Scared or Mad/Tally

Tally was back in the broodmare pen when I came to work. She stood huddled in the middle of the mares. Her bright bay coat was streaked salty white with dried sweat.
I walked up to the main house. My Corgi/Jack mix ran ahead, growling with excitement. She just loved hanging out with the Boss’s pack of dogs.
I walked around back so Carolyn would see me walk by the window.
“C’mon in, the coffee’s on!” She hollered.
I knocked once and stepped inside. The boss slapped his knees and my little dog Dinah jumped in his lap.
“You are such a nut,” he said as she wiggled with excitement.
I sat down at the big table in the kitchen. Carolyn handed me two mugs of strong dark coffee. The sun streamed through the windows and against my back, warming the room enough for me to shrug out of my jacket.
She sat down across from me and I slid her coffee over to her.
Carolyn looked tired and old. Her normally bright eyes were dull and her smile was forced.
“How’s Bill?” I asked.
“He’s hurt really bad,” she told me.
I took a sip of coffee and tried to hide my wince at the bitter brew.
“Do you know what happened?” I asked.
“Not really,” she said, “his horses all showed up at the neighbors and they drove over when Bill didn’t answer the phone. Tally was the only one saddled. When they went up to the place they found Bill.”
Carolyn’s eyes started to fill.
“He’s all broken up. He’ll be out of work for months.”
“Why is Tally here?” I was afraid to hear the answer, but figured I’d better ask it.
Carolyn nodded towards the front room.
“He says he’s digging a hole and putting her in it.”
I sighed and looked down at the table. I traced a horse head in a puddle of coffee.
“Hey boss, have you got a minute?”
I refilled my coffee as I walked into the front room.
Dinah lay on her back in the boss’s lap. She turned and gave me a goofy dog grin as I came in. The boss wasn’t looking at me. His face was grim but he gently rubbed Dinah’s dainty white paws between his fingers.
“Why don’t we talk about this,” I started.
“There’s nothing to say,” he told me, “the mare is crazy and she needs to be put down.”
“How about if I buy her from you?”
“I can’t afford to get you hurt. We need you to ride.”
“Maybe she needs a different approach.” I said.
The boss finally looked at me. His dark eyes were impossible to read.
“What can you do different?”
The air lay heavy between us. My coffee was cold but I made a show of drinking it while I thought about what I should say.
“The exact opposite of whatever Bill did,” I finally said.
The Boss snorted and looked out the window.
His face lightened just a hair.
“I’m telling you that horse is out of the Hoop,” he said, “she’s broken inside.”
“Don’t go all Lakota on me Boss,” I said, “you know I can’t win an argument once you go there.”
He barked a single sharp laugh and a slight smile softened him further.
We sat in silence for several minutes, the only break came when I went to refill my coffee. Carolyn gave me a worried look and I shrugged. There was no way to tell where the boss would go on this one.
“I don’t want to be responsible for you getting hurt,” he finally said.
“If you don’t give me a chance it will gnaw on you,” I said, “the weight of this will get you, you know it will.”
“OK,” he finally said, “but you have to promise me you won’t get busted up, the weight of that would kill me.”
We settled on a price of $500, a fraction of what they had paid for her.
Of course I was quick to point out, a horse out of the Hoop wasn’t worth anything more.