Gravel crunched under the wheels of Mom’s car as we pulled into the stable driveway. I leaned out the window, searching the pasture for my best friend, Tialani.<\/p>\n
At school I was nobody. All the other kids had money and cool clothes. I wasn’t good enough to be their friend. But Tialani loved me.<\/p>\n
“Tia!” I called, climbing out of the car.<\/p>\n
Across the pasture, the little chocolate-brown Arabian whinnied and came running. “I wouldn’t have believed that if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” said Mom. “That horse came to you!”<\/p>\n
I pressed my cheek to her muzzle. “I have to get to work, girl. I’ll ride you as soon as I muck out the stables.”<\/p>\n
I met Tialani’s owner, Karen Bragg, when I joined 4-H. All the other girls in the program had horses of their own. As usual I was the odd one out.<\/p>\n
“If you work for me after school,” Karen said one day, “you could ride the horses whenever you want.”<\/p>\n
I jumped at the chance. Every afternoon, after being invisible at school, I groomed horses and cleaned out stalls. My brother, Bryan, couldn’t understand why anyone would want to do such dirty work.<\/p>\n
Bryan didn’t understand. He wasn’t a nobody. He had plenty of friends. I saw them when they came to the house, even if I was too shy to talk to them.<\/p>\n
I refilled the water trough by the stable and carried in fresh hay, greeting each horse in its stall as I went by. I loved them all, but Tialani was my favorite.<\/p>\n
She was the prettiest horse I’d ever seen: chocolate brown with black shading. Tia nickered when she saw me. She came when I called. She ran to the gate to greet me. The kids at school didn’t see anything special about me, but this beautiful horse did.<\/p>\n
I finished mucking out the last stall and ran to the pasture. For an hour before my mom picked me up, Tia and I practiced cantering for my lesson. “My birthday’s next week,” I told Tia when it was time to go. “We’ll spend it together.”<\/p>\n
Nobody in school wished me happy birthday that day. None of them even knew I was turning 13. But Tia waited for me like always, in the pasture. Karen was waiting too. “I have something for you,” she said. She handed me a brightly wrapped package.<\/p>\n
I tore open the wrapping. Ownership papers? My name was printed under Tialani’s. “She’s…mine?” I stammered. “How could Tialani be mine?”<\/p>\n
“Tina, that horse decided who she wanted her owner to be a long time ago,” said Karen. “She chose you. I’m just giving her what she wants.”<\/p>\n
“Oh, thank you, Karen! Thank you!” I ran out to the pasture. Tialani trotted up to me. “You chose me,” I whispered, rubbing my face against her neck. “You’re the best horse in the world, Tialani, and you chose me!”<\/p>\n
When I got home Bryan was in his room with his friend Tony.<\/p>\n
“Karen gave me Tialani!” I cried, too excited to be shy around his friend. “I have my own horse!”<\/p>\n
“That’s awesome!” said Tony. “I’m not very good at it, but I love to ride.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“If you want you can come riding with me sometime,” I said. “Tialani’s great with beginners. I could take one of the other horses.” Did I just invite some boy to go riding with me?<\/em> Well, if a horse like Tialani thought I was special, I was certainly good enough for Bryan’s friend!<\/p>\n Between school, my job and my new horse I didn’t have much time. But one afternoon I finally got Tony settled. I mounted another Arabian from the stable.<\/p>\n “We have to walk alongside the road to get to the trail,” I explained, “but there’s plenty of room.”<\/p>\n It was nice having a person to talk to. Tia was patient and very well behaved, like she knew I wanted to make a good impression. Tony had lots of questions about riding and my job at the stables. We really hit it off.<\/p>\n At the end of the trail, we turned around to head back. By then I considered Tony not just a friend of my brother’s, but also a friend of mine.<\/p>\n “Too bad we can’t stay out longer,” Tony said. He patted Tialani’s neck. “You really have a great horse here.”<\/p>\n I sat a little higher in my saddle. I knew Tia was the best horse in the world, but I didn’t mind hearing other people agree.<\/p>\n I led the way back to the main road. The sun was just starting to go down. About halfway home a pair of headlights appeared in the distance, weaving erratically. “Let’s get the horses into the ditch,” I said. “That guy’s going too fast.”<\/p>\n I urged my Arabian away from the road. The car was bearing down on us. “Come on, girl,” I whispered to my horse. “Tony, hurry!”<\/p>\n The car swerved. The side mirror caught my leg and snapped off.<\/p>\n The Arabian horse screamed and spun around in wild circles with the impact. I clung desperately to its neck.<\/p>\n There was a bang like a shotgun blast. The car’s engine didn’t falter. The driver sped off without even slowing down.<\/p>\n My Arabian stumbled around, terrified. I got my leg up over the saddle and fell to the ground. The horse galloped off away from the road. “Tony?” I yelled.<\/p>\n He lay dazed in the ditch, his leg in an awkward position as if it might be broken. I had to get help. I looked around. The car had thrown Tia about 50 feet from the road. I ran to her and tugged helplessly at her reins. I didn’t want to believe she was dead.<\/p>\n “Someone please help me!” I screamed. My legs gave out and I collapsed onto the ground.<\/p>\n There was a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw a woman, plainly dressed but very pretty, her hair shiny like silk. Where had she come from? I hadn’t seen headlights. She helped me up and led me to her car. “We shouldn’t move your friend,” she said. “We’ll go get help for him and Tia.”<\/p>\n She drove me up the gravel driveway to Karen’s house. My parents were waiting inside with Karen. The woman told them about the accident, and I wondered how she knew all the details.<\/p>\n My father rushed off to Tony. Karen called an ambulance. Mom took me to the bedroom to lie down. I never saw the woman again.<\/p>\n Tony’s leg was broken, but he was going to be fine. The Arabian I was riding reappeared unharmed. Only Tia was gone forever. My best friend. The only one who ever thought I was special. Could I face the world without her?<\/p>\n A few days after the accident I sat with Mom and Karen having a cup of tea. “I wish that woman who brought you home had stayed longer,” said Mom.<\/p>\n “I didn’t even hear her leave,” said Karen. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t hear her drive up either, and we always hear cars on that driveway.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “And I didn’t see her headlights on the road,” I said. “It was like she just appeared out of nowhere.”<\/p>\n “Maybe she did, Tina,” Mom said.<\/p>\n “What do you mean?”<\/p>\n “Maybe she was your guardian angel.”<\/p>\n That seemed pretty far out. God wouldn’t send an angel for a nobody like me, would he? I had to take that back. To Tialani I wasn’t a nobody. I was special. Maybe God thought I was special too. After all, he sent me a horse and he sent me a friend.<\/p>\n