CHAPTER FOUR
Ready for the Run
A couple of days later, Alec sat near the Simpsons' wagon, watching his father exercise Sunshine. Controlling the beautiful mare entirely by the way he swayed his body and with a very light touch on the reins, Jed Simpson put Sunshine into a canter. Then he drew her back to a trot, and Alec sighed wistfully.
Tomorrow was April 22, the day of the great Run, and it was impossible not to share the excitement that mounted all along the border. Alec tried hard to calm down. He was not going to make the ride into Oklahoma, and he knew it. His father had asked him to stay with the wagon and take care of his mother and sisters. Duty was plain, and there could be no shirking. All the Simpsons had to work together for the good of all.
He must not, Alec told himself, even wish that he could make the ride. But because he couldn't help wishing, he felt a little guilty. His father brought Sunshine back, staked her on the picket rope, and began to rub her down.
"She's in shape," he called to his son. "She'll make it."
Alec said, "I'm sure she will."
"Come a little closer, will you, Alec?"
Alec went nearer, and his father lowered his voice. "I want to talk to you confidentially, son. You'll take good care of your mother and the twins?"