Emily clicked on the online gallery of the city closest to them before answering In the book the rescuers said there’s not enough grass to feed all of them If they don’t find homes the horses won’t have enough food Grace leaned in for a closer look Ooo I like that one And that one And look at this one with the white on its face And the black one Emily tilted her head to the side to see where Grace was pointing but her sister’s head blocked her view Grace usually got overly enthusiastic about things Um Grace Emily said you’re in my way I can’t see anything Grace backed up a little Sorry but they’re just so cute Which one are you going to adopt Emily studied them one by one and her sister was right They were all so beautiful It would be hard to pick only one I guess I should check out what I have to do She clicked on the requirements and her heart sank You have to be eighteen or older Do you think Mom and Dad would do it for me Sure why not They let the rest of us adopt animals in need Why wouldn’t they let you help one of the mustangs Grace offered Grace’s breezy answer calmed Emily Okay so let me read the rest of the information Emily said They had a lot of rules about corrals shelters and transportation She took a notepad from the desk and jotted down the important points Near the bottom of the page she stopped What’s this about payment She checked around on the site Oh you have to bid on them and the auction is closing soon
That night at dinner Emily’s anxiety about her parents response prevented her from asking about the mustang auction Grace kept elbowing Emily but every time she got up her courage to speak someone else started talking When are you going to ask Grace’s whisper was loud enough for everyone to hear Mrs Ramirez raised an eyebrow Did you have something you wanted to ask Emily Emily nodded and launched into an explanation Once she got
started she became so enthusiastic her nervousness went away She described several of the horses and Grace chimed in about her favorites Their twelve-year-old sister Natalie leaned in and listened intently Natalie was crazy about horses That would be awesome to rescue a wild mustang she said Emily smiled at her One of Natalie’s jobs was overseeing everyone’s chores in the stables If Natalie got excited about the idea she might help to convince Mom and Dad to bid on one Well Mr Ramirez said when she’d finished I guess we’ll have to look at the site after dinner to see what we need to do I have the information right here Emily waved the notepad with her notes on it Mrs Ramirez smiled Seems like you’re really prepared but let’s finish dinner first Emily set her notes down with a sigh All she wanted to do was talk about the mustangs The last thing she wanted to do was eat dinner Natalie was a good cook but she liked to make spicy dishes when she helped out in the kitchen Tonight it was chiles rellenos Grace insisted the poblano peppers inside the outer crust tasted mild but even with the cheese filing they stung Emily’s tongue and made her eyes water Although they were twins she and Grace often had the exact opposite reactions to things Reluctantly Emily cut a small bite and put it in her mouth then picked up her water glass to wash it down She was a macaroni-and-cheese kind of eater The blander the better She even preferred plain macaroni with butter on it to spaghetti with
sauce and so did her ten-year-old sister Abby although for different reasons Abby was on the autism spectrum so she liked her foods mild and in separate places on her plate with nothing touching anything else She also disliked loud noises and bright lights but her responses to these things improved when she got her service dog Amigo Maybe if Emily got her mustang she could have a close animal friend like Amigo or Grace’s cat Chances Emily loved their emu Chandler and could pet him and talk to him But emus weren’t cuddly like cats and dogs And they didn’t have soft coats she could lean against and couldn’t talk to them the way she could horses Although she’d probably not get to do that with a wild mustang At least not at first Emily was so engrossed in her daydreams about mustangs that she was startled when she noticed everyone in her family was staring at her What she said We’re waiting for you to finish Em Grace said pointing at Emily’s almost-full plate No one left the table at the Ramirez house until everyone was done eating The rest of the family had cleaned their plates already and they were all waiting for her Oh sorry Emily shoveled a big bite into her mouth and tears sprang to her eyes She wished it were a night Mom had cooked instead of Natalie Mom had explained that Abby’s senses were more easily overwhelmed than other people’s so new experiences or strong sounds tastes and lights bothered her Mom had also found some articles on supertasters and suggested Emily might be one Supertasters had extra
