Ditzy walked toward Hanna’s house, and she twirled around to see if Atossa were behind her. She knew that Atossa traveled on Persian peoples time, so she felt no surprise not to see her friend. With or without Atossa, Ditzy felt terrific. She felt like Curlie in Oklahoma because she had “a beautiful feelin’ ev’rything’s going” her way, and she would not let a missing Atossa ruin her mood.
She walked along the horse trail in the long morning shadow of Hanna’s house, which she considered to be more of a Sleeping Beauty castle than a house, a castle that might or might not have a Lord and Master. It had a maid and a butler, but Ditzy had never met Hanna’s parents.
Ditzy walked from the shade of the house to the shade of the pine trees. As she came closer to the barn, she felt excited about how she and Hanna would ride Trigger and Champion, Hanna’s Arabian horses. Horse racing might be the sport of kings, but horseback riding is the sport of rich-bitch little girls.
And Ditzy expected that Hanna would tell her the answer to the riddle: 8, 5, 4, 9, 1, 7, 6, 3, 2, 0, why does zero come last?
Inside the barn, Ditzy found Hanna slumped on the ground between the horse stalls with one hand toward Trigger and the other hand toward Champion. The Trigger hand held an aerosol can.
