Allyson's Beau

Lois Vander Wende-Williams

Description

     Allyson’s Beau is a story about one young woman’s attempt to obtain a Disney movie type life.  Allyson, married young, and with her new husband, set off to make all her dreams come true.  After all, what did she have to lose?  She immediately thrusts herself into the world of horses hoping to become someone special.  As mere wishes meet concrete reality, “She didn't know what she feared more, riding Beau or arousing Barbara's anger."

     She chooses a scrawny, uncoordinated, bay foal, who becomes her reason for continuing in the rough and rugged horse industry that is determined to wear her down.  As desperation drives her dream, Allyson not only gathers a variety of friends and foes, but meets her true self in the process.  Her colt, her Beau, is not the only love in her life, something she often forgets.  Join Allyson and her Beau, and enter into the world of the Morgan Show Horse.  Through her eyes, learn what it takes to make a dream become reality.

 

Sujets

• Thrillers
• Suspense
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 30 octobre 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781452078083
• Langue: English

Extrait

Allyson’s Beau
Lois Vander Wende-Williams

 
 
AuthorHouse™
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www.authorhouse.com
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AuthorHouse™ UK Ltd.
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Central Milton Keynes, MK9 2BE
www.authorhouse.co.uk
Phone: [phone]
 
 
This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.
 
© 2010 Lois Vander Wende-Williams. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
First published by AuthorHouse 8/30/2010
 
ISBN: 978-1-4259-6986-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4259-6987-5 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-4520-6817-6 (ebk)
 
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006908959
 
Printed in the United States of America
Bloomington, Indiana
Contents
Introduction  
Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
Chapter 12  
Chapter 13  
Chapter 14  
Chapter 15  
Chapter 16  
Chapter 17  
Chapter 18  
Chapter 19  
Chapter 20  
Chapter 21  
Chapter 22  
Chapter 23  
Chapter 24  
Chapter 25  
Chapter 26  
Chapter 27  
Chapter 28  
Chapter 29  
Chapter 30  
Chapter 31  
Chapter 32  
Chapter 33  
Chapter 34  
Chapter 35  
Chapter 36  
Chapter 37  
Chapter 38  
Chapter 39  
Chapter 40  
Chapter 41  
Chapter 42  
Chapter 43  
Chapter 44  
Chapter 45  
Chapter 46  
Chapter 47  
Chapter 48  
Chapter 49  
Chapter 50  
Chapter 51  
Chapter 52  
Chapter 53  
Chapter 54  
Chapter 55  
Chapter 56  
Chapter 57  
Chapter 58  
Chapter 59  
Glossary  
Story Behind the Story  
 
 
For my daughter,
Constance
and
In loving memory of J.W.B.

 
Introduction  
Introduction
A note from the Author
 
 
My hope is that you, my readers—whether young or old— can see that within the narrative of this story lie deeper dimensions. Although I originally wrote this story for young adults, I believe it has something to offer readers of any age. As you follow the ups and downs of Allyson’s fight to find her dreams and make them a reality, notice that throughout our lives, even when our lives feel totally wrong, we are always exactly where we are supposed to be.
The universe has a strange sense of humor, and as you get to know each of this book’s characters and form mental images of them, both their good and their bad aspects, realize that each of them contributes to the development of Allyson and her life. Each of us, too—sometimes totally unaware—has helped someone to actualize his or her potential, has helped someone be who he or she is meant to be.
Like Allyson, I have sometimes isolated myself in order to find my own purpose in life. Sometimes these struggles are best met alone. On the other hand, our true friends will always help us find our way back when our inner journey is complete, or too hard to handle alone. Writing this book has made me completely aware of how each of us has an impact on the other, as we are connected in ways that are unknown to us.

Please do not feel technically challenged as you enter into the world of horses in which I have been involved in for most of my life, you can refer to the glossary at the back of the book. Some horse related terms may still leave you questioning their meanings; and when that happens, I strongly advise using that innovative question- answerer, the Internet to clarify anything I may have missed explaining.

After you have met Allyson and her Beau, and the people who touched her life, I invite you to meet some of the people who have touched my own. At the back of this book, you will find an acknowledgement and dedication to the special people who have made this literary piece a reality. Treasure their stories as well.
Enjoy the journey!
Lois Vander Wende-Williams
Chapter 1  
Allyson’s Beau
Allyson watched from the stairs of her little cottage as the tow truck pulled her ’78 Dodge wagon out of the driveway and down the road. Tears rolled down her cheeks as the dust from the tow truck filled the air. Selling that three-year old wagon would give her enough money to pay the mortgage for another month; but with no way to make the payment after that, she was soon to be without a home. The wagon had been her father’s, and she’d had it only about a year. What a fix I am in, she declared to herself.
Her fondest dream had always been to train and show great horses, and she’d taken her first step or two in that direction. But here she sat instead, beaten and broken by her husband and contemplating divorce. Her hopes were falling to pieces right in her lap, on the cottage stairs. All she wanted to do was die. Gently touching the tape on her nose, she winced from the pain—and she felt rejected and as helpless as a child. She sobbed, pondering, how could God let something like this happen to me? My life is not supposed to be this way. My parents always have been successful—how did I end up in a situation where I feel like I’m a loser?
Now nineteen years old, blonde and attractive, she could have had anyone she wanted. So, she tried to figure out why it had been this man who harmed her. Yet, deep inside, she knew why, even though it was hard to admit: she had been afraid of what her parents would think. In the heat of the moment, after dating for almost six months, she had given in to her hormones. Feeling guilty about having unmarried sex was what led her to the altar with John.
I guess that’s what comes with being a teenager. No, no, I’m a young adult, she argued with herself. That was how she felt others should think of her, as an adult.

Nearly two years had slipped by since she and John were first married, in New Jersey, where they both grew up. Soon after, they moved to Tennessee. As far back as she could remember, she wanted to move to Kentucky—the mother of the horse industry—and to take the horse-show world by storm. When they tried to settle in Kentucky, they wound up settling in Tennessee instead.
Horse crazy, that’s what her mother called her. She had been happy as a child, although she never had a lot of friends, and both her parents had told her she would outgrow her love of horses. In fact, when she was fourteen years old, her mother found her a job at a small farm where she was responsible for the upkeep of three horses. Every afternoon, Allyson would go and clean the barn, with no pay, an arrangement her mother had made to discourage her. But every afternoon, there she was, happy simply to be around the three Morgan geldings she quickly came to adore.
Her young adulthood had started so innocently. When she had married and bought the cottage—trying to make her dreams come true—she felt she was all grown up. Her desire to ride, groom, and train promising horses was what had mattered to her throughout whatever else was happening. The pressure of being an honor student in school, on the girls’ hockey team, going to art school, together with trying to act and dress appropriately for her parents, all these had merely made her want to run away. But the aspiration of making it big with horses—now that was what made her toe the line.
She had bided her time and done everything everyone else wanted her to do. Now was her time. Deep in her heart, she knew she could be the Alex Ramsey of the Black Stallion novels. Better yet, she could be the heroine who wins the big race in a Walt Disney movie. That was the dream that truly belonged to her.

As she sat on the steps, out of nowhere her collie, Champagne, started barking. Allyson’s mind crashed back to reality and she wrung her hands in frustration. With her daydream over, she suddenly realized how long ago that had been.

Like most newly married couples, Allyson and John Hader had made big plans for once they would be married. Soon after their wedding day, they packed up their rebuilt ’57 Willys Jeep with all their earthly possessions (conveniently, it all fit in the back); and taking along Champagne, they headed out to impress the world. Champagne was the collie Allyson wanted ever since, while a young child, she saw Lassie on TV.
John would be able to find work anyplace, they were sure. After all, he was a mechanic. And, because he was a blonde, bearded, rough-cut, and stocky young man of German descent, Allyson was certain he would have no problems finding a job down south—everyone there was blonde and blue-eyed.
It turned out, however, that no work was to be found. They camped from one end of Kentucky to the other, and nearly used up the little savings they had managed to gather. Out of desperation, John finally called his old employer, a transmissions factory in New Jersey. The personnel office told him he could probably find work in Tennessee, at a factory with connections to theirs. So John and Allyson continued to pack and camp until they reached the border of Tennessee on the Fourth of July. While driving down the Appalachian Mountains the evening of the Fourth, they stopped at a lookout. The vi