to get back,” Cotey said suddenly. They turned and let their horses walk back to the barn on free rein.
The friends drove back to Syracuse several days later. Sam was glad to be home, but still missed Justice terribly. They went for a ride almost as soon as they got home, and Sam rode Premie. It didn’t seem to cheer him up any. They had gotten back early in the day in order to wait for Carrie and Jason’s horses to be shipped in. They had gone to Saratoga with the group for some shows. After their ride Cotey went out to the stable yard to wait for the horses to arrive.
“Hey Sam come on out here! The horses are here!” Cotey called. He appeared in the barn doorway and held up his broken arm. “If you can ride with it you can lead a horse in with it!” she called. He grinned at her and walked outside and up the hill to the top of the driveway. He frowned when he saw the three horse van.
“We should only have a two horse van C. Carrie and Jason were the only ones with horses coming back,” he said. She frowned too.
“Hmm, why don’t you hop in there and see what’s going on? I’ll talk to the driver,” she said. He opened the side door and a graceful black head swung out. It was the mare he’d ridden on their trail ride in Saratoga. He went into the trailer and led her out carefully.
“Cotey, would you come here for a minute?” he called. She appeared, a smile on her face.
“She was for sale, and her papers say that Justice was her mom… I thought you might like her,” she said. He shook his head slowly.
“You’re unbelievable, you know that don’t you?” he asked. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him.
“I’ve heard that somewhere before,” she said with a smile. He leaned down and kissed her. “What are you going to name her?”
“Law and Order,” he said, patting the mare’s neck. “Come on, let’s get her settled.” She took his hand and they led his new horse down to the barn.
A year later they were at the track again. Cotey and Sam were in the stall, grooming.
“I’m so scared I think I could be sick,” Sam muttered.
“Want me to go on a pepto bismol run?” Jason asked. Sam laughed.
“Thanks a lot Jas.” Everyone laughed.
“I’m going to go get dressed,” Sam said. When he came back Jason and Carrie had gone to find their seats, and Cotey was with Law.
“How’re you?” he asked.
“How are you?” she asked him.
“Not as nervous as I thought I’d be,” he said with a smile.
“Good, because I’m nervous enough for the both of us.” They laughed.
“Guess I should mount up, huh?” he murmured. She nodded.
“That’s kind of the way this works.” He gave her a quick kiss before walking off. Cotey met him outside and took several pictures. Law stood quietly, then walked off to the races when Sam told her too. Cotey stared after him for a moment, trying to get her nerves under control. She jogged up to the grandstands again, sitting between her two friends. They wrapped their arms around her shoulders.
“He’ll be ok Cotey. He’s a great jockey.”
“I know. It’s hard not to think about last time,” she said. Sam had drawn the number two position, which relieved some of the tension. The bell rang, and Sam and Law shot forward. Sam moved into third, pacing Law carefully. At the turn he let the mare out all the way. Law moved forward at breakneck speed, passing the field and going under the wire first. The three friends were on their feet, jumping up and down and screaming.
“Oh my god, he won!” Jason yelled, hugging the two girls.
“Let’s get down to the circle!” Cotey exclaimed. They all hurried down to the winners circle to congratulate their best friend.
They arrived in Syracuse late that night. Carrie, Jason, and Cotey went upstairs to bed, but Sam decided to go down to the barn one last time to check on the horses. He walked to Law’s stall and stroked her cheek.
“You did great today Law,” he whispered. “Your mother would have been proud.” Suddenly he felt Cotey’s arm slide around his waist.
“Yeah, she would have been,” she told him, kissing his shoulder. He leaned down and placed a light kiss on her forehead before turning back to Law, almost the happiest he’d ever been.
