Startled

Swish, flap, swish, flap. Grandpa Zhou’s cheap plastic sandals smacked against his heels as he traipsed behind Ning through the long grass, providing the world’s most irritating soundtrack to their pony hunt.

 

Ning shut her eyes tight and tilted her head towards the sky, wishing for the millionth time that her dad had been able to come with her instead. Grandpa Zhou was, in her eyes, ancient and borderline senile; she loved him, of course, but his “old-man tendencies” were beginning to drive her insane.

 

He’d driven at thirty-two kilometres an hour nearly the entire way to the starting point - by the time they’d arrived, they’d had to park at the farthest end of the makeshift paddock car park and trek through the tire-churned mud to the booths. He'd made her buy the red ribbon with gold bells – it was lucky, supposedly – even though she’d wanted the blue one, and then shuffled to the front of the queue to pay, seemingly deaf to the muttering of the disgruntled crowd behind. Ning had been mortified; why couldn’t Grandpa just wait? This wasn’t a market!

 

Now they were going at what could best be described as a snail's pace through the national park, hoping to come across a pony. Ning's frustrations were mounting; she could be walking so much faster on her own! At least when her dad had gone with her sister last time, he’d been wearing boots and had brought snacks. Plus, according to Li, he'd understood when Li had wanted to keep a low murmur of conversation to intrigue, but not scare, the ponies, and had begun talking about a wide range of meaningless topics that Li could just about ignore while she scanned the horizon. Grandpa Zhou had no such inclinations, and other than his occasional coughing as he hocked a loogie into the grass, he made for a poor conversational partner.

 

She worried for a moment that she was behaving like an ungrateful brat, then shrugged the thought away. It wasn’t like she was asking anyone to buy whatever pony she ended up bonding with. She’d saved her earnings from working at the barn to be able to afford the price tag, even for a top-of-the-charts expensive pony with teddy ears. She’d pleaded with her dad to let her go to the Ponikotes on her own, but he’d point-blank refused – she was only twelve, he’d said, and despite her entire week of begging and cajoling, he’d sent Grandpa Zhou with her. At this pace, she might not even be able to find a pony at all before they’d have to turn around and head back to the carpark!

 

She dropped her head again, scanning the treeline that stood a few hundred metres in front of them. Maybe the trunks could be hiding a pony among them...? Ning sighed and slowed to a stop, pulling her phone from her pocket. Though she knew the tracking groups wouldn't be posting today, to keep it fair for those who didn't use social media (who didn't use social media nowadays, anyway?), it was worth a shot to see whether some unwitting follower had something up on their story. 

 

Her homescreen showed three messages from the family group chat, and one from Li.

 

10:43am [ Ma ]: Good luck today, baobei!

10:47am [ Ba ]:  Find something as cute as Taro. We can have group pictures!

10:47am [ Ba ]: And take care of YeYe!

 

Ning rolled her eyes. She was trying! It didn't help that Li's pony was just about the cutest, fluffiest thing on earth. Taro was sweet, loyal, and mostly pink - his fading bay coat painted him a dappled shade of light pink, Li's favourite colour - Ning had enough pressure even finding a pony, let alone one to rival Taro! She decided, then and there, that she'd pick one that was better than Taro in some way. That would show Li. 

 

She read the next message and immediately felt guilty.

 

11:02am [ Sistership ]: don't forget to send pics when u find one. can't wait to see. and yeye is right, red and gold is lucky and u know it. xo

 

Ning shot a quick text back.

 

11:44am [ Ning ]: thx. no sightings yet...yeye keeps coughing. not sure if him or universe telling me no pony today.

Li's laugh react came through almost immediately.

11:44am [ Sistership ]: universe speaking through yeye lol. keep ur eyes out. pony will come. forget what dad said. u won't find one cuter than taro.

 

Ning smiled and pocketed her phone. Turning back towards Grandpa Zhou, she found him with his hands clasped behind his back, waiting patiently. Suddenly, she was quite sure she'd been behaving like a brat.

 

"Do you need a break, Ye Ye?" Ning said, the first words she'd spoken to him in the better part of an hour. 

The old man shook his head. "It is a nice day for a walk. In my youth, we would walk many miles. Today, not much chance to walk many miles. Keep going. We find a pony."

 

Ning fell into step beside him. "Let's walk together, then."