~Close Reading Focus~
Words of the Wiser
Excerpts from… Riding Freedom
by Pam Munoz Ryan
Riding Freedom is about a young
girl who lives during the mid1800s. Her parents are dead and
she lives in an orphanage. She
loves horses, but the overseer of
the orphanage where she lives
forbids her to work them simply
because she’s a girl. She realizes
that she cannot stay at the
orphanage any longer and must
escape.
In this short scene, Charlotte tells a trusted older and wiser adult at the
orphanage that she must escape. The friend’s name is Vern, and his job at the
orphanage is to take care of the horses. One of the horses is named
Justice…
“Thanks, Vern. I wish I could stay with you and work with the
horses, but… I’d be in the kitchen and I’d be missin’ Justice
and frettin’ ‘cause I wouldn’t get to see Charity’s foal… or help
you name it.”
“I know. I know, Miss Charlotte’,” said Vern. “You gotta
do what your heart tells you.”
“I won’t ever forget you,” said Charlotte.
“I guess I’m not likely to forget you, Miss Charlotte.”
So, Charlotte leaves the orphanage and her good friends Vern and Hayward.
She eventually finds a nice older man who lets her live in his barn and begins
to teach her to drive a six-horse stagecoach- which proves to be hard work…
There were six strong horses waiting for her commands, her
tugs on the reins, to tell them which way to go. She yelled,
“Haw” and “Gee” to get them to bear left and right, like she did
when she was riding one horse or driving two.
She wished Hayward could see her. And Vern. Vern
would have never let her get out of that wagon until she
figured out the turns. Just like when he taught her to ride, he
kept putting her back on Freedom (her horse) after each fall,
saying, “Every time you fall, you learn somethin’ new ‘bout your
horse. You learn what not to do next time.”
Now charlotte is a good stagecoach driver, but on this day someone from her
past wants to ride on her stagecoach and that upsets her. Ebeneezer, the
man who taught her to drive a six-stagecoach, sees that she’s upset…
“What are you blabberin’ about? The mails gotta go through,
same as them passengers.”
Ebeneezer put his hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “Now
listen, don’t you pay them passengers no mind. You are what
you are. And what you are, is a fine horseman. And the best
coachman I ever saw. You remember that. Under the
circumstances, there ain’t nothing left for you to do but your
job. So get to it.”
Charlotte looked square at Ebeneezer.
Ebeneezer looked square back at Charlotte and said,
“You’re the coachman. You’re in charge, so load ‘em up.”