Sports & Recreation
We were coming up on the final barrel, the one closest to the barn. Now, one lightning turn around it and...
The mare didn't turn. Instead, she had the bit in her teeth and was pounding straight for the barn, faster than she'd ever run before. I gave up trying to turn her. I just wanted to stop her. She was heading straight for the open barn door. There was only one problem. The doorway was high enough for a horse. But not for a horse with a rider on its back. If I didn't do something fast, I was about to lose my head.
And the thing about panicking when you're forty feet under the ocean's surface is that you can drown, and you know you can drown. In fact, you can't breathe without your regulator even if you're not panicking. You're also not supposed to hold your breath, because there's pressure underwater. That means if you're not breathing out bubbles while the regulator is out, your chest might expand until it explodes.
"No, Layne," Mom said in a tight voice. Her eyes met mine again. "Not the bull riding. You know how I feel about that."
I knew all right. We'd been through this scene so many times it was like living in an instant replay. But this time I fought back. "Yeah, and you know how I feel about it too."
"I don't care how you feel," Mom shot back. "All I know is that I watched a bull kill my husband and there's no way I'll risk watching one kill my son."
