The Auction Trilogy

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I dragged Pippa out of there like a dog on a leash, desperate to get away before she realized what was going on.

"But I maybe I can buy a horse today!" Pippa protested. "Some of the horses only went for eighty dollars!"

"Let's go look at the horses out in the pens," I said. "The prices keep going down the more people leave."

We passed row after row of skittish horses which baked in the sun until the auctioneer's voice grew indistinct like the constant drone of a mosquito. Around the metal pens circulated rough-looking men. Somehow I doubted they were here to buy a dream-horse. At last we came upon the little girl who'd successfully bid earlier on the palomino mare, loading her new horse onto her father's trailer. I felt a pang of envy as the father bragged about how long he'd