Callie realized she was still holding on to the fence and let go. Her hands ached. She realized too that the sky had changed while she was gripping so hard. The great, white cumulus clouds of a New Mexico afternoon had given way to dark, dense clouds sweeping across the mountains, and now some lightning shot through them. Thunder followed, and the hill she was clilmbing that had looked so high and brown shrank and looked dim and small in the gray light.
The horse stood trembling trembled at the thunder, and Rob went to it, talking softly. He reached a hand to the horse’s neck, patted it and reached slowly to take the halter. He looked down at Callie triumphantly.
``Come on, Cal, come and meet Victoria. She’s my uncle’s new horse. And don’t think you can ride this one. No one will let us kids get on her, ever.’’ Another crack of thunder came and the horse pulled out of Rob’s hands and disappeared behind the hill of the pasture. Rain came shooting down, hard and all at once, like a mountain summer rain exceopt it was spring, and Callie was suddenly, and completely, wet.
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I loved all the arroyo installments, but what drew me to this one is the wonderful way you use the weather. It's much more than just a thunderstorm. There's so much tension, so much portent in this thunderstorm, and the way it turns Callie suddenly, and, completely, wet. Excellent! Keep going with this.
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