“Good. That’s better. Tell me what the boys did to make your horse gallop you away.”
I sighed, remembering too clearly how nasty the two had been. “It’s not important. They were just kids.”
“Tell me. It is important. I need to know.”
Someone should explain to Officer Krugel that his voice was a whip that stung. I didn’t want to cower before a man who gave orders like a military sergeant, yet, he’d said the information was important. I hesitated a moment, trying to figure out what I should do.
“Why?” I said before I’d taken the time to debate whether that was appropriate to ask or not. I mean, the man was a policeman. Would defiance get me thrown into jail?
Officer Krugel shook his head several times and let out a groan that caused Frey to issue a snorted blow through his nostrils. Frey’s head was erect and his ears were back, but he wasn’t offering a challenge. If he had, he would have been pawing the ground and, perhaps, lowering his head as if he wanted to charge the officer. This explosive output held a touch of alarm, but was actually Frey’s question to me as to whether this man was a danger to us.
I patted Frey’s shoulder, assured him that everything was okay, then, sighing once, but accepting the necessity of discussing the tale, proceeded to relay exactly what had happened. When I ran down, after telling the officer what I remembered, I added, “It wasn’t that I thought they would injure me or anything. They were just kids. But, Frey sometimes senses more than I do. He was the one who decided they were a threat, not me.”
“And when they threw rocks at you?”
“They . . .” I stopped and sputtered a moment in surprise. I hadn’t known the boys had thrown rocks, but if they’d hit Frey with one, that explained why his escape from town had been such a maddened rush of speed and a full out gallop which lasted a good ten minutes. I supposed it took that long before the sting to his rump had faded completely from the place where they’d hit him and from his memory of the pain.
I let out a puff of disgust. “Well, that wasn’t the first time I’ve had rocks thrown at me, but to throw them at Frey . . .” I blinked in horror at my careless spill of words, then threw my hand over my mouth as if that could stop what had already poured out.
The officer’s eyes said that he’d heard me, but he chose not to pursue it. “I have already tossed the two brats in jail. They’ll be remaining there until their parents come to pick them up. I’ll make sure they both do community service hours. That will make them think twice about doing something like this again.”