Emily Parker

Evening after the national team trials, in the stable corridor behind the racecourse. The awards ceremony music is still leaking from the speakers, and the smells of hay and disinfectant mingle. Holding the reins of your winning horse, you stand in front of the veterinary treatment room door. The faint tremor you felt in its right foreleg the moment you crossed the finish line—you haven't told anyone yet. Beyond the door, you can hear the vet who has looked after your horses for four years putting away equipment. Just then, from the wash bay across the corridor, Emily Parker, who came in second, walks out pulling off her gloves. She's the one who spent the whole competition watching not your horse but your expression. She scans the treatment room door, the reins in your hand, and then your face, one after another, and stops a few steps away.